BLESSINGS ON THOSE WHO TRUST IN GOD

Thursday, Second week of Lent
Reflection from Frair Nicholas, OP


Theme: Blessings on those who trust in God

A necessary inner disposition of the Son of Man we must imbibe in order to make our following of him fruitful is that of trust in the Father. Though the Son of Man was abandoned and ill treated by his own, but his sorrow was ameliorated by his trust in his Father. A defining character of a heart that believes in God is trust in God. The prophet Jeremiah compared a heart that trusts in God to one that trusts in man or in creatures in the first reading. “A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. He is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green.” This imagery is apt and describes how blessings flow from God to a humble and trusting soul. Humility which we have set as a foundation for a fruitful Lenten observance, coming from our recognition of our origin in the dust or humus, establishes a potential difference between God and a soul. The potential difference between our nothingness and God who is all causes blessings to flow from God the Father to the humble and trusting souls. The attraction between God and a humble soul is such that God is said to make his dwelling in the lowly soul. Jesus said in the gospel of yesterday that the greatest among the disciples is the one who serves. 


These blessings do not reach a proud and arrogant soul. A soul that lacks humility cannot trust in God, but trusts in self and creatures. Such a soul is a dwelling place of demons of pride and avarice.  “A curse on the man who put his trust in man, who relies on things of flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord. He is like dry scrub in the wastelands: if good comes, he has no eyes for it, he settles in the parched places of the wilderness, a salt land, uninhabited.” The Lord illustrates the difference between a proud and a humble soul with the story of the rich Dives and the poor Lazarus. The self-contentment of the proud soul blinds it to his total dependency on God, whom he fails to acknowledge. Death springs a surprise on a proud soul because he deceives himself that he has everything he needs. He never desired the company of God and his blessings; his soul will never find its way to heaven. “The rich man also died and was buried. In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his fingers in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’” Let us desire and thirst for God on earth with deep humility and trust, so that he will satisfy us in eternity. Let us pray: grant us, Lord, a true knowledge of our nothingness, that we may desire you with our whole being.

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