I think it goes without saying at this point that this world is deeply secular. But even if it does go without saying, it needs to be said – because we can’t go on living like it isn’t true. It is important that we acknowledge the truths of this world, however challenging they may be. We want this world to be Christianised, we want to see the faith spread throughout the world. We want to see all nations praise the Lord and bend the knee at the name of Jesus Christ. But this isn’t happening, and it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. At least, it’s not going to happen unless we actually do something about it rather than just sitting idly by and allowing secularism to continue to strengthen its grip on the world.

What happened in France at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games over the weekend was a disgrace. But this mockery of the central pillar of the Christian faith – the Last Supper in which the Eucharist was instituted by Christ – points towards a much greater issue at play in this postmodern society in which we live. 

I think we really need to look at this event within the context of time. In the week prior to the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris, the National Eucharistic Congress was being held in Indianapolis in the US State of Indiana. This event spanned five days over which fifty thousand Catholics came together to worship and adore Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Fifty-thousand Catholics on fire for the Lord, on fire for their faith, praying, worshiping, praising, deepening their faith, and glorifying God. It was amazing to see (seriously, look it up online – there’s so many wonderful pictures and recordings from the event).

When I saw what took place at the opening ceremony in Paris, the first thought that crossed my mind was one of disgust. I was appalled that France would see fit to openly mock one of the most important, critical, and meaningful events in the Catholic faith. To create what has been rightly deemed a Satanic version of the Last Supper is an atrocity that has rightly attracted the deep scorn it deserves. As a Catholic who has a deep love and respect for the faith, it’s difficult not to become upset and irate about what these people decided to do.

But after thinking about it a little more, another thought crossed my mind – and I think this is apt. There is clearly a spiritual element to all of this. It is no mere coincidence that this public act of mockery of the Institution of the Eucharist took place just after an event that centred around the Eucharist. The devil is clearly not happy with the deep public acts of devotion to Christ in the Eucharist which took place in the US and is attempting to push back with a public perversion of the event in which Christ instituted the greatest Sacrament of all – the nourishing Sacrament of His own Body and Blood.

We see this same perversion in other elements of secular society. Take, for example, the language surrounding the promotion of abortion and the pro-choice point-of-view. Those who advocate the pro-choice side of the issue often use the phrase “my body, my choice.” At the Last Supper, in instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus spoke the words of Institution that we now hear repeated by the Priest acting in persona Christe at every Mass – “This is my Body, given up for you.” 

Satan loves to pervert that which is good. He brings about ideologies which infect society, corrupting the human person from an age that is becoming increasingly younger to take on a perception of both their own self and the world which is far from the truth. The body is viewed as nothing more than an object rather than the beautiful creation of God that it truly is. The quest for power is viewed as greater than the search for truth. Service is seen as that which one must obtain from another, rather than that which one must give. People become so wound up, so obsessed with seeking worldly pleasures and obtaining validation from their peers in this world that they fail to contemplate man’s ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal is not to become powerful. It is not to attain the status of a god-king on this earth, to have thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions working for you, serving your every need and whim. That may provide some temporary pleasure and satisfaction, but a man in such a position will never truly be satisfied.

The ultimate goal is the very opposite of this – it is to serve and be a witness to truth. Christ Himself came not to be served, but to serve. It is in the imitation of Christ that man finds His true purpose – in service and sacrifice.

What the world bore witness to in Paris was a retaliation of Satan to the Eucharistic revival. In the very midst of the revival, Satan perverted that which both brought about and encapsulates truth all at the same time – the Eucharist and its very Institution.

It is almost ironic, then, that only hours after the disgrace of the opening ceremony, a blackout occurred in Paris, with the only building remaining alight being the Sacre Coeur. The history of this famous Catholic Church dates back to the 1800s. Following the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian war, French Catholics linked the defeat with the sins committed by the French throughout the French Revolution. They decided to build a Basilica on the hill of Montmarte (which translates to ‘Mount Martyr’) dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in reparation for the sins of the French Revolution.

Now, over 100 years after the Basilica of Sacre Coeur was built, the Church is yet again signalling to the sins of the French. While the Olympic organisers may mock the central tenet of the Christian faith, they do so at their own peril.

In the midst of darkness, the only light that remains is the light of Christ. 

It is clear that God will not be mocked.

In a message delivered during Lent in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI said something that rings truer with each passing day – “We must not remain silent before evil.” And this is a task that each of us must take on. Persecution of the Christian faith is ramping up. We are fortunate that, as it stands, this persecution is limited to mockery and some government infractions on religious freedom in Western nations, particularly first-world countries. In other nations, Christians have had most, if not all, of their religious freedoms removed, and many are even imprisoned, tortured, or killed for their faith.    

