The Fifth Day of the Missionary Decade

In today’s Gospel, the Lord speaks about one of the most dangerous paradoxes of human life. Sometimes a person may be convinced that they are serving God by their actions, while in reality they are acting against Him:

“The time is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God” (John 16:2).

Christ explains the reason for this tragic mistake very simply:

“Because they have not known the Father or Me” (John 16:3).

Knowing God is the starting point for seeing ourselves, other people, and life correctly. When a person loses a living relationship with God, they slowly lose the ability to clearly recognize good and evil. Then they begin to build life only on personal opinions, feelings, or personal benefit. This is where the danger begins: a person becomes their own measure of truth.

In this state, good and evil become relative, and truth depends on emotions, moods, or personal advantage. The greatest tragedy is not only that a person does evil, but often that they do not even realize it, because they are living without God.

How relevant this is for marriage and family life today. So many conflicts, hurts, and misunderstandings happen because people are completely convinced they are right while failing to see their own mistakes. In family life it is easy to replace God’s truth with personal ideas: selfishness may be called “self-fulfillment,” constant criticism may be called “fighting for truth,” and indifference may be excused as “being tired” or “having no time.”

Then the same paradox that Christ speaks about appears: people may think they are doing what is right and even helping the family, while in reality they are slowly destroying it. This happens when a person stops truly knowing God. Without Him, we begin to see not only the world in a distorted way, but also our marriage and family. We must remember that God Himself is the Creator of marriage, and His plan is the best foundation for family life.

But what does it really mean to “know God”? In the Bible, it does not simply mean knowing information about Him, calling ourselves believers, or practicing certain religious traditions. It means having a living relationship with God — a relationship that shapes our thinking, influences our decisions, and slowly forms our way of life.

In the family, this relationship grows through prayer together, reading Sacred Scripture, and active participation in the life of the Church.

Today let us ask the Lord to enlighten our hearts with the truth about Himself and about our family life. Let us ask Him to free us from self-deception and teach us to see others through His eyes. May God help us build our families not on pride or stubbornness, but on the truth, love, and wisdom of the Gospel.

Let us ask the Lord to enlighten our hearts and minds, so that we may honestly see our own mistakes, avoid self-deception, and learn to recognize God’s truth instead of what only appears to be true.

Let us ask our priest how we can help organize prayerful reading of Sacred Scripture in the parish, so that together we may know God’s Word more deeply and learn to live by it every day.

Let us lovingly support a family that is struggling with hurt, addictions, or spiritual distance from God, helping them through prayer, kind words, and personal witness to rediscover God’s truth and the way back to Him.