Trust is the theme of both readings, Genesis 8: 6-13, 20-22 and Mark 8: 22-26. In the first reading, Noah has just come through the forty days of rain and is waiting for the waters to subside. He and his family were the only human beings spared the loss of life during the torrential downpours for the past forty days. In the Gospel reading, Jesus takes a blind man aside, touches his eyes twice, the first time the man does not see clearly: "I see people looking like trees and walking," he tells Jesus. After Jesus touches his eyes a second time, the man sees perfectly.
What would I have done had I been in Noah's situation? When the waters subside, Noah and his family are faced with starting all over again, trusting God as they proceeds to rebuild their lives. The same is true of the blind man. His life is totally changed having put his faith in Jesus. Many times, you and I are faced with needing to start over again, rebuilding our trust in the Lord after some disaster, personal, familial, or otherwise. Jesus takes us by the hand, as he did the blind man, and leads us forward. We are not always sure of where Jesus is leading us or how he is guiding us. Sometimes we may wonder if Jesus is even aware of the challenges we face on a given day or the drama we may have just waded through and that prompts us to ask: "Where are you, Jesus?" or "Jesus, do you care that my 'boat' is being tossed about by the turbulent waves of life?" Or we may say to Jesus: "Lord, I feel like I am drowning! I don't know how to move forward!"
Help me, Jesus, trust in you! Help me see clearly as you lead me through the turbulent waters of life!
Showing posts with label Trusting Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trusting Jesus. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Friday, October 10, 2014
Living by Faith in Christ Jesus
"...the one who is righteous by faith will live," St. Paul tells us in today's first reading, Galatians 3: 7-14, and reminds us that "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."
For years in my spiritual life I believed that the law would save me. I believed what I heard so often: "Keep the rule and the rule will keep you," a principle taught by directors of spiritual formation in the late 50s. The truth of the matter was that the rule did not keep me, did not save me. Jesus did. I had to unlearn that teaching and learn to put my faith in the Lord, not in any rule. To this very day, when I fall flat, when I am disappointed, left down, it is because I believed in some rule to be operative: that of justice, of fairness, of generosity, and of genuine caring. The principles I think are functioning, and to which I often cling for "salvation," are not functioning in many circumstances of life. Over and over again, I need to learn to focus on Jesus, to cling to Jesus, to trust in the Lord. The Lord alone saves me from myself, from succumbing to my frustration, from losing my peace. In Christ Jesus, in looking to Him alone, in believing in Jesus and His promises, I "receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Gal 3: 14). That promise is the saving graces I need to be a true disciple of Christ, to be clothed in Christ, to give birth to Christ in a godless world, in a world that glorifies humanity instead of God and, if I am clinging to it, am likely to glorify myself in a spirit of grandiosity and not the humility of Jesus.
For years in my spiritual life I believed that the law would save me. I believed what I heard so often: "Keep the rule and the rule will keep you," a principle taught by directors of spiritual formation in the late 50s. The truth of the matter was that the rule did not keep me, did not save me. Jesus did. I had to unlearn that teaching and learn to put my faith in the Lord, not in any rule. To this very day, when I fall flat, when I am disappointed, left down, it is because I believed in some rule to be operative: that of justice, of fairness, of generosity, and of genuine caring. The principles I think are functioning, and to which I often cling for "salvation," are not functioning in many circumstances of life. Over and over again, I need to learn to focus on Jesus, to cling to Jesus, to trust in the Lord. The Lord alone saves me from myself, from succumbing to my frustration, from losing my peace. In Christ Jesus, in looking to Him alone, in believing in Jesus and His promises, I "receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Gal 3: 14). That promise is the saving graces I need to be a true disciple of Christ, to be clothed in Christ, to give birth to Christ in a godless world, in a world that glorifies humanity instead of God and, if I am clinging to it, am likely to