Cedric Pisegna - Kept In Christ (01/22/2026)
Father Cedric explores the priestly blessing from Numbers 6, focusing on "The LORD bless you and keep you." To be kept in Christ means being held securely as God's special possession—the apple of His eye—protected from many harms while being carried through trials. God never casts us out, walks with us in sufferings to deepen our roots, and assures victory, peace, and eternal salvation through His faithfulness.
Welcome and the Priestly Blessing
Welcome to «Live With Passion»! I’m Father Cedric Pisegna, I’m so glad that you tuned into the program, get ready to receive a blessing. This comes from the book of Numbers, in the Old Testament, chapter 6, «The LORD said to Moses, 'Say to Aaron and his sons,'» who were priests, «Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 'The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.'»
In the Catholic Church, we have that reading read every New Year’s Day because we want people to be blessed and kept, not only on New Year’s Day, but throughout the year. The Blessing of Aaron, the priest of the Old Testament, «May the Lord bless you and keep you,» and, «His face shine upon you».
What It Means to Be Kept
Now, I wanna talk about what it means to be kept, kept in Christ. When you’re kept, you are protected, when you’re kept, you are held onto. And it’s amazing how throughout the Bible, that word «kept» is used. For example, in Psalm 17, David prays for favor and to be kept as the apple of God’s eye. Throughout the Bible, we hear about how we are God’s special possession, the apple of God’s eye, his favor, his children, his sons, his daughters, and he keeps us, he holds on to us.
By the way, that’s what salvation means. When you’re saved, you’re not lost, you’re not separated, you’re held onto, you’re kept by God. Through death, who you are, your consciousness, who you are as a person, your identity, will be kept, not lost, that’s what salvation is, kept in Christ, and you’re also protected from evil and from harm. Now, we’re not exempt from trials and tribulations, I wanna start by saying that, we all have it, no matter how great a believer you are, there are gonna be difficulties, there are gonna be trials, but there’s a lot of things that God keeps us from and protects us from. Very important that you understand that. It says here in Psalm 116, talking about being kept, the Lord has been good, he has kept, «My life from death, kept my eyes from tears, and kept my feet from stumbling».
That’s Psalm 116:8. And the prayer of Jabez says it also, he prays to be blessed and kept from evil. It’s amazing how God protects us and keeps us.
Personal Illustrations of Being Kept
I remember I was a goalie back in high school, that’s a soccer goalie, that’s when you’re protecting the goal and whenever anybody would try to kick the ball, and I would try to bat it away or I’d catch it, I would protect the goal, the ball from going into the goal. Another word for a goalie is called a keeper, you’re a keeper because you keep the ball from going into the net. The same way, God protects us, he keeps things from coming against us, he holds onto us. As I said, we are the apple of his eye, his special possession, we are his children, and salvation means that he will hold on to us, through death, into eternal life. We will not be lost.
We are protected from things, we are chosen, we are blessed. To be kept is to be held, to have possession of, and we are God’s special possession, God’s special people. God sees our suffering, it says in Psalm 56 that God keeps our tears in his bottle. If you’re going through grieving, going through some kind of a relationship problem, going through physical sufferings, you’re still kept, and God keeps your tears, your sufferings in his bottle, he sees exactly what’s going on and he knows what you’re going through. God keeps us as the apple of his eye, we’re his special possession, we have his favor, we’re his children.
And I don’t know if you ever heard about this bedtime prayer, «Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, For if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take». Even in our death, he keeps us. You see, we are loved affectionately, God keeps us for himself, we’re his special possession.
God's Care in a Vast Universe
And as I said, we’re not exempt from suffering, we’re still gonna have to go through, but it’s amazing how God can walk with us, and bring us through the valley of the shadow of darkness and death because he’s with us. If you’re going through a trial or tribulation, that doesn’t mean that you’re cursed or something’s wrong, everybody goes through stuff. But want you to know that as a believer, there’s a special position of being held onto, and a special position of being protected, and that’s for you, we are kept in Christ.
There are 8.2 billion people in our world, today, and increasing, 8.2 billion on the earth, in this massive universe, and some people think that because of the infinite size and the massive size, and all these different populations, and all these people, that, «God can’t possibly care for little old me, that I’m insignificant». But I would like to think, rather, because there’s so many people, that means that God is able to keep you. He has created this vast universe with a sprawling amount of people, that simply means that he is powerful, omnipotent, and able. You need to rethink that, don’t feel insignificant, feel loved, you’re part of the grand universe that God created, and God is able to keep you, to protect you, and to walk with you. It says that his eye’s upon the sparrow and his eye’s upon us, every hair on our head is counted.
Psalm 139 says that God knows when we sit and when we stand, he knows every word that’s gonna be on our lips even before we speak it. That’s how omnipotent God is, sovereign God is, he knows. We live in a throwaway society, people throw away trash on the streets and throw away anything, but God doesn’t throw us away, he’s holding on to us, he’s not casting us off. Jesus said, «Whoever comes to me I will not in any way cast out». «Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I’ll give you rest».
So simply come to Jesus once again, or come for the first time, he’s there and he will keep you, he won’t cast you out.
