Everyone has his or her own opinion on just about any topic of discussion there is in our modern day society. At work when we try to determine the best way to do a job with our employer or co-worker, we usually have a little better method of doing the job. If we are talking finances we don't always agree on where we could make our best investments. We all have different opinions on child rearing. Every cook has a recipe that no one else could rival. I know you have heard the old adage, "I never discuss religion or politics". People believe this thought will keep them free from arguments, and in many cases it does, especially with family members. Maybe it's time we begin discussing religion more often, maybe it's time to start discussing politics too, especially when it comes to protecting the sanctity of human life. Now, let's put aside our fears and talk a little about our faith and our religion. First, answer this simple question. Is your religion based on your family tradition? What I mean by this is do you go to church because your mom and dad went every Sunday? I believe most of us could answer that question with an honest yes, that's how we started, however many of us in recent years have felt a calling to be something more in our church and in our faith in God. Exactly where does this calling or desire come from? Many events could spark a greater interest or desire to build a greater relationship with God! For example, human events and world news of disasters like 911, school shootings, children abused, priest or religious involved in pedophilia, even our own children and the various problems they present to us. Abortion has become an accepted method of birth control and the 50% divorce rate that has made the Sacrament of Marriage unimportant to so many. If you have something you love or value very much and you feel you are losing it, you will usually do whatever it takes to keep it or make it better. If given the opportunity to make your income go up substantially you would take advantage of that opportunity. If you could elevate your status in the social or business world you would do whatever it takes to initiate that advancement. There are many things in this modern day world that we tend to focus on that can make us more in the eyes of others. Many of us live by the modern day adage "He who has the most toys wins!" What is important to you? Unfortunately all the things of the world, money, property, possessions and social status are things that we human beings put before God. God becomes second or a distant third in our chain of importance and with that in mind we also have to realize that we are breaking the very first commandment! From Deuteronomy 5: 6 & 7 "I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slave-labour. You will have no gods other than me." By not trusting God and His word and by not putting God first we are breaking the First Commandment. In Matthew 6: 24 through 34 Jesus gives this message to those with faith God and money "No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money." Trust in Providence "That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith? So do not worry; do not say, `What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear? It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Then look to Matthew 6: 18 through 21 True treasures "Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too." Clichés are not one of my favorite notations, however they are with us today and they are used freely. So here's one more, "One thing we can be sure of is death and taxes." We know and accept the fact that we will always be taxed and we know that one-day we are going to die but we don't always like to acknowledge or accept that fact. Many of us think and live like we are going to live forever. I lost my first wife at age 47 to Cancer in 1996, we were married 30 years, she was a wonderful woman and she loved God very much. I know she is in Heaven today. I was so confident of that at the time I ordered her headstone I had the following words inscribed on it: "Death was her doorway into Heaven." What a beautiful thought and realization that was for me, so much so that I have to tell you with all sincerity that my faith in God makes me look forward to the day I will meet God in Heaven. Yes it's true, I look forward to my death and I pray daily that I can share this faith with my family members and friends and to all with whom I come into contact with so they too may feel the same great anticipation that I feel. So now let's talk about our relationship with God. First we have to ask ourselves this question: Is Holy Spirit for today? The Bible explains the third person of God so well; there is a wealth of religious and spiritual history throughout the Bible. Now the next question: Is the Bible and what it says for today or did that just apply to the times when Jesus Christ walked the earth? When reading the Bible or listening to scripture we hear so many stories of Miracles and Healings, Love and Caring, Sharing and Helping. We learn from Hebrews 17: 6 as it is written: The Lord replied, "If you had faith like a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." Jesus also healed the sick, he raised Lazarus from the dead, He fed 5,000 men and only Gods know how many women and children with just a basket containing a few fish and loves of bread and he drove out demons and evil spirits. At this point you may be thinking that this was fine for back then and this was great work for Jesus, but you may ask what does this have to do with me? If our Faith and Religion and God is for today then how do I see Him acting in my every day life and what is expected of me from God? To better understand the answers to this question we must go back to Pentecost. Pentecost took place after the death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus appeared to his 11 disciples a final time before He returned to Heaven with His Father. Jesus made a very important and very clear statement to His disciples there, He said the following from: Mark 16: 14 through16 "Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, "Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Here Jesus explains what will take place in believers after He ascends to the Father in Heaven). These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover." Jesus told the eleven that He was leaving them to be with the Father in Heaven, he told them that He was leaving them with the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit that His believers would do far greater things than He had even done while He was with us here on earth. From Hebrews 2: 4 "God himself confirmed their witness with signs and marvels and miracles of all kinds, and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the various ways he wills." From Hebrews 3: 7 "That is why, as the Holy Spirit says: If only you would listen to him today!" Go to the New Jerusalem Bible and in the opening letter from Luke just before chapter 1, it is noted: Luke also brings out the importance of individual spiritual qualities, especially prayer, joy and praise of God, and the essential part played by the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. Look to LUKE 11: 9 through 13 "So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened. What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake? Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" It is your time to make your decision and commitment, after hearing all this do you want to live the life Jesus Christ wants for you? Do you want to fully obey the first Commandment? Do you want to believe that this life is just the doorway to Eternal Life, to Paradise, to Heaven? You have the facts, may God grant you the Graces to have the desire.