The Church must be strong in the face of persecution, whatever form it may take. We as Christians have a responsibility to stand up for what we believe in, to not only defend our faith but to proclaim it, especially in times like these. If we do not remain steadfast, pushing back against secularism in all its wretched evil, it will only continue to pervade society and steer more innocent souls onto the path that leads to hell, not only in this worldly life, but also in the life that is to come.

But we must also remember that the evil in this world also signifies the presence of good. Without good there would be no evil. As without truth there would be no lie, no deception. The ultimate good, the ultimate truth – the presence of God in this world – lies in the Eucharist. And while evil may try to mock that, it will always remain true and good, and its power will always be greater than that of evil.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. In fact, it’s been about three months. That wasn’t deliberate. I can promise you all that I have tried and tried to write something over these last three months. But every time I started writing something, I looked at it and it was just a mess. Maybe that’s kind of reflective of how I’ve been these last few months. I may not have looked it on the outside, but I’ve been drained. My creative energy which I’ve done my best to exhibit here through my writing for many years has been drained, sapped, on the brink of death. And that has been incredibly painful.

These last three months, or really six months, have been some of the most challenging I’ve faced. I do wonder if maybe, after having a renewal in faith last year, I was due for some trials and maybe a bit of suffering. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t borne it as well as I should have. It’s been a struggle at the best of times. I have battled with myself, my mind, my heart, and, in all honesty, with God. I have wrestled with God, struggling to trust, wondering why.

I think the ‘why’ question is probably one of the most significant and yet unanswerable questions we ever ask. And we all ask it. Why? Why now? Why me? Why this? Why is this allowed to happen? Why did this happen? Why can’t it be different? Why can’t this change? Why couldn’t it have happened differently? Why am I here? Why am I on this path? Why are bad things allowed to happen? Why must we suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people?

That last one is probably one of the biggest questions we as rational human beings have.

Philosophers ask why all the time. There’s a bit of a joke that you should never ask a philosopher ‘why’ because they’ll go on forever. The thing is, we ask ‘why’, but there will never truly be an answer – not in this world. The answer to this question lies beyond this world. 

I have spent countless hours these last three months, these last six months, wondering why about a lot of things. The answers have evaded me for months and probably for good reason. But I think there are lessons to be learnt, and so I’d like to share a few thoughts now that I’ve got my head back on relatively straight.

Never take the moments of joy that come your way for granted. Seriously, this is important. In the times when you are enduring struggles and seemingly immense challenges in your life, these moments of joy will give you the energy to keep going. When you are in them, cherish them – try not to think about everything that’s ahead, just live in the moment. That can be hard, but it’s worth it. Because we can get so caught up in the worries of tomorrow that we miss out on the joys of today. And if we miss those moments, the struggle will just be worse.

The power of community is something else. I think this has really struck me the last few months while I’ve been battling through my own struggles. If I didn’t have the people that I do around me, I don’t think I would have managed to keep going to the extent that I did. I am so grateful for my people, who make me want to push on and keep going, who give me the drive to pursue the good not only for my own sake, but for all of them too.

At times it can feel like everything is being taken from you. All that you hoped for, all that you worked towards, all that you desired, all that you have been building is swept out from under you. It seems like every door is being closed, every window shut, and there is no way out. But while I have wrestled with God, what I have come to realise is that I would not be able to get through anything without Him. While I may struggle, while this life may be hard at times, I would not want to do it without Him. And so springs forth from my mind the greatest realisation of all:

While everything else in this world can be taken from me, the only thing that cannot be taken is God. The only person who can remove God from my life is me.

This is it. This is what we all need to come to realise. Because everything can get hard. We’re all going to go through seasons of pruning. We’re all going to be faced with challenges that we are all going to have to deal with in one way or another. Sometimes we may be able to handle them head-on. But sometimes the best we can do is endure. And sometimes even that is a challenge. Sometimes enduring can be difficult. Sometimes it can be exhausting. Sometimes it is all we can do to just get through another day.

Some days we can become so overwhelmed by everything. We can struggle to make sense of what’s happening in our lives. We can struggle to understand it. Some days God is right in front of us, right there in the Blessed Sacrament, and yet it feels like He is so far away. 

Some days we go to pray and we don’t even know what to say anymore. And yet just a few months earlier prayer was no issue. But I think it’s at this point that we realise that maybe our prayer had become incredibly formulaic. That is not to say it was not still prayer, that it was not still valid and true, but that it was more just repetitious. It wasn’t necessarily a meaningful conversation with God.

