The Inquirer

Believing first and understanding second  

Luke 2:41-51  

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them…. and his mother kept all these things in her heart.   

          A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a young man that was both exhilarating but also exhausting. Like most young people he was going through a period of intense questioning and doubts about his faith. But there was no question about his sincerity; he genuinely wanted to understand. For instance, he asked, “Why does the Bible say the earth was created 6,000 years ago, but science has shown it existed for millions of years?” He also said, “I’ve studied St. Thomas Aquinas’ proofs for God’s existence and I’m not very convinced.” He later asked, “Aren’t all the major world religions – Christianity, Hinduism, Islam – essentially the same?” Could you answer these questions? My first reaction was to think, “Man, they don’t pay me enough for this job!”   

          But instead, I answered, “Well, I begin with belief in God; I don’t question his existence. Then, I begin to see that if God wanted us to know him with scientific certainty and experiments, he would have created a world where that was possible. But apparently, he thought this kind of world was better, where we would know him by faith more than through science.” In other words, begin with the answers and then you’ll understand the questions better. But if you begin with the questions, you may never find the answers. This was, in fact, essentially St. Anselm’s approach, when he said, “fides quaerens intellectum,” or faith seeking understanding. First believe, and then you’ll understand.  

          In the gospel today, Mary adopts Anselm’s approach as well: first believe and then understand. Jesus is 12 years old and stays in the Temple, which both surprised and saddened Joseph and Mary. His parents must have had many questions, like my young inquirer, and, also like him, they didn’t receive very satisfactory or sensible answers. So what does Mary do? Like Anselm, she says, I will believe even though I do not understand. The gospel records, “his mother kept all these things in her heart.” In other words, Mary believed first, and understanding would come second. Fides quaerens intellectum; faith seeking understanding. 

          My friends, it is not just young people who question and doubt their faith, so do older Catholics and even priests. Have you ever wondered why the innocent suffer, like babies born with the Zika virus and partially formed brains? Or ever pondered why most of the wars in human history were fought in the name of religion? Do you worry about our country becoming less Christian and more atheistic? Why would a good God create a place like Hell? Have you still not figured out who killed JR?? None of these questions has easy answers (except the last one). And I suggest you do what Mary and Anselm did: believe first and then understand second.   

          You see, I believe in a loving and wise God, who desires our happiness even more than we do. And if he had wanted to create a world in which we had easy answers to such questions, he would have made that world. But apparently, he thought this kind of world – where we have unanswered questions and nagging doubts – was a better world. And if you don’t like this world, when you get to heaven, you can ask him, “Why?”

          Praised be Jesus Christ!