FAITHBOUND

In God we trust, for He exists in the holy triad of creation, restoration, and redemption. There is no life without His having willed it. Someday, we will all fall asleep forevermore. Only God can raise us from the ashes; only He can make what is barren whole again.

In God we trust, for He is the author of unending love, the composer of divine wisdom, and the prince of merciful peace. All creation springs forth from the sound of His word, from the mighty power of Heaven’s voice.

While the splendor of the Almighty resides in the realm of the unseen, the world—His brilliant work—is manifestly present and envelops the ages; nothing lies outside the scope of His majestic reach. He can be derided, but not ignored; He can be vilified, but not made unloved; He can be crucified, but not replaced.

In God we trust, for His making is perfect—in total unity with the essence of profound goodness. Awesome is the architecture of life, in worldly miniature as in the manifestation of grand design. No other state of existence can be envisioned in a more accomplished fashion. Everything, so complete in itself, is beautifully aligned with the forces of nature and the cycles of time.

In God we trust, for unsurpassed is His righteousness.

Mankind’s reprimand, to the extent required, is deserving and just.

Not for the sake of punishment does He allow the world to suffer, but as atonement for sins committed against His holy will.

He desires our purification, for we cannot partake in the kingdom of unblemished bliss without dignity, cleanness, and self-worth.

In God we trust, for His knowledge is boundless and never diminished.

Always steadfast, protective, and firm is the hand of the Lord—for those who seek it. At no time does He cast aside human hearts yearning for truth, justice, and peace. His consolation is unfailingly tender, as people long for grace and forgiveness. Our God is there in the most consequential of times: when we give up earthly desires and are poised to clothe ourselves in garments of holiness.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

How appropriate, then, it is to contemplate the beginning of the greatest mystery ever written with renewed fervor as we prepare our hearts for Christ’s birth this Christmas. Had Jesus not entered the world as a human being, no person could have been redeemed. His death on the Cross was required for mankind to gain eternal life. This, in short, is the message of the coming of Christ and the very essence of redemption.

We must briefly pause at the thought of original sin. In God’s eyes, the fallen human condition was pitiful—the trespass so grave that it could only have been atoned for by the suffering and death of Jesus, our Lord. No other form of recompense would have sufficed to elevate the human soul into a state of regained perfection. Had God not intervened by giving up a part of His Being, we, the fallen people, would have remained lost for all eternity, unable to break the shackles of sin and incapable of ever attaining our predestined state of spiritual excellence.

No other earthly gift could have achieved what Christ’s mission accomplished for the glorification of mankind.

Christmas, a time when the Scriptures came alive in proclaiming the Good News that Emmanuel is among us, is thus the beginning of our hope—the ushering in of a new era. Jesus chose poverty in entering this world. Why did the King of kings so decide? He could have opted for a royal descent, yet He did the exact opposite. By doing so, He made clear from the very beginning that His mission was not only unique in nature, but also singular in purpose.

Jesus bowed to the afflicted, the sick, the outcast, and the forgotten. Through them, He sought to convert the arrogant, the mighty, the self-righteous, and the unjust. He became man so as to save souls at risk of perdition, wherever they were, however numerous, and in whatever lamentable state of existence. His mission was one of universal healing, not of global grandstanding. His calling was that of transforming human hearts, not of seeking public approval.

Before we see Jesus face to face, it remains a mystery to all why the Son of God did not spare Himself the agony of atoning for our sins. We can rightfully assume that He did not wish to see our lives wasted, for we are created in His likeness. Had He accepted such a fate, He would also have given up some elements of Himself, inasmuch as He is intrinsically part of every human being.

Since death has no power over God, the very thought that God would allow certain fibers of Himself to be cast into shadow is unthinkable. Whatever the Almighty creates in His image carries His eternal imprint; thus, the removal of our sins through the sacrifice Jesus offered—and thereby our liberation from eternal condemnation—became the only viable means of correcting our failing.

Pure love—as God is defined—corrects all wrong. It does so through the outpouring of love; and as Jesus Himself repeatedly said, there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for the sake of others. Precisely because of this nature of the Divine, there was no other way to heal the world than through redemption.

This is why Christ was born into this world. This is why we celebrate Christmas.

But even God’s brilliant design would not have come to pass had Mary, the Mother of God, not freely accepted her role as Co-Redemptrix. Had she decided against God’s plan, which in theory remained possible, there would be no Christmas—as we know it—to celebrate, no hope, and no jubilant news to proclaim.