What I have come to find over these last three months is that the most meaningful conversations with God seem to take place in moments of raw emotion. Sometimes in our darkest moments, in moments where we are all but ready to give into the spiral and turn to despair – these are the moments in which we must turn to God, even if we have to force ourselves to. Even if we feel like every prayer we make is not being heard, even if we feel like every door we attempt to run through is being closed, even if we feel like God is distant, we should still go to Him.

When we are upset, when we are angry, when we are on the verge of despair, when we are struggling with the weight of everything, like it’s all just crashing down upon us, like it’s all just caving in, we should run to God. We should talk to Him, even if our conversation is laden with the most raw emotions. He wants us to be real. He wants us to be honest. He wants us to be genuine about how we’re feeling. He doesn’t want us to be living a lie. He doesn’t want us to come to Him pretending everything is ok when it isn’t. He loves us too much to accept such a lie.

I think it’s timely that I write and publish this reflection this week for two reasons.

The Gospel this Sunday for the 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time focuses on rest. We hear Jesus speaking to the Apostles upon their return from being sent out:

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, “You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while”, for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat.

This highlights an important truth that we all really need to reflect on. We can get so caught up in the busyness of life, be it work, study, ministry, or whatever else occupies our time, that we forget to take time to rest. While we can often keep going and going and going, we tend to do so at our own expense. We can become so used to pushing on that we can easily become exhausted, and while we may push on, we end up unable to put in as much effort as we might hope, because our energy is so depleted that we physically, or more often mentally, cannot contribute so much effort.

We are no longer living, we are merely surviving.

It is so important for us to find moments of rest. Rest allows us to refocus, re-energise, and refuel. Ministry, work, study, and everything else we fill our lives with are not unimportant, and we are by no means neglecting them by resting. In fact, we will be better able to undertake these areas of our lives with rest than if we continued without it.

But while rest is important, there is a far greater reason for which this reflection is as timely as it is. And it’s something I think is so beautiful and yet so hard for so many of us.

Over the last three months, throughout all the struggles and challenges I’ve been dealing with, one small part of Matthew’s Gospel has kept on popping up. It’s a few lines from Jesus’ preaching. 

But before I quote them, I would like to ask you, the reader, to do something for me. As you read these words, imagine Jesus is speaking them directly to you. Forget everything else that’s going on around you. Forget all the noise of the world. Tune out of it all for just a moment and let your mind, heart, and soul focus on Jesus as He speaks these words to you:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Take a moment and read that again. If you need to, feel free to pause reading this here to just take in those words. Because they are everything. They are more than I could ever say. They are more than any words I write could ever convey, could ever do, could ever inspire.

Over these last three months, these words have presented themselves in one way or another at some of my darkest moments – moments where I was beginning to give up on hope, where I felt like God wasn’t listening, where He couldn’t be further away from me. 

It was almost providential that this section from Matthew’s Gospel just happened to be the Gospel reading on the day that this chapter came to a close.

It should be easy to just give everything over to God, to give everything over to Jesus, and take rest in Him, right? It would seem that way. But we so often struggle to do this. It is so difficult to give it all to Him.

It is so beautiful that Jesus speaks these words to us. It is so wonderful that Jesus wants us to come to Him and take on His yoke. And yet this is so incredibly hard for us to do. Everything we are shouldering, every worry, fear, anxiety, doubt, all that is weighing us down, it is so hard to give up. I think it can often come down to a sense of wanting to be in control. It’s not that we are controlling or that we just want to control everything. We don’t want to control everything because that would be overwhelming and exhausting. But we also don’t want to give up control of everything in our lives, because then we would feel like we have no control over anything at all.

We often struggle to cede control of everything because it can induce a fear within us that certain scenarios will play out that are not what we are hoping for – that everything will just go wrong, that all we are hoping for will crash and burn and that we will be left broken. 

But shouldering those burdens, carrying around all the struggles we are facing, dealing with all the anguish, the anxiety, the worries of everything that could go wrong, the fears of what the future could look like – it’s so exhausting. It’s so tiring.

I think that’s what really hit me these last few months. My mind was racing constantly with thoughts, feelings, emotions, fears, worries about the future, about getting my life in order, about worst case scenarios. I was thinking so much, getting so caught up in considering everything that could go wrong. 

And I realised that I was so tired. 

To be honest, I don’t know how I kept going sometimes. I was so emotionally, mentally, and spiritually drained. But my body just kept moving. Physically, I was able to go on. I wasn’t sure it would ever come to an end, at least not soon.

And all I could ask God for was peace.

For me, my life began to turn around when I finally realised my calling. But it all really began to come together when I went away on a weekend retreat with an amazing group of young Catholics a couple of weekends ago. That retreat brought me back to life. For too long I felt like a shell of myself, like I was not living but only surviving. After that retreat, I felt alive for the first time in at least three months, possibly even six.

