Do your doubts unsettle you, or do you see them as an invitation to grow?

Faith and doubt go hand in hand, and often, the greater the faith, the greater the doubt.

Our doubts can be a great antagonist in our faith story. This antagonist often draws us into a deeper experience of faith as long as we remain in pursuit of truth and don't begin to pursue an excuse.

Poor Thomas. He might have just been having a bad day. Yet one situation has defined him throughout history as the great doubter, referred to as Doubting Thomas more often than as Saint Thomas. Do you know anything else about Thomas?

Many people know only that Jesus appeared to the disciples when Thomas was out running errands and he didn't believe them. But his story didn’t end there.

Thomas is believed to have gone to India in 50 AD, where he reportedly converted dozens of Jews and more than three thousand Hindus by preaching the Gospel and performing miracles in the name of Jesus. He was known by many in that part of the world not as Doubting Thomas, but as the Good Thomas. It is believed that Thomas was murdered by Hindu priests in 72 AD.

But the main lesson of Thomas' life was around faith and doubt. Men and women of every race and age have heard his story, but have we learned the many lessons this story reveals? 

Our doubts are ours for a reason: They have lessons to teach us.

Thomas was a skeptic who refused to believe unless he had direct personal experience. Until he could see and feel Jesus' wounds, he was not going to believe in the Resurrection. The kind of skepticism that demands the proof of experience leaves no room for faith.

Thomas, however, was open to the truth. It is natural to have doubts, but we have a responsibility to seek out the truth that will assuage our doubts. Seeking answers to our personal questions and wrestling with our doubts helps us to build a more robust faith.

The part of Thomas' story that is easily forgotten is what happens when Jesus returned eight days later. This is one of the great confessions of faith in the Bible. I can just imagine Thomas falling to his knees and saying with great sincerity and emotion, "My Lord and My God!" (John 20:28). 

Thomas' doubts led him to a conversation with Jesus and a deeper relationship with him. May all our doubts do the same.



Feast Day: July 3

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Leo II

Patron Saint of: India

Also Known As: The Good Thomas

Symbols: A Spear and a Ruler