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What do you believe in? It seems like the right question to ask at the moment, given the level of uncertainty there is around the world; the war in Ukraine, people struggling economically as the cost-of-living prices increases, and an increase in covid cases again. All of these are enough to shake anyone’s easy confidence and the suffering that accompanies these can erode even the strongest faith or belief. Some people who don’t have a faith find it difficult to understand that people who have belief are also still unsure; and that faith often waxes and wanes and doubt is a constant companion in these disquieted times. In one of Ernest Hemingway’s novels, ‘A Farewell to Arms’, someone asks Lieutenant Henry, (who was wounded in the first world war), if he is croyant in French — that is, if he is a believer. “Only at night,” he replies. In the daytime, when his mind is alert, he can no longer believe; but at night, some of the old yearnings return It can be tricky to fully articulate what belief is or does when we look out at the world. And there seem to be no simple, tangible answers. Not least because belief is unseen. What is seen is the power of belief, much like the power of love, and it does not have to be perfect. Often, what people say when they find belief is that it gives them a sense of direction across the vast and expansive seas, a bit like an extra map, or an additional compass. And belief, sometimes manifests a way of asserting itself that is quite unique. Through unforeseen circumstances, unexplainable encounters, belief and faith shine through! It did so in the case of Ignatius of Loy-ola, a soldier born for battle and lying in bed with a wounded leg, he asked for a book to read, he was given ‘The Flower of the Saints’. Reading it he felt changed. Putting aside knighthood, he became a follower of Christ and eventually he founded the Society of Jesus in 1534. While faith can just happen, many seek it out and work at it. Paul says in the book of Romans, ‘So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ’. What do you believe? I asked. I believe that in world of much suffering there are examples of those whose belief shapes the world as they go quietly on their way. Though belief may be tested at times; (for faith is deeply personal), belief and faith in a world of uncertainty give meaning and relief to things seen and unseen and offer hope in the outcome.