Following that retreat, everything began to come together. While there had been a couple of setbacks in getting onto the path to which I was being called, I finally found my way there. And it all culminated in those incredible words of Jesus being proclaimed on Thursday.

I finally found peace. And what I have now come to realise is that there is a strangely ironic fundamental truth to reaching this point:

Sometimes we must endure pain to find peace.

My peace was not found in myself, but in Jesus and the people He has brought into my life and surrounded me with. I would not have been able to get through these last few months without them. It’s funny how it took going through this season of pruning to really draw close to the people who help me to grow. If it wasn’t for them, I’m not sure where I would be right now. 

Actually, if it wasn’t for them I don’t think I would have realised my calling. I say this with truth and confidence because it is the very people who I am surrounded by in community that have inspired my decision to pursue a career in Secondary Teaching. I am now on a path to teaching both English and Religious Education. It is through the work I have done in Youth Leadership at my Parish that I have realised just how important it is for our young people to be provided with opportunities to learn about and encounter Jesus. I want to see every young person given such opportunities. And it is my hope that in pursuing this career I will be able to bring the faith to so many others, to share it with so many young people, and to provide them with every opportunity possible to know Jesus, to encounter Him, and to grow closer to Him in every moment of every day.

And just a note: it never ceases to amaze me to see how faith-filled our youth are at the Parish that I feel privileged to be a part of. In an age where so many young people are consumed by the pillars and vices of the secular world, it is so wonderful, so inspiring to see just how dedicated the young people at this Parish are to their faith.

It is so wonderful, so beautiful, so powerful to be able to say that I am no longer just surviving – I am now living. I feel alive, and I’m ready to start taking leaps of faith with Jesus guiding me along the way. I know I can trust Him, and I know I can find rest in Him whenever I need it.

And so I want to encourage you all to do likewise. Whatever you are going through, whatever challenges you are facing, whatever worries, doubts, fears, and anxieties you are struggling with, whatever burdens you are shouldering, whatever pain and suffering you are enduring – bring it all to Jesus. Run to Him. Talk to Him. Even if you just want to let out all your emotions, there is no better place to do it then at a church, in a Chapel, in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

While there may be challenges, while things may get hard, while it might seem the world is collapsing in on you, remember and take heart in the fact that there will be an end to this – it will not go on forever (even though it often may seem like it will). Remember that while everything else in this world can be taken from you, the only person that can remove Jesus from your life is you. So, if I was to offer one piece of advice, it is this: run to Adoration, and know that Jesus is with you always. Start with that, and peace will come.

There are great evils in this world. Events that have taken place over the past week are evident of that. Three attacks, three stabbings, three acts of terror. Innocent lives have been taken. 

A teenage boy in Doonside in Sydney’s west had his life cut short by another teenager in a fatal stabbing. His older brother was also injured in the attack.

People who were just out for a day at the shops were terrorised. Six of them, who would have never imagined it would be their last day on earth, were murdered. More were injured, including a nine-month old baby. It really makes you wonder what would possess someone for them not just to go on a killing spree, but to stab an infant. The infant’s mother, in the most selfless act a mother could every carry out, that no mother should ever have to carry out, handed her precious bundle of joy over to a stranger in the hope that at least her child would survive after she herself was fatally injured.

Just as Sydney was reeling from the shocking attack at Bondi, a third attack, this time in a religious setting. As Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was delivering a sermon at Christ The Good Shepherd church in Wakeley, another teenager walked up to him and attacked him, launching the church into chaos with worshippers swarming and causing havoc. Four individuals were injured, including the Bishop, who was taken to hospital. Thankfully, Bishop Emmanuel is in a stable condition and is resting in hospital.

Three days, three attacks. If this isn’t a sign of the presence of evil in this world, I really don’t know what is.

It seems that Satan is working overtime lately.

It is understandable that there is a significant amount of fear in the air at the moment, particularly in Sydney where these attacks took place. Fear is a natural human response to acts of terror. We fear what we know to be dangerous. We fear what we know can kill us. Many of us likely fear death.

So when we see an act of terror take place, it is only human that we fear that something might happen to us, that we might end up being the victim of a similar act.

Some, including Christians, may now fear that they will be attacked in their place of worship. No individual should have to fear going to worship God. No Catholic should have to fear going to church, attending Mass, receiving the Sacraments.

And no one should stop going to church out of fear. This is exactly what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to be afraid. He wants you to focus on that fear, to let it overcome you, to allow it to keep you away from the church, from the Sacraments and, ultimately, from God Himself. If Satan can prevent you from going to church, he can prevent you from receiving absolution for your sins and keep you away from the nourishment of the Holy Eucharist.

