How Doubts Can Increase Our Faith
- chrishermann225
- Feb 4
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 6
As I took a seat in the second row of classroom 1023, my professor launched into his lecture. He questioned the class about the development of political theories, and I observed how the conversation slowly drifted to religion. He then offered his view of the Catholic life; “from the outsider’s perspective, it seems there isn’t much spiritual doubt among you Catholics.”
On the surface, his assessment seems legitimate. My professor teaches at Ave Maria University, a devout Catholic college in Southwest Florida. The university boasts an exceptional theology department that forms its students and boldly teaches the truths of Revelation. Many students visit the Blessed Sacrament in one of seven campus chapels and take advantage of the eight daily Mass times offered within a half-mile radius. Additionally, the university offers numerous retreats, guest speakers, spiritual programs and everything that could exist in your imagined “Catholic Disneyland.” With so many spiritual opportunities, could there be any room for doubt?
However, despite the overabundance of beautiful gifts offered to the faithful, my professor’s critique overlooks a central part in the life of the Christian.
Every believer experiences the temptation to doubt. At one moment or another, our minds wander, and we question how Christ and his message can possibly be true.
Often, our doubt increases in times of sorrow. A loved one passes away. We lose our job. A child falls ill. In these moments, it becomes easy to question God’s presence in our lives and the reality of His goodness. However, these moments of questioning have the potential to powerfully energize our spiritual lives.
Faith is Not Feeling
In moments of doubt and distress, we must first recognize that our faith does not rely on feelings. While our emotions can help deepen our relationship with Christ, they cannot singlehandedly uphold our faith.
In stripping us of consolations and positive emotions, our darkest moments provide an opportunity to increase our faith in God and his Divine plan. Although we might not “feel” like kneeling before him in prayer or seeking his presence in Holy Mass, our devotion in these moments increases our faith and pleases God beyond measure.
Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure exhorts us in his Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence on how to act when doubt overshadows us. In these moments we ought to “show [God] respect by accepting it from His hand, believe firmly that He does not send it to us without cause.” This cause, while unclear to us now, reveals itself on God’s timeline. In the meantime, we must thank him for the opportunity to grow in faith through our doubts and ask him for the grace to persevere in faith and love. In these moments of temptation, we must peacefully surrender to God’s will, knowing He gives and takes away in accord with his perfect plan for our lives.
Tip: In moments of doubt and confusion, pray the Surrender Novena!
The Great Saints Experienced Doubt Too!
We may also take consolation in knowing great Saints who experienced the immense temptation to doubt their faith. St. Therese of Lisieux, who promoted a “little way” of trustfully surrendering to Jesus, often wrestled with powerful temptations to doubt her faith and her belief in Heaven. During her life, the Little Flower suffered the “dark night of the soul,” where she lacked all spiritual consolations. Yet despite these tribulations, she joyfully persisted in loving Jesus and making acts of faith. She urges us to do the same, writing to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, “let us love our littleness; let us love to feel nothing, and we shall then be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come to look for us, however far away we are" (I Believe in Love).
Our Doubts Can Bring Others to Christ
Experiencing these temptations may also assist us in bringing Christ’s love to others. In his Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, (later Pope Benedict XVI) explains how our doubts equip us with tools to bring the faith to those who have fallen away. He notes that the believer and the unbeliever, while disagreeing in much, share doubt, which necessarily arises in the hearts of both.
“It is the basic pattern of man’s destiny only to be allowed to find the finality of his existence in this unceasing rivalry between doubt and belief, temptation and certainty”. – Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
In this way, our doubts provide us with an “avenue of communication” to connect with others on a personal level. After experiencing tribulations and doubts, the Christian can now relate to the sentiments of the atheist and share his own journey through the rough seas of unbelief. Without these moments of questioning, the Christian lacks adequate methods of evangelization and remains unable to provide an account of his faith when needed.
God Uses Our Doubts for His Glory
Finally, one has only to look to the Scriptures to see how God uses man’s doubts for His glory. Most of us are familiar with the story of “doubting Thomas,” the unbelieving Apostle who demanded to see and touch the wounds of Jesus before believing in Christ's Resurrection. Yet, while most remember Thomas by his stubbornness and crippling doubts, his life after this encounter reveals God’s power in using our doubts for a greater good.
In the years after Thomas placed his hands in the wounds of Christ, the Apostle traveled to the ends of the known world, preaching the Gospel as far as modern-day India. While he once doubted the Resurrection, this moment led Thomas to devote his life to preaching Jesus' resurrection, now able to share with others how Jesus assisted him in overcoming his doubts and tribulations.
The life of Thomas is ours as well. Let us, like Thomas, surrender our doubts to the Lord. And when Christ appears to console us, may He give us the grace to boldly proclaim His message to others.
What Now?
So, what can we do when doubts enter our hearts? Here are three tips:
Give thanks to God! Recognize it is God who has allowed these trials in your life and rest in knowing that he allows them for a greater glory to come.
Ask the great saints for their intercession before God. Invoke St. Therese of Lisieux or St. Thomas the Apostle and ask for their prayers on your behalf.
Journal. Grab a notebook and begin journaling about the times where God has revealed Himself in your life. Take note of times you felt His peace and recognize how God worked during those moments.
After listening to my professor's comment, I raised my hand in the air. He pointed in my direction, and I explained that I, for one, have struggled between doubt and faith in my life. As I spoke, many of my classmates nodded in agreement, recognizing that this cross is one bore by all Christians. However, with God's grace, we have hope of persevering in faith to the end.
Lord, "I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24)
Comments