Faith and Doubt

The Incredulity of St Thomas, 1621, by Guercino (1591-1666), The National Gallery, London

‘We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. One has to doubt and reject everything else in order to believe firmly in Christ, and after one has begun to believe, one’s faith itself must be tested and purified. Christianity is not merely a set of foregone conclusions. The Christian mind is a mind that risks intolerable purifications, and sometimes, indeed very often, the risk turns out to be too great to be tolerated. Faith tends to be defeated by the burning presence of God in mystery, and seeks refuge from him, flying to comfortable social forms and safe convictions in which purification is no longer an inner battle but a matter of outward gesture’.

​Thomas Merton OCSO, 1915-1968

Almighty and everliving God, who for the greater confirmation of the faith didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas be be doubtful in thy Son's Resurrection: grant to us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ; that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Divine Worship: The Missal.