In a recent conversation with one of our LCI students, Tim from China, I had the opportunity to appreciate how someone who does not grow up with the faith, as I did and virtually all of us in the West did, longs to find it. (Actually, here in the West we are more accustomed to seeing people reject the faith and walk away from the Church.) Imagine growing up never having the opportunity to go to church, or Sunday school, or learn how to pray or even what prayer is. Imagine living in a society where corruption in the form of bribery, lying and cheating is accepted as the only way to operate and achieve success.

Even in situations like that, the Lord can work through our innate sense of right and wrong, and our natural human longing for something more. That is exactly what happened for Tim, who began his search for the Truth when he was surrounded by people who accepted the status quo of the atheistic society. And he continued to search, finding bits of knowledge between Communist-approved pages of books, until he found what he was looking for while visiting a Catholic friend who was in seminary.

Tim was baptized at Christmas in 2012, and sums up his appreciation for LCI and gratitude for the opportunity to learn theology with these words: “If I had a million dollars, I would start LCI in China!”

Thank you for supporting Tim through your financial contributions to LCI. Let’s remember to be grateful for the gift of faith and to pray for the many people around the world who are still looking for the Light of the World.