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Have you ever experienced a feeling of inferiority? So you know how this condition destroys a person. 

Today, we want to discuss what to do so that such a state does not control us. The Lord Jesus Himself teaches us with a metaphor in the Gospel: “No one lights a candle and does not cover it with a vessel” (Lk 8, 16). We can begin the explanation with questions. Why does the Lord Jesus use such comparisons, known from the daily life of his listeners? Lord Jesus, as an excellent teacher, wants his listeners to understand, as clearly as possible and with great benefit, the meaning of the words necessary for salvation. When his listeners meet familiar things in the future, take them in their hands, enjoy them for their lives, and remind them of other essential items necessary for their soul and salvation. The metaphor of light should also become a great reminder for the listeners. Everything without which it would be tough for us to imagine our lives, Jesus begins with the words: “You are.”

These are values ​​that should penetrate us deeply, that we should unconditionally adopt and identify with. Everyday encounter with light is supposed to help us to do this. Therefore, it is not enough for him to know it himself; he must enrich those without such knowledge with his life. Can anyone imagine life without the sun? Scientists say there would be no life on Earth within eight minutes, and within 24 hours, the temperature would drop below minus 250 degrees. As we cannot imagine life without the sun, so will the world be without God. Living without God is not possible. A Christian should bring light and warmth to his surroundings with his life. It is up to each of us how we will fulfill our role in today’s time, our time, the time when God called us to bear witness, to pass the earth test. A good Christian is not afraid of difficulties crosses. He trusts God and cooperates with his gifts, which include today’s words from the Gospel about salt and light. We are determined not to let God down When we realize that God is counting on us. It is said that “God’s mills grind slowly but surely” and “the Lord God is not hasty, but mindful.” It is fitting that we do not let ourselves be led astray from the path Jesus himself invited us to try to be light. 

Let’s try to imagine a yard with domestic birds. Occasionally, these birders get excited when they see wild ducks and geese fly by in the spring and fall. They also want to take off, like any goose or duck. They run a few steps, stutter, and try to wave their clipped or stunted wings, but in the end, they stay in the muddy yard, where a fence demarcates their modest stay.

Faith does not bind us with wings, and they do not stunt our branches. Faith makes us free and happy – when we live as Christians.  

We have different natures, figures, and approaches to values, including keeping God’s word. What is essential in listening to God’s word? The Lord Jesus talks about this topic in the parable of the sower, how he sowed seeds that yielded different crops. He ended the legend with the words: “He who has ears, let him listen” (Mt 13:9).

What did Lord Jesus mean by that? Words have a deep meaning. The audience hears the words and understands them, but they lack a kind of “inner ear.” A parable without inner listening tells them nothing. The Lord Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah: “You will hear and not understand, you will look and not see. Because the heart of this people has become numb” (Isaiah 6:9-10). With the parable of the “sower,” Jesus points out the need for a Christian’s commitment to obtaining heaven’s kingdom. And therefore, at their request, he gives the apostles an interpretation of the parable.

Theologians believe that Jesus was thinking of himself under the sower. Indeed, Jesus knew that many would not accept his word – teaching. A wealthy bachelor left him. The Pharisees and scribes resented his education. We can believe that under the sower, Jesus probably meant the disciples, twelve, and everyone who followed the Lord. Lord Jesus wants to point out that the sower cannot be influenced, embittered, and intimidated by any failure. He doesn’t have to think about a lot of obstacles and adversities. The sower is supposed to be a realist. Success will not lead him to pride and promotion. Failure does not diminish his courage, perseverance, loyalty, diligence, and seriousness. It cannot be deterred. The believer should not only be a sower but also a seed. Who would not wish that the words of a bountiful harvest did not apply to him? If we want to achieve this, we must fulfill the prerequisites. Know how to listen correctly, listen carefully, and obey. To be shaped by God’s word every day. And also to become God’s word itself.

