Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: Italian English Spanish

Question 

Dear Father Angelo, 

Have you ever thought that what you say might be just silly? Assuming that there’s a God if you like it, why should He be interested in who we are and in what we do, good or bad, in our moral or immoral actions? Why should He care? Probably, He’ll pardon everyone at the end and that’s all. After all, how could He and those who are just be happy for ever knowing that someone else (a creature, a God’s son or daughter, a brother or sister in Christ) is burning in Hell, or however you name it? Certainly none amongst the just ones  would rebel against it, saying “how is it possible that dishonest people are treated like honest people?” because they would be too inebriated by joy to care about it, right?  Dishonest people wouldn’t rebel either by saying “actually, we refused God” because they also would be too much inebriated by such unexpected bliss. 

Moreover, assuming that there’s a God, why can’t it all be a huge joke, a well-organized joke by which we have been played?  

Yes, I know that all dogmas and Christian Ethic are some of the most noble and wise things that exist  and now I am being serious. But in the end, can’t it just be a beautiful dream that means nothing to us, to God and in respect of our salvation?

I’m sorry for my unashamed speech. 

Kind regards.

Answer

Dear friend,

  1. Yes, we’ve thought about it. It sometimes comes to the saints’ minds,too. Even  St. John Vianney agrees with it. One day he said something like “Due to the fact that it is impossible that all I believed in, all I lived for, all I preached has never existed, I’m happy to have lived in this way.” Ultimately, it is similar to your conclusion “Yes, I know that all dogmas and Christian Ethic are some of the most noble and wise things  and now I am being serious.”
  2. Moreover, if you look at God from a distance, it is normal to agree with you. Your idea of God is very similar to the one of  the gods in Greek mythology. And you’re right to doubt their existence because they don’t actually exist. 
  3. You have to do two things. The first one is to realize that there’s only one God. It is not difficult to realize it. Everything tells us about His infinite Wisdom. These days (autumn is coming),someone has expressed to me their astonishment for a grape ‘s seeds composition. Those grape seeds (vinaccioli, in Italian) are very strong. Grapevines make them grow thanks to roots that go under the soil. They look for what they need in order to produce the grape with its juice, with the skin that wraps them and its seeds. There is such perfection in this process that leads us to astonishment. Can it be a coincidence? But coincidences happen only  by chance!

If it is such a perfect, constant and  divine rule, it is easy to understand that those things have been done by someone. Who can create himself or herself all alone? A black baby girl from Sudan once said “Tell me who did all those things because I want to thank them”. She said it because she was amazed by nature’s beauty and generosity. A painting tells us something about its author, exactly like a sculpture, a house, everything does it. Even our universe tells us about its author thanks to its perfection, beauty and wisdom.    

At this point, you may as well say : why does God care about it, about our life and our death? It’s sure that Greek gods don’t care. And they don’t care because they don’t exist. 

But the Maker, the Prime Mover, The Pure Act, as Aristotle called him, exists. And everything refers to Him. 

  1. Now there’s the second step. Try to approach God who revealed Himself, through Jesus. Jesus presented Himself as God and He gave us incontestable proofs of it. Try to approach Him through The Gospels. He will tell you that  the Word was God (John 1,1), that the Word became flesh (John 1, 14) and that to those who did accept Him He gave power to become children of God (John 1, 12). Men are already creatures but becoming children of God is a different thing, a supernatural thing. So He tells you that He created you to make you become by Grace or by adoption what He is by nature: I wish that where I am they also may be with me (John 17, 24). Jesus wants us to become like God by adoption. 
  2. As you can see, it is a divine vocation. People who have received Christ in their life haven’t received an idea, an illuminating truth about life. They have received God and God leads them into His heart, His head, His divine energy to make them participate in His fullness of life. 
  3. If you do this step in order to get rid of the obstacles that don’t allow you to see what is clear, everything will change, everything will shine. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? Sins cloud our mind, sins don’t allow us to see. Some of them can even blind our mind completely. Jesus said : “ Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5, 8).
  4. God is talking to you through me and He’s saying : “ I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. ” ‘”Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, (then) I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.  I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.” (Revelation 3, 18-21).
  5. The ointment is the anointing (Grace) of the Holy Spirit that teaches you about everything (1 John 2, 27). It tells you about the experience of God and not only about the knowledge of Him. You should use this ointment many times and permanently on your mind’s eyes. You should do it through frequent and honest Confessions for the rest of your life. You can’t even imagine how Divine Grace might clear our minds, even to the point that we  almost can see God.  Eventually it may allow us  to taste His Goodness. 
  6. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”. Jesus stands at your heart’s door as an impatient friend. He’s knocking even through your questions. He wants to have a meal with you, to be closer to you, to make you participate in His divine glory and His sovereignty on everything. 

I really hope you will take the steps I have  suggested to you. In order to receive the strength to do so, I will pray for it ,remembering you to the Lord, and  bless you.
Padre Angelo

Translated by Giulia Leo