Facing Our Immortality

When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, the contrast between what they had lost and what they were left with must have been overwhelming.  

Whether one looks at the beginning of history biblically or strictly from a scientific point of view, without the spiritual perspective, it’s reasonable to surmise that humankind’s first home outside Paradise would have been a cave.  Archaeologists have verified the authenticity of cave paintings dating back to prehistoric times, suggesting that caves were the first natural shelters for our ancestors.

One can easily imagine that this “first” home would’ve been something providentially prepared by the elements. It offered protection, a place for rest, safety, solidarity with others, and, in general, space for regular human activities.  Though there were drawbacks, comfort was not the predominant issue for our early ancestors. Survival was the constant pressing demand. The concept of leisure was probably not entirely compatible with their existential reality. However, they were already engaged in primordial activities that, in our day and age, are often associated only with hobbies or leisure but for them, were activities (painting pictures of their life, on the walls) that expressed deeper, more significant realities, a way of thinking out loud, of visualizing themselves from outside themselves, taking on the larger perspective needed for growth and development as they became increasingly able to symbolically represent the world around them in order to take back command of creation again. 

There were many fundamental problems to solve in the beginning, such as finding food sources, securing safe habitats, and determining how to manage the darkness that now invaded their days with regular timing. (From a biblical perspective, Adam and Eve before the Fall would not have had to contend with the unknown threats that lurked in the night, as Revelation suggests Paradise restored (and likely original Paradise as well) does not require lamps or the sun, because there the Lord God is its light.

Sin changed our hearts. Sin threw us into a cave. Sin changed life from light and constant communion with light to an ever-present battle with darkness and all the threats that live there.

Because the encounter with our first enemy did not go well, we landed in a pit we could not escape ourselves. The loss in that attack catapulted us from harmony and abundance into a primitive, often brutal fight for survival with eternal consequences. We went from a place of elevated status with God as His friends, to estrangement and the very real possibility of never being able to have intimate communion again with our Father and Lord!  

This is one way to ponder the mystery of Christmas, which approaches. God has such a depth of love for us that He comes in the Person of Jesus, even entering the depths of the primitiveness into which sin has cast us.  And it is undoubtedly primitive, but at the same time, the link to God in His image and likeness, which makes us different and superior to all other creatures, remains intact.  G.K. Chesterton, in “The Everlasting Man,” expresses it thus:  

“The human story began in a cave…the second half of human history which was like a new creation of the world, also began in a cave…it was here that a homeless couple had crept underground with the cattle when the doors of the crowded caravanserai had been shut in their faces and it was here beneath the very floor of the world that Jesus Christ was born.  God also was a Cave-man, and had also traced strange shapes upon the wall of the world, but the pictures that he made had come to life.”  

Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, now seeks to enter the cave of our own hearts. He will seek shelter there this Christmas.  In the cold, dark night, He will be looking for the opening.  He will be looking for warmth and welcome!  He will be looking for simplicity and love.  He will be looking for the wonder and guilelessness of the Shepherds, the expectancy and reverence of the Magi, and the joy and witness to heavenly glory of the angels.  Most of all, He will look for the humble, protective love of Mary and Joseph, a love that will never let go, that will hold Him close within, even through the darkest hours, while He changes the “place” we live back into an “earth” we, He, and all of us, can dwell in together forever.  May your own heart be the chosen and favored spot of the Babe who brings beauty, light, love, and joy back to a world in exile; who makes it a fit dwelling once more for the Redemptive, transcendent, Trinitarian love the Babe wants to gift to all of humanity.  We wait with anticipation to see what He will write on the walls of our own hearts this Christmas.

1. We often accept our fallen state without questioning it, failing to realize that in many ways sin has led us into a much more primitive condition than we realize.  The Lord is always having to raise us up.  What has been your experience of the Lord raising you up?

2. The quote by Chesterton points to the fact that when the Lord speaks, or in this case “draws”, he is creating.  His words and actions are always life-giving, always creative.  The more we are raised out of our fallen condition the more our own words and actions share in this creative power of the Lord.  Have you experienced the Lord working through you in this way?

