God created man in His image. He created body and soul and “it was all good”, as the book of Genesis states. The human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so it is not something to be despised. Our job is to make it ready for the Holy Spirit, to cleanse it of sin. So, our struggle in this life is directed against evil, and not against other religions.
God does not impose His will on us. He proposes a new way of life, a better way to live and this is what our job is. Jesus showed this by example, His life and death and resurrection. Our job is similar to this. We take up our cross and show by example what it means to be Catholic. This is what the early Christians did and it is time for us to think how we now, in the 21st century, can follow that path.
The Catholic Church is facing so many challenges now for many reasons. One of those is our own lack of strong faith. When you truly believe that your faith is right and you follow the path to salvation, the path that is spelled out in the Bible and the Catechism, there is no need to struggle with other religions.
We need to demonstrate our faith freely. Hang a rosary in your car window. Put a Catholic radio sticker on your car bumper. The secular culture wants you to believe that you are irrelevant. They want to shut us down. The normal human reaction is to hide and that is what so many of us do. Our reaction needs to be just the opposite.
Show respect for your faith by not dressing down when you go to meet God on Sunday. Can you imagine dressing down to go for a job interview? We all dress down when we go to visit GOD! This show how weak our faith is.
So, don’t cram anything down anyone’s throat. When they challenge you or criticize your faith, listen patiently and reply with something like “God forgive you” or “I’ll keep you in my prayers”.
