The famous account of Thomas and his doubt is our Gospel for today. On television there is much made of priests who have doubts as if this indicates they are always threatened with the possibility that their fantasy of God is always on the verge of crumbling to the relentless onslaught of "reality". It is either that or irrational individuals with "blind faith." The reality, of course is different. Since Christians deal with mystery there is always an element of their faith which is challenging. This is fitting and is not noxious to faith in itself. The opposite of faith, in fact, is not doubt but certainty. Blind faith is problematic because the Christian believer must be reasonable since God himself is reasonable. Jesus did not ask for blind faith from his disciples. He explained the reasons for believing in the Father and in him in a very ordered and rational manner and manifested his authority by the works he performed. To his opponents he said: "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep." (Jn 10: 25-26) To us, on this Easter day, his message is: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (Jn 20: 29)
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