3. What do you think the Divine Child is looking for in you this Christmas?  What would you like to give Him and what will be the best way to do that?

4. Sin blocked out the light and gave us the night to contend with.  Literally and figuratively.  The night contains things the Lord wants to free us of.  So, he came into our night to do that.   What do you see as elements of the night the Lord has already healed you of?

Love for the Lost!

Just a few weeks ago, on October 19, 2025, Pope Leo XIV presided over a remarkable canonization. What made the canonization so extraordinary was the fact that the Italian priest, Bartolo Longo, had been heavily involved in Satanism and had even served as a satanic priest. But just as admirable as his conversion was the prayer, faithfulness, and love of his family, who never gave up on him, engaging whoever they thought could help him. One professor took him on and began to meet regularly with him, reminding him that, given the direction he was headed in, he would end up in an insane asylum and finally be damned forever. Bartolo recognized his state and agreed to see a Dominican priest who worked with him and brought him back into the Church.  

Bartolo imposed harsh penances on himself to make up for the damage he had done, but nevertheless could not forgive himself. He struggled with despair of being truly forgiven by God. Then he came upon the words of Our Lady, ‘One who propagates my Rosary shall be saved.’ He spent the rest of his life promoting the Rosary and living out its mysteries, building a famous Basilica to Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, as well as founding schools, orphanages, and various other works for the poor. He also wrote books on the Rosary, novenas, and prayer manuals. His reflections, in fact, are the source for the Luminous Mysteries, which Pope St. John Paul II gifted to the Church during his pontificate.

Two main forces animate the lives of all saints: love for God and love for neighbor, especially the lost. Jesus is seen almost always engaging with the lost because of His great love. There is nothing He is not willing to endure for them. And the saints, whether they are great theologians like St. Thomas, or missionaries like St. Francis Xavier, or mystics/contemplatives like the great St. Theresas, are exactly like this as well. Their love for the lost and their desire for the salvation of every soul move them to great heights of holiness, to profound union with Christ in His redemptive work. Even heaven seems oriented to the lost. The scriptures tell us that we’re surrounded by heavenly witnesses who, by implication, cheer us on, root for us, encourage us, and inspire us. And we know that all of heaven rejoices over the one soul that returns, versus the 99 that did not need to be saved.

One of the witnesses our present day needs is the presence of this kind of love, a genuine love for the lost, no matter the depths of darkness they may be in. We have all been saved and should be willing to do whatever it takes to bring others into that same light. But today, the divisiveness and judgment of the Pharisees seem to prevail in us.

Perhaps one of the reasons Jesus tells us not to judge one another, in fact to even love our enemies, is because it’s very difficult to love someone you’ve already judged. And love, not judgment, is our real mandate. We ourselves will be judged on how we love. We’re not going to be judged on the brilliance of our insight into other people or our profound assessments of their motivations and intentions. We are hardly in a position to be impartial about anything, given the strength of our own ego and our bias towards the negative, and given that we are so poor at seeing the goodness of the Father at work. We can hardly claim to be faithful followers of Christ if we do not comport ourselves as He did, nor carry the sentiments of His Heart toward all.  

That is a challenge in a culture like ours, which constantly seeks to polarize people and keep them at odds with each other. Yet, for the believer, unless we recalibrate our own hearts to the love Jesus bears not just for us, but for all, we will not fulfill our real purpose in extending Christ’s saving love to all, nor bear fruit that will count for anything when our lives are weighed before the Lord.

What is the driving force of your life? What is the animating spirit? Because if the major animating force of Jesus‘s life, aside from His love for the Father, is love for the lost, then it should be ours also.

“What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless.”  St. John Paul II  

That understanding is a light that people of today are literally dying to see.

1.  What is your present relationship to the lost?

• What characterizes Jesus’s approach to the lost?

• Why do you think people today are so apathetic in the face of questions of eternal salvation? 

• How can you cultivate Jesus’s attitude toward the lost, His Heart for souls?

It is a simple fact that our lives are lived out in the interaction between three realities: God, (including Mary, the angels and saints, the Church Suffering or Purgatory, etc.) ourselves, ourselves (including all of our human relationships) and the evil one (including the many fallen spirits that work with him). Each of these three realities is characterized by a certain spirit. For our purposes, we will consider the word spirit to mean: a particular way of thinking, feeling, or behaving.

