Humanity has always suffered from the trial of temptation beginning with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. In Sunday’s Gospel, the enemy, in an attempt to uncover the real nature of our Lord, calls on Christ to bow down and worship Him, believing that by doing so He would forfeit His true freedom.

But what is true freedom? The Catholic Church teaches that in order to be complete free we must live by Faith, according to the will of God. Easier said than done since the enemy, armed with preternatural abilities always seeks ways to undermine our true and eternal freedom by tempting us to follow our own will. Of course, the spiritual trials between Good and Evil are always at war since we live in an ever-changing world that does not guarantee lasting peace and joy.

My greatest spiritual trial occurred in March of 2011. Concerned with the results of a routine blood test, my physician recommended further tests with a local oncologist. Those results showed that I had developed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. The oncologist, following the pathology report, told me that I would most likely need chemotherapy within the next three years and might survive for five years.

It was a crushing and surreal experience as God had blessed me with an incredible wife and five amazing children ranging in age from 14 to 4 years old. My first thought upon hearing the diagnosis and prognosis was how my family would survive without my income and spiritual guidance. Fortunately, even though I questioned God, I never doubted His Divine Providence, due to a reversion to the Catholic faith in 1999 after attending a Cursillo retreat. My prayer life of course was on overdrive at that point asking our Lord for healing, but also trusting in His ultimate will.

For the next month, I researched everything I could about the disease and examined every type of treatment. During this process, I came across one of the world’s leading physicians, Dr. Michael Keating, specializing in the field of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia at MD Anderson. I found out that a friend was seeing him for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, and he raved about out how he saved his life. He provided me with the necessary contacts and within a month, I was scheduled for further testing at MD Anderson. In fact, Dr. Keating agreed to meet with my wife and me directly after examining the test results that same day.

Dr. Keating came into the waiting room and gave me the most powerful bear hug I had ever experienced and then asked me what the local oncologist had told me about my condition. After revealing the extremely poor prognosis, he told me that I was given bad information (he actually used a word that I cannot repeat), and that, while the diagnosis was correct, I had the absolute best version of the disease, and would live a very long life and die of something else with no need for chemotherapy. The tears of sorrow that my wife and I had shed for the last month, turned into tears of joy and thanksgiving.

While there remains the real possibility of someday hearing that the disease has progressed, I am now in a more spiritually mature place, better prepared to trust in Him, realizing that true and eternal freedom can only be achieved by letting go of my will and trusting in His.

Bob Moore is our Director of Religious Education and a father of five. He has a passion for the Catholic faith and works hard to make sure the families of our parish find their second home here at Holy Family.