That is a question that has been asked throughout the ages. We know that faith is a gift from God. And that very gift of God is meant to be nurtured in our lives, especially through prayer and the reception of the sacraments.

God is eternal. In other words, God is the One who does the creating. The Book of Genesis instructs us that God created time and the universe in which we live. Of course, as people who measure what we do by “keeping time,” it can be difficult to understand the concept that God has always been around. 

It is with great joy that I share that we at the St. Paul Center have completed our Fifteenth Anniversary Stewards of the Mysteries Campaign.

For over a decade, the St. Paul Center has hosted annual conferences serving and supporting the spiritual and intellectual needs of our priests. In the past two years, we’ve had the blessing to grow our outreach to two yearly retreats serving over 400 priests from around the world. 

Because God is God, He knows everything. He created the world and you and me. He knows us so well: 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. . . . Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. (Ps 139:1–2, 4)  

St. Augustine wrote, “If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift. He will not deny us. God withholds what you are not yet ready for. He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts. All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.”  

The image of the Holy Family, portrayed every year at Christmas time, is no human sentimental icon; rather, it is a supernatural reality that reveals the image of God in the Holy Trinity. The love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is revealed in the unity of One God; love is demonstrated through unity and sacrifice. From the beginning God created man in His own image, like no other creature; God made man out of a desire to love. In the icon of the Holy Family, at the “Epiphany” we see the invisible made visible by interaction of love revealed. In this Jewish family, we see salvation comes to us through the Jews who had centuries of learning from and following the God of all creation.