God, of course, is characterized by the divine spirit; we are characterized by the human spirit, and often that means the fallen human spirit; and of course, the devils are characterized by a demonic spirit.

When evaluating an experience or happening, a spiritual diagnosis would examine the kind of spirit or spirits that predominate and whether there’s any evidence of good fruit. We can experience fluctuations or changes in our spirit in response to various inputs.  Sometimes our spirit soars at signs of hope, discovery, or celebration.  Sometimes it is discouraged and doubtful. There are many possibilities, but what we’re concerned with here is the predominant influence in our lives. 

The prophet Simeon tells Our Blessed Mother that a “sword of sorrow will pierce her heart that the thoughts of many may be laid bare.”  One of the general principles that flows from this is that suffering reveals a person’s true thoughts, their true heart, their true orientation in life, their true spirit. It is generally harder to hide or disguise one’s true feelings when suffering.  The question we’re interested in here is what spirit is it that best expresses what we’ve really become inside ourselves.  Dramatic events can be very revealing here. 

A measure of your spirit can be found in weighing your reaction, your thoughts, feelings and belief in the light of sudden, dramatic events such as the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk.  Did you feel horror? Sadness? Joy? Concern for all involved, etc.  Were you happy, or were you truly shocked and mortified? Did you desire vengeance? Were you concerned about justice? What came out of your spirit when that happened? 

In discernment, Spiritual theologians describe the characteristics of the divine spirit, the diabolical spirit, and the human spirit. God always moves us toward the good, whether directly or indirectly. The devil always moves us to evil, either directly or working through weaknesses and wounds we already have. The human spirit can be inclined towards either evil or good, depending on a number of factors, such as whether right reason or selfish desires predominate within us.

The signs by which we may know what spirit is operating are quite distinct from one another. Truth, gravity, enlightenment, discretion, humility, peace, confidence in God, flexibility of will, purity of intention, patience, suffering, self-negation, simplicity, and liberty of spirit, the desire to imitate Christ, and disinterested love are all marks of the influence and movement or presence of God’s Spirit. 

Some of the marks of the evil spirit are lies, violence, nudity, bad language,  cursing, blasphemy, separation, or isolation, accusation, hate, unforgiveness, rejoicing in evil, deceitfulness, destruction, stealing, or destroying another’s property, obsessions, extreme sensuality, envy and pride, spirit of falsity, morbid curiosity, Confusion, anxiety, and deep depression A spirit of pride and vanity, false humility, disobedience and hardness of heart, impatience in suffering and stubborn resentment, uncontrolled passions and a strong inclination to sensuality, hypocrisy, simulation, and duplicity are also some strong indicators of the demonic spirit at work.

In the context of recent events, we saw some people rejoicing over the murder of a person they disagreed with.  Fr. Ripperger pointed out that this is the way demons behave.  They rejoice when bad things happen.  That, along with any other of the above signs in us, should be cause for serious concern. 

The human spirit is always inclined to dissatisfaction. It is a friend of pleasure and an enemy of suffering. It inclines to anything that is compatible with its own temperament, personal tastes, and the satisfaction of self-love. It avoids humiliations, penance, renunciation, and mortification. It seeks success, honors, applause. It’s a great promoter of anything that will rouse admiration or notoriety. In other words, the human spirit tends to care only about its own egoism.  – Sources: Fr. Jordan Aumaan, Thomas a Kempis

Sometimes, it can be difficult to discern between the human spirit and the diabolical spirit. But the spirit of God is easily discerned as distinct from either of them.  Our challenge is to decide whether we want to be known for an ugly spirit or a transformed, godly spirit that is immensely attractive.  Do we want souls to be saved or lost?   The spirit we choose to live with will produce either good fruit or bad fruit.  And that fruit, in the end, will witness for or against us. 

1. Can you think of an example where you were aware of the Divine Spirit operating in a situation?

2. Examples of. the human spirit at work?

3. Examples of the demonic spirit at work?

4. What would you like to cultivate more deeply in yourself? What kind of spirit would you like to be the mark of your own life?