We must not fear. We must not leave the Lord nor the Church out of fear that someone may try to attack us when we are worshipping. If anything, we should run to Him and ask for His protection. We must put on the full armor of God as we are told in St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:10-18)

We should not fear, but pray for those who would seek to persecute us. We should pray for those who launch such disgraceful attacks. When Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked, he did not hold it against his attacker, but forgave him and even prayed over him just after the attack occurred. We should follow his example. It is not for us to seek vengeance against such individuals. Vengeance is for the Lord, not for us.

The only fear we should have is the fear of the Lord.

Now more than ever, the world needs prayer. We need to be warriors in prayer, to be bold in our faith, not to cower but to stand strong in the Lord.

If you are on the fence, it’s time to make a decision and get off it. Being lukewarm is not an option. Satan owns the fence, and being lukewarm is not going to lead you on the narrow path to salvation. The only thing that can give this world hope is the faith. That much is clear. No human effort alone can ever hope to bring about peace. Only through God can we achieve such a feat.

This is no mere worldly fight against the forces of evil. It is no mere war on terrorism. We are in a spiritual battle. Satan is doing all he can to draw as many souls as possible away from God. He is attempting to take as many people as he can down with him to the fiery depths of Hell. And He will not target those who are already wallowing in a life of sin. Those individuals are already his (unless, of course, they repent, turn away from their sins, and run back to the Lord).

No, the Evil One has his sights set on those who are still in God’s hands. He seeks to knock down those who are lukewarm, the fence-sitters, onto his side of the fence and keep them there. He will go after those who are getting closer to God, who are growing in His graces. He will offer them temptations, attempting to lead them down a path where they will stumble and fall and, rather than taking the hand of the Lord and getting back up, lie there on the ground and wallow in self-pity.

Here’s the crux of it, and this is particularly important for those who are lukewarm. Satan hates you. He despises you. He has the utmost contempt for humanity. It is what contributed to his fall from Heaven. The Angels of the Lord were not created without free will. So, when the they were shown God’s plan, His wondrous plan for mankind, some of them, led by Lucifer (‘light-bearer’), rebelled and were banished by St Michael and the Angels of Heaven to the depths of Hell, a place of torment where all the souls present must contemplate for eternity their separation from God, the loss of the ultimate love that they will never get back, that they will never again be able to attain.

Satan hates you. He always has.

But God loves you. And He always will, no matter what. It doesn’t matter what you do, what you have done – He will always be there waiting for you to run back into His loving arms (note: this is not an open invitation to just go on committing sins. Just because God will welcome you back if you repent of those sins does not mean you should be doing whatever you want if it is sinful).

Now I think that when it comes to deciding who to side with, the choice is pretty obvious, right? You’d pick the guy who loves you unconditionally over the guy who absolutely hates you with a passion and wants to lead you into an eternity of torment, suffering, and anguish with him.

And let’s get real for a minute. No one really likes a fence-sitter. No one likes something that is lukewarm. Even the Lord says as much through Sacred Scripture:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)

Being lukewarm is not going to do you any favours. It’s not going to lead you to eternal paradise. If you leave this world and you are lukewarm in your faith, you cannot just turn up for your final judgement with God and say “well, I wasn’t sure…”. That’s not going to cut it. You either choose Heaven (possibly with some time in Purgatory beforehand for final purification of any temporal punishment from sins that have been forgiven), or Hell. There is no limbo. There is no second chance. You don’t get to go to God and suddenly start believing just because you see that He’s real. You need to make that decision while you’re still here living out your earthly life.

We are in a spiritual battle and we need solid, faithful warriors of Christ. We need good, holy, dedicated Christians who have put on the full armor of God and are ready to fight back against the wiles of the Evil One. 

Yes, the ultimate battle, the war against sin and death, has already been won by Our Lord. But the battle for souls continues. Each of us are called to play our part in leading souls to Christ, helping them on their journey. At the very least, we must work to keep them out of the hands of Satan.

And so we must not be afraid. No matter what Satan tries to keep us away from the Church and the Sacraments, to remove us from the Lord’s graces, to tear us from the loving arms of the Father, we must stand firm in our faith. If we are becoming affected by fear, we should pray for an increase in fortitude. And we should continue to pray for those who would seek to commit grievous acts and cause terror. Because those are the people that Satan is dragging down into Hell with him.

Be fearless, fight for the Lord, and pray like the world depends on it. Because it does.

Violence will only be overcome by virtue. Fear will be overcome by fortitude. Persecution will be overcome by prayer.

Do not be afraid. The Lord is with you always.

May the souls of all those whose lives were cruelly taken from them in these stabbings rest in the peace of the Lord.