In the book “Our Father” Albíno Luciani places an image in the depths of our hearts. Whoever accepts it will learn a lot. Some people have made their lives a waiting room. Trains come and go, and they say to themselves: “Not this one yet; I’ll board the next one.” That means: “Then I’ll confess at the end of my life.” However, such an attitude is risky because this is not a form of touristic travel but a path to eternal salvation. We have and must be involved in our own lives. But it is correct when we know how to put our hands to work in the parish or the family. Let us not look at the heat of the day, at what we have already done, but at the reward that awaits us from Jesus, the author of the parable of the sower and the field, at the end of life.

May it be the wish of each of us for himself and for all that Jesus says to his faithful: “Enter into the joy of your master

I once heard the remark, “Faith is only for women. The answer may be. Well, only women will go to heaven. Even in our church there are more women than men. We know why. We can often acknowledge the circumstances. When the scientist was rebuked for his strong faith, he said: “Too bad I only believe like a Breton peasant. I should believe like a Breton peasant woman.”

In the Gospel we read the names of the women around Jesus who obeyed him and the apostles. “Mary, called Magdalene,… John, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others…” (Lk 8:3). There were more. Scripture mentions the Woman – the Mother of Jesus – in the first place. The enemies tell untruths about Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha. The woman sick of the issue of blood was healed by Jesus… In Bethlehem at the manger are the women, the wives of the shepherds. In the Jerusalem temple, Annam daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher is mentioned, she was a pious widow. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. The mother of the apostles John and James called Boaneges – sons of thunder. Other apostles’ mother. The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, a sinner they called her. Another woman who was caught in the act of sin. A woman who paid homage to Jesus by addressing his mother… The mother of Jairus’ daughter, other women from the crowd that was fed, where many women were present. What about the other women of the New Testament? And the women of the Old Testament: Susanna, David’s concubine, the mother of the sons of the Maccabees… and in the beginning, Eve, mother of Cain and Abel…

Why do we remember this? In the genealogies of the Lord Jesus, women of honor and women of sin are mentioned… Jesus came to all. The sinful woman is also a lost sheep. Yes, God has bestowed many gifts on both men and women. To whom did Jesus first appear after the resurrection? Who stood with the apostle John and the mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross? Who were the women in the Upper Room who ministered to Jesus and the apostles at the Last Supper…? Who were the women who were with the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit descended upon them? And what about the first Christian woman, Lydia, the scarlet letter seller?

Women, girls, mothers and old women, be proud of your faith. You are equal to men, fathers, husbands… Every man is a child of God. Even a woman. Thank you for being. Thank you for believing. Thank you for setting an example, for praying for men, for giving us life, for loving us… Today’s Gospel is the power of God’s Word as we remember each of you by Jesus. Jesus loves you, blesses you, loves you.

And that is the memento of today’s Gospel. Jesus, thank you for godly women and all of womankind.

 Or, conversely, can anyone confirm that God does not exist? And if one or the other can’t, what about it? Today, we will discuss an introduction to the arguments for and against God’s existence and try to answer whether and what the relevance of such debates is.

We live in a time when not only the online world is full of various debates and arguments for and against God’s existence.
I have long been fascinated by this subject, and I think it is interesting how people have thought about it in the past and the present. This is suggested by the fact that only very recently, I heard the atheist Richard Dawkins say that God’s existence is perhaps the most critical question.

If you look up the frequency of the English phrase “arguments for God,” you will find that the words began to rise dramatically after 2001, after the attack on the New York Twin Towers.

It reached its peak of use in 2010, related to the rise and zenith of the so-called New Atheism. Although its use has declined, it has regained a slight increase in recent years. Anyway, it is a topic not only of cultural and religious interest but also of academic interest.

Many faculties worldwide have courses on the history and philosophy of religion that are directly related to this. For example, you can take classes on David Hume’s philosophy of religion, God, the cell, and the universe, or even prove God’s existence.
“If only it were that easy.”
So today’s topic is arguing for and against God’s existence. First of all, a little bit personally. Sometime in my younger, shorter, but less educated years, I questioned God’s presence when I began to doubt it. I didn’t come across as sophisticated like Socrates with my questions, but more simply like the Little Prince visiting different planets.

