Weekly HOMILY for May 1, 2011: Three Stages to a Mature Faith

Second Sunday of Easter, Cycle A
Married Couples Retreat
Priestfield Pastoral Center
Kearneysville, WV
May 1, 2011

Three Stages to a Mature Faith
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


SANTA AND OUR FAITH

Understanding our faith in Santa Claus may be a good place to begin our journey of Easter faith in God.

Someone has wisely observed that there are three stages in our belief in Santa Claus. In the first stage, we believe in Santa Claus. In the second stage, we don’t believe in Santa Claus. In the third stage, we are Santa Claus.

In a sense, we make a similar journey in our spiritual life. In the first stage of religious formation we believe in God. At another stage, we may struggle in our belief in God. But if we mature spiritually to a third stage, we realize that we are God.

We realize the truth of St. Augustine, who stated, “God became man so that man might become God.” Let’s look at these three stages of the spiritual journey because today’s gospel of Doubting Thomas shows us how he’s passing from one stage of faith to another.

From that we might see where we are and what we need to do to become more faith filled.


STAGE ONE

Most of us were fortunate enough to begin our first stage of the journey with a belief in God. We probably learned our prayers at our mother’s knee.

We learned our catechism, or some other form of religious education. While we probably didn’t understand the complexities of the Trinity, we did have some basic understanding that God was our father who created us, and that Jesus was our brother who redeemed us.

I pretty much struggled with the Holy Spirit. I knew I received the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation, but sometimes had a difficult time identifying with this bird, this dove. Had the Holy Spirit been pictured as an Oriole, my theological education would have soared!

However we may have understood God at this first stage, it is clearly an understanding of a God “out there,” a God separate from us.


STAGE TWO

The second stage of religious development is a stage that not everyone goes through, but most do. It’s the stage of doubt, perhaps a stage of disillusionment.

This is the stage where I hold, “I can’t say there isn’t a God, but a can’t be sure there is one.” It often comes at late adolescence or early adulthood, but it is not restricted to that period.

Most of us live our lives at the first stage, with a trusting, childlike understanding of God. God is good. Life is good. Be good and things go well.

Then suddenly, a tragedy strikes – a child dies, a spouse leaves through death or divorce, a job is lost or a career is ruined, financial devastation strikes. Whatever the issue, the person is terribly disillusioned: “How could a good God allow this to happen to me?” or “How can there be a God who lets drug dealers live and children die?”

Spiritual writers call this stage the Dark Night of the Soul. In contrast to how we might see it, John of the Cross describes the darkness not as a scary time, but more as a quiet darkness as in the soil just beneath our lawn where growth, expansion, and life are teeming, but in fecund darkness.

This second stage of religious development can be devastating while it is occurring, but, if it is survived – without slipping into agnosticism, atheism or despair – it can be a moment of great spiritual growth.

Yes, once we discover that God has not abandoned us, once our faith has matured to know Jesus has conquered death and is very much with us, we then have the possibility of entering stage three.


STAGE THREE

And that brings us to today’s gospel. In John’s gospel we see Thomas go from stage 2 – disillusionment and disbelief – to stage 3, faith and oneness with God.

We might ask: “What does it take to move him to this incredible unity? What’s the grace available that makes it possible for him to declare before Jesus: ‘My Lord and my God!’”


CONCLUSION

It takes:

(1) A testifying community of believers around me

(2) It takes a personal presence to Jesus Christ

(3) It takes experiencing that unity and then speaking out of it to all the circumstances in my life

(4) And it takes a routine, a habit of presence and community

Perhaps this weekend has found us poised ready to move in our faith growth from stage 2 – doubt and disillusionment – to a living faithful presence in God.


Invite members of the assembly to sharing their thoughts and insights.