Why are we so obsessed with knowing everything? If we hear a little bit of gossip, we clamor to find out more. The advertising world knows this. That is why they release dribbles of information to pique our interest and keep us wanting more. It is also what drives many people to constantly question when Jesus Christ will return to earth. People present themselves as "prophets" to proclaim that they know when the world will end. They tell us that Jesus is coming on a certain date. But the scriptures are very clear on this matter. Jesus himself tells us in Acts of the Apostles 1:6-8, So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama'ria and to the end of the earth." Now Jesus tells us to have faith and believe without seeing. He told us everything we needed to know to live a good life, filled with His grace given freely. It is nothing we need to earn but it is something we should protect. We should strive to live like Jesus did when he was on earth. That is what we should be focused on. That is the difficult path we are asked to walk. How do we transform this world? By living everyday like Jesus did. We must love each other. We must treat each other with kindness. We must not kill, lie or cheat. It sounds simple but putting it into practice is difficult. There is an interesting book out now called The One. The main premise that the author proposes is to find the one thing you will be good at and focus all of your energies on that one thing. Shouldn't that be living a Christ-like life? It will take all of your effort but the reward is certainly worth it.
Kurt Hilgefort, is a Catholic father of six who publishes his thoughts on his blog Shadows of Augustine . He responded to my seven question survey with the following answers. Kurt is the first layperson to respond to the seven question survey and I think that his experience is extremely relevant to me personally and I hope that you are inspired by his thoughts as well. If you would like to respond, please send an email to fellmananthony@gmail.com with your thoughts and I will be happy to publish them as well. 1. What is the biggest challenge to your faith that you have faced so far? The biggest challenge for me has been the whole dying to self thing. On an intellectual level, there are no barriers. It comes down to a matter of accepting the authority of the Church that Christ founded upon Peter. My challenge is not in the intellect, but rather in the will. The challenge for me has always been to continually seek conversion. I want to be transformed, but I want it to be over all ...