What is the goal?
First, I think it’s perfect to ask at the outset what the goal of all arguments for God’s existence should be. Let’s start with the obvious thing – ideas don’t have plans, but people do. And different people may have other projects.

But most of the time today, the proponents or users of these arguments don’t look at it as having some superpower, which is to convince someone definitively. And that’s for these two reasons.

First, these arguments must have that logical force in and of themselves. And that’s because the strength of their conclusion depends on the truth of the propositions on which they are based. That is, they can be challenged, so often because of reasonable objections, those statements and the argument’s conclusion will not be sure.

Instead, we will always be discussing and reasoning about probabilities here. But that’s okay because our life is inherently about choosing from possibilities with a greater or lesser likelihood of being true. And so that’s where these arguments are not divorced from ordinary life, but our everyday life is divorced from these arguments.

Second, these arguments are not about instantly converting others to the opposite view because our psychology, philosophy, and life generally need to be revised. Even if the ideas were pointing toward some very likely conclusion, it would be another thing to be logically and psychologically persuaded by them and change our thinking and behavior.

As a recent example, we can take many arguments about COVID-19 and vaccination. Even when clinical studies show clear results, many have not only not accepted them but thought and behaved as if these results were the opposite. In other words, we can always find some excuse why we might not accept certain conclusions – and often, it is that it makes life more comfortable or makes us belong to a particular group whose identity we want to adopt.

That is, we all have our preferences and biases. And not just our conspiring fellow citizens, but we do too, and we have to admit it. As Richard Feynman said, it is essential not to be fooled; the easiest person to fool is ourselves.

A different and sometimes pervasive example is just conspiracy theories – whatever good arguments we come up with against them, experienced conspirators have built up their immunization strategies, so to speak, that make them never to be refuted. Not because they are right but because they don’t play fair at all and pull their logical pieces differently than the rules allow.

But this is not just about conspirators. We don’t operate by automatically accepting the opposite conclusion if an argument points to it. Or, more accurately, it works more for things of little substance that can be quickly Googled, for example.

However, the more critical these beliefs are, and the deeper a part of our worldviews they are, the longer, at least typically, such a conversion will take. And with worldviews, this is certainly true for both sides. So – what I meant by all this is that you can’t expect any instantaneous conversion from arguments. And if that’s the case, what relevance can these discussions have?

The contribution of debate
So, must complete worldview conversion be the goal in debates as important as God’s existence? To ask such a question is equivalent to answering it. We all know it doesn’t work that way. But that doesn’t mean that discussing essential things in the universe, including God’s existence, is irrelevant. Their contribution can take many forms.

First, we can learn something new. It may be fresh knowledge I learned in the debate or a unique perspective I never had. Or it may be virtues that we can cultivate in this way – we can learn to listen, to articulate our arguments, to fabricate responses, to not be unnecessarily nervous or angry, to represent the other side’s arguments truthfully, if not more forcefully, and thus to be an example to all those listening.

Moreover, a good argument could be made that such knowledge and virtue contribution is much better than convincing someone or winning a debate.

In that sense, even unsuccessful arguing that would not lead to any worldview conversion has a lot of potential to be successful in these other ways. So, to summarize it in slightly different words – even a generally flawed argument can have some good insights hidden in it, and those alone can be worthwhile.

Moreover, it allows us to improve our argumentative and personal virtues, including knowledge and epistemic humility, respectively. Let us now raise one key question – and that is whether the question of God’s existence can be resolved by science.

Is this a scientific or a philosophical question?
Can God somehow be tested by science? That, of course, depends on whether God’s existence could be testable by the methods of science. It also depends mainly on whether so-called methodological naturalism- that is, science should deal only with natural causes- is how science should and can work.

That deserves a separate dose. But I will say this much more: opinions on this are divided – whether among scientists or philosophers, and believers and non-believers alike. This is not a pointless question at all; on the contrary, it is essential, but there are some problems with it.

I want to take advantage of this question because it is crucial. However, it does not have just one solution. Some either deny that science can arbitrarily test God and his activity. For one thing, God is not part of this world in the sense that all other physical objects are part of it.

