Real Trust in God...

Real trust in God takes a

lifetime of painful denials


August 7 - XIX Sunday in Ordinary Time


The First Reading speaks of an encounter between the prophet and God Almighty - Who, however, is not to be found except we look for Him in the little details of life The sound and fury were impressive, but the Lord is never to be found in the "great" events of life - rather the opposite. And we have to wait for the right moment and be ready for the Lord's coming always. This reminds us that prayer is never wasted but the answer to prayer is often unexpected in time and place.


Nevertheless our trust in God must be total and this point is beautifully made in the Responsorial Psalm: " His help is near for those who fear him" - not a craven fear but a deep respect for His power and His goodness in using this power for our interests.


In the Second Reading from St. Paul's great Letter to the Romans, our holy Patron grieves over the state of his Jewish brethren: they have had so many gifts and signs from God and marks of benevolence for thousands of years but somehow all this waiting proved futile. When the Messiah came they failed to recognize him because they expected something great and impressive - as related in the first Reading -, but " the Lord was not in the wind" ..." the Lord was not in the earthquake." It was too great a test for their idea of how things should be and to a large extent it is so still. This can happen to all of us if we pray frequently but without true acceptance of the fact that God knows best."


The Gospel makes the same point. Peter, the impetuous, is convinced he can bridge the gap between him and his Lord in a few easy steps. No problem. Then he finds that it's not that simple and, from an overflowing self-confidence, he almost goes under. Fortunately the Master is there with his strong, supportive grasp and there is no need to choose a new Pope. The question then is: how do I and you react when our prayer seems so easy to answer but the very opposite happens? The fact is that real trust in God is not something we are born with. It takes a painful series of denials of our very reasonable requests to convince us that God is not playing games or taking pleasure in refusing us. On the contrary, His plans are much larger and more profitable for us than we could possibly imagine. But to believe that (rather than just know it) takes most of us many years and some, unfortunately, never get there.


~August 2011 Concord