NO ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION

NO ANSWER FOR THAT QUESTION

During yesterday's Mass the priest celebrating the Holy Eucharist at our parish had this story to relate....it was about a barber and a teen age boy.

This is the story....The barber while cutting the young boy's hair suddenly said..."I don't believe in God." The young boy was shocked, so he asked the barber why...the barber said..."If God was real, then why are there so many poor people. Why is my family so poor and why are my kids so hungry?" The teen age boy just looked up and couldn't say anything. Then he saw 2 men with very long hair and thick beards walking outside the barber shop, then he approached the barber and said..."You know, I don't believe in barbers." The barber was even more shocked than the boy had been, earlier...."Are you crazy? I just cut your hair, how can you not believe in me?", said the barber....then pointing to the two men outside the shop, the young boy said..." if barbers were true, then how do you explain the existence of those 2 guys with their very long hair and their beards?" The barber, quite mad, answered..."Why if only those 2 guys would come in here and ask for a hair cut and a shave they wouldn't look like that."...then the young boy gently answered...."It is the same deal with the Lord, if only you would ask His help and invite Him to come into your life, you wouldn't be this poor."

The priest ended his story.

I know what the priest was trying to impart....that it was up to each of us, to ask God to come into our lives and to help us.

I don't mean to do this...but the gaping hole in this story, is the fact that the Philippines is known far and wide, as a praying country, with a wide majority of its citizens, devoted to God and to Mother Mary....yet more than 80% of the population, most of who pray and believe in God, still languish in poverty. Their children dying from hunger and a variety of diseases...So while the father's or the priest's story sounds good, it does not adequately answer the question.....

As for me...I would answer it this way...I don't know why...
I only know that I continue to believe in God, amidst my daily struggles...I pray to him day and night...I continue to trust his love for me and for my family.....because I only have to look back at the past to see all the evidences of His love for me.....and more than this....It is really my FAITH...I can provide no better answer than that.

My faith keeps me strong, my faith keeps me believing...my faith keeps me hoping...my faith keeps me praying.

And I put my faith in no one but God...only GOD.