Why is life so hard? Why is faith so hard? Those are deep questions. They might need a philosopher to help us answer them.

Still, they are questions that almost everyone asks himself at some point. Life and living our faith are filled with joyful moments. Think of birthdays, summer vacations, Christmas Mass and maybe the Diocesan Youth Summit.

But those moments all share something in common. They don’t last.

After that momentary glimpse of joy rooted in something truly and morally good, they come to an end and the challenges of life and faith return again. Somehow, it seems that those challenges hang around a lot longer and take a lot more of our energy than do the moments of joy.

Of course this is no surprise. Jesus told us that following him would not be easy. He had to break through the fixation of the Apostles on his glory as the Son of God to teach them that they and we would have to pick  up our crosses and follow him.

What that really meant must have hit home on Good Friday as Jesus hung on the cross. But the glory of Easter was worth all the effort.

What is difficult about the challenges of life and of faith is that they test something that many of us have in short supply. That is patience and perseverance.

Because of the relative material wellbeing of our society, as well as our modern mentality that insists we either fix something immediately or throw it out, staying engaged and committed to anything are less and less characteristic of people of our age. We aren’t used to thinking about the future over a long term nor to committing ourselves to get to that future, whatever it takes.

Jesus also told his followers, “He who endures to the end will be saved.” We can expect our lives to be filled with ups and downs, setbacks as well as successes. But to truly get along in this world, we can’t be the kind of person who gives up at the first sign of trouble.

So too in the faith, what is before us is eternal life. There may be temptations, sinfulness and just plain moments of tiredness making us wonder if it is all worth it. Our prayer must be for the grace not to give up on our faith nor to abandon or water down its moral obligations. It is the project of a lifetime leading to eternal life.

This month, there have been several notable examples of perseverance both in faith and in the course of life.

Last week, I presided over the celebration and renewal of vows of couples celebrating their 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries. Their presence, and I have to say their laughter and joy afterward, were a reminder that married life and its call to perseverance together facing an unknown future is in fact a sign of maturity and it leads to joy.

Earlier that day, I presided over the final profession of Sister Mary John Paul of Merciful Love as a Poor Clare Sister.

In early October, the Diocese of Rockford was blessed with the ordination to the diaconate of Rev. Mr. Jared Twenty at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. God willing, he will be ordained a priest next June.

The willingness of young people not to flee from the world but to engage it head on by offering themselves and their lives to something greater than themselves gives hope, encouragement and even satisfaction to the rest of us striving for fidelity to our own calling and path to Christ.

Some days we just don’t feel like we can take another step with our problems of life. We might feel that holding to our Catholic faith in the face of the challenges, disdain and secularism of our day is just too much to ask. But deep down we know something else.

We can always go farther than we think we can. And we keep our hope because Jesus is walking with us. He does not ask more of us than we can give.

Ultimately, a commitment and perseverance are a sign of a healthy and mature person who truly believes in the promises of Christ.