• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Trust God’s love – now

April 6, 2018
By Father Joseph Breighner
Filed Under: Commentary, Wit & Wisdom

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

An old hymn, “Hail Thee, Festival Day,” includes the line, “from the death of the winter arising.” What a perfect description of spring. Winter does look like death. We have seen the bare limbs on trees, dead leaves on the ground, no sign of flowers. Some statistics indicate more people die in winter than any other season.

Spring is about life. The earth comes back to life. We celebrate Christ coming back to life at Easter, a qualitatively different kind of life. The body of Christ wasn’t raised so that he could die again. He wasn’t resuscitated. The old body didn’t start to breathe again. Christ was given a glorified body, a body never to die again, a body no longer limited by time and space.

That’s what we look forward to. Death is not our destiny. Death is just a moment of transition.

My late brother-in-law, Mike, loved to travel. His sister, Dorothy, rarely travelled. She would say, “I have all eternity to see all of that.” She’s right.

Our news is always filled with stories of death and destruction and mayhem. We celebrate life, but death seems to grab more forcefully. As I would often say in my years on the radio: “Evil seems to have a better public relations firm.”

It’s hard to imagine a story worse than the end of the life of Jesus. His friends abandoned him. Religious leaders condemned him. Civil authorities executed him. Yet, through all the darkness, Jesus kept his faith in his Father. And he triumphed over evil and death. And so will we.

The key to trusting God’s power after death is to trust his power during life. There’s a wonderful meditation from an Alcoholics Anonymous publication which goes: “God irradiates your life with the warmth of his spirit. We must open up like a flower to this divine irradiation. Loosen your hold on earth, its cares, and its worries. Unclasp your hold on material things, relax your grip, and the tide of peace and serenity will flow in. Relinquish every material thing and receive it back again from God. Do not hold onto earth’s treasures so firmly that your hands are too occupied to clasp God’s hands as he holds them out to you in love.”

We don’t have to wait until we die to experience God’s love. Sometimes we are so busy looking around that we don’t look within or look up. God is not a judge waiting to condemn us but a loving Father wanting to save us. Evil is not as strong as God. Death is not as strong as God. All we have to do is to trust God’s love right now. We don’t have to wait until death.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Father Joseph Breighner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

The truth about transitions

A cry for unity

‘Public’ does not equal ‘state’ or ‘government’

Thank you to a one-of-a-kind teacher

Jesus doesn’t leave us alone in the night

| Recent Local News |

For Deacon Shiadrik Mokum, the priesthood is all about community

Prodigal son to priest

Radio Interview: Books and Authors: Inspiring Trailblazers

Future priest from Congo has a heart of service

Sister Joan Minella, former principal and pastoral life director, dies

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Jesus invites Christians to overcome despair, pope says
  • Detroit Archdiocese to provide regional sites for celebration of Latin Mass starting July 1
  • A month after his election, most U.S. Catholics view Pope Leo XIV favorably
  • The truth about transitions
  • Supreme Court takes up appeal from N.J. faith-based pregnancy centers
  • Fox Nation announces second season for ‘Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints’
  • N.J. top court ruling allows grand injury investigations for clerical abuse
  • A cry for unity
  • Movie Review: ‘The Phoenician Scheme’

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en