Hearing the Voice of God

People sometimes complain that God doesn’t speak to them, or if he does, they don’t recognize his voice.   We all know stories of people who suddenly hear God speak to them in the midst of extraordinary or dramatic events.   That doesn’t surprise us as much as the idea that God speaks to us all the time.  Yet Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd and says His sheep know His voice.  So, what are we to make of this?

It’s an important question to ask because God has fashioned us in such a way that our inner life is truly dependent on hearing His voice.  And He gives us that capacity from the time we are very young, though most of us don’t recognize it. 

Generally speaking, the most fundamental way God speaks to us is through our consciences, which is why it is so essential to develop a rightly formed, even sensitive conscience.  We are greatly helped in this by remembering that the law of God is written in our hearts. Both the Old and New Testaments hold this as a key concept.  A healthy conscience judges things by this Law written upon our very being. Yet, people often don’t listen, don’t pay attention to their consciences, but instead become lax through the dullness of a conscience that is repeatedly repressed or misdirected.  While some people may have scrupulous consciences, which is not a good thing either, most consciences today are lax in great part because, as our new Holy Father says, “People have become alienated from the God who lives within them.”

But God continually speaks to us. We can begin to accustom ourselves to the voice of God by starting to follow our conscience, becoming aware of the inner voice that alerts us, cautions us, and tells us yes or no to a given course of action.  We are required to take this as seriously as we can, because this is an area now where we have entered upon sacred ground. 

“Conscience is holy and inviolable: like a consecrated altar or a consecrated chalice. It is, therefore, something before which we must stand in awe. Why is it holy? Because it is most intimately connected with God. It is God’s voice within us, calling us and admonishing us, warning us or urging us on, commending us or reproving us. Therefore, conscience binds us, puts us under a strict obligation, so that it is not lawful for us to disobey its commands or prohibitions. It orders us and binds us with the authority of God, who speaks through it.” —Fr. Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

Sometimes God has to reorient or recalibrate our consciences as he did with St. Paul, who, as Saul, firmly believed he was defending his Jewish faith by persecuting Christians.  Jesus had to give him more light to understand what he was doing, and to St. Paul’s eternal credit, he began to follow a renewed conscience now enlightened by Christ Himself.  One can only imagine what the Church might have been like without St. Paul’s renewed conscience.  His life instead became a stunning testament to the fruitfulness of following the voice of  Jesus and obeying His directions.

A friend, really an acquaintance, shared a different but similarly life-changing event.  She was on a helicopter flying out to an offshore oil rig where she worked. It seemed to be a routine flight until the helicopter developed a serious mechanical problem and suddenly began to lose altitude, plummeting down toward the sea. She said she felt calm and rather matter-of-factly said to herself: “So this is it.  I’m going to die.”  But then she heard a voice inside her say, “You better hope not.  You’re not going to like where you’re going.”  

She was not destined to die that day, but you can imagine it was a turning point in her life.  She re-embraced her faith and adjusted her life accordingly, accustoming herself to the Voice within and becoming an authentic disciple.

If you really want to hear God, now is the time to get in touch with your own conscience, where the voice of God speaks.  Do not count on a deathbed miracle conversion.  Though it is possible, we generally die the way we have lived.  It’s not reasonable to expect that we will want to spend all eternity with someone we have ignored our whole lives.  But starting with conscience and growing from there, we can begin to live the intimate relationship God wants for us already here and now. We will find all we are searching for by following the Voice of the Shepherd who leads us to the Father’s House, in many different ways, but especially through the gift of conscience.

1.  What has been your understanding of conscience?

• Do you have a conscience story?  A time when your conscience told you to do or not to do something?  A time when you clearly saw the effects of following or not following your conscience?

• How would you describe your own conscience?  Sensitive? Lazy or lax? Well-formed? Something else?

• In a very real sense, we can see how God uses our consciences to speak to us.  This means that following our conscience becomes very important because it is where our obedience or disobedience to God and His ways will clearly manifest.  How can a conscience that is not well-formed be corrected?

