What if we are in the midst of an epic spiritual battle, a battle for truth. “What is truth?”
(“Quid est veritas?”) (Jn 18:38).
Our Catholic ancestors would have recognized that rampant fear of death, anxiety, division, and anger are from Satan.
Among the most common phrases in the Bible are “be not afraid” and “peace be with you.”
We see the devastating effects of today’s demonic attack on our families, our culture, and particularly our children. Youth suicides in 2020 were up a full 25 percent over 2019, and drug overdoses were up 35 percent as well.
These are not statistics; these are our precious, unique, unrepeatable children, our future. As an emergency physician on the front lines, I see the carnage on a daily basis.
Through the Holy Spirit, St. Paul gives us guidance in Ephesians:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12).
“Therefore, stand firm, having been girded about your waist with truth” (Eph 6:14).
What if it is no coincidence that we are alive at this time of trial for the Church Militant?
Of course, the Holy Spirit doesn’t need us, and we also have free will, so we can say “no thanks.”
But what if
real truth is a person, Jesus Christ?
“For this I was born, and for this I came into the world; so that I may offer testimony to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (Jn 18:37).
On the other hand, Jesus says to those opposing him: “You are of your father, the devil. And you will carry out the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning. And he did not stand in the truth, because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks it from his own self. For he is a liar, and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). “But if I speak the truth, you do not believe me” (Jn 8:45).
What if our Catholic ancestors understood the truth that God is in charge when we die?
“Are not two sparrows sold for one small coin? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will” (Mt 10:29).
We now have evidence that the soul survives physical death with thousands of verified worldwide “near-death experiences.”
Science can only answer the “how” questions, not the “why” questions. In addition, since science is based on our fallible powers of observation, this makes getting to the final truth sometimes an exceptionally long and messy process. Just witness the confusing and contradictory guidance early in the COVID-19 pandemic— confusion that continues even now.
However, if God created a life-permitting universe, then through understanding natural laws, science will eventually point to the “how.”
So, what is Truth? Why are we afraid of death on planet earth? Didn’t Jesus defeat bodily and spiritual death? Wasn’t there a Resurrection? Isn’t the Catholic Church where the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist?
God loves us so much, that he continues to give us evidence of Christ’s Real Presence — His Truth — in the Eucharist at every Mass, and in the 21st-century Eucharistic miracles.
SCOTT FRENCH, M.D.,is a practicing Catholic emergency physician who witnesses firsthand the tragic rise in despair, anxiety, depression, and suicide among youth. He turned to the Holy Spirit for the solution, and in the process discovered the love, faith, hope, and truth of the Catholic faith. He is a member of the San Diego Chapter.