We received the gift of Christmas because of Mary’s eternal wisdom and because of God’s sensitivity in inviting Jesus’s Mother into His mission of redemption. God could have done everything by Himself, but He desired our participation—through Mary—in fulfilling the prophecies of Scripture.

This, then, is the vision of a loving, humble, and most sensitive God; the sight of a Supreme Authority who changes the face of the world through compassion, inclusiveness, and forgiveness.

Before Christ’s birth, generations anxiously awaited the coming of the Messiah. They passed away hoping that His earthly presence would soon manifest itself. Some 2,000 years ago, the prophecy of old became flesh, and since then the good news of Christ’s coming has been known to mankind—imprinted upon the hearts of His followers. This knowledge will endure until the end of time, when Jesus will reappear in His glorified presence and make all things new.

We thus celebrate Christmas in memory of this holy event. It is worth remembering that Christmas need not be confined to one particular day of the year. The feast of the coming of Christ can be observed every day, every single moment in time when God, freely invited, enters a person’s heart to cleanse it of guilt and torment and to purify it for a loving encounter with the Creator of life.

 

 

The most perfect creature that the Most High ever fashioned is Jesus’s mother, Mary. Not only was she conceived without the blemish of original sin, but she is the embodiment and epitome of love brought to fruition in a living person’s heart. No person can love more perfectly than our Blessed Mary, the Mother of God. No human being can stand closer to our Creator’s eternal plan for mankind than Mary, the Queen of Peace, the Mirror of Justice, and the Seat of Wisdom.

When it became known to the Archangel Gabriel that Mary had acquiesced to give birth to the Son of Man, she did so willingly, conjoining her spirit with God’s providence and proclaiming that the redemption of the world be accomplished according to His design. She understood what Jesus, her Son of blood and flesh, would have to endure. She knew that His mission included pain, betrayal, and crucifixion before the power of the Resurrection would break the chains of sin and death. It was revealed to her that God loved the world so profoundly that He was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son to pay the debt of every human soul, so that eternity might be attained and enjoyed by all people of good faith and righteousness.

The Mother of God, in accepting her role as Co-Redemptrix, knew perfectly well what awaited her on the road to Calvary and at the place called Golgotha. Yet she did not shrink from this most sorrowful mission, for she knew that, together with her Son, she was to help bring eternal life to people who had forsaken it.

How could she have done this? Is such a commitment not beyond anyone’s capacity to comprehend? After all, Mary was born into this world just as every other human being—except, of course, without the burden of original sin. Was this the critical difference: being able and willing, in a state of perfection, to discern and follow the will of God? Perhaps.

What is striking is the immense force of goodness radiating from Mary’s heart, enabling her to embrace every sacrifice, provided the offering was pleasing to the Almighty. Nothing is beyond acceptance if it helps bring forth life; every form of suffering is welcome if the fruits of love, embracing all humanity, help pave the way to eternity.

Only because Mary loved with such intensity was she able to bring the Redeemer into a suffering world; to raise and teach Him with motherly care; and to prepare her Son to sacrifice everything for the salvation of mankind. Had her love been temporary, partial, or wavering, she could not have accompanied Jesus to His torment on the Cross. She would, indeed, have attempted to save Him and sought to overcome the snares of human falsehood.

But the Mother of God—who became our spiritual mother as a parting gift from her Son—looked beyond her pain and inner affliction as she stood beside Jesus in the fulfillment of God’s master plan. During her own stations of the Cross, she shed countless tears to save all her children from eternal condemnation and could do so only because she possessed the strength of unconditional, all-embracing love, a love that permeates every fiber of her glorious being.

Our Heavenly Mother is in a state of grace because she is, as Virgin Most Faithful, Most Merciful, and Most Venerable, filled with divine love. Our Holy Mother of God is the Ark of the Covenant, the Tower of David, and the Gate of Heaven because she is most pure, chaste, and undefiled. As Cause of Our Joy, she contemplates the goodness of our Savior in her heart, ever prepared to offer good counsel and to fulfill God’s mission with sincere humility and gratitude.

Mary is therefore rightly called Immaculate, for nothing within her being is touched by imperfection. Rather, everything is clothed in radiant splendor: her thoughts, her prayers, and her humble devotion to a cause of limitless importance.

The Queen of Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs is the Help of Christians and the handmaid of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Holy Mother Church. The Queen of Saints teaches us how to follow Jesus in our pursuit of personal holiness. The Queen of the Most Holy Rosary invites us ever closer to God through prayer and contemplative adoration.

