Who is it who never passed through tribulations and persecution and before these realities has his faith in balance? If this has not happened to you, prepare your heart, your soul. . . Although we pass through tribulations in diverse levels of our life, these are propitious moments to put our faith in practice.

When I speak of putting faith in practice, I speak of witness, I speak of the Gospel. Before an injustice, betrayal, persecution, if you have a certainty in whom you believe, if your faith is founded in Christ Jesus, no one will be capable of shaking you.

It is a mistake to think of a Christianity without the way of the cross. Then Jesus said to the disciples: “If someone wants to come after me, renounce yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” (Mt 16:24) Those Christians that know that pain is part of human life, will know to confront suffering and at the same time will be happy.

We are a few days from the beginning of the Year of Faith, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, that will begin the 11th of October. With this motivation of the Year of Faith, our dear Pope desires that our faith is based strongly in the Christ who died, rose and is among us.

“The renewal of the Church is also achieved through the witness offered by the lives of believers: by their very existence in the world, Christians are called to radiate the word of truth that the Lord Jesus has left us.” Porta Fidei § 6

“Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6) We cannot lose the opportunity of each adverse situation to witness to our faith, the faith of the Church as highlight above in the excerpt of the Apostolic Letter: Porta Fidei.

The grace of God for us in this time is that we may live with hope. Hope that gives birth to the certainty of faith. The faith clothes us in the grace of God. The faith, lived in difficulties, strengthens us to not remain centered on ourselves, but to seek the Lord. We may be humble in recognizing that we do not have the capability of resolving any problems alone. But with the Lord, all can be resolved.

Throughout our journey and principally in this Year of Faith, we can be animators of all those that pass through our life, through our testimony of authentic life.

Adailton Batista da Silva

translated from Portuguese