Two battleships were on training maneuvers in the ocean. The weather was very foggy and very difficult to see. The lookout on the battleship called out to the captain that there was a light ahead and it was on a collision course with the battleship. The captain commanded the lookout to signal the approaching ship to change course twenty degrees. The answer came back that the battleship should change course twenty degrees.

The captain was furious and commanded that the lookout flash the message: "I am a captain.

Change your course twenty degrees".

The answer flashed back, "I am a seaman. You change course twenty degrees".

The captain was livid. He sent the message: "I am a battleship. Change course twenty degrees."

The answer came flashing back: "I am a lighthouse".

The captain changed his course twenty degrees.

As the lighthouse came right in front of the battleship, the Gospel and the reading from St. Paul shine right into our lives. They tell us that God sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross for us. We are saved. We don’t deserve it. We cannot do anything to gain it. It is a free gift. It is a gift from God because He loves us.

How de we use this gift? How do we unwrap it and make it part of our lives?

The Christian life is very difficult so many times.

A person finds it so hard to forgive. He doesn’t want revenge. He doesn’t wish harm to the person, but he just can’t forgive.

Another person is finding it so hard to accept the fact that he has cancer. How can the person still believe in God?

Another person just can’t pray. The words don’t come. It is very empty. It is a waste of time.

If these people think that they have to do this all alone, they are living in the darkness. It they allow the light of Christ to shine in their lives, they will understand that God is there to help them.

We use the free gift of salvation by allowing God to work in our lives. It is God in us who forgives, who believes, and who prays. It is God who does everything in us. We have to let him in.

There was a saying: With God we are a crushing majority.