Some conversations with friends and family sparked some thoughts worth sharing. 

With my non-Catholic best friend I was discussing the nature of religions. And, really, picking a religion is picking your reality. For Catholics, God has revealed whether or not a spiritual realm is real & how it works. This is why we know we can go to Heaven. Can. One of her understandable concerns was how do good people go to heaven if they get some things in their religion wrong. I don't know if other religions have an answer to that question, but for the Catholic Church, the Church can save people who are not members of the Church. I found this originally on a friend's facebook note & took the original source:
"There Is No Salvation Outside Of The Catholic Church – Originally stated by St. Cyprian, the Latin axiom “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” reminds us that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church.  This dogma was declared at the Fourth Lateran Council and is a source of confusion for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.  According to the Catechism, all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is His Body.  It does not mean that non-Catholics cannot achieve salvation.  Individuals who are unaware that the Catholic Church is the one, true Church may still achieve salvation through the merits of the Church, despite their lack of knowledge." from catholicexchange.com

The other conversation, with my aunt, turned to belief. For her, she had wondered how God could allow innocent people to die. And her eventual response was that belief in God is not based on emotions. I would say that you can't believe in God just on emotions, but emotion can be a component of why I would believe in God. But having a belief just because you feel God there... that feeling will go away, and so the belief will go away. God is bigger than a person's belief. God's existence is not dependent on a person's belief. Even if we can't emotionally or physically feel God, He is there. He is close to us. As it says in Dt 30:10-14...
Moses said to the people:
"If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God,
and keep his commandments and statutes
that are written in this book of the law,
when you return to the LORD, your God,
with all your heart and all your soul.
"For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky, that you should say,
'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
Nor is it across the sea, that you should say,
'Who will cross the sea to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out."

Which was the first reading last Sunday, if you were paying attention :).