Not only is it not a physical object, but it is a mind that is supposed to be (among other things) omniscient and omnibenevolent. And thus, even if we might want to test it, perhaps it is against its will and plans. And perhaps, from a broader perspective, it is as disparaging as if ants wanted to start scientifically testing the existence of some superintelligence in the universe.

Others, on the other hand, would argue just the opposite – that we can see from the nature of our universe that the universe had a Creator. Some believers claim that we can indirectly see God’s activity in specific biological structures, the setup of physical constants, etc.

Others, on the other hand, may see such empirical observations the other way around – God’s absence is said to be visible in tests of the efficacy of prayer or in the familiar objection as to why God does not let amputees’ limbs grow back.

And yet, many can come up with certain domains where God can be tested, so to speak (the setting of physical constants), but not in others (the efficacy of prayers for healing). But everyone has answers to these objections and counter-objections, and then there is the question of whether such a selective position is consistent.

One popular position that has been around since Newton is that God works through the natural order. This view has been around since at least the Middle Ages and later reformulated since the time of Descartes and Newton, that God acts through the laws of nature.

It differs precisely how here, but we will stay in that adventure hole now. But if God is the first cause and acts through laws that he will either not break or only very, very exceptionally, how exactly do we test such a view?

I’m not saying there aren’t various, even creative, answers to this; I’m just pointing out that only some positions are easy to test, even if we had perfect test tubes ready.

However, many see this question as a philosophical one. Perhaps it would be immediately more accessible to test God’s existence in our laboratory. Still, some, or rather, many things seem to be impossible and may never be possible. And this is why many philosophers are divided on many issues.

One admittedly simplistic view of how science developed is that many of today’s scientific disciplines were first part of philosophy. However, when there was sufficient progress in those disciplines, the field separated from that philosophy to form a separate sentence – such as geology, biology, physics, etc.

So, if that’s the case, which discipline has made enough progress to somehow quantitatively or at least competently answer the question of whether God exists? According to many experts, nothing has occurred, so the question is still part of philosophy. The question is still philosophical for the time being, and that is because there is no consensus that there is some relevant authority that can resolve the dispute.

Imagine we disagree about the result of a particular football match. I say it was some result X, and you say it was some result Y. We are indeed both wrong, but maybe we are both wrong. What to do then?

Now that’s easy – we verify the result with some relevant source, such as a short Google search. If we disagree on the speed of light, we also check similarly – but here’s the point: it’s not the all-knowing Google itself that says so, but a scientific authority and consensus that we can easily find and read on Google.

But what if there is no way to verify something, or if no authority can authoritatively and competently decide this for us? What about when there is no consensus that it can be verified at all or when there are arguments that come to different or even opposite conclusions?

Such a situation is a reasonable assumption that we will still be talking about philosophy and philosophical reasoning in such a situation. Although it may seem very unlikely to some, we may at some point come to a position where most philosophers and scientists agree that the question of God’s existence is, for example, a question of physics or, since we are probably talking about the distant future, say, some scientific discipline that does not yet exist at all.

In conclusion
Arguments that God’s existence is and can be scientifically testable do exist, and they are also much more sophisticated than the claim of Dawkins mentioned above might suggest. But it is still a claim that has problems and is therefore not generally accepted by many scientists and philosophers.

What we’ve talked about today is that we can be optimistic that all of these arguments, even if they’re all bad, can be good for something. But I don’t want to argue that they are good or bad before we look at them more. And all these more specific arguments for and against God’s existence and his attributes await us in future installments.

