My name is Maria Franca Pasquale and I live in Santa Maria Imbaro (CH).
If I asked you, “Do you believe in God?” what would you answer? My belief in God was unstable: circumstances made the difference.
I had never read the Bible, and although I was curious, I found it difficult to understand.
On Sundays, I went to church, listened to the Gospels and everything related to the Catholic liturgy. I had received the sacraments, I behaved well (I thought), and I thought I was OK.
At 27, I met some evangelicals who read the Bible, so I invited a couple to my house. My first discovery was in the Gospel of John 1:12: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
A great lie circulating in the world is that we are all children of God. If that were true, then what purpose would Christ’s sacrifice have served?
These first readings opened a door in my heart. Every day I made new discoveries, and I finally understood that I had to abandon my preconceptions and everything religion had taught me. The Bible opened new horizons for me: I met Jesus. Not an idea, but a living person. I understood that the cross is not history, it is my salvation.
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Gospel of John 17:3