It’s time to get real. Us Catholics can easily become far too reserved and complacent when it comes to dealing with this world, attempting to catechise and bring all that is secular in line with the values of Christianity. We can fail to be advocates for what is right, and in doing so allow that which is wrong to fester and continue to spread like a disease throughout society.

I get it – sometimes it can be incredibly daunting to go out into the world and evangelize it. When the weight of the world is crashing against you, it can feel incredibly overwhelming. Every attempt to make a change can feel like a huge task, an uphill battle that you’re not sure you can even come close to winning.

But that’s just it. It’s not about winning. It’s not about being hugely successful. It’s not even about changing the entire world.

It’s about bringing about change one small step at a time. It’s about having a series of little wins, small successes, along the way, that can all accumulate into creating a greater change down the track.

Just look at Jesus. When Christ was on Earth, He did not change the world overnight with His teachings. Some people understood what He was saying, and yet many did not. The Bread of Life discourse in John 6 is a good example of how even those who had been following Him deserted Him, struggling with what He was teaching them.

While Jesus did change the world through the great sacrificial offering He made of Himself on the Cross, there were still many – especially those who had pushed for His crucifixion – who did not believe in Him or His teachings.

I mean, just consider this – even after Jesus rose from the dead in His glorified Body, there were still many who did not believe. 

The world is never going to listen completely. But we can bring about change and help to improve the morality of this world over time, even if it is going to present challenges and challenge us.

When Jesus began His public ministry He called Twelve individuals, Twelve ordinary men who would become His Twelve Apostles – Twelve of the most famous individuals in the history of the Church. These men were not just called to follow Jesus. They were also called to bear witness to the Truth, and to share what had been taught them and bestowed upon them by the Lord, their Master, Teacher, and Friend.

See, Jesus could not remain here on Earth in human form forever. His ministry is one that transcends. It is not a solo ministry. It is one that requires others – it is a shared ministry, first entrusted to the Twelve, then, through them, to us. The Lord needed to ensure this ministry that He began Himself would continue after He had ascended back to the Kingdom to take his rightful place at the right hand of God the Father. The men He chose were given a great gift and an immense responsibility all at once. And they would ultimately give their lives for the sake of carrying out that responsibility.

But they were not left to do it alone. Not only did they have each other and those who they themselves would teach and form into their successors, but the Lord sent another gift upon them following His earthly departure – the Holy Spirit. With the Spirit descending upon them, they were filled with all that they needed to carry out the mission begun by their Teacher.

We can see how, immediately following the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, the Apostles (the Eleven given Judas was no longer with them) went out and began preaching the Word of God to all who were around them. Much of this is accounted for in Acts, which details the ministry of the Apostles following the Lord’s Ascension. The Church reads through these accounts during the Easter season. We hear of the boldness of Peter and the Apostles as they preach to the people of Jerusalem, fearlessly defying the Sanhedrin. Where before they would have possibly cowered from doing such a thing, they now act as changed men – transformed, renewed and restored by the power of the Spirit.

Like the Apostles, we are called to carry on the mission of Christ in the world. It is all well and good to just be a Catholic who goes to Mass each week and prays every so often. But there is a world out there that is becoming increasingly secular, and those with the loudest voices are those who do not believe. Those who do not have the faith, and even those who are lukewarm in their faith, are incredibly vulnerable to the deceitful works, ideas, and narratives spread throughout the world by the prince of evil. They desperately need to hear the Word of God, to have the message of Christ brought to them.

We cannot just be complacent. We must rise to the occasion like the first Apostles of Christ. We must go out into the world and, each in our own way, using our own gifts given to us by the Lord, share the teachings of Christ with others. Each of us who have been baptised have been baptised priest, prophet, and king. We have each been filled with the Holy Spirit. We each possess the capacity to evangelise, to connect with others and help them to see the Truth.

There are great evils that abound in the world today. We face significant social issues and ideas that are at odds with the very nature of humanity and Creation. The world promotes ideologies that are the antithesis of life itself. It promises riches and glory that are nothing compared to the spiritual riches and eternal glory we can attain in the Kingdom of Heaven.

While we live in the world, we must not become corrupted by the evils that exist within it. Rather, we must make an effort to combat these evils – evils like abortion and euthanasia, the promotion of transgenderism, sexual sin. The promotion of many of these things are spreading faster and further in the age of social media. And given children are being introduced to technology at such a young age now, it is far easier for these evils to corrupt their minds and their souls.

It is so important for us all to be advocates of the Lord, advocates for our faith. We must harness every avenue, including social media, and turn it into a force for good. We must go out into the world like the Apostles did after receiving the Spirit and preach fearlessly in the name of Jesus Christ. We must preach the truth – that life is precious and sacred, that every human being is created lovingly and perfectly by God, that our sexuality was created for a purpose and points towards something far greater than can be imagined here on earth, that all that has been created in this world has been created for the glory of God.

