Do You Believe in God?

Thomas Aquinas: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
Do you believe in God?  As Catholics, our faith teaches us that there is God, but do you really believe it?   Is God real?  Is God just a figment of someone’s imagination? 

Since Jesus established his Church on earth, millions have given their lives for the love of God.   They have been crucified, burned, beheaded, pulled apart, tortured, raped, murdered, all for the love of God.  Could so many magnificent martyrs be wrong?  Could they have given their lives in vain? Few of these martyrs encountered the living God during their lives, but they continued to believe. For them, life without God, was not worth living.  God was the center of their lives, and they chose to give their lives for love of Him.  It was better to die than to deny or blaspheme His Holy Name.

Of course, we cannot see that which is invisible.  We cannot see God.  We cannot hear God.  We cannot feel God.  We cannot touch God.  We cannot taste God.  God’s realm is not that of earth but of heaven.  

If there is a God, and this is a question, many people ask, why do bad things happen to good people?  Why does a loved one die from cancer?  Why are there those who would seek to rule the world and kill those who oppose them?  Why is there hunger, plague, poverty, and death?  Why is there genocide?  Why are children murdered because they are born into Christian families?  Why are there earthquakes, storms, and fires? 

I wish I knew.  That question is best answered by theologians.  I don’t know.  All I know is what I have learned in my life journey.

God allows trials in our lives to make us stronger and to help us to grow in His love.  Some challenges are greater than others. God is a loving God, and He sends us His graces. His graces are invisible, but the effects of these graces are not.  Strength.  Hope.  Courage. Love. These can be fruits of our sufferings.  Sometimes, when we feel that God is far from us,   He  is waiting for us to long for Him.  Sometimes God when we feel He close to us, we feel His love over flowing in us.  In all our sorrows and trials, we are told, is when God is the closest to us. 

In her message to the world of October 25, 2015, Our Lady of Medjugorje said,

“Rejoice in the love, little children, that in the eyes of God you are unrepeatable and irreplaceable, because you are God´s joy in this world. Witness peace, prayer and love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

In the eyes of God, we are unrepeatable and irreplaceable!  We are God’s joy in this world!


There is no one who has been promised a free ticket through life without enduring suffering.  God knows how much you can take.  He will not give you more than you can handle.  God has a plan for you.  God wants you to understand that asking “Why me?” is not the correct question.  The correct question is “Why not me?”  Then you can embrace your cross with joy.


“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16


Jesus asks us, as He did Bartimeaus, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Bartimeaus replied that he wanted to see, to be healed.  Bartimeaus had to acknowledge his need and then ask for the healing.  (Read Mark 10: 46-52 for the complete gospel reading.)  Jesus, the only Son of the Living God,  healed him.  Jesus wants to heal us.  He wants us to know Him and love Him and serve Him, not only in this life, but in the next. 

To answer the first question, yes, I do believe in God!  I not only believe in God, but I believe in a loving God who pours His graces down on us.  If we go astray, He waits for us to return.  No, I don’t understand His ways, but He has a plan.  We are unique and unrepeatable.  There will never be anyone like us on earth again. 

God, do You exist?  I think so.  “Nuff said.  Amen.