Main Menu
RC DAILY MEDITATIONS
RC DAILY MEDITATIONS
Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: If God loves us so much, why does hell exist?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: How can a loving God send anyone to hell? I was always told that God loves us unconditionally, but if that’s true, then why does hell exist? Doesn’t that prove that God’s love is conditional? Couldn’t God, who created the magnificent universe, come up with a better alternative than hell? Why would God create a place that makes Jesus’ death on the cross ineffective for all who go to hell? Christianity teaches us to love our neighbor. How can I love my neighbor and forget the souls that are burning in hell? We can’t pray for them. Hell is eternal. If I end up in heaven, God willing, how can I enjoy heaven knowing that trillions of souls are burning for all eternity? Bottom line is, God’s love and the punishment of hell are in direct opposition. Some people have told me that hell is God’s justice. When I read Jesus’ words on hell, it doesn’t display justice to me. It displays hate. Hell is something that I despise. It is a creation of God that I believe should not exist for any of his children, no matter how bad they are. We must never forget that nothing happens that is not according to God’s will and that includes the people that are going to hell. I refuse to believe that my heart is kinder than my doctrine … kinder than my Lord and God. I hope I haven’t offended you with my questions. -C.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: I appreciate this chance to try to answer some of your heartfelt questions. First off, though, I need to emphasize that in no way should Jesus’ words on hell ever be interpreted as displaying hatred. Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), and whatever he revealed, he did so for the sake of our salvation. And he did this for love for us.

The heart of your question, I think, is your sense that “God’s love and the punishment of hell are in direct opposition.” They are not. Rather, they are two sides of the same coin.

To understand this, we need to remember two realities: first, who God is, and second, what hell is.

Scripture tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God is pure love, infinite perfection. Words couldn’t begin to describe his greatness. So loving is he, that he created us in order to share his love with us. Now, if God is good, so loving, so perfect, what possible excuse could a creature have for disobeying him?

God didn’t create us as robots. He gave us free will so that we could love him freely. His perfect will is that we obey him — he wants the best for us. But his permissive will extends to us a freedom that we can misuse.

Our parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed his will, damaging themselves and the human nature that would be passed down to their descendants (such as us). This damaged nature is one way of thinking of original sin, which we inherit. Among the effects of original sin, even after baptism, is that we have a tendency to sin, also known as concupiscence. “Concupiscence stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man’s moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins” (Catechism, No. 2515).

Now, some sins are grave, or mortal. Mortal sin involves a radical rejection of God’s love (for more, see the Catechism section that begins with No. 1845). A person who dies in the state of mortal sin faces the consequences of that radical break with God. This is what hell is about.

Hell was not an invention of God. Rather, according to Pope John Paul II in a 1999 audience, “It is not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life.”

Hell, in other words, proceeds from the very nature of mortal sin. God doesn’t send people to hell; it is something they choose for themselves.

An analogy might help. Imagine you are on a ship that is searching for survivors from a sunken ocean liner. You see a passenger struggling in the waves behind you. You throw a lifeline to him, but he refuses to grab it. You beg him to take hold of the lifeline, but he ignores your plea. Eventually, he sinks below the waves and drowns. Does his drowning indicate that you were indifferent? When you begged him to grab the lifeline, were you displaying hate? Was his drowning your fault?

The answer to all these questions is: no. The person in the water, for whatever reason, refused your help. His drowning was the consequence.

It is similar to God’s love. He throws lifelines constantly to people who have fallen into serious sin. He had even sent his Son to teach them to take hold of the lifeline and to warn them what they risk if they don’t. To help people gain salvation, Jesus was even willing to die on a cross. Yet, he won’t force salvation on anyone. He respects their free will too much.

I want to reiterate: God never stops reaching out to us as long as we are here on earth. The Catechism makes this clear: “Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness” (No. 30). When explaining how someone might end up in hell, the Catechism makes this point again, from a different angle: “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end” (No. 1037). God loves us too much to force any of us to go to heaven. He respects our freedom, and it is possible for us to use that freedom to reject his friendship forever.

To sum up: God doesn’t send anyone to hell. People choose it for themselves. Hell wasn’t part of God’s original creation. Rather, it is the result of the choices made by people (and angels) who reject God’s love.

If you make it to heaven, and I hope you do, your first question, there in the presence of God, might be, “How could anyone ever reject such perfect Love?” Fortunately, the mistake of others won’t faze your own happiness. For being in heaven by definition means being as happy as you can be. (By the way, keep praying for the deceased; you never know who still needs your help.)

