What does it mean to rediscover God in our lives? To rediscover means to discover something that you knew in the past but had drifted away from.

When I was a child, I remember going to Mass every week with my father and brother. I attended catechism classes where I learned the Baltimore catechism. I had to memorize the responses to the questions about the faith, and the thing that stands out most in my mind about those days is standing in line as we were called up one by one to tell the nun, who taught our class, the correct responses. I have to admit that although I continued to attend Mass each week, I did so out of obligation and habit. I believed in God but it seemed it was a regimented activity that I had to do because I was taught to do this out of respect for God. I didn't understand the broader reasons behind it. I just felt salvation depended on me going to church every week because it was the right thing to do as a Catholic.

I knew that God existed. There was never any doubt in my mind. One of my hobbies is astronomy. On a dark, moonless night away from the city lights, when you look up into the night sky and see the universe before you, you realize that only a God could have created this. Some say that science draws us away from God but I believe that it only affirms His existence. Despite the complexities in the universe, everything fits together perfectly.

In some ways it made a difference to have attended Mass regularly and to have learned the catechism because it built a foundation for faith. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It also says that God says "My word shall not return to me void but shall accomplish the work for which I have sent it." Therefore, it was not that I had no background about the faith and about God but that I felt that God is merciful, Jesus died for us, and I was young and I felt if I had to repent --there was plenty of time for that. My friends, who were not church goers, also felt that way. They would say "It's nice you go to church but it's not really for me. It's not really that important."

When I began to date Janice, my fixture wife, in 1980, she was teaching religion at a local Catholic high school. She told me that she had become involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal while in college and invited me to a FIRE rally at the Providence Civic Center. Since she had attended astronomy meetings with me, I agreed to go to this rally not knowing what to expect. I found out that FIRE stood for faith, intercession, repentance, and evangelism.

I was absolutely amazed while sitting in the Civic Center with thousands of people around me all rejoicing and praising the Lord openly and seeming to be having a great time. There seemed to be energy and excitement in the building and you could see joy on people's faces that was contagious. The speakers were absolutely dynamic and talked about having a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and that being a Catholic Christian was not a spectator sport.

They spoke about how the decisions we make in life are really important--and that eternal life or death hangs in the balance. Life is short and it makes a difference what we believe. They read from Matthew that the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and many are those that are traveling on it, and narrow the gate and road that leads to life and few there are that are finding it. This was the opposite of what I believed.

I thought that the road to heaven was wide and almost everyone was going there and that the road to hell was narrow and only a few really evil people would be going there. I heard that being a good person was not good enough compared with the holiness of God. We are saved because of the mercy of God-because Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for our sins and we should not take that sacrifice lightly. We were invited to ask Jesus to work in our lives, to help us commit our lives to him and follow him and to repent --to turn away from our sins and thank Him for loving us so much that He was willing to die for us even though we didn't deserve it. The Apostle Paul states in Romans, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This brought to mind the public profession of faith that we make during Easter where we reject Satan and all his works and say that we believe in God.

After this experience, I began to read the Bible. A few years after that my close friend Jim's mother tragically died, when she tripped on a rug and hit her head on a bureau. My friend was absolutely devastated. Although he had been brought up as a Catholic, he had not stepped foot in a church for 15 years. Because of this traumatic incident he began to search for answers about what the meaning of life was. He was shaken spiritually and began to ask questions about the faith. He started reading Scriptures and actively sought more knowledge about God and started attending church regularly. He suggested we meet regularly on a weekly basis in our homes to share the Bible and pray together. We purchased a Catholic Bible sharing handbook and began to meet weekly with a group of about 6 people. Often as a group we would go to seminars and conferences sponsored by the Catholic Church which help us to grow in faith. We found over a period of time that each person brought something into the Bible study which benefited all of us. Although these 6 stayed the same about 20 other people came and went from the group. We met together weekly for more than 5 years.

One of the people who came was a widow in her late 70's named Mary. Mary was a fellow parishioner of my friend Jim and his wife Carolyn. Jim had volunteered to do odd jobs around the house for Mary and help her with the maintenance of her car, so she wouldn't be taken advantage of. She was a devout Catholic attending Mass daily. Her husband had recently died and she blamed Jesus for taking her husband away from her. She was devoted to the Blessed Mother, but very angry at God. She used to say "What did my husband do that was so bad that God killed him?" We showed to her that the Blessed Mother always points the way to her son. In the Gospel of John, we see at the wedding at Cana that the Blessed Mother tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." We, also, showed her in the Gospel of John, Jesus at the Last Supper said, "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. He has gone before us to prepare a place in heaven for those who believe. Death is not final. After attending for six months she was able to accept the death of her husband and was reconciled with God. A few months after this, she passed away. By offering her our love, friendship, and support, we felt that God had used our group to make a difference in her life.

As I began to study the Bible, I began to see how all the books of the Bible fit together and how everything pointed to Jesus. In the Old Testament, God the Father walked and talked on the earth with Moses, Abraham , and the Prophets and foretold the coming of His son. In the New Testament, Jesus walked and talked on the earth with the apostles and disciples. When Jesus was speaking about His coming suffering and death, he said that it would be better if He went so that the Holy Spirit could be sent on the earth. God the Holy Spirit is on the earth today and is not limited to time and place. One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus and to bring to people's remembrance what Jesus said and taught. In the 14th chapter of John , Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will "teach us everything and remind you of all that I have told you". It is therefore very important for us to take the time to learn what Jesus said and taught so we can be reminded of it when we need to be reminded.

That brings me back to the theme of this talk, --rediscovering God. I have shown how Jim, Mary, and I all rediscovered God. In Jim's case, the tragedy of the death of his mother eventually drew him back to God. In Mary's case, the tragedy of the death of her husband pushed her away from God until she realized that Jesus was not the destroyer. He was the Savior.

In my case, I realized that life is short and that we must be prepared spiritually at all times because we don't know when we are going to enter eternity. We have been reminded recently on the 1 st anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks that it could happen at any time. The men, women, and children went into those buildings or on those planes not knowing what awaited them.

Each one of us had a background in the church. Jim went to Catholic schools as a child. Mary was a daily Mass goer after she retired. I attended Mass weekly. We were all exposed to Catholic teaching in some way. However seeds that were planted in our lives needed to be nourished in order for us to grow spiritually. Each one of us made an effort to seek God in some way. You can seldom find what you are not looking for, an effort must be made. (Mt 7:8) "The one who seeks, finds."

From the beginning in the early Church Christians devoted themselves to instruction and prayer. (Acts 2:42) "They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers." The only way to learn from the Lord is to spend time with him. It is very important to have a daily prayer life. There is no other way to grow in the knowledge of God. Your prayer time should consist of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication as well as a quiet time when you listen to God through scriptures or through the thoughts that may come in to your mind from the Holy Spirit. Actively participating in the Mass is a way to draw nearer to God. As Catholics we believe that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus. The same Jesus that died at Calvary two thousand years ago is present at the Mass. This always fills me with awe and reverence, and draws me nearer to God. I, also, find that Adoration is a perfect time to meditate on the sacred mystery of the Eucharist when the Sacrament is exposed and there is time to reflect.