When the Shaking Hits Home

What About Those Who Lose Faith?

In my last reflection, I wrote about how the Church has endured massive instability — Arianism, the Reformation, Modernism — and how each crisis felt like the very ground was shaking. Yet every time, God raised up saints who preserved and renewed the faith. He has not abandoned His Church.

But an uncomfortable question remains: what about those who don’t make it through the shaking? What about those who lose their faith?

Why We Must Care

Jesus took this seriously. He warned, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Many ordinary Catholics grew up believing the Church was a solid rock. When scandals, confusion, or division appear, they feel betrayed. Some quietly walk away, concluding the whole thing was never true. That is a real tragedy, and we should feel sorrow over every soul that drifts.

Why Some Faith Collapses

At the same time, much of today’s faith is built on thin soil. Cultural Catholicism, social habit, or sentimental attachment can look strong in good times but cracks quickly under pressure. This is exactly what Jesus described in the Parable of the Sower: seed that springs up fast on rocky ground, but withers when the sun beats down (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21).

The Tension We Carry

Here is the hard truth we live with:

• Every soul is infinitely precious to God. He desires none to be lost (cf. 2 Peter 3:9).
• Yet trial has a purifying purpose. Untested faith rarely grows deep.
• Many of the greatest saints began with weak, shaky, or even childish faith. What changed them was being forced to wrestle honestly with their doubts, cling to Christ in the darkness, and emerge purified.

A Sifting for Our Time

Perhaps God is allowing a sifting. Shallow faith collapses. But others, seeing the cracks, are driven to press closer to Christ and discover what is truly real. History shows this pattern repeatedly: crisis exposes, purifies, and eventually raises up stronger witnesses.

It is not easy to live in such days. Watching people we love lose faith is painful. But we are not without hope. The same Lord who walked with the disciples through the storm is walking with us. The Rock has not moved.

The Choice Before Us

The shaking will reveal what our faith is built upon. Will it drive us away in bitterness or disappointment? Or will it drive us deeper into Jesus Christ — the only foundation that cannot be shaken (cf. Hebrews 12:26-28)?

Let us pray fervently for those whose faith is wavering. Let us strengthen what remains in ourselves. And let us trust that even now, God is raising up the saints our age so desperately needs.