You say that you refuse to believe that your heart is kinder than Our Lord’s. I agree. No one can top Our Lord in kindness and love. Let’s pray that everyone embraces that truth. God bless.

“Ask a Priest: If God loves us so much, why does hell exist?” Read More »

When I am Weak Then I am Strong | A Retreat on the Anointing of the Sick with Fr. John Bartunek, LC

When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong: A Retreat Guide on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

/ Retreat Guide

Sickness and death were not part of God’s original plan for the human family; they were consequences of original sin. But now, in this fallen world, no one escapes them. For a little while we may be able to ignore or avoid them—but in the end, the agony and pain of sickness and death touches every single one of us. Whenever that time comes, when we encounter them either in ourselves or in those we love, we are faced with a critical choice: Will we allow the illness and suffering to lead us, as the Catechism puts it, to “anguish, self-absorption… despair, and revolt against God”? (CCC 1501) Or will we allow them to make us, once again quoting the Catechism, “more mature” and to help us “discern… what is not essential” so as to “turn toward that which is”? (CCC 1501) Certainly we would all want to make the second choice, but many people don’t; many lives are shattered by the storms of illness and death. How can we make sure that we survive and thrive through those storms, that they make us more mature and lead us closer to God? That’s the question that this Retreat Guide, When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong: A Retreat Guide on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, will explore.

  • In the first meditation, we will learn from how Jesus treated the sick.
  • In the second meditation, we will examine the meaning of the sacrament itself.
  • And in the conference, we will dig into how our culture treats the sick and dying—and what the Church has to say about it.

Video

Audio

Print Guides

When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong: A Retreat Guide on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: Can you explain the connection between the priesthood, the Eucharist, and the Church?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: For the past three Sundays our priest has asked us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and then said, “Without priests there is no Eucharist, and without the Eucharist there is no Catholic Church.” Please explain. Thank you. -K.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: That is a memorable way of describing the link between the priesthood, the Eucharist, and the Church.

It echoes the language of St. John Paul II in his last encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. In that 2003 encyclical the Pope wrote that “the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread.” In No. 26 of the document he added that “the Eucharist builds the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist.”

The Church is also called the mystical body of Christ. We are incorporated into this mystical body at baptism. This body — indeed, each of us — needs to be nourished to maturity. That nourishment comes, in part, from the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Little wonder that the Catechism, No. 1324, says, “The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.'” The Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ himself, under the appearances of what looks like simple bread and wine.

We believe Christ is present in the Eucharist because he himself said so. On Holy Thursday night, “Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins'” (Matthew 26:26-28).

At the Last Supper he also instituted the priesthood, giving mere men the power to consecrate bread and wine in his name and under his power. This is essentially the heart of each Mass: a re-presentation of what Christ gave us at the Last Supper: the gift of himself in the Eucharist.

The fruit of this sacrament, worthily received, is nourishment for the soul and a growth in the practice of charity and — this part might help us understand your priest’s comment — stronger bonds of unity within the Church. The Eucharist brings us closer together and helps us think and love in union with one another.

The Eucharist is a catalyst and point of union for Catholics. If a community wants the Eucharist, it needs a priest. A priest receives ordination from a bishop and assists him in ministering to the flock. The bishop is a successor to the Apostles and is named by the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, whom Jesus designated as the visible head of the Church on earth. Hence we can see a link between the Eucharist and the Vicar of Christ.

And where do priests come from? They come from families, but the call to the priesthood comes from Jesus, who urges us to “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). One of the best ways to pray for vocations is Eucharistic adoration. Hence the connection between priesthood, Church and Eucharist comes full circle.

I hope this helps. And I would encourage you to pray for vocations. If you find a young man who is interested in the priesthood, think about directing him to vocation.com. God bless.

“Ask a Priest: Can you explain the connection between the priesthood, the Eucharist, and the Church?” Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: What do Catholics base their beliefs on?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: I’m taking a comparative religion course and am unsure of the answer of one of my questions. I was hoping you could help. The question is: “Aside from Scripture, on what else do Roman Catholics base their beliefs?” Thank you! -T.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: When we talk about Catholic “beliefs” we are referring to divine Revelation, that is, what God has revealed for our salvation. The height of Revelation is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who took on human nature. What Christ taught us was his Gospel.

