​“I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but … I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.  This earthly existence brings nothing but tribulation... backstabbing, pursuits of wealth, pleasure and power, family discord, moral decay.  Thankfully, we have an alternative – Christ who has conquered this turmoil.  Yet to achieve this peace in our earthly existence (mental stability and fortitude) we must deny self (worldly pursuits) and follow the will of God and live in the Spirit with Christ.  

​Most recently, since 2010 after a conversion, I gravitated to the Holy Spirit.  I assumed that Christ had come into this earthly world, completed his mission conquering sin and death and returned home to our heavenly Father.  At Pentecost He exclaimed that He would leave the paraclete, wonderful counselor, the Holy Spirit, to sustain us and help us to purify our soul.  I know Jesus lives but I assumed that we need the Holy Spirit to invade our soul and protect us from the wiles of the evil one. I gravitated away from Jesus to the Holy Spirit.  I have failed with my sole reliance on the Spirit.  After much more reading, study and sin, I have come to realize that the Christ is our intercessor and savior.  Although He is the Spirit and Father in the trinity, we do need to pray to Him much more often than I realized.  He is still with us in the Eucharist that we receive at every Mass.  He created the Church.  He sustained the apostles, the saints and fathers of the church.  He is the Word.  He will execute the Fathers final judgment.  He will return. Therefore, I am certain that He is still with us in His risen body just as He reappeared to the apostles after His death. We do not see Him in His natural or divine state.  Nevertheless, He is here. He speaks through the saints, past and present, and He sometimes speaks to us if we but listen. Pray to the risen Christ.