There is a book called Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who ended up in one of the concentration camps during the Second World War. He noticed that the people who survived the longest were not necessarily those who were physically the strongest. It was the people who had a purpose, a reason to live, such as a wife, or husband they wanted to see again, or if they had faith. Those who lived the longest were the ones who had what you might call ‘spiritual purpose’.
An interesting thing is happening in the world at the moment. A large number of people are beginning to come back to their faith. Young people are discovering faith for the first time; not just beginning to go to mass again, but learning to pray and really trying to live their faith every day. Some of this I have seen directly and more of it has been mentioned on the news. Apparently in England and France large numbers of people are coming back to faith. I personally know of many people that it has happened to. There are friends of mine who are converting people at their work place, by the way they live and because of the zeal they have for the Lord. There are also prayer groups springing up all over the country. Also in confession I keep meeting people who have been away for decades, almost every week. I often ask them what prompted them to come back. Sometimes they are not quite sure, but they felt they needed to put their life in order. The Spirit had been speaking to them.
Over the last several years more adults have been coming into the Church each year, just in this diocese through the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adultls) program. Three years ago over 500 people just in this diocese, became Catholic. Two years ago over 600 and last year over 1000. The Spirit is moving people.
I have also come across many articles about Jesus appearing to Muslims in dreams. Many of them have converted to Christianity.
Several well-documented testimonies include:
The Story of Nabeel Qureshi – A former Muslim and the author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, Nabeel Qureshi described how dreams played a crucial role in his conversion. He experienced three significant dreams in which Jesus revealed Himself and challenged his understanding of Islam.
Middle Eastern Testimonies – Missionaries working in restricted countries have documented multiple accounts of Muslims encountering Jesus in dreams and subsequently seeking out Christian pastors to learn more.
Online and Social Media Accounts – Christian ministries often share testimonies of Muslims who reach out after experiencing dreams of Jesus, asking for Bibles and wanting to learn more about Christianity.
The Story of Khalil – A young man from Saudi Arabia had repeated dreams of Jesus telling him to “seek the truth.” After grappling with fear and doubt, he eventually connected with a Christian community online and found answers in the Bible. Today, he is a strong believer despite facing persecution from his family.
The Story of Fatima – A woman in Iran dreamt of Jesus standing beside her and saying, “Follow Me.” She was deeply moved but hesitant. After experiencing the same dream multiple times, she began secretly reading the Bible and later accepted Christ as her Savior.
The Story of Ahmed – Living in Egypt, Ahmed was a devout Muslim who had a powerful dream of Jesus embracing him and saying, “You are mine.” Overwhelmed by love, he started reading the New Testament and realized Jesus was more than just a prophet. He is the Son of God.
Former Imams and Religious Leaders – Several former imams have reported encountering Jesus in dreams, leading them to leave their positions in Islam and follow Christ. Their journeys are particularly significant because they come from a deep theological background in Islam, making their conversions even more profound.
I read of another account where 200 Palestinian Muslim men had the same dream about Jesus and were all converted to Christianity.
The history of the people of Israel shows the same pattern. When they were faithful to God things were fine. But when they became lazy and began to ignore God, or turn to other false gods, then their society began to fall apart, just as God told them it would. Then they recognized their sin and turned back to God.
Our society follows the same pattern. When people are faithful to God and try to live as God tells us to, things work. But when people turn away from God or reject God’s Commandments, our society falls into chaos, as we have seen happening. But that same chaos is often what makes people wake up and hopefully repent and turn back to God. I believe that is what we are seeing happening now. People see the chaos and recognize that things are not right and turn to God.
A friend of mine, a married man, who has come back to God, said to me recently that he would have separated by now, only for the fact that he had become a Catholic. It was his faith that had given him the strength he needed to keep going when things were difficult. And now they are doing fine.
We are not usually as strong as we like to think we are. And we are not half as independent as we like to think we are. We are full of pride and slow to admit that we need help. And men are worse than women this way. We tend to be slower to ask for help.
Working with the sick and dying, I am often amazed at how much people are consoled when the priest comes to visit them, because it reminds them that God hasn’t forgotten about them. It also reminds them of the more important things and they don’t feel so alone. Many people have forgotten about God, but God hasn’t forgotten about us.
