Here is a quick story that explains the importance of questioning and doubt in matters of faith.

This past week, I’ve been home alone on break.  The ever-so-intelligent administration at my high school decided to schedule my Spring Break when NO ONE ELSE has off.  Therefore, I have entertained myself with reading books, watching TV, and thinking about random junk.  Eventually, this thinking wandered onto issues of faith.  I began to realize that believing in God is not so difficult for me.  I looked around and all I saw were His fingerprints: on my family, on the blossoming trees across the street, on the rain as it splashes on the ground.

But I realized it’s a lot harder to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Messiah.  This man was born of a virgin, healed people, taught radical ideas, rose from the dead, and turned bread and wine into his body and blood, proceeding to then command us to partake of them in a seemingly canabalistic manner.  I began to wonder whether the people of that time were just overreacting when they claimed that Jesus was the Messiah.  Maybe they were just tired of waiting for the Chosen One and so they settled on the most plausible man.  Then, the Gospel stories began to seem more and more like myths and legends.  I became worried.  I asked myself “What separates the Biblical accounts of Christ’s life from mere fairy tales?”  I couldn’t find an answer to this question for what seemed like the longest time, and I grew greatly distressed.

But then, I began to recall all the times in my life when I was most open to Jesus, and it was during these same times that I felt his presence.  And I realized that to have faith in Christ, you have to experience his intimate presence.  The feelings of knowing Christ and being close to him that I had experienced in those moments when I was open to him were far too real for Christ to have been simply a normal human being, let alone a fairy tale character.  The Father had answered my questions, and in so doing, provided me with understanding and a closer relationship with His Son.

I then was overcome by an extreme happiness, a smile that wouldn’t leave my face no matter how hard I tried to get rid of it.  It was a feeling like that of finally understanding a ridiculously tough math problem or like that of getting a Latin translation right.  It was the feeling of finding the answer.

Whose faith is stronger: The life-time Catholic’s lackluster belief that is made manifest in his disinterested attending of the Mass on Saturday evenings or the former atheist’s new-found belief that was tried and tested so much during his life?  When metal is heated to extreme temperatures and put under great tests and pressure, it comes out stronger than it ever was before.

Question God, knowing that He’ll give you whatever answers you can understand.