There is nothing that Mary does not or cannot do. She intercedes for her children before the throne of the Holy Trinity; she blesses the world with her motherly love and pleads for souls in desperate need of God’s mercy. Unceasingly, she strives to save all her children from destruction and death.

Her blueprint is the will of Jesus.

Therefore, the sight of Mary is breathtakingly beautiful, for it is the image of perfect love, of wisdom most profound, and of righteousness supreme.

In today’s day and age, it is admittedly difficult to discern the core meaning of love. It appears that there are as many definitions of the essence of love as there are people attempting to explain its content.

Oftentimes, no clear boundaries exist between the various phenomena linked to the term. There seems, for instance, to be insufficient distinction between the concept of infatuation and, on the other hand, a life of compassion; between physical and emotional attraction of the moment and the unconditional acceptance of another person throughout a lifetime of fidelity; between corporal love, drawn to pleasure, and a spiritual state of mind that never seeks its own.

Love is, indeed, the most powerful force in the universe. Nothing can compete with it, because love is eternal. In the realm of earthly existence, hatred may seem equally strong, at times perhaps even more pervasive, if we consider the destructive power of wrongdoing that human behavior can unleash. Yet while hatred permeates societies and possesses the capacity to linger and mutate—thereby appearing indestructible in this world—it does eventually come to a halt.

Jesus conquered death and, by extension, all forms of evil. At the end of time, so His promise assures us, hatred will dissipate, and death will be put to rest. In Heaven’s homestead, there will be no hatred corrupting people, but eternal love, freedom, and wisdom instead. Thus, love is supreme because, by its very nature, it sustains life through offering and humility, through charity and forgiveness.

In a promiscuous society, sex is often mistaken for love—or love for sex—promulgating the notion that corporal pleasure is the highest manifestation of love. Yet sex, as a pleasure of the flesh, is often self-centered and crude, found in pre- or extramarital affairs, among people of the same gender, or as a mechanism of bodily gratification rather than an act of selfless giving embedded in the sacramental union of a married couple. There can be no fruitfulness of corporal love if both husband and wife are not open to life during their intimate encounter, thereby allowing God to bestow His eternal blessing upon them.

Only in this elevated context, then, does corporal love meet the standard of true love as envisioned by our Creator. In all other instances, sexual pleasure remains barren, unfulfilling, and unqualified to build lasting bonds of life.

Another angle needs to be explored as well. There are those among us who wish to live a life of chastity. Yet they are neither deprived of the experience of love nor limited in their spiritual capacity to generate, convey, and strengthen affection. Love must therefore possess other criteria by which it is identified and recognized as the most powerful force in the universe.

The essence of love is, indeed, hidden from the human eye. We can experience it only in our hearts as we set out to emulate Jesus. It is not so much an act of emotion as it is an act of mind and will. St. Paul’s all-encompassing definition of love in his First Letter to the Corinthians expresses it succinctly: love is patient and kind, never jealous, boastful, conceited, or rude. It never takes offense or stores up grievances. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope, and to endure.

Love is, then, our determination, our steadfast will to walk in the footsteps of goodness, cheerfulness, and God-centeredness. It is our conscientious decision to reach out, to lift our brothers and sisters up, assisting wherever we encounter souls in distress, and doing so without any thought of recompense. It further means consoling those heavily afflicted by the wounds of this world, providing—in abundance—friendship, kindness, charity, and peace.

All that is required of us is a proper disposition while advocating the truth. All that we need to do as Christians is to confront ignorance and coldness of heart with brotherly compassion. When we are capable of elevating any discourse to a level of dignified interaction, we know that we are on the right path.

After all, where God is present, love is present. And where there is love, we are embraced by the Holy Spirit of the Most High.

It has been attested by scholars of Christian belief that there are five predominant qualities in the make-up of an exemplary follower of Christ. These virtues are faith, love, hope, humility, and obedience to the will of God. Any person exemplifying such a pattern of inner disposition and behavior will not fail to live a life according to the will of Heaven.

For if we have faith, we entrust our lives to Jesus and are willing to walk in His footsteps while carrying our cross of earthly suffering. When still among us, Jesus implored His fellow men to do as the Master does; to embrace their daily pain and to trust fully in God’s eternal providence that everything we are destined to endure is for our good and for a higher good.

