July 4, 2005
A couple of our readers sent in questions relating to how to have greater trust in the Lord. “Connie” asked about concrete steps to trust when a situation is out of our control, and the mother of a soldier in Iraq asked about how to trust when she is afraid of the worst. Realizing that trust in the Lord is the beginning, middle, and end of spiritual growth, here are just a few pointers.
Honest prayer is always the place to begin. The father of the possessed boy in Mark 9 gives us a great example of an honest prayer in a situation that was beyond his control; “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” Sometimes this is translated, “Lord, I trust. Help my lack of trust!” Listening to the Word of God is as important as asking. Passages such as Romans 8:35ff (“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”), or Philippians 4:13 (“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me…”) or Jesus calming the storm (Mt 8:23-27) are just a few of the many ways God reminds us that fear is an inappropriate response to His almighty love and power.
Following the accepted principle that trust is “earned”, we can also look back in our lives to see how the Lord has earned our trust for the future. Just looking at the kind of day I had yesterday, I find many reasons to renew my trust in the Lord. Without going into all of the interesting details, it simply began with everything going wrong and turned out in the end to accomplish more than I had planned, which was a lot! But it was certainly a trust test. Am I trusting that God will do what I want, or trusting that He will do what is best?
Pope Benedict reflected in an Easter homily a few years back on the Abraham and Isaac story we recently had at Mass, where God provided the lamb for the sacrifice instead of Isaac. The message that “God will provide” continued to ring true throughout Israel’s history and is so clearly fulfilled by the worthy Lamb of God in the Book of Revelation – “who takes away the sins of the world”. He is worthy and trustworthy because His love is Divine, proven by the crucifixion, and He is victorious unto eternity. A love that has conquered death is a love that I can trust.
As we celebrate this 4 th of July, may we put our mouths where our money is and truly say with sincerity, “In God we trust.”
Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
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