Diary of a Ghetto Priest | Faith gives strength

In our time when modern secular society rejects God, we need to be careful lest we lose our belief in Christ. We don't want to separate ourselves from God, our Christian God. We want His presence, we want His activity, we want His strength, and that belief and hope in eternal life which He gives to us.

Separation from God, which makes us lose the greatest source of help - that is, the good favour of God Himself - is a terrible loss. Imagine losing the presence and power of God who gives us life, strength, love, and His favour; imagine not having Him around in our good times and bad times - even death?

As it is for believers in all our weakness and infidelity, we are immensely loved, even thirsted for by the Lord. His hope in us is that we will always be with Him. He will be with us far beyond the barriers of our own discouragement. He takes us or accompanies us way past our own suffering, worries, disappointments, even unto death. He will be with us. Can we let go of Him, He who is our everlasting hope, who will never separate Himself from us, even after we have sinned and being forgotten and rejected by so many people, even our best friends?

We must struggle to establish faith, contact with the Lord, even as Jesus continued to establish faith-contact with the Father as He hung upon the cross and was being tortured by so many who had received so much favours from Him.

He will never let us go. We might forget Him, but Jesus will reach out to us at all times. Do not let Him go. Keep on saying, Jesus, "I love you! Jesus, I believe in you! Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief." Let us always make the struggle to establish faith-contact with the Lord at challenging moments of the day.

TRUE PRAYER

Let our mind rest in faith upon the person of Christ, and let us remember His presence and His promises. Without faith, our prayers is not really true prayer. We must feel Him, know Him, experience Him in our prayers. With faith, all is changed. He is with us, we long for Him and He belongs to us.

Life is full of challenges in our modern days. The modern world is full of 'me' and 'myself alone' - what I want, what I desire, what I must have. People spend time - when in a crowd or at the family dinner table, or in a restaurant, even six at a table - answering cell phones, using computers, iPads, totally separated from each other, and, needless to say, separated from God. And, I believe, even separated from our own self. God, save us from the world of 'me, me, me, me!' Let us live a life of 'others' - love and concern for one another. Let us be present to God, and let Him be present to us - in faith!