Please Pray for Chrisitan Faith

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Matt_Tiza

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I’m praying for a resurgence in the Faith. From my daily interactions with other Christians I’m starting to believe that most Christians, and even many Catholics, do not truly believe in God.

They certainly do not believe in the God described by St. Thomas Aquinas and endorsed by the Catholic Church.

I’m convinced that many people still see God as an angry old man in the clouds who sometimes grants magical wishes and heals people when He feels like it. I’ve yet to hear anyone in my community say anything that convinces me that they appreciate His Omnipotence or the ultimate good of His Will on earth. Please pray with me that we may encourage others to know the Living God and to trust in His Divine Will on earth.

Some things that I’d like to hear emphasized more often in the Catholic and broader Christian communities…
  1. Each 1 of us is 1 out of an estimated 100,000,000,000 people that have ever lived on earth, yet God knows and truly loves each of us as His own child. He has a distinct mission for all of us in His Will no matter how great or small we are. Human life expectancy does not usually exceed much over 100 years, yet the earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.
With that said try to imagine looking down at 100 billion people all at once. Who is any better or worse than anyone else? Can you tell who is richer or poorer? Does it really matter if you live 10 years or 100 years if the universe is about 13.7 billion years old? We’re supposed to believe in eternity, right?
  1. There is sanctity in suffering and mercy in the dying process.
Perhaps the most traumatic thing is to suddenly lose a loved one in an accident or in an unforseen medical emergency. So why do we act like suffering and slowly dying from old age and/or disease is the worst thing? Why do we pray for healing when we are but dust and He promised us all that we will return to dust?

When I was between 5 and 11 years old, my father slowly suffered to death from cancer. I could see that his pain was tremendous when morphine and Xanax could no longer treat his suffering and seizures from brain and liver tumors. Yet despite his suffering, his family rallied around him, he received tremendous spiritual support and went to Mass daily when he was still able, and we all were prepared for the end of his life.

It was such a mysterious blessing for him to reconcile with God during his suffering and for his family and friends to prepare for the end. If he had died suddenly in a car accident, we would have all been severely traumatized and probably in great financial distress. God gave us all the mercy of the dying process to cope with the inevitable end of his life and to reflect on the fate that all of us share. Why would anyone look back at that with horror and sorrow?

As we approach Holy Week, let us all remember that Jesus Christ, an innocent young man of 33 years, suffered more grievously in a 40 plus day period than any of us will ever even begin to understand.

So what do any of us have to complain about?
  1. Statistics have to come from somewhere.
Here’s a random statistic from the Center for Disease Control (CDC). “An estimated 15,529 people with an AIDS diagnosis died in 2010.” Do any of you know any of these 15,529 people who died in 2010? God does. 15,529 is a lot of people, yet they did not die in vain. If it were not for statistics like these, we would have no impetus to pursue medicine or other treatments for disease or other chronic conditions.

So the great gripe of many Protestants and even some Catholics about why do so many people have to suffer and die when God is supposed to be so good is meaningless. As in point #1, everyone has a purpose in this life. We may not be able to appreciate it in our limited worldview, but we must trust that God has a greater plan for all of us.

So no matter who you are, when and how you live, how long you live, or what you do with your life means little when all that ever mattered was Faith.

So I again I ask everyone to please pray for Faith and a greater understanding and appreciation of God in this world.
 
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