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Question

Good evening Father Angelo,

My name is F., I study medicine. I have grown up and tried to live a christian life as much as possible. But I find myself alone…

a)  my peers seem to consider me “crazy” because of my Faith;

b)  my colleagues… often ask me how I can believe;

c)  girls of my age…  the same.

Also for the fact of not committing impure acts, people consider me out of the world because I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and the only thing I can say to everyone is:… “I am in the hands of the Lord”.

In short, everyone… but I ask you how is it possible to resist and continue walking with Jesus?

My best greetings and please  pray for me.

F.

Answer 

Dear F.,

1. Yes, it is possible to  resist and always walk with Jesus unless you of your own initiative want to detach yourself from His hand.

I am sure that because of your fidelity, the Lord – despite all the setbacks that you are forced to undergo – always repays you with many graces.

These graces give you the strength to resist temptations.

The consolations of the Lord have no comparison with sin.

2. Your mates and friends cannot understand what you are feeling. In order to understand , it is necessary to live in a state of Grace and it is equally necessary to be pure in heart.

In fact “pleasure corrupts the judgment of conscience and especially venereal pleasure, which absorbs the whole soul and drags it to sensible pleasure” (St. Thomas, Theological Sum, II-II, 53, 6).

3. This is the reason why you apparently find yourself alone.

But in reality you are not alone.

Living in a state of  Grace means that you enjoy incomparable company.

There is the Lord who, with His presence, pervades you from side to side.

This was the experience that Saint Faustina Kowalska often had and gave her the strength to go on despite the misunderstanding of others and living in a body that was crumbling from illness.

4. Always keep in mind what the Holy Scripture says:

“The Lord knows how to free the pious from trial and keep the wicked for punishment on the day of judgment, especially those who in their impure passions go after the flesh and despise the Lord” (2 Pt 2,9).

The Lord once saved Noah and his family from the flood of water.

Noah had remained intact in the midst of a population that was becoming more and more corrupt, as the sacred text recalls:

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of men was great on Earth and that every design conceived by their hearts was nothing but evil…

This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.

And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways” (Gn 6,5.9-12).

From Noah, from a single man, a new humanity was born.

Even from you alone something great can originate for the eternal life of many.

5. The Lord saved Lot once who kept himself righteous in the face of the abominable actions carried out by the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah who replied to his reproach saying: “Get out of our way! This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them!». They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door” (Gn 19,9).

You have not yet come to the point of being cast out as for Lot.

However, in some way you are living his same experience .

We read of him:

“(God) and saved the righteous Lot, distressed with the abandoned conversation of the godless.

For the righteous man through seeing and hearing, dwelling among them, tormented [his] righteous soul day after day with [their] lawless works” (2 Pt 2,7-8).

6. However, here is what we read about Lot in the book of Wisdom: “He kept him blameless before God and preserved him resolute against pity for his child.

She rescued a righteous man from among the wicked who were being destroyed, when he fled as fire descended upon the Pentapolis.

Where as a testimony to its wickedness, even yet there remains a smoking desert, Plants bearing fruit that never ripens, and the tomb of a disbelieving soul, a standing pillar of salt.

For those who forsook Wisdom not only were deprived of knowledge of the good, But also left the world a memorial of their folly, so that they could not even be hidden in their fall..

But Wisdom rescued from tribulations those who served her” (Wis 10,5-9).

7. The Lord is doing the same thing for you as He did with Lot: “He kept him without blemish before God and kept him strong”.

Don’t be afraid.

The power of God’s Grace can keep you strong and spotless.

This power always comes to meet you to show you the way and to protect you.

He also comes to meet you and bless you without stopping.

I am sure you will not disappoint the Lord’s expectations.

I wish you well, I remember you in my prayers and I bless you.

Father Angelo

Translated by Rossella Silvestri