Love is important in and of itself. For if we possessed all other qualities and virtues, yet did not have love, what good would ensue? Who could possibly benefit from offerings made without compassion, from acts devoid of empathy, charity, or the power of forgiveness? Even though any such gift might generally be appreciated by the recipient, if love were absent, the undertaking would lack a most necessary spiritual ingredient—namely Heaven’s blessing, which makes every endeavor complete.

Hope is the desire to endure and never to give up on God’s word, the teachings of His Church, and the many manifestations of the splendid work of the Holy Spirit, who inspires us to search unceasingly for the innermost Truth. Had we no hope, we would fail in this important quest, for there would be no sustained effort to overcome impasses, mental roadblocks, and the distractions of evil forces. At some point, we would simply quit and abandon our responsibility to grow steadily as Christians in seeking to understand the desire of God.

Humility is the prerequisite for hearing the Almighty, discerning His will, and cleansing ourselves of pride and self-grandeur. Nothing can be achieved in our spiritual development if we cling to a vision of self-centeredness and misplaced personal importance. For in our relationship with God, we are entirely dependent and weak. We have no power to determine the beginning of our lives, nor can we decide the date and time of our natural death.

Without God’s cleansing power through the sacrament of penance, we could not successfully overcome the weakening force of original sin that forms part of every person’s human condition. Indeed, the only strength we truly possess is the ability to love our Creator fully for all His wondrous deeds and to praise Him wholeheartedly through our works. Such praise is impossible if it does not emerge from a humble heart.

Finally, a good Christian must be obedient to the command of God. One thing is to understand Heaven’s will; another is to live by it and ask that it become our roadmap to eternity. As long as we do not ask the Almighty to cleanse us through His will, we cannot complete the circle of spiritual wholeness in what is inherently an imperfect state of soul.

Personal holiness—our greatest possible achievement as human beings—requires that all of the above elements be incorporated into our desire to please God, so that we may rightfully be called His faithful children during our earthly existence and be named among the chosen heirs of Heaven’s age to come.

Many compatriots will argue—especially those scientifically inclined—that believing in a higher being is irrational, for there is no proof of the existence of the Almighty. According to them, any person’s conviction to subscribe to creationism seems, in the absence of certainty, at best foolish and, at worst, misguided and dangerous to the human condition.

Yet, as much as God’s existence cannot be empirically proven—the evidence remains circumstantial—it is likewise impossible to deny it conclusively. All the books written throughout history rejecting the existence of the Most High have failed to provide definitive proof of God’s absence, however forceful and persistent the attempt.

Believing, as we know, requires at its core a person’s trusting disposition, which cannot feed on certitude but on the assumption that God’s word is truthful, nurturing, and eternal. The power of the Gospel attests to this—at least in the opinion of those capable of discerning the voice of God speaking through Holy Scripture.

Many people, on the other hand, hear little or nothing when reading the Bible, for they have not been given the gift of faith. This does not make them less worthy; it merely means that their journey through life is different and that they, too, will receive God’s precious gift of belief once they are ready to ask for it. The Heavenly Father never turns away from His children when they implore His help, provided their requests spring from a heart that is sincere, humble, and contrite.

In our time, the number of people who do not believe in God is, unfortunately, growing. They build their present and future upon personal insight without reaching out to Heaven’s wisdom. They feel comfortable mastering the difficulties of the world through their own strength, power, and ingenuity.

Why seek communion with God, they ask themselves, if there is no pressing need—especially if His commandments come with many restrictions, some of them unwanted? As long as we live, they seem to tell the world, we desire not the freedom to choose God, but freedom from God. Thus, any interference in the handling of earthly affairs is rejected.

Arguments such as these may appear persuasive, yet in the final analysis they lack the very rationality they claim to possess.

Let us make the following assumption: a person lives without faith and, upon death, discovers that God exists. How great then is the disappointment and misfortune. Had that person lived a life of faith, eternity might have been gained; instead, he must now depend upon God’s mercy as his final beacon of hope.

The second scenario is the reverse: a person lives a faithful life and, upon death, discovers that there is no God. What eternal burden awaits such an individual if there is no eternity? No such burden can exist, for there is nothing. Yet a life lived righteously, according to the word of assumed Wisdom, provides happiness and inner peace during one’s earthly existence.

Anyone firmly rooted in the teachings of Christ radiates joy and brings goodness into the world, even if God’s kingdom were ultimately to prove non-existent, for Christ’s doctrine is built upon love and forgiveness—a formula infinitely more powerful than any charter of human rights ever devised by secular minds.