Stories of Protection
I remember when I was young I had all these marbles, and they were all different sizes and different colors, and different textures, and I couldn’t keep them all, so I picked out the best ones and I kept them for myself. In the same way God looks at us, with all of our special sizes and colors, and he keeps us, we are his special possession no matter what we’ve done in the past.
I’ve been a missionary priest for over 33 years, now 34 years, I have flown over a million miles, driven thousands of miles. And as I was thinking about it, I have never once had an accident, never been harmed, all my plane trips have been, some of them been delayed, and I have to tell you that some of the traffic that I’ve gone into has been pretty tough, too. I remember flying into New York City one time, I had a mission out on Long Island, and it’s called the L-I-E, the Long Island Expressway, and it can be pretty tough and a lot of traffic. So I’ve gone through some travel problems, but God has protected me, that’s what it means to be kept in Christ. And there’s a verse in the Bible that I claim, it’s Psalm 121, «God will guard your goings and your comings from this time forth, forevermore,» and I claim that for you.
In the Catholic tradition, we have a prayer to our guardian angel, maybe you’ve prayed it many times if you’re Catholic. «Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen».
Kept from Difficult People and Diseases
As a religious priest, I live in community, I’m a Passionist priest, you can see by my religious habit. I live with a number of men, some of these men are saints, others of them are quite frankly difficult to live with, have some problems. And it makes me think about the people in society that I’ve met that are narcissistic, selfish, greedy, and hard to live with, bosses that are over people, and they lord their control and their power over people.
And I thank God for the people that I don’t have to deal with, that God has protected me from in my religious life by becoming a priest. And it’s the same for your life too. We all know people that are hard to get along with, difficult to deal with, but think about the people that you don’t have to deal with, God has kept you from them and protected you, that’s what it means to be kept in Christ. One time I went into a doctor’s office, now we’re talking about our health, being kept healthy. One time I went into the doctor’s office and there was a book, a thick book lying on the table there, and it was called «The Dictionary of Diseases». And I went over and I started thumbing, from A to Z, it was a thick book, thousands of diseases that people get.
And as I was thumbing through it, I was thinking, «Thank you, God, that I don’t have this,» from A to Z, from anorexia to Zika virus, and everything in between. And there were lots of it, think about it, ALS, that’s Lou Gehrig’s disease, I know people with that; cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, strokes, arthritis, backaches, we can go down the list here. Remember, there’s a book this thick. People have this stuff, and perhaps you’ve had some of it yourself. Well, maybe, if you have some of it, thank God for what you don’t have, that he keeps you from, wow. Most of you are pretty healthy, that’s God blessing you, keeping you, holding you close to his heart.
"If the Lord Had Not Been on Our Side"
There’s a song that is so comforting to me, Psalm 124, and it goes like this, «If the Lord had not been on our side». This is Israel’s song, this is one of my songs too. «If the Lord had not been on our side, when people came against us; They would have swallowed us alive…The flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters swept us away». But the bottom line is, is that, «We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare… Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth». Wow, «If the Lord had not been on our side,» think about that. If the Lord had not been on our side, number one, you wouldn’t have been born. He’s brought you through so much, some of you have been in the war, some of you have gone through some relationship problems, some health problems, but the Lord has been on our side, and he’s brought us through, and he’s brought us to new places.
Paul said it best when he said, «If God is for us, who can be against»? That is such a beautiful verse, «If God is for us,» and he is, «Who can be against»?
Through Tribulations to Victory
Now, I want to reiterate, because I’m a realist, I know that there are sufferings, I know that there are tribulations, I know that there are problems. The bottom line is, Paul said it best, he said we have to go, «Through many tribulations,» before, «We enter the kingdom of God». That’s just the truth, everybody goes through stuff, everybody has the valley, everybody has tribulations, it doesn’t mean that God’s mad at us, he walks with us. We’re human, we’re a fallen race, and he’s gonna bring us through. He holds us, he holds on to us, not one will be lost, he saves us, he keeps us, we are kept in Christ.
So, I’m a realist. I meet people that are going through operations, have problems, been through accidents, divorces, joblessness, addictions, employment problems, as I said. Even if you have these things, God’s still at work, even though, he doesn’t give up on you. Remember, we live in a throwaway society, but he’s not throwing you away, he will never cast you out, he will hold you close, and he has a sovereign plan even in these things, not outside of real life, but through real life, God is at work. As a believer, you must realize that we are being kept, he’s holding onto you. God promises in the book of Hebrews, «I will never forsake you or fail you». That is such a great promise, the book of Hebrews, «I will never ever fail you or forsake you».
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Came across a song that I absolutely love, and it’s called «Great is Thy Faithfulness,» it’s about God. «Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee; All I have needed, your hand has provided: Great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me». Wow, he will never ever fail or forsake us, there is no shadow of turning with God. «Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,» that means he will not change, and he’s the same toward all people, loving, generous, forgiving, and he holds onto us. If you’re struggling with an addiction, God doesn’t just cast you out or throw you away, he’s not like that, rather he works in us to bring you into recovery.