No matter what stage we are at in our life, it is never too late to turn to God and to ask him for his help, but pride often prevents us. We are stubborn, and we say, ‘I couldn’t begin to pray now, because I’ve never done it before. What would my friends think?’ What kind of an argument is that? Who cares what your friends think. They won’t be there when we are alone before God when we die.
If you take faith out of the picture, everything changes. If there was no God, then why should we make sacrifices? We would have every excuse to just take care of ourselves and our loved ones and make ourselves as comfortable as possible. But our faith makes us see things completely differently. Because God is real and our destiny is to be with him for all eternity, then what we go through in this life takes on a different perspective, because it is only temporary and it all has a part in forming us to be holier people. You could describe holiness as being ‘the best version of ourselves, that we can be.’ Depending on how we face them, the trials that we go through can have a big part in forming us, in purifying us. That is also why suicide, abortion and euthanasia are not only sinful, but such terrible tragedies as well. The temptation is to thing that if my life ends, then all the suffering is over. In fact that is what you hear people saying all the time, when they are referring to someone who has died. At least they won’t suffer any more. But if cutting a life short, through suicide, or euthanasia, or abortion, is also cutting off some of the very trials that would have helped bring us closer to God, then we are missing out. It is normal that we don’t want to suffer, but there is a certain amount of suffering we cannot avoid and Jesus said that the path to heaven involves suffering. ‘Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple’ (Matt 16:24). ‘Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to heaven and few find it (Matt 7:14). We want the easy way and our world tells us we should be able to have the easy way, but that is not what the Lord tells us. Who will you listen to?
When we get to heaven, please God, I think we will look back and see that everything that we went through played a part in getting us ready to be with God. You can see it all the time, how suffering changes people. They mature and often begin to see what is most important in our life on earth. If we were not faced with those same trials/sufferings, would we see what is truly important? You know how the sickness, or death of a family member can change everything, especially if it is a young person. All our priorities change. The things of this world suddenly become almost irrelevant.
So many people at the end of their life go through sickness and pain, which often seems so unfair. But I am sure that it is often the final purification that God allows us to go through before we come into God’s presence. When people die we tend to refer to them as immediately being in heaven, but probably not many people are ready to come directly into God’s presence. It is so important that we pray for them and sadly it is something that is greatly neglected. We have reminders of them everywhere, but we don’t pray for them. I would rather that there be no reminders of me anywhere, but instead that people pray for me and have masses offered for me when I die.
Passing on our faith is probably one of the most important things we can do for the next generation, because our faith is what puts everything in perspective. If there was no world after this one, what a cruel world it would be for so many people, as most people suffer quite a lot.
It always grieves me when I hear parents saying that they are not going to teach their children about any faith, because they want them to choose when they grow up. First of all, if they are not given any grounding in some faith, it is very unlikely they will choose any faith when they get older. Secondly, their minds are going to be formed one way or the other. Would you rather that their minds be formed by the violence and evil that fills the internet and TV, or in the ways of God? We must do everything we can to teach the next generation about God. I know that many of you here are grandparents. Don’t underestimate the influence you have on your grandchildren. We have a different kind of respect for our grandparents. Don’t apologize for what you believe in. It may be the greatest favour you do for your grandchildren.
When we were in the seminary, they did a survey asking us various questions about our faith. One question was, who influenced us the most in our faith. The majority of people said it was their grandparents. When we are growing up we tend to rebel against our parents as we are finding our feet and our independence, but we listen to our grandparents in a different way. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you believe in.
What is the best way to pass on our faith? Live it as well as you can. When we really try and live our faith, we don’t have to say very much, because our actions and decisions say everything. People notice and it makes people think.
Jesus Christ is the only one who makes sense of what our life is about and why we are here. We are on our way to be with him in heaven. That’s what we have been created for. But he also told us to carry the cross, to try and be patient in suffering, because that is also part of the journey.
For to me, life is Christ and death is gain…
I long to depart this life and be with Christ
for that is far better.
Yet that I remain in the flesh
is more necessary for your benefit.
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