Page 19 - Michael 2024 January

it is an incentive to do these very things’ (Gaudium have lost everything. To live on earth ignoring this
et spes, n. 34). objective would be pure madness. We are but pil-
“The mission of the Church, consequently, grims upon the earth; we are only passing through.
is not only to bring men the message and grace Our true home is in Heaven, but be careful; we do
of Christ, but also to permeate and improve the not go there automatically. As it is written at the end
whole range of the temporal order with the evan- of the Gospel of Matthew on the Last Judgement,
gelical spirit’ (Apostolicam actuositatem, n. 5). The we will only go there if we have put into practice the
spiritual and temporal orders ‘are distinct; they love of God and of our neighbor. Otherwise, it will
are nevertheless so closely linked that God’s plan be the eternal fire of Hell, being deprived of God for
is, in Christ, to take the whole world up again and all eternity.
make of it a new creation, in an initial way here on Without the help of God, we cannot remain in
earth, in full realization at the end of time’ (ibid). the state of grace. We totally need His help, His Sac-
“Heartened by this certainty, Christians walk raments. To remain in the state of grace, the Pope
courageously on the world’s highways, seeking to suggests to the youth these five means: frequent
follow in God’s footsteps and to cooperate with Him Communion and Confession, prayer, meditat-
in giving birth to a horizon in which ‘steadfast love ing on Holy Scripture, and Eucharistic Adoration.
and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace God’s greatest desire is to live in union with us in
will kiss each other’ (Ps 85 [84]:11).” our hearts. This is why He created for us the sacra-
ment of the Holy Eucharist, which is the most intim-
Give testimony to the truth ate means of uniting Himself with us: to give Him-
In concrete terms, what must we do? Give testi- self as Food. What a great mystery of Love!
mony to the truth, defend the truth, stand up for
justice and God’s rights. Before being condemned
to death, Jesus answered to Pilate: “For this I was
born, and for this I came into the world; that I
should give testimony to the truth” (John 18:37).
We must defend the truth, whether some people
like it or not.
You are afraid of persecution? Think about it in
this way: Whatever you say, you will never be able
to please everyone. Therefore, since you can never
please everyone, make sure to at least please God;
that’s the only thing that matters. God does not even
ask us to succeed in everything that we do, but He
wants for us to at least try; to try to be witnesses.
What is impossible for you to do, God will do it,
provided you do your small part, cooperating in His
work of salvation. One example of being a witness
for anyone who knows about the work of MICHAEL:
you can make it a duty to give testimony with this
magazine by making it known to others and by find-
ing new subscribers.
In each situation, do not ask yourself what others
are thinking about you, but rather, what God is think-
ing about you. We must never be ashamed of God or
of our faith. “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the But, in order to receive the Body of Christ, we
Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He must not have serious (mortal) sin on our con-
comes in the glory of His Father with the holy an- science. The first condition for salvation is to recog-
gels” (Mark 8:38). Jesus tells us: “Fear not…I am with nize that we are sinners and that we need the for-
you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20.) giveness of God in the confessional. He who says
The state of grace that there is no sin cannot be saved because he
Our goal towards God should be “to know Him, does not need God’s forgiveness. To be forgiven,
to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to serious (mortal) sins must be confessed individually
to a priest in the confessional. v
be happy with Him forever in the next” (Baltimore
Catechism, Ques. 6). If we miss out on this, then we Alain Pilote

www.michaeljournal.org MICHAEL January/February 2024 19