Fear, envy, and violence are not destined, after all, to win out in the end.  So we muster the courage to trust our ability to survive the bitterness and burdens of life through a mysterious sharing in Christ’s life, which at the same time is the mysterious sharing in the vey destiny of all human beings.  Faith…–is not only trusting in the ultimate goodness of creation.  Instead of fearing the secular, that is, the world, we can trust the hidden presence of the creator in all that we encounter.  Our sacred traditions and our sacred scriptures are “entrusted” to us so that we might draw ever closer to fullness of light we Christians confess to see in Christ.  Our doctrines and dogmas, therefore, our meant to support and nurture our fragile trusting, our fragile efforts to hold firm to the saving paradox of the Paschal Mystery.  Dying with Christ, we rise to life transformed.  –Writer-in-Residence at John Carroll University Father Donald Cozzens “Notes From the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest”