We heard today's first reading and responsorial psalm about 3 weeks ago, but they are worth listening to and meditating upon once again. The basic theme can be summarized as follows: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and walks in His ways; cursed is the man who places his hopes in man and turns his heart away from God. The more I learn through the experiences of life, the more these words ring true.On one hand, there are times when we can place too much of our hope and happiness in others, or depend upon them in an unhealthy way. In a simple manner of saying it, we can be too attached. Other times, however, we can depend too mightily upon ourselves, our own strength, and we can find ourselves trying to always be in control. As humans we are weak and can have a difficult time trusting in God. Luckily, God is here to help us.
In God's providence we are sometimes placed in situations where we feel helpless and have no way of remedying the difficulty. In these moments we need to look at our lives to see where we are not depending on God. Why has God given me something I cannot handle, and now refuses to take it away? This was St. Paul's dilemma with the "thorn in the flesh." He prayed three times for God to take it away, and his prayer was refused. God was teaching St. Paul to trust not in his own strength, but in the strength that comes from God. We all need to learn the truth of Jesus' words, "without me you can do nothing," and the corresponding truth, "with God all things are possible." If we depend too much on our own strength the Lord teaches us the weakness of it all through the concrete experiences of our life. This is usually a long and hard lesson to learn because we don't like to admit it, but it is the path to humility and blessedness. We will indeed be blessed when we can cry out, "enough! I give up! I need you! Please help me."
God knows the best lesson for us, and how to free us from our trust in this world or anything outside of Him. It is sometimes the case that we become angry or frustrated because we cannot obtain (or maintain) something we want and we don't realize we are fighting God. It seems to me that God works extra hard in our lives during Lent! He goes to work to free us from so many things within. He tries to set us free and we resist - which is normal. But it is important to pause and reflect on what is taking place within, to see the resistance we put up, to ask the Lord how He is working within us, and what He is trying to accomplish. We might not be able to see it immediately, but we can give Him permission to continue working within us nonetheless. We can also ask Him to grant us His strength for whatever we have to face, and to help us respond generously to His plan. Let us frequently remind ourselves of Jesus' words, "without me you can do nothing." God bless you.
(Photo of "Faith" courtesy of Br. Lawrence Lew, O.P.)
0 comments:
Post a Comment