God has given us so many gifts, it’s hard not to take many of them for granted.  Yet none of the gifts God gives are superfluous.  They all have a purpose.  It would be an exercise in the likeness of Our Lady, to ponder the Lord’s gifts and to try to align ourselves with their particular purposes.  In some instances, the accountability for the gift is exceptionally high.  Language is one such gift.

Jesus tells us that we will be accountable for every word we use.  Right away, that tells us that there is something extraordinary about language and our use of it that must be respected.  With a bit of reflection, it becomes apparent that language in all its forms is meant to serve communion, our communion with God and with others.  Likewise, it serves our own inner healing and integrity so that true communion actually becomes possible for us.

Jesus gives such a beautiful example of this in His Resurrection appearances.  The apostles have been separated from the Lord by fear, by violence, by death, by their own unfaithfulness, and in Peter’s case, by his own words of denial. When Jesus rises from the dead, the apostles are still hiding, in fear for their own safety.  After being informed of the Lord’s Resurrection, they must have anticipated his reaction to the fact that none of them had sufficient courage to conquer the overwhelming fear that engulfed them once the events of the Passion began.  St. John the Beloved disciple only managed to be at the Cross because of Our Lady, (a good thing to remember the next time our own courage is challenged.)

When Jesus appears to the apostles behind closed doors, they reasonably could have expected Him to chastise them, even dismiss them for their failures and disloyalties. They knew His first words would determine their future. Jesus, once again, does not speak in the ways of ordinary people.  Instead, “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.” -Jn 20:19. The first words out of His mouth are words which dispel fear, unite, reassure, and even lay the interior ground to be able to receive a divine mission.  The effect of His words is so powerful that something shifts, and the Apostles, now freed of fear, spontaneously rejoice! He again repeats His gift of Peace.   He communicates mercy, which He then expects them to exercise in the ministry He entrusts to them (“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” -Jn 19: 22-23)

Our consideration of the gifts of God has to be examined in the light of the culture in which we currently live.  The sins which violate the purpose of language are well known to us:  slander, libel, dishonesty, calumny, detraction, gossip, cursing, and blaspheming, to mention a few.  Unfortunately, powered by social media, these sins have become almost institutionalized.  A glance at Facebook or any mainstream news cast easily confirms that language is used to separate people from each other, the “good from the bad”, the woke from the unwoke, the “beautiful people from the unbeautiful.”  This corporate gossip then transports its fruits of accusation and contempt to the undiscerning masses. We can allow ourselves to get sucked into this abuse of language, or we can follow the unspoken wisdom in the simple adage mothers have spoken for centuries.  “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”  This is the common-sense version of the biblical directive: “Say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them!” -Eph 4:29. That includes speaking the truth in love, correction, and forgiveness if necessary.  It does not mean evil is ever condoned.  This would work against the unity language should build.  The point is that language should never be used to deliberately hurt others.  Even when Jesus spoke sternly to the Pharisees, His motive was love and communion, not destruction.

We know intuitively that there is something sacred about language.  It’s why we are so hurt when someone lies to us, doesn’t keep their word, or gossips about us.  The violation goes to something deep in us and in them, something sacred to our very being, something even of God’s very nature. 

It is necessary to ask ourselves often, is what I am about to say, engage in, or listen to, something that serves communion?  Or will it serve the kingdom of darkness, of hate and division? In whatever we choose, we will be found worthy of either the Kingdom of God, or God forbid, worthy of the caverns of hell, which will groan eternally with the opposite of everything language is meant to be.

1.  Language is something we take for granted.  We often have little appreciation for its power, its potential, both positive and negative.  What do you think can be done to restore a sense of respect before the power of words?

• Scripture says: Life and death are in the power of the tongue.  (Proverbs 18:21. Also see James 3). Words can be life-giving or death-dealing.  But it presumes we are aware and weigh our words carefully.  Careless words can cause untold damage.  How do you assess your own use of language?

• Who are some people you like to listen to?  What draws you to them?  What is it about the way they use language in particular that gets your attention?

• What examples do you see of language serving communion or, on the other hand, language serving things that are not of God?  How might you address your own use of language?