I will be giving a talk to parents of children preparing for First Holy Communion tomorrow about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and why we are Christian. It’s a wonderful talk to share with these parents and it is something we should all be thinking about and pondering on a daily basis. Because it is not about doubting or trying to prove our faith in Jesus Christ isn’t false but rather it is looking deeply into the mystery of life and discovering our purpose and the truth of who we are.
We might look at it form the angle of these two books: Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP “What is the Point of Being a Christian?” and The book by Trent Horn, “Why We’re Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope and Love.” The two titles always remind me of our search for truth in faith and reason and how we always seek the answer coming from different directions.
We can begin our discussion from the positive standpoint as to “Why We’re Catholic” in this way we “tackle” the hard questions about our faith and look with reason into the why’s, the how’s and the where’s of what we believe. This approach is very important in many ways but never fully answers some of the deeper questions we have from our human experience because in some way it assumes we can be reasonable about faith.
If we look at our faith with the question, “What’s the point?” then we are not so much faced with the reason side of faith, rather we are faced with the belief side of faith which is trickier and much harder to grasp at times. I think the lived experience of being a Christian in the modern world and our witness to the faith helps us to understand the question but the harder part is how do we talk to others, witness to others and bring others into a relationship with Jesus Christ…what’s the point?
This is where the two angles, the two different approaches must be joined. We cannot live and witness to Jesus Christ unless we know, in faith and reason, the harder, deeper and often difficult questions of our faith. You may notice I didn’t say answers. An answer is surely part of knowing the question but, as a former school teacher, it is often better to thoroughly know the question: what is it asking, before we delve into trying to answer. Anyone can quote scripture, but to know Sacred Scripture, to know the Word of God which is the great question is the true goal, to know the person as we seek the answers is the greatest question we can pose and ponder as disciples of Jesus Christ.
To look for “the answer” we must first know the question and honestly ask the question. This of course means opening our heart to change and conversion where we hear Jesus cry out “repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk 1:15) To many times we ask question where our prejudice closes our heart to hear the good news of God’s desire that we be converted and saved. We must be honest in desiring the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ because if we don’t ask the questions, or do so only with a closed mind and heart then there is no point, there is no answer that will satisfy.
I have always intellectually known why Jesus ends the beatitudes with the promise of persecution. But as our society deserts truth more and more often, to speak God’s truth of repentance and forgiveness becomes the cross we all must learn to bear.

Fr. Radcliffe ends his work with this paragraph of challenge and hope where we respond with the yes or no of faith, “We must give each other courage and renounce collusion with the powers of silence, the powers of the tomb. We can refuse that auto censorship, which is always fearful about what other people might think if one were to say the truth.’ Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me’ (John 14.1). We can enjoy moments of Sabbath together, sharing even now in God’s own rest.”(p 212)

God Bless
Fr. Mark