“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt offerings.” (Hos 6:6). How often do we evaluate God and look at God through the glasses of our worldliness? We think that God likes and demands worship and adoration because we want others to honor, glorify, and praise us so we in the world can affirm our greatness. We think that God is at these things and is offended, and if we are not humbled enough and if we happen to touch Him with anything, He is immediately angry. And it doesn’t even occur to us that God, infinitely great in Himself, could need nothing of the kind, considered as something completely alien and useless, and such a thing does not even cross His mind. Why, then, you will say, does He allow Himself to be worshipped and receive obeisances? As
says one of the prefaces of the liturgy, “Our praises add nothing to thy
greatness, but they contribute to our salvation” – because God initially lets us approach himself in our way, humanly and worldly, enculturating himself into our forms. But the goal is that we might discover God’s ways and get used to them. And these are in the brotherhood and unity of love, where greatness and smallness, the giver and the given, the first or the last, lose their meaning in the all-embracing unity of the fellowship of God and man, where everything is of all and everyone, and love blurs every distinction and creates equality out of grace.
And so it is with gifts, sacrifices, titles. In the beginning, the Lord accepts them because it is a language that we, men of the world and sons of sin, understand. But then He leads us from this into His world, as He did the disciples. Just let us listen here, “When he had washed their feet and put on his garments, he sat down again at the table and said to them: “Do you understand what I have done to you? You are addressing me: “Teacher” and: “Lord,” and you speak well, for that is what I am. When therefore I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:12-14). It begins at the address, distinguishing between greater and lesser, between master and servants. But simultaneously, he brings them into a world where servants are suddenly like masters, and the Lord acts as a servant. All this is wiped away, and an unprecedented, alien-to-the-world equality sets in when he says: “I no longer call you servants… I have called you friends” (Jn 15:15) and thus becomes “the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29). Not sacrifice, but love. Not obeisance, but brotherhood and friendship. Not gifts, but devotion and fidelity, which He first shows to us humans, even already “when we were enemies” (Rom 5:10)! This is genuine respect – when we give it and honor God and give Him thanks, not according to ourselves, but according to Him, not as we imagine, but as it pleases Him. And it pleases Him when we become like Him, equal to God by grace when we become gods like Him. He is God so we can form a real companionship with Him, a genuine fellowship, true friendship of the Round Table of the Trinity. That is why He came to bring us through Christ to worship us.

This is what the liturgy, which contains for everyone what he understands, leads us to do. It proclaims the Gospel by intercession. It offers adoration to the beginners and worships in the manner of the language and ways of the world. To the advanced unity with the Lord
and each other in the fellowship of the Lord’s Table and the Lord’s Supper. The Gospel is about invitation into this communion. Conversion is about stepping into this communion and deciding to accept and enter this invitation. Christianity is about living this communion and learning to trust, faithfulness, love, and unity with each other and God as friends, comrades, brothers, and indeed among equals by the grace and love of God. Heaven is when to this is added the glory of God. We live in this communion as people with God, who became human like us. Heaven is when we live it already as gods, with God is holy and full of His Glory.

Being like God… To a beginner, this sounds like blasphemy. And when it reluctantly accepts it, he begins to imagine what knowledge, power, and all these things of God he should one day have and possess if Heaven is indeed about deification. Only gradually, as he grows in communion with God, does he know that this is far from the main thing! The primary and miraculous thing about deification is that by grace, raised to the level of God, we are finally not only allowed, but actually, we can form with God a communion, a unity, a community that can exist only and only among equals! There is no greater or lesser, the first or the last; everything is overcome, consolidated, balanced by love into true equality, where everything of all is everyone’s, as he figuratively suggests in Scripture, “In his light shall the nations walk, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory” (Rev 21:24).
Therefore, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the heavenly kingdom” (Mt 18:3). Children have no greatness of their own – and others bow down in awe before the greatness of the King; they leap upon me without embarrassment on their knees, embrace him, kiss him, and lead him away to show him their toys and share them and play with the king as with a friend… And He, the King, accepts and enjoys it, so he takes them by the hand and sits them down, his comrades, beside him on his throne – while the adults scandalized and guiltily stand still in the back, below. And that is the overwhelming message of the Gospel!

