John McAreavey tells how his personal relationship with God helped him through his loss.
Faith is not just for Sunday Mass, but must be part of all aspects of our everyday life, John McAreavey told a novena congregation this week.
Speaking at Graiguecullen parish in Co. Carlow on Monday, Mr McAreavey, whose wife Michaela was murdered during their honeymoon in Mauritius three years ago, told how his personal relationship with God helped him through his loss.
“My faith makes the rest of the world make sense or at least it gives me a platform to understand the drastic things that happen in life,” he said. “On a day-to-day basis we hear of tragedies around the world and it can be very hard to comprehend those things. I think when we isolate ourselves from God and try to work out everything on our own…we inevitably struggle with the weight of that. I don’t think we should bear those things on our own. If we give our issues up to God and ask him for support we can really lighten our burdens, but we must really believe in that process.”
Generation
He said that many people of his generation see faith as something for older people or only for Sunday Mass, but “faith is not something we can switch on and off at certain times”.
“Faith should be all encompassing. Faith to me is life. Faith to me is power,” he said, “It is probably much more than that. It is what I truly believe I was created for. We were created by God for love, to love, and that takes a lifetime. It can’t be something you float to or from on a weekly basis or certain times of our lives, when we want to have a bigger part in it. It has to be a relationship with a true and loving God. Faith can’t be segmented in a section of our lives; it covers all parts of life. So for me, the realisation of that fact, that it’s a personal relationship, really opened my eyes.”