Some things seem too good to be true. When you fall in love and the person returns your affection – that’s definitely one of those things. Or maybe you win a great prize and that is your first reaction: Why it’s too good to be true!

And in many ways the Christian story falls under that heading as well. A God that loved the world so much that he took on human form and lived among ordinary people before doing the one thing that most proves we love someone–which is dying for them. Why, a child might say: “That’s too good to be true!”

But the Christian story is something that a human being couldn’t possibly have invented. It’s not only good, but also true. C.S. Lewis said that one reason he believed in Christianity was that “It’s a religion you couldn’t have guessed.”

His good friend Tolkien pointed out that fairy tales echo the Christian story, for such tales often feature maidens being saved by a prince, good triumphing over evil, and the promise of “living happily ever after.”

But, said Tolkien, Christianity differs from other myths in one essential feature. It is true.

Still, some skeptics might look at the world today and say, “Where is the happily-ever-after part?” Newspapers are flooded with reports of wars and terrible crimes. Blood is being shed all over the world.

At times it seems the dark forces are in control – or, as Tolkien might put it, the Orcs are winning. But for Christians the world never has the final word. Even if the one called the prince of the world — Satan — seems to be having a field day, we trust that he will ultimately be defeated.

Even if we face what Tolkien called the “long defeat,” even if we lose everyone and everything, if we hold onto our faith, then we will triumph.

Christianity is inherently a mysterious religion, based on events the rational mind can’t grasp: God becoming man, a virgin giving birth and Jesus rising from the dead. But the rational mind has clear limits. It can’t adequately explain love or mercy or devotion.

And in the words of another great writer, Flannery O’Connor, the central mystery of Christianity is that human life, despite all its horrors, was “found by God to be worth dying for.”

This mystery is what sustains Catholics in our daily battle against evil. This really is the deepest thing that we hold in our hearts. It’s the knowledge that God loved us enough to die for us. And this is an eternal truth that is exquisitely good.

Lorraine’s latest book is “Death of a Liturgist” (St. Benedict Press). She also wrote “The Abbess of Andalusia,” a book about Flannery O’Connor’s Catholic journey.