He did not go to Church even that Sunday and his mother asked the rhetorical question, ‘Did you not go to Church even today’. He suppressed his anger and retorted, ‘What good will it does for me to go to Church every day, I don’t want to waste time listening to the foolish things the priests preach.’ He continued to spend the rest of his Sundays doing what pleased him.

Years later he was caught in a murder case and spends his time in jail rejected by everyone awaiting his death sentence. His meeting with a Chaplin led him to a complete conversion and armed with the absolution his confession gave him he faced death. The night before he could go to his death he held on to the hands of the Chaplin and said, “ Father, whatever I loved in this world deserted me and I did not realize that the God whom I hated the most, loved me and continues to love me. I failed because I did not realize this truth.”

It is the plan of Satan that we hate God. He knows that only when we hate God will we go after the happiness this materialist world has to offer. Jesus wanted to ensure that we do not become a slave to all that this world has to offer and lose our souls. So he gave up his life on the cross so that we might have eternal life. The plan of the devil is for us to forget the sacraments and go behind him to his world. Let us take care not to stray from the path of God and save ourselves through the sacraments of Church.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men! (Titus 2:11).

ELDHO PAUL