Christians sometimes seem to get very little out of keeping God's commands. Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes the best people suffer the worst tragedies. Why does God allow this?

If we obey God no matter what, we are giving Him pure love. Then we are in the Christian life not for the power, feeling, blessings, or even for heaven. In unconditional obedience to the Lord, we are loving Him for Who He is and not just for what He can do for us.

May we be able to pray: "For though the fig tree blossom not nor fruit be on the vines, though the yield of the olive fail and the terraces produce no nourishment, though the flocks disappear from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord and exult in my saving God" (Hab 3:17-18). After Job's bankruptcy and the funeral of all ten of his children, he said: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Jb 1:21) May we accept the grace to love God as Job loved and to offer the Lord the unconditional love that He has always given us.

The Holy Spirit gives us this miraculous love which breaks the spell of selfishness. "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rm 5:5; see also Gal 5:22). "If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him" (Lk 11:13). Ask for the Holy Spirit of unconditional love.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, April 10, 1999

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 16, 1999