A Chinese peasant had a horse. One day the horse ran away. His neighbor came and said, "That's a shame that you lost that horse. It was so valuable." The farmer said, "Well, who knows? How can you tell?"

The next day the horse came back and brought back with it a dozen wild horses. The neighbor came over and said, "How wonderful that your horse could escape and then come back and bring a dozen wild horses with it. Now you are indeed a rich man. That's a gift of God." The farmer said, "Well how do you know? Who can tell?"

The next day, the farmer's son broke his leg riding one of the wild horses. The neighbor came over and said, "That's a terrible thing to have happen. That's awful." The farmer said, "Well, I don't know. Who knows? How can you tell?"

The next day the army procurement department came by to pick up the son to join the army. He wasn't able to go because he had a broken leg. The neighbor said, "My, that's wonderful, isn't it?" The farmer said, "I don't know. How can you tell?"

We must not judge by appearances. It is only when we go beyond the appearance that we come to know the assurance, faith, and joy of living in the risen Lord.

We moderns often give into a positivistic philosophy. We want everything to be provable by the scientific method of observation, etc. If we can't see it, it probably isn't true. If we can't prove it by science, it becomes merely a matter of private judgment or opinion.

What amazes me is that this holds true for all things but sexual morality. Study after study, for example, has shown that living together before marriage is a positive indicator of trouble to come. Yet many still believe that this arrangement is OK. There is overwhelming evidence that sexual immorality before marriage predisposes one to sexual infidelity after marriage.

You and I are to walk by faith. We are to put our trust, our hearts, our very beings into a trusting relationship with our heavenly Father. Today Thomas will only believe by seeing. Jesus tells us that we are blest because we believe without seeing.

Bishop Sheen was fond of saying that faith was the light of the mind. It was analogous to the light of the sun which makes the world more visible and understandable because it makes the objects more visible. Faith makes the mind enlightened, and the world makes more sense because it has been enlightened by the faith.

St. Thomas Aquinas says, "The light of faith makes us see what we believe. For just as, by the habits of other virtues, people see what is right to do in respect of that habit, by the habit of faith, the mind is inclined to do things that are right for faith, and not to do others."

Let's walk by faith and not by sight. We'll end up in the right place if we do.