But this will not always be easy. There will inevitably be times when we find it difficult to preach these truths in the face of an uncaring and morally bankrupt society. There may even be times when we are persecuted, even in small ways, for our faith and our witness to it. Yet in these moments we must not become discouraged, but take delight in suffering for Our Lord, just as the Apostles did after they were imprisoned and flogged by the members of the Sanhedrin for healing and preaching in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

It is important, to aid in our carrying out of this great mission, that we continue to devote ourselves to prayer and engage regularly with the Sacraments. If we are to be preachers of Truth, we must live that Truth. It is essential that we are regularly attending and actively participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There is great power in the Eucharist. This gift of Christ Himself is one which we are all incredibly privileged to receive. It will no doubt aid us in our mission and help us to live out the life of a disciple. But we should also ensure that we have prepared ourselves adequately to receive this wondrous and precious gift so that we may attain all the graces that come with it and flow from it into our hearts, minds, and souls. Therefore, we must not fail to regularly seek out the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation, that Sacrament, another gracious gift of Our Lord, in which we receive the great and all-loving mercy and forgiveness of God.

Without prayer and the Sacraments, we can easily fall into discouragement and despair when our efforts do not seem to be enough, when we are challenged and face trials and persecutions in bearing witness to Christ and His teachings. 

If we are to be advocates for Christ, if we are to fulfill the mission that has been bestowed upon us, to truly share in His ministry, we must remain close to Our Lord. We must allow Him to work through us and in us. For we cannot do anything without Christ. And through Him we can do all things.

And we must always remember those immortal words that Christ spoke to His disciples in sending them out to change the world:

“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Catholics, let’s go out and restore the world.

After the great festivities of Holy Week and the eight-day Solemnity of the Easter Octave, you’d be forgiven for being a little spiritually fatigued. But the celebrations get extended out one more day (although Easter does continue on for fifty days in total so we still have plenty of time for celebrating), with the great Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, the day on which we recall, reflect upon, and give thanks and glory to God for the great Fiat of Our Blessed Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary.

Now a little disclaimer – this Feast actually falls on the 25^th of March, nine months before Christmas. However, given the movable dates of Holy Week and Easter, this year the Annunciation had to be moved to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday). This is because no Solemnities can be celebrated in Holy Week – just as no ritual Masses (eg. Weddings and funerals) are permitted during this time. The more you know, right?

Anyway, getting back to the subject at hand.

The Annunciation is probably one of the greatest Feasts we have in the Catholic Church. It is a beautiful reminder of the beginning of the earthly life of Jesus Christ – the time of His Conception, which only took place after our beautiful Blessed Mother, visited by the Angel Gabriel, gave her fiat, her ‘yes’ to God, speaking those immortal and immaculate words:

“Let it be done to me according to your word.”

It’s quite incredible to think about Jesus Christ as one of us, going through the same developmental stages of growth within His Mother’s womb. He was not just an embryo. He was a human being, and even more – the Word made flesh – dwelling in the womb of the Virgin Mother. This reminds us of how sacred and precious human life is, not just from the moment of birth, but from the very moment of conception when that life is brought into existence in its most delicate form.

But I think what the Annunciation highlights most significantly is the glory in doing the Will of God.

This is something that challenges a lot, if not all, of us. We all wish doing the Will of God was easy. We all wish we could just say ‘ok God, you do what you want with me and I’ll follow along.’ But it’s never that simple. Our human nature often precludes us from making that perfect resignation to God’s Will that we might seek to enact.

Sure, we might reach a point where we are actively doing all we can to surrender our will to the Will of the Father, but we often struggle to maintain that act of surrender, that act of giving over our will to His. It is all to easy to falter, to not completely trust, to want to retain even just an inkling of control, just to make us feel like we have a little bit of power over our future and its outcomes. That control, however small a degree it may be, provides us with a little bit of comfort. It is something we crave, something we struggle to part with. Why? Because giving over full control can bring with it a feeling of discomfort, particularly in not knowing what may eventuate. That discomfort can be difficult to contend with. It can make us squirm a little. We may begin to wrestle with God for control.

But without that discomfort, without that suffering that we may endure, there is no glory. Because we know that the Will of God is always greater than our own will. We know that God brings about great things through His Divine Will. We know this because we have this great Feast of the Annunciation. That is truly was this Feast is all about – God’s Will being done.

When Mary, a humble and lowly handmaiden, gave her fiat, when she ceded her human will to the Divine Will of God, she allowed God to enact His great plan of salvation, a plan that had been in the works for thousands of years, since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. She gave herself over completely to God. She trusted completely in His Will, His Will not only for her, but for all of humanity.

