Heavenly Father,
We know Your Son became incarnate to bring You and Your Kingdom to this world and to save us from Satan’s temptations and seductions. Help us to build Your Kingdom and draw closer to You as we pursue the many opportunities to help Your Church, Your people, and the culture. Protect us from evil through Your sacraments, prayers, and attempts to follow Your Son’s teaching. May we be transformed in Your light and love as we place our trust in You and Your infinite mercy.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
We Know Your Son Became Incarnate
The doctrine of the Resurrection is central to Christianity—so much so that St. Paul states:
"If there is no [R]esurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."
—1 Corinthians 15:13-15
But are there any ways of verifying the claims made by the Christian church about Jesus’ Resurrection in glory? As a matter of fact, there are. Through the use of historical criteria, exegetes such as N.T. Wright and Gary Habermas have found five historical ways of verifying the claims made by the Christian church about Jesus’ Resurrection:
- The common elements in the Gospel narratives about Jesus’ risen appearance to the apostles.
- The historical evidence of the Resurrection is in the writings of St. Paul.
- N.T. Wright’s argument is based on the remarkable rise of Christian Messianism.
- N.T. Wright’s Historical Analysis of the Christian Mutation of Second Temple Judaism.
- The historical status of the empty tomb.
May We Be Transformed in Your Light and Love
“Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
—Matthew 6: 1-6
The opportunities in suffering not only give a noble purpose to this life but also carry forward to its fulfillment in an eternal and perfectly loving life. It is a noble purpose that lasts forever. Temporal imperfections in this world lead to eternal perfection in the next. This is the logic of unconditional love.
But what can we do in moments of great suffering and strife? How do we overcome our woes and truly embrace our suffering? Fr. Spitzer says that the answer lies in trusting God with abandonment.
To trust in God with abandonment does not mean abandoning faith. Rather, to trust in God, we must abandon ourselves to divine providence. God actively wills our existence at every moment through a perfect act of life. We can trust in God by abandoning ourselves to His providential love.
We can give ourselves over to God by resigning our fatigue and suffering to Him. The moments where we are most tired are when it should be the easiest to resign our strife to Him.
Trust in God means recognizing that He is the one in charge. By realizing He is the one in charge, we can trust in the reality that He will always catch us.
Did This Prayer and Reflection Speak to You?
If you found that your heart needed this prayer and your faith found peace in the further reflections, consider continuing your journey with these two Fr. Spitzer titles:
God So Loved the World probes the major question: Even if we accept that God is real, why believe He has personally revealed Himself to mankind? Fr. Spitzer does an in-depth examination of Jesus’ forgiveness of sinners, teachings, miracles, and His rising from the dead.
Christ Versus Satan in Our Daily Lives is divided into two main parts: the realities of God’s goodness and spiritual evil and recognizing and overcoming diabolical tactics ranging from temptation and deception to deadly sins. Fr. Spitzer shows readers how to experience God’s peace even during suffering and persecution.
“And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
—Matthew 6: 16-18