In an age that prides itself on intellectual sophistication, we must therefore conclude that the rational choice is to believe in God. No harm can come from such belief, even if He were merely a fiction, because we would still live according to principles of goodness established millennia ago. Yet tremendous loss may result if His existence is confirmed after we have failed to recognize it during our earthly lives.

In the first instance, we are assured of a better and more fulfilling life, bringing consolation and hope to ourselves and to those around us. In the second, we may have forfeited our passage to Heaven.

Given these alternatives, who then is truly a man of reason? The atheist, who rejects God only to discover that his life may have been built upon self-inflicted deception, thereby paving the way to eternal damnation? Or the God-fearing soul who lives an exemplary life and, in doing so, helps create a world of harmony and peace—even if that same world were ultimately to end in nothingness?

The answer requires little reflection, nor does it call for elaborate deliberation. It is self-evident to every human heart searching for ultimate truth.

Once we are, accompanied by grace, fully immersed in the knowledge of the Unseen, there can be only one piercing exclamation:

God is!

If Jesus were alive today, how would He react to the world’s many apparent, festering, and stubborn problems, to political crises, or even to cataclysmic developments? Would the Son of Man side with the powerful if they were known to be righteous, or with the oppressed even if they had abandoned His teachings? Would He proclaim that suffering is to be endured, even in the face of unspeakable injustice, or would He support the will of many to rise up if and when the glory of God is called into question by malice and indignity?

How would Jesus propose that we solve the global refugee crisis, the arms race, economic inequality, and the enslavement of millions of people around the globe? Would He offer a new blueprint for universal freedom and peace—a new Magna Carta for all mankind from which to draw?

Some 2,000 years ago, Jesus made public, and confirmed by His suffering and death on the Cross, what people of all ages needed to know. His covenant was then proclaimed as new and final, for every generation to abide by until the end of time. Nothing more is to be added, for everything has been said, laid open, and declared.

According to God’s eternal law, we humans must love and forgive. We must take care of those in need, the sick, and the poor. It is our obligation to radiate goodness and stand up for equality, justice, and all the freedoms people need in order to live a worthy life. We cannot be selfish or indifferent to the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, for our role as Christians is to bring Christ to the world; to offer Jesus to those who have turned away from God, have never known Him, or have chosen not to walk in His consoling presence.

Our faith requires deeds of charity, unselfishness, and compassion. All of that, and more, can be inferred from the Gospel, which is Jesus’s eternal roadmap for humanity. It is our duty to act upon what has been revealed by God.

Many opinion leaders will argue that accepting the world’s developments as they unfold, without shaping them according to our will and values, testifies to naivety and the abandonment of one’s beliefs. They claim that we should chart a course of national strength, military might, and sustainable economic growth, irrespective of how the global landscape develops elsewhere.

Then there are those who want the world to unite behind a single political system and governing authority so that their grip on power is fortified for all time. They reject the teachings of the Son of Man, for they do not want any part in His glorious redemption. They see our planet as a finite place of existence; hence their animosity toward everything that reminds them of the transcendent works of Heaven.

Are those correct who say that we are responsible for keeping our Christian heritage alive and that we cannot abandon traditional values, regardless of any coercive attempts made by the modern world? And that Jesus Himself, if He were physically present today, would not advocate the eradication of injustice if doing so meant that a new injustice would take hold?

Again, based on the Bible, we are safe to assume that Jesus would, in seeking to overcome global problems, adopt a policy of righteous inclusiveness. He would, for example, speak out against military build-up anywhere on the planet; but would He condemn those who prepare for self-defense? Protecting life is not contrary to His covenant.

He would, likewise, ask us to have compassion for refugees; but would He understand those who claim that the dismantling of Christian life must not be offered on the altar of expanding someone else’s religion? We can assume that He would want us to promote a life of community and unity without surrendering our God-centeredness.

So, speaking the truth is indeed important—and liberating. What matters is that we remain, as disciples of God, steadfast in our faith while protecting the heritage of the Church. It might seem that these two demands are mutually exclusive, but in reality they promote and foster one another.

For doing the will of God means that we are protecting what has been handed down to all generations through Jesus Christ. In other words, we are not reliable guardians of our Christian faith if we allow ourselves to be stripped of our Christian identity in the name of appeasement and false humility.

We must always help to build a better world, but not at the expense of our endangerment as Christians.

