Every day has capacity to bring on a whole new world of peace and miracles...but often never seems to. Every day has ability to be brand-new, totally forgiven from day before and a wonderful new choice of walking forward where you never walked before...if only it would.

What is there to prevent you from deducing that whole concept of spirituality is just a hoax to make you believe in false peace and false hope?

All things work together for good...and not just for those who love Lord. God does not have favorites. All things work together for good.

problem you have allowed to arise." ALIGN=RIGHT HSPACE=10 VSPACE=10 GALLERYIMG="no" STYLE="border-style: inset; border-color: #E1E1E1; border-width: 3px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;">God does not bring about those things we consider bad, but when we have opened ourselves for such things to occur, he is already there with a solution to heal problem you have allowed to arise. God takes advantage of every situation we create, to provide a pathway back to healing and him.

A favorite modern parable I like is one where a man is stranded on an island for a very long time. After doing all he could do to attract help, nothing worked. He prayed, he cried, he begged...and nothing seemed to make any difference.

One day while out looking for food, he saw smoke in direction of a makeshift hut he had built. As he arrived back at his "home", entire structure was ablaze, along with all tools and devices he had made to help sustain himself. His heart just dropped. There was no crying, there was no sobbing...there was just nothing.

As he tried to sleep that night without his shelter, he could see no future and even contemplated ending life that has brought such misery to him. His thoughts were awash with conflict..."What is point? I tried so hard to be spiritual and peaceful...what is point when world just proves to you that you have been a fool and wasted your time. Not only have I wasted my time, but my belief that God would help me has allowed me ignore world around me and now things are even worse than they would have been, had I not believed."

He begins by citing St. Paul in ever-popular 2 Tim 3:16, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction and for training in righteousness..." This is rapidly followed by Christ's admonition to Sadducees in Mt. 22:29, "...You are misled because you do not know scriptures or power of God." Finally, he clinches deal with story of learned Jew turned believer named Apollos who, in Acts 18:28, "...vigorously refuted Jews in public, establishing from scriptures that Messiah is Jesus."

He appears quite pleased with his efforts. Having shown you preeminence of scriptures in selected passages, he hopes you'll conclude, as he has, that Bible is all you need for salvation. No creed, no church, and no hierarchy are required.

Taking a long pull on your coffee, you look him square in eye. With devastating kindness, you thank him for honoring authority of Catholic Church. He stiffens up immediately. Like a dog looking at a clock, his facial expression belies a complete lack of understanding. He is momentarily silent, for he has no pithy rejoinder to such a bizarre comment.

He finally gathers his thoughts enough to inquire as to what your response could possibly mean. You politely declare that you are a Catholic and, as such, believe that fullness of Truth resides in Catholic Church, not simply in Bible. The Bible, you affirm, is part of a much larger deposit of revelation. In fact, Catholic Church is mother of Bible.

Shocked at your impunity, he immediately fires back that you are calling into question very Word of God, hoping that will cow you into submission. You smile and offer to share some insights to defend your position. He agrees to listen, half-expecting to be amused as you concoct some wild story.

You begin by explaining that New Testament letters and accounts he cited earlier of Paul, Matthew, and Luke (author of Acts) were written during first century. While Christianity survived underground during ensuing centuries of persecution, these documents, along with others, were scattered across Roman Empire. There was no New Testament yet; there was no Bible as we know it today.

You remind him that it wasn't until Christian faith was legitimized by Emperor Constantine's decree in fourth century that Church could publicly begin to compile a canon, or rule, of sacred writings. The task required sorting through hundreds of letters and texts attributed to Apostles, evangelists, bishops and saints. The goal was, in essence, to distill truly inspired works from those that were merely inspiring.

Pope St. Damasus I in 382 AD first proposed a list of twenty-seven "books" that would comprise canon. Gatherings, known as synods, of esteemed bishops were then convened in north African cities of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD). These synods prayerfully attempted to discern will of Holy Spirit in deciding what texts belonged in canon and which did not. The Church well understood import of this task. Once canon was decided, it would be closed forever to preclude any tampering.