Here, “Gospel” means the broad expanse of what God revealed in Christ; it doesn’t just mean the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament.

Revelation is handed down to us by Sacred Scripture (the Bible) and Sacred Tradition (with a capital T — not to be confused with mere traditions or customs). The Second Vatican Council’s document on Revelation, Dei Verbum, says in No. 10: “Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church.”

For most people it’s easy to understand Scripture as the word of God, even if some non-Catholic denominations don’t accept all the books of the Old Testament that the Church accepts.

What is harder to get a handle on is Tradition. Tradition is the oral transmission of Revelation. It complements Scripture.

Permit me to quote at length from Dei Verbum, No. 9: “[T]here exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence.”

The Catechism in No. 78 explains: “Through Tradition, ‘the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.’ ‘The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer.'”

One could think of Tradition as the living memory of the Church. The Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit remembers what Christ taught. “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name — he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you” (John 14:26).

Why do we need to remember what Christ taught — isn’t it already in Scripture? In fact, Scripture itself gives an answer: “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). So Scripture didn’t record everything Jesus said and did. Were those “other things that Jesus did” lost and forgotten? No. They are, so to speak, in the memory banks of the Church. This is the stuff of Tradition.

Pope Francis, in a speech April 12, 2013, to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, said, “The Word of God therefore precedes and exceeds the Bible.” He could have also said that Tradition precedes and exceeds the Bible.

Why do I say that? Because we wouldn’t even have the Bible without Tradition. Think of St. Peter on Pentecost when he preached to the crowds and saw thousands of people baptized that day (Acts 2). What did Peter use to teach the crowds? The New Testament? No — the New Testament as we know it wouldn’t be compiled until years in the future. Peter instead relied on Tradition — the oral transmission of the Gospel message, what he learned from Christ.

Scripture needed the help of Tradition in order to be assembled. Look at the list of books in the Bible. Where did that list come from? It came from Tradition. How do we interpret the Bible? We rely on Tradition.

But where can we find the contents of Tradition? This is a complicated matter. Elements of Tradition are diffused. Elements of it can be found in the writings of the Church Fathers, in the liturgy, in the magisterial teachings of the Church (especially the popes and the Church councils). Guiding the whole process is the Holy Spirit.

All this might sound complex, and it is. But it all holds together. We couldn’t really understand Scripture without Tradition, and Tradition would likely dissipate without the anchor of Scripture.

I hope this helps you understand something of the bases of the Catholic faith. God bless.

“Ask a Priest: What do Catholics base their beliefs on?” Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: Why do we pray to the saints?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: I have been trying to explain why we pray to saints to one of my sisters and I’m a little lost. Is there some book I could read that would give me as simple an explanation as possible to relate to her? -M.O.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: The simple way to think about our praying to the saints is this: All the faithful are part of the Church, the mystical body of Christ. And as with a physical body, the good of one part of the body helps the other parts too.

The Catechism in No. 947 says, “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. … We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church.”

That “communion of goods” includes the ability of the saints – those souls who are in heaven – to intercede for us. The Catechism in its part on Christian Prayer says in No. 2683: “The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were ‘put in charge of many things.’ Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.”

Intercession of the saints builds on a common practice we see in this world. Think of how often we might say, “I am praying for you” or “Please pray for my Aunt Beth who is having surgery tomorrow.” It is a sign of our concern for one another’s well-being. Think too of the more-mundane examples of intercession that are common. As children perhaps we learned to go to Mom first if we wanted something from Dad. Or we used our influence to get a relative a job or a legitimate favor from a local politician.

None of this, of course, is meant to discourage praying directly to Christ. Our closeness to Christ in fact engenders our closeness to one another, so those petitions for intercession seem to be a fitting way to involve others in our prayer life.

Intercession is encouraged in the Bible. For instance, 1 Timothy 2:1-3  says: “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior.”

Intercession is a natural and supernatural way we help one another and build bonds. In the Church this is part of what the “communion of saints” is about. Another part is that you and I can pray (intercede) for the souls in purgatory — thus we can still do acts of charity for loved ones who have died. Indeed the faithful on earth as well as the souls in purgatory and heaven all form part of the body of Christ. (By the way, the Catechism is the most accessible book I could recommend on the notion of praying to the saints. A helpful article can be found here.)

I hope this helps. And I pray that you help enlighten others about the richness of praying to the saints. God bless.