How different we look at people. We judge by appearances. And we can’t see the inside. What did they say about Jesus? “Oh, a glutton and a drunkard…” (Lk 7:34). People are often like children from the Gospel. They whistle, and who dances? No one. They are playing at a funeral, and no one is dead. We will say: “They are children, let them play .” And why do their fathers and mothers judge John the Baptist and Christ? We read the Gospel several times about Christ: “A great prophet arose among us” and “God visited his people.” And about John the Baptist as the greatest prophet born of a woman…

Let’s tell a true story from the recent past. Oscar Romero (1917-1980), archbishop from El Salvador, was a shy, sensitive, needlessly non-confrontational person for most of his life. Bookworm, hesitant, man of order.  In 1977, he was appointed bishop. Some cheered, others were frustrated. Those who liked his nature cheered – he did not interfere in anything. In that country, the politicians had “side interests” and did not like to be pointed out. Those who expected the shepherd to stand up for the oppressed, the persecuted, who would notice the vices of the powerful and be on them were disappointed. To point out. He will be like Jesus – a person of compassion, courage, good vision, and apparent attitude. Despite all their respect for his person, they did not consider him such. Only three months after his ordination, a Jesuit was murdered, a priest of his diocese, a farmer, and a minister by certain partisans, and then the raid of the parish where this Jesuit worked. The soldiers desecrated the church and prevented Bishop Romero from entering when he wanted to save the Eucharist. This event he later referred to as his true “conversion.” He understood what others had pointed out to him but what he did not want to believe. It suddenly dawned on him, and he saw that they were right. This was an awakening from a dream for him. From that day on, he stopped considering who would think what of him and what weapon to use against him. When he was 60 years old, he changed. He got out of the rut. He began to see the suffering of the Salvadoran people and became unusually courageous. When he wanted to save the Eucharist. This event he later referred to as his true “conversion.” He understood what others had pointed out to him but what he did not want to believe. It suddenly dawned on him, and he saw that they were right. This was an awakening from a dream for him. From that day on, he stopped considering who would think what of him and what weapon to use against him. When he was 60 years old, he changed. He got out of the rut. He began to see the suffering of the Salvadoran people and became unusually courageous. When he wanted to save the Eucharist. This event he later referred to as his true “conversion.” He understood what others had pointed out to him but what he did not want to believe. It suddenly dawned on him, and he saw that they were right. This was an awakening from a dream for him. From that day on, he stopped considering who would think what of him and what weapon to use against him. When he was 60 years old, he changed. He got out of the rut. He began to see the suffering of the Salvadoran people and became unusually courageous. Christians must be “courageous people”.He started preaching over the radio. All radio stations in the country were turned on at full blast. Until the religious transmitter was blown up. Archbishop Romero did not stop anyway and called on people to be active themselves and “not to wait for what the bishop tells them on Sunday. The wealthy oligarchy he challenged tried to declare him a “psychopath.” Finally, he called on the military to defy the order and end the oppression of his people. From that moment on, he had to count on his death. Shortly before his death, he said in an interview: ” As a Christian, I do not believe in death without resurrection. As a shepherd, I am obliged by the task given to me by God to give my life to those I love; they are all Salvadorans, even those who want to kill me. A bishop may die, but the Church of God, i.e., people will never perish”. On March 24, 1980, during the service of St.

A challenge for us. Death is our redemption from earthly life. If we die, we should live faithfully, honestly, and responsibly before God and our neighbors.

Awakening is brutal for many, under different circumstances and conditions. Spiritual awakening is also further. It is eloquent about the dead sons of mothers. Jesus came to the town of Naim. “When they approached the city gate, they carried out a dead man… It was a mother’s son. When he saw her … he said to her, “Don’t cry.” “Young man, I say get up!” Jesus returned him to his mother. A great prophet has risen among us (Luke 7:12, 13, 16).