The mystery of Easter is Christ’s resurrection. Without the risen Lord, our faith would be meaningless, for there would be nothing to proclaim, nothing to believe in.  If Christ had not risen from the dead, the teaching of the Catholic Church would be robbed of its essential truth – that by Jesus’s unselfish offering every human being can attain eternal life.  If Christ did not conquer death, everlasting life could not be passed on to men made in the image and likeness of God.

The story of Jesus Christ is, indeed, unparalleled. No human being has ever been able to overcome death.  Only Jesus could transcend death due to his divine spirit, allowing the Eternal word to become flesh and, by doing so, to attest for eternity.  If Christ had died without subsequent resurrection, his story, however impressive, would have remained a footnote in the tales of history and in the collective memory of mankind.  Yet the mere fact that his Church has thrived throughout the ages, beset by countless trials and tribulations, is a testament to its authenticity, truthfulness, and mystical presence of God.  Christ’s body and blood, soul and divinity, are the fountain of spiritual life manifested in the sacrament of the Eucharist.  It is the Holy Communion and other sacraments of the Catholic Church that shield it from misery, destruction, and oblivion.

Had Christ not risen from the dead, there would be no disciples, nor followers, who – initially insignificant – grew steadily in number to become a universal force of believers. Who would be prepared to lay down his life for a man, claimed to have been the Redeemer, if his agenda was a fiction?  Throughout history more than 40 million people, many willingly, drank the cup of martyrdom.  Every stone of St. Peter’s, originally making up the walls of the Colosseum in Rome, was, quite literally, soaked in blood of innocent Christians from the early Church.  The waves of initial persecution lasted more than 300 years, until the Catholic Church gained official recognition in the Roman Empire.  Would Michelangelo have been able to paint the Sistine Chapel, or to breathe life into what later became his grand Pieta, if he did not believe in the resurrected Lord?  Would Mozart’s Requiem or Handel’s Messiah become possible without insight, without knowledge from the Holy Spirit that Christ is the Truth Incarnate?

Would ordinary men, ever since the establishment of the Catholic Church, want to become priests to take up the cross of Jesus? Would countless members of religious orders offer their lives for God’s word in their vocation to transform the face of the earth?  None of that would become reality, if Christ did not conquer death.  For this very reason, Easter is and always will be the point in time of our salvation and the beginning of our sincere willingness to glorify God in his only begotten son and our Lord Jesus, the Risen Christ.

When there is no Divinity guiding a human being in the three principal aspects of mind, body, and soul, the transcendent power of eternal wisdom does not intervene in that person’s life. We are left to our own limited devices and free will, which functions on subjective insight and memory. As imperfect creatures, we are likely to make continual mistakes based on our weak human nature. In addition, we are exposed to the snares of the devil and his many legions throughout our earthly existence.

Individuals, families, and nations that abandon God do themselves a great disservice. One can live a truly harmonious and fruitful life only if God and all the blessings of the Holy Spirit are embraced. Conversely, God’s absence in a person’s life causes emptiness and misguidance. If you give up on God and deny His existence, no true and lasting prosperity is possible. Instead, many divisions and personal vices will appear in your life.

The biggest surprise, however, is that even if you abandon the Creator, Savior, and Redeemer, He will never abandon you or cease loving you. He will fight for your eternal soul until your last breath. Our Christian God is a God of love, accepting every human being’s free will, yet hoping for a conversion of heart, if necessary, until the very moment of death.

Take a look at the United States in this day and age. “In God We Trust” is widely proclaimed, yet if this were truly so, God’s commandments would be respected. There would be no child or adult pornography on the internet and in other media outlets; there would be no legalized and government-funded abortion; there would be a healthcare system that is equitable and fair for all; there would be no idolatry of wealth, riches, and success, but rather a focus on a culture of life in which the true virtues of goodness are celebrated.

We would want to teach our children eternal truths firmly embedded in the teachings of the Church. We would want to stand against divorce, adultery, sex trafficking, the misuse of drugs and alcohol, and all other human trappings that possess no intrinsic value but are designed to corrupt people.

How, then, can you live a holy life in which your decisions withstand the test of time and deliver splendid results? There is only one sure path: allowing Christ to become the shepherd of your soul, the guardian of your body, and the steward of your spirit.

The fact that America faces so many social, political, economic, but foremost moral challenges shows that the country has, to a significant extent, turned away from God. In His absence, there is uncertainty, chaos, confusion, and unease. The odor of hatred and war permeates today’s world because faith in the Eternal Truth has been replaced by a culture of death, in which the devil unceasingly attempts to destroy Western civilization, built upon Christianity and the dignity of the human condition.