“Ask a Priest: Why do we pray to the saints?” Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: How do I get out of the loop of sinning and then continually asking for forgiveness?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: If we are saved, what are the negative impacts of sin? If we are forgiven for anything, why should we do good? I want to do better and I need motivation. What I constantly hear is that we are forgiven and that if we ask for forgiveness then everything is fine again, and it sets me in a loop where I can just sin and then ask for forgiveness over and over. –J.W.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Be careful. It’s easy to misinterpret that phrase “We are saved.” True, the Catechism in No. 621 says, “Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation.” No. 622 adds, “The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that he came ‘to give his life as a ransom for many.'”

A cursory reading of those numbers could give the impression that our salvation is assured because of Jesus’ sacrifice. What is assured is that Jesus has opened the possibility of our reaching heaven. But that is no guarantee that everyone will, in fact, do so.

No. 1949 of the Catechism uses more nuance: “Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.'”

Note those words “man stands in need of salvation” — we need salvation, it’s not a given.

The negative impacts of sin are numerous — just pick up any newspaper or click into a news website to get a sampling of the evils out there. And that’s just the stuff that gets reported. The Catechism in No. 1855 says, “Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.”

Now to the rest of your question. It’s good that you want to do better. It’s important that you seek forgiveness for your sins. But, again, be careful about language. To say that “everything is fine again” after we ask for forgiveness needs to be clarified.

Yes, our sins are forgiven when we make a good confession (see here). But a good confession demands contrition (sorrow of some kind for having sinned) and a resolution to not sin again. Ideally that resolution should be real and fervent. That means we come out of confession wanting to amend our ways. Without some kind of resolution, the confession might not even be valid. We couldn’t confess, for instance, having watched bad videos, when we have every intention of then going home and watching the same kinds of videos.

That we fall into sin again is another matter. We are human, we are weak. Our Lord knows this. The important thing is that we keep trying to fight bad habits and develop good habits. All that demands effort and prayer and sacrifice — a lifelong task. So to say “everything is fine again” after confession doesn’t do justice to how much we have to fight to overcome our faults and failings.

Then, too, receiving absolution for our sins and doing the penance is not enough. There is still a temporal punishment due for sins. Think of this analogy: Imagine your neighbor through negligence breaks your car windshield. He apologizes and you forgive him. You have “absolved” him, in a sense. But justice demands that he also pay for a new windshield — that’s what temporal punishment is about. It’s about restoring a certain order to things.

No. 1472 of the Catechism touches on this theme: “Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the ‘eternal punishment’ of sin. On the other hand, every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the ‘temporal punishment’ of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.”

What this means in practice is that we need to make up for the temporal punishment due to our sins. We can do this through a range of remedies: prayer, almsgiving, fasting, acts of charity, etc. These are the kinds of things that can and should keep us busy all our life. What we don’t make up for in this world, we would have to make up in purgatory (assuming we don’t die in mortal sin, in which case we are lost forever).

So, if someone sins with the idea that he can just confess it later and get off the hook, well, that’s a very faulty attitude. It treats of God’s mercy in so casual a way as to be presumptuous.

What all of us need to do, in the face of our sinfulness, is be humble, ask forgiveness, start over, and make a daily effort at growing in our relationship with God. This helps us to rise above that “loop” that you mention, and to really strive for holiness — and happiness too.

True happiness comes from a deeper and deeper friendship with God. Every sin wounds the friendship. Yes, God will forgive us, but how can our friendship really grow (and thus my happiness in this life really grow), if I am constantly offending my friend and then asking for forgiveness? The friendship will never get to advance in that way. To really grow in holiness and happiness, my friendship has to grow, and that means I have to stop offending my friend.

When you go into confession, resolve to come out a man recommitted to doing your Friend’s will at every moment. And remember Pope Francis’ words, “The Lord never tires of forgiving.… It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness.” Count on my prayers that you never tire of asking forgiveness and resolving to do better. God bless.

“Ask a Priest: How do I get out of the loop of sinning and then continually asking for forgiveness?” Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: Is it OK to recognize the beliefs of other religious traditions?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: I always felt that it was very interesting that the First Commandment has to even mention “other gods.” Is it fair to assume that there are lesser gods than the Lord? It seems like odd phrasing, when God / Moses (as a vessel) could use a more total choice of words. I know the translation between the original Hebrew text may sometimes end up bumpy, but being that it is the First Commandment I would like to believe that it would be of chief importance to get that right. So, is it bad to recognize the beliefs of and practice other religious dogma with others of different belief as long as you still find your own personal faith in the Lord himself? -P.T.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: The verse you refer to is Exodus 20:3. It reads, “You shall not have other gods beside me.”