Naim is about 10 km from Nazareth. The name of the city means “pleasant” from the Hebrew word. Several graves carved into stone in the town’s vicinity can still be seen today. The figure of Jesus called “Lord” dominates the Gospel: his Divine Word is so effective that it restores life. This whole Gospel contains a touch of Easter events in four images. “He saw his mother…” Jesus met his Mother on the way to Golgotha. And he certainly saw pain and sorrow on her face. That is the first image. The second is when he meets the crowd at the city gate, weeping over their deceased son. Jesus, as the Son of Mary, met at the city gate with a group of weeping women. The third image is when Jesus returns the son to his mother. Also, to Mary, his Mother, they replaced the Son in her womb, dead. But she knew that he would see the living and the glorified on the third day. And we have the fourth image in the look of Jesus on the grieving mother – the widow, when he compassionately tells her, “Do not cry.” This is how he spoke to the crying Mary Magdalene after his resurrection: “Why are you crying?” And by addressing “Mary,” she recognizes him and addresses him as “Rabbuni” Teacher, Lord.

Jesus’ words from the Gospel are not only addressed to that young man but to all of us. “I say to you, get up!” This does not mean I cannot remain sitting or kneeling, but I must not remain lying down. I must allow God to change my life and destroy my sins that do not let me stand and give God power over my life. If we listen well, the mother is not asking Jesus for anything here. Jesus is the one who takes the initiative and, moved by her sorrow, performs the miracle of the resurrection. God showed interest in us by being baptized, primarily as children, before we could ask. Even our current life is proof that God does not lose interest in us, that another and another follow the first step on his part; he constantly keeps a protective hand over us.

A woman in need found an egg. Šťastná told the family: “Our worries are over. Look, I found an egg. We don’t eat it but let the neighbor’s cat sit on it. Then we will have a chick, and the chick will be a hen. Of course, we will not eat the hen, but we will let her lay more eggs and have more hens. We will not eat these but sell them and buy a calf. We will raise the calf, and it will become a cow, which will have another calf when we have a whole herd. We will then sell and buy… and sell… and believe… And so she talked and gestured until the egg fell out of her hand and broke.

Our resolutions often resemble the ramblings of that woman: I will do… I will say… I will deliver… I promise,… Days and years go by, and we do nothing.

Fears, longings, hopes, despairs, and sorrows exist only in our minds. It is not accurate. There is nothing like that in Reality. Reality is. Realizing this is the first step to awakening. One is suddenly in the middle of and suddenly, like Neo in the Matrix: But this isn’t real! It’s just an illusion in my head, a harsh and unbearable burden!
And suddenly, he emerges into the Silence of Reality… Which is. God is. I am. The Earth is. Heaven is. Life is. Everything outside of the chaos we have created in our heads and out of which came this twisted unreal world, the opposite of the reality of the Kingdom.
This is redemption—Christ’s gift. “From your vain way of life, inherited from your fathers, you have been redeemed not with corruptible silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, the spotless and undefiled Lamb.” (1 Peter 1:18-19) Deliverance from chaos and transport into God’s reality. In it, everything is as it should be. Silence reigns there because, right in it, everything is already spoken. There is no thirst in it, for everything is already given. It knows no fear; it is not for no reason. Doubts, uncertainties, uncertainties, everything is gone because suddenly everything is clear, specific, and firm, for we look at it and see, understand, and understand. Comparing ourselves, struggling and wrestling, judging, and all these things every day in the world of illusion? They are not here! Not only are there none. They have lost their very meaning; they are meaningless, like a round cube or an iron shaft. We are in God; He is in us, and everything pervades. Of what use and for what purpose would they be? Deep rest in God. Fulfillment. Stillness full of movement, of life, energy. A silence filled with joy and joy filled with peace. Everything is suddenly one. It fits together. Nothing contradicts anything. Evil has lost its meaning that it never had anyway; it just seemed that way. Only the good, existence itself, remains. God himself. Evil is that which is not, that which does not exist. Literally! Good is what it is. No longer some “moral quality,” but being itself. God Is, therefore, He is the fullness of interest. To be good is to be. To be like God, in God, and through God. To be reasonable means to be awakened from illusions and thoughts, to emerge from the confusion and noise of one’s head, and to look into the deafening silence of the real. “The disciples have come to the other shore. They forgot to take bread, and Jesus said to them: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” But they were thinking and saying: “We have not taken bread!” But Jesus knew it and said: “You of little faith, why do you think you have no bread? Yet do you not understand nor remember the five loaves for five thousand people and how many baskets have you gathered? Nor do you remember seven loaves for four thousand people, and how many baskets have you gathered? How do you not understand that I did not tell you about the bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” Then they understood that he had not told them, but to guard against the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Mt. 16,
5-12) “While they were talking about this, he stood in the midst of them and said to them: “Peace to you.” Confused and frightened, they thought they saw a ghost. He asked them, “What are you afraid of, and why are such thoughts in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; it is I! Touch me and see for yourselves! For the spirit has no flesh and bones – and you see that I have.” As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet.” (Lk 24, 36-40)

