“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Sight, being able to see things is a very important part of our experience in this world. It is the basis of much of our sciences.

Whether we look with telescopes into the cosmos of stars and galaxies, or with microscopes into the micro cosmos of bacteria or even molecules, whether we use an endoscopes to obtain pictures from inside our body, or X-rays to look right through our body and bones, whether ultrasound produces amazing images of a foetus or infrared cameras allow us to see what is normally hidden at night, we can see so many things.

Google Earth even allows us to check out places where we or others live, using satellite pictures, a thing only military intelligence was able to do before.

Indeed, we can see more with our eyes today than ever before. It seems nothing is hidden form our sight. However, not everything can be seen.

What I mean is, that what really matters is not matter at all, or with the words of the fox in The Little Prince: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

In a world where many of us might say: “I only believe what I can see, or touch or measure,” the idea that something might be real but invisible, beyond our physical senses, is odd.

Even more, it seems we can no longer trust what we see is real as AI-generated content may look real but is fake. In many ways we are a sceptical society and we have to be.

However, too much scepticism can turn into conspiracy theorism, and some feed those theories. Trust in government, science, press, and institutions are systematically undermined.

Did the Apollo programme really reach the Moon? Maybe the Earth is flat after all. Yes, there are folks who hold those believes, and there are some who have an interest in spreading those rumours and lies on social media like Instagram (which in my eyes is the real conspiracy, as they attempt to undermine trust and truth, and thus make the gullible believe inaccuracies or outright lies).

“Seeing is believing” thus is not really a maxim for truth and understanding any more. Maybe it depends more on us as observers than on the object that is observed to gain certainty and understanding. Are we able to see and recognise what really is essential?

In The Little Prince, it is the fox who teaches the prince to see with the heart. He uses a rose that the little prince had spent a lot of time with before, as example. The little prince thought that one rose was special and unique. However, later on his journey he found a garden full of roses, all like the one he had treasured.

The fox explains to him that it was exactly the time he spent with the rose, the care between them, that made the rose special and unique to him. They developed a caring relationship.

Then the fox complains that modern men buy everything “finished” and don’t want to spend time to develop relationships, but then the uniqueness is gone, there is nothing special left.

We love our children, not because they are the only children in the world – there are millions of children. It is not just because they contain a bit of our genetic code – think of the amazing love for adopted children – but mainly as we develop a lasting relationship over time with them.

It is the time we spend with each other that creates a bond, whether it is between child and parent, or between friends, relatives, neighbours. If you take that time, there will be a blossoming, beautiful, joy-filled, satisfying relationship.

Seeing with the heart is about this relationship, the uniqueness and trust that follows.

There is one Easter story that has to do with seeing and believing. The risen Christ had appeared to his disciples behind locked doors. One of them, Thomas, missed the meeting.

When the others told him that they had seen the Lord, Thomas demonstrated the very modern sceptical position (John 20:25, NRSV): “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.“

I can empathise with Thomas. It is hard to trust others when you carry hurts and disappointments inside. After the experience of the passion in that last week with Jesus, Thomas knew that trust is vulnerable. The Walk to Calvary in St George’s on Good Friday made this historic event very vivid and possible to experience.

Judas, one of the 12 he had been with for three years, had betrayed the Lord (and all of them), and Peter had denied the Lord three times even after all the big words and promises. All the disciples ran away in Gethsemane. Who can we trust then?

I think Jesus had understanding for Thomas’s scepticism, and that is why he appeared to him a week later as well, again behind closed doors. He invited him to touch his wounds, to “see” that he was “real”.

But then Christ took it to an even higher and more personal level, the level of faith and trust, of seeing with the heart. In verses 28 and 29 we read: Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

I think Thomas overcame his scepticism and came to believe once he recognised how special the relationship with Jesus was. Thomas realised how important he was to Christ, so important that he appeared to him and the other disciples a week later.

Hope, love and faith are some of the essentials you cannot see with the eye, they are not matter, but they matter most.

To have this hope, love and faith is to see with the heart, trusting that there is a special and essential bond God has with us, that we are unique and special to God, not just one of billions of people, but truly special to God.

Christ died for you and for me. He wanted to save us from despair and hopelessness. He made it as easy for us as possible. All we need is faith that his grace is sufficient. It is very personal.

He wants a relationship with you and me, to “tame” us as the fox calls it in The Little Prince, to give us a new heart and a new spirit, that sees what is essential, though invisible to the eye.

• Karsten Decker is a German theologian with a double degree equivalent to an MTheol and MDiv. He studied in Marburg (Germany), Knoxville (USA), and Toronto (Canada) and comes from a united church of Lutheran and Reformed Churches. He was the pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Bermuda from 2010 to 2017, and after returning from Germany is now the temporary pulpit supply at Centenary Untied Methodist Church in Smith’s