A footnote in the New American Bible version online points out: “Beside me: this commandment is traditionally understood as an outright denial of the existence of other gods except the God of Israel.”

A fuller appreciation of the verse is a little more complicated. Among the ancient audience who heard this verse were Israelites who likely believed in the existence of the gods of other nations. They lived among polytheists (those who believe in many gods) and the move toward belief in the one true God took time to develop. This is not because the others gods ever existed. Rather, it was because the ancient Israelites were, so to speak, spiritual infants, and it took time for them to accept the revelation that there was only one God. God, speaking through Scripture, met the Israelites “where they were” and slowly educated them about himself. He eventually revealed the deepest mystery of himself — that he is a Trinity of three divine Persons — with the coming of Jesus Christ.

Now to your other question (which I hope I understand correctly). It is OK to recognize the beliefs of other religious traditions. Other belief systems exist, no doubt. What isn’t OK for a Christian is to practice other religions. This would violate the First Commandment.

The reason is simple. Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s revelation to the world. There is no other savior but Jesus (for more reading see the Holy See document “Dominus Iesus”). There are no other gods — unless we mean the metaphorical gods of money, power, pleasure and fame that tempt people in every generation.

I pray that you keep focused on the one true God, as revealed fully by Jesus Christ.

“Ask a Priest: Is it OK to recognize the beliefs of other religious traditions?” Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: A prayer of mine has been answered… How can I give back to God?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: I’m 19 years old. I was raised non-religiously since my mom is a fallen Catholic and my dad is Jewish. Recently I met a girl who made me happier than I was ever before in my life. I just enjoyed being around her. I usually find true love to be a silly and childish concept, but meeting her has made me rethink it. We spent the whole night talking. A few days later, I messaged her, but did not receive a response for a few days. During that time I was waiting for a response, I prayed to God. There was nothing more in the world I wanted than for her to respond. I’ve never prayed before, so I did not recite any prayers but knelt in silent spirituality wishing for God’s help. I told God I would swear myself to him and not doubt if she showed my similar interest. The next day I got a message from her that showed just that. I’m contacting you for guidance because I feel like I have to give back to God. Almost like I owe him. What should I do? -M.S.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Thanks for your note and for sharing your experience. God has a time and moment when he draws each of us closer to himself. This might be such a moment for you.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the relationship between God and man simply, in No. 27: “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself.”

The situation described in your e-mail brings to mind a verse from the Bible: “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Your affinity for your friend could be the beginning of a deep love, and now that you understand something about love, you are already understanding something about the Almighty. “God is love.”

We are made in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26). God is a Trinity: three divine Persons in one God. This is the central mystery of the Christian faith. And what have those three Persons been doing for all eternity? They have loved one another. And since we are made in God’s image, it’s no surprise that we too need to love and be loved.

Enough theology for now. If you want to give something back to God, then you might consider two tracks. One, respect and cherish this young woman. Treat her well. One of the best things you can do here is to live chastely in your relation with her. That will push you to discipline yourself and to see her first and foremost as a person – a person who, like you, carries the image of God.

The second thing would be to try to learn more about God. He speaks to us in the Bible, especially through his Son Jesus, in the Gospels. (He speaks to us too in the Old Testament, but I’ll caution you that the OT is a little harder to interpret. Some things will sound strange to someone in the 21th century; they have to be understood in context. But that’s another issue.)

Also, you might want to browse the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Its question-and-answer format might help you get a handle on what God teaches through his Church.

Beyond that, I would suggest you try to make time each day to pray. Don’t worry about what words you use right now. Just speak to God as a loving Father. He created you, loves you, and wants you with him forever in heaven.

(If you need some set prayers, then you might browse here. To get daily meditations you could go to this link and subscribe under the “Daily Prayer” box. A good book to complement the Gospels is “The Better Part“; it is also available as an app.)

Let me know if you have any more questions. I will pray that you find your way to God.

“Ask a Priest: A prayer of mine has been answered… How can I give back to God?” Read More »

Scroll to Top

Events

Donate

Looking for another country?

Contact Regnum Christi near you

News & Resources

Main Menu

News & Resources

The Regnum Christi Mission

The Regnum Christi Family

The Regnum Christi Identity

Alex Kucera

Atlanta

Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.

In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.

Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.

From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.

Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!