“Therefore I say to you: Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about “Do not be anxious about your body, what you will eat. Is not life more than food and the body  more than clothing? … And who among you can add a cubit to his life by worrying? … Be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” Or: “What shall we drink?” Or: “What shall we wear?” Your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this. … Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  “Every day has enough of its sorrows.” (Mt 6:25, 27, 31-32, 34) To be holy, one needs, and at the same time, it is enough to be. To indeed be in real. Not to appear but to be. Not to play something in a fictional world of ideas, but to be and live in the real and actual. Not in the hurrah of thoughts and their confusion and chaos but in the silence and stillness of a simple being.
Holiness is reality. Holiness is Reality. Holiness is life, authentic in all its magnificent simplicity and simplicity. To be holy is to be. Really. To live. Really. But all of this is already a given. We have already been created and provided by God-given. You have to wake up to it. Wake up and understand. In being, not just theoretically, on the level of lessons. Faith is understanding. So says Tresmontant. And I add: a being understanding, which we accept not only with reason but with our whole being, with our very body. “Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself from of itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither will you, unless you remain in me.” (Jn 15:4) Awaken to Reality, abide in Reality, live Reality. That is the whole point, the secret. God is this Reality. He contains everything in himself and everything the Real is only in Him. Outside of Him and without Him, there is nothing. Only sin: of our minds and the illusion existing in our minds, by which we have made ourselves we have trapped ourselves, and we affirm each other in it… “How can ye believe, ye that glorify one another, and seek not the glory which only God gives?!” (Jn 5:44)

Holiness is not something we do. In a sense, we can’t even go about it in any way to strive for. Holiness has been here for a long time. It can be done; we need to awaken to it. Be to be awake is to be holy. He was awakened from the Matrix of Sin into true God’s reality, which is holiness itself. A righteous man is someone who finally is, not just appears to be. He is finally alive. He is risen from the dead. He weighs in more than all the rest of the world because he has made himself real in the Real, in the God Who Is. He cannot return to the world; no more than a stone can float on a puff of steam. “It was the greatest and most terrible agony for him to be separated from this love; it was hell to him, the only punishment and endless and excruciating torment. And in turn, to enjoy the love of Christ, that was his life, world, angel, present, future, kingdom, promise, and innumerable good things. Apart from what was related to it, he considered nothing sad or joyful. For of what we have here, nothing to him seemed neither hard nor pleasant. And so he despised all that we see, as we despise rotten cabbage. Even to bullies and angry mobs, he looked only as if they were mosquitoes. And he regarded death, torture, and a thousand torments as mere child’s play, “if only he could endure something for Christ’s sake.” (St. John Chrysostom on the Apostle Paul) Holiness is not acquired. It is not accepted. Holiness is entered into by awakening by becoming. “Know what time it is, that the hour is come that ye should awake out of sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we believed. The night has advanced, and the day is near. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom 13:11-12)

“The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” (1Jn 2:8). “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us the ability to understand the True One.  We are in the True One, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the True One, God, and eternal life. My children, beware of idols!” (1Jn 5:20-21)
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Illusions – sin – divide. That’s because we each have our own; we live
our virtual world of thoughts and ideas that are colliding. Reality – God – unites. There is only one. Real. Objective. In it, we meet; in it, we become one. “One body and one Spirit, as you are also called in the one hope of your vocation. One is the Lord, one faith, one baptism. One is God and Father of all, who is above all, pervades all, and is in all.” (Eph. 4:4- 6) Only in the Body, nothing else.