And God’s Will is good. We know this because the Will of God for all our lives, for all of mankind, is for our good. He Wills the good of humanity. That does not mean it’s going to be easy all the time. It doesn’t mean that everything is always going to be sunshine and rainbows. We all must face our trials. It is through those trials that God purifies us, that He provides us with opportunities to trust in Him, to lean on Him, to draw closer to Him. It is important to recognise that these times of trial are not designed to hurt us, they are not allowed to exist as a means of bringing evil into our lives. They are designed or permitted for our good – to orient us towards a more glorious purpose, a purpose that God has for each of us.

It can be terrifying to give ourselves over to the Lord. Surrendering our will to His and saying ‘yes’ to solely doing His Will can induce anxiety within us. But I think that is where the Annunciation and the fiat of the Blessed Mother becomes a beautiful example for each of us. While it may be scary and difficult to give our own fiat, to place our entire trust in the Will of God, just look at what He did for the Blessed Mother, look at what He brought about through her fiat.

If God can bring about the salvation of the world through the surrender and fiat of one woman, just imagine what He can do if you follow her lead.

We don’t have to be perfect. None of us ever will be until we hopefully, one day, reach the Kingdom of Heaven. But we can certainly strive to be as perfect as we possibly can, to “be perfect just like my Father in Heaven is perfect.” And part of that striving for perfection consists in following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and giving our fiat – telling God we are ready to do His Will for us and giving ourselves over to Him completely, just as the Blessed Mother did over 2000 years ago.

That great fiat led to freedom. That selflessness led to salvation.

But we must do more than just imitate that selflessness of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. We must do more than imitate Our Blessed Mother. We must give our entire selves as a gift to God. We must entrust ourselves entirely to Him and His Holy Will. We will do the same when we realise our vocation in life, be it marriage, priesthood, religious life or any other. At that time, when that vocation comes to full fruition, we must make a gift of ourselves, our entire selves, either to the person we are becoming one with in the Sacrament of marriage or, if we are entering into religious life, to God and the Church. 

Yet while we remain in the single life, we should give ourselves over to God, trusting in His Will for us. It may be difficult at times, but we should know that, no matter what, we can always lean on Him. We can always bring our anxieties, worries, doubts, fears, everything to Him. 

Just pause and consider for a moment how Mary would have felt when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her to tell her she would bear the Son of God. Keep in mind that the Blessed Mother had just as much free will as we do. She knew the Scriptures – she was well versed in them – and so she would have known what this immense responsibility entailed. She could have become overwhelmed with the thoughts of what she would have to endure. She could have said ‘no.’  Yet, in all her humility, she said ‘yes’ and demonstrated for all of us for all time the greatest act of faith, hope, and trust in God.

What Mary was given in being chosen to be the Mother of God was not just a gift, but a sacrifice. She would endure many trials, with her fiat ultimately leading her to the Cross alongside her glorious Son. She would endure the pain and suffering that He endured in her own heart.

And yet Mary dedicated her life to bringing into the world, nurturing, and supporting our salvation. She was given a gift and a sacrifice. And that gift she was given by God was a gift she bore to the world. That gift, Jesus Christ Himself, ultimately gave Himself as a the ultimate gift and sacrifice.

Only in submitting ourselves to the Will of God can we even hope to come close to imitating that immaculate and all-consuming faith and trust that Our Blessed Mother had. And while that submission is not easy, it can bring about beautiful and wondrous moments in our lives that we will recognise as coming from God.

It’s not easy. But then again, nothing worth doing is ever that easy. There’s always effort that needs to be put in to reap the rewards. And submitting ourselves to God’s Will, trusting entirely in Him, can be incredibly rewarding.

And remember, if you struggle, that’s normal. If you fail to surrender, to submit your will to His Will, try again. If it’s too difficult to surrender your entire self to God, maybe start by trying to surrender just a a part of yourself. It could be just one aspect of your life that you’re trying to control too much. Cede that control to the Lord and allow Him to take over the reins.

And when you do, ask Our Blessed Mother to grant you the graces to allow the Lord to take care of it. Draw close to her, for she is the greatest model of faith, hope, and trust in God. For while the Annunciation was the heralding of our salvation, while Mary’s great fiat was the birth of our great hope, it was through these glorious moments of love and humility that the Blessed Mother began a journey of faith that would ultimately lead her through suffering and salvation to the Queenship of Heaven and Earth.

The Annunciation of the Lord is a celebration of love, faith, trust, and surrender to God. With one ‘yes’, Mary changed the course of human history.

Just remember, if God can do all that for Mary, imagine what He is waiting to do for you if you would only give your own fiat, submit yourself to His Will, and allow it to be done in your life.