Can’t tell you the stories that I’ve heard of people that have fallen away from the church and been addicted, and can’t stand the institutional church, and God works in their life to bring them into recovery, and they come back, and they become pillars of the church. That’s being kept in your affliction, God keeps us from, but he also keeps us in, he keeps us from a lot of dangers and diseases, and people, as I’ve talked about, but also, when we get into trouble, into addictions, into sin, he keeps us in it, because he doesn’t throw us away. We are valuable to him, we are the apple of his eye.
Trials Deepen Our Roots
So the bottom line is that you have to understand, is that, God is at work, God always is at work in our life, and he strengthens us. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
Our tribulations and our troubles don’t separate us from God, rather they serve to root us in God. This is a major point that I wanna make in this. You have to understand, don’t think that I’m saying that because we’re kept in Christ that we won’t have any trials or tribulations, or sufferings, or hardships, please don’t think that. God protects us from a lot of it, but not all of it. But in the midst of it, and this is what the readings from Paul the apostle and the saints have all taught us, right in the middle, right in the midst of our tribulation, «We are more than conquerors through him who loves us».
See, what God is doing is he’s helping us to develop trust in him, he’s purifying us, he’s sanctifying us, he’s bringing us to new character through our sufferings, our sufferings produce endurance and character, this is Paul in Romans 5. And character produces hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. I heard about a tree, it’s up on the top of a mountain, real windy. The tree hated all that, it was buffeted by the winds all the time, hated it. He looked down in the valley, he could see all these other trees down there, there was no wind down in the valley, just up on the mountain top, and he was all distressed. And finally, he complained and he said, «Why do I have to be up here on the mountain top, with all this winds, being buffeted all the time, when those trees have it so good down there»?
You know, the grass is always greener somewhere else. But one day, this huge storm came, and I mean, it blew like hurricane tempests, talk about a storm. That tree was buffeted, and he looked down in the valley, and all the other trees down in the valley, because it wasn’t used to being buffeted by the wind, they all got knocked over. But the tree up on top of the mountain stood firm because it was used to the wind and it had grown deep roots. There it is. You see, the trials and the tribulations that we do have keep us strong and firm because it makes our roots go deep. That’s what the Scripture says in Ephesians, «Be grounded and rooted in God’s love».
Peace in the Storm
And that’s exactly what happens when stuff happens. Hopefully you’re not gonna be overwhelmed and give up, and say, «Woe is me,» rather, you face the challenge, you rise up, you be strong. That’s part of what it means to be a Christian, we are more than conquerors, we have the victory in Christ. What’s your tempest? Is it a death in the family that you just went through, a divorce, an addiction, an accident that you’ve been in, physical sufferings, chronic pain, children that have left the faith, loneliness, arthritis? Remember «The Dictionary of Diseases,» from A to Z? God doesn’t exempt us, but he takes us through and he walks with us.
And we grow through as we go through, because God keeps us, he don’t make junk and he doesn’t cast us off. And Paul prayed a prayer about being kept in Christ, and he said in his prayer and supplication, he said, «In every circumstance». What’s your circumstance, what are you going through? «In every circumstance, by prayer and supplication,» that’s what you ought to be doing instead of moaning and groaning, «With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will keep your mind and your heart in Christ Jesus». I love that. And the Prophet Isaiah talked about that too, he said, «You will keep in perfect peace,» keep in perfect peace, «The one whose mind is stayed on You».
In other words, when you’re going through stuff, don’t just focus on the storm, don’t magnify the storm, magnify the Lord who is the Lord of the storm, and he will keep you in peace and serenity, keep your minds and your hearts, «Keep in perfect peace, The one whose mind is stayed on Thee».
Julian of Norwich: All Shall Be Well
Long ago, it was back in the 1300s, a saint in the Catholic Church, Julian of Norwich, she lived during the Black Plague. United States, we just went through the pandemic and many people died, but it was nothing compared to the Black Plague, Black Plague killed up to 50 million people. This is in the 1300s. Jesus appeared to her, gave her assurance, assurance of his presence.
And right now, through this program, Jesus is appearing to you, giving you assurance of his presence with you, that as you go through, maybe not the Black Plague, but as you go through things, tribulations, sufferings, difficulties, hardships, he’s with you, you’re more than a conqueror. Get grounded and rooted in Christ. Well, anyway, he said something very beautiful that I wanna share with you, Julian of Norwich, it’s been made into a song. «All shall be well, In all manner of things, All shall be well».
Wow, talk about being kept in Christ. What does it mean to be kept? It means to be protected from, difficult people and hardships, and diseases, and trials, and tribulations, but it also means to be kept in, relationships with difficult people, because we’re not exempt from all that, trials, tribulations, sufferings. And the bottom line is, is that, God is so in love with us, we are the apple of God’s eye. And that’s why David said, «Keep me, as the apple of your eye,» your special possession, your very son, your very daughter. And my prayer for you, and this is why we have it on the beginning of the year and all throughout the year in the Catholic Church, my prayer for you is that God will «bless you, keep you, make his face shine upon you, lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace». And don’t just live, live with passion.