I had a chance to visit California. The state of California has always fascinated me from the time I entered the novitiate. Robert Herzer, an American, was my spiritual director, a TOR Franciscan priest from Sacred Heart Province, Loretto, Pennsylvania. He had a big collection of cowboy stories by famous writers like Louis L'Amour. For recreational purposes, I used to borrow some of the cowboy stories, and  I read a lot about California and the hunt for gold dust.

In May of 2003  when I visited California, I stayed with Franciscans at many old missions. It was a ten-day program. I visited Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The trip by train from Sacramento to San Francisco was fabulous; the scenery as we traveled by the San Francisco Bay was beautiful. Even though the scenery was magnificent, at times I felt some of the loneliness that all of us feel during moments of our lives, especially when we are alone or have just left someone we are close to and, once again, we are by ourselves.

That loneliness was sharpened into something like pain as I watched the lights of the houses come on and the dusk thicken and settle as I sat looking through the window at San Francisco Bay. Always, there in the background, sorrow haunts the human race, as day turns into night and night breaks into daylight, and as one season takes us to another season. This restlessness and loneliness leaves a mark on our lives. Finally, one day we are separated from our loved ones, separated from our friends and relatives as we encounter the last night of all the nights, death. Who can understand and articulate what we experience in the cosmos of space and time?
Is anyone really in control? Space and time and the cosmic realities move us onward toward our death, which separates us from our fellow human beings, tearing our momentary peace, tranquility, and happiness as pilgrims on the face of the earth. Each year goes by and we see the leaves color, darken, and fall. We see our friends sick and our relatives dying; we see them facing financial loss.  Children leave their homes for war or military service. We wake up in the morning, pain in our joints and marks of aging on our bodies.  We wonder and are afraid to ask  the question, "Can life be saved?" Usually, we try hard to hold onto life with its relationships, possessions, hopes, dreams, and desires.  We are powerless to possess life.  We are unable to control our life for another moment.
As I was approaching San Francisco, I began to feel better. I experienced an intense joy deep in my heart.  The joy of being a committed priest for the Lord.  Like St. Francis of Assisi who said, "Pietro Bernadone is no longer my father," from now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father, who art in heaven.' And I prayed, "Our Father...."
We have only one hope, Jesus Christ, who by bearing

the affliction and misery of human life, even suffering death at our hands, has opened a way to save life from death. When death took control of Him with full force, His Father raised Him from the dead and honored Him with glory and power as the Son of God. He promises life without end for those people who hear His word and live accordingly. In this manner, He invites us to experience a new relationship with Him and have that life with Him forever in a completely and totally new way. The glory of the resurrection reassured Christ once again that He is the Son of God. The resurrection of the body is promised to everyone who is in right relation with oneself, with others, and with God.
We are called the adopted sons and daughters of God. Knowing that we are God's sons and daughters gives us a remarkable freedom and confidence. We should not fear "anyone who can kill the body" because we know we have become part of God's family as His sons and daughters. God will always be with us and will save us from "anyone who can kill our bodies." The  truth  is that even our bodies will be restored! We can count on His word. With His fatherly love, He will free us from all anxiety and fear. There is an utter peace, joy, and security that comes from knowing the love of God. This knowledge of God will set us free from our deepest fears, anxieties, and pains of life. Knowing Him is eternal life.   Peter, who knew Christ, and lived with Him and had the experience of His resurrection, has assured us in his own words: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." To Nicodemus, Christ said that this can be our assurance from Jesus Himself: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life."
Let us reflect on the words of Pope John Paul II and be sure of the fact that our lives will be saved: "Let no one... wish to exclude himself from the Father's embrace. Let no one behave like the elder brother in the Gospel parable who refuses to enter the house to celebrate his brothers' return. May the joy of forgiveness be stronger and greater than any resentment. Let us therefore look to the future. The merciful Father takes no account of the sins for which we are truly sorry. He is now doing something new, and in the love which forgives, He  anticipates the new heavens and the new earth."