Bishop Tobin on Faith as a Tower in a Corn Maze

"I’ve never walked through a corn maze, but it looks like fun.


"You know what a corn maze is I presume – a walking path carved out of a large corn field, with the depleted corn stalks so high you can’t really see very much around you. The challenge is to find the exit. It becomes a kind of a puzzle to explore, a popular activity for families and kids to try during the fall.


"Some corn mazes are simple and small. . . . [S]ome corn mazes are so large and complex that on occasion people get lost in the middle and can't find their way out. . . . For that reason, some mazes have guides stationed at strategic points along the way, or even towers set up in the middle of the field, elevated stations which people can climb to get a view of the entire maze to find their way out.


"Religious faith, it seems to me, is a lot like a tower in a corn maze. If our earthly pilgrimage is somewhat akin to walking through a corn maze, faith is the virtue that gives us the full picture, a better perspective. Faith helps us to remember how we began and points to our final exit. It reminds us that we came from God, are made in his image and likeness, and that we are destined for God again, to be united with him forever in heaven."


Using, in a recent commentary, the image of a tower in a corn maze, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence (RI), reflected on the relationship of faith in our earthly pilgrimage.

To access Bishop Tobin's complete essay, please visit:

Without A Doubt: Faith: The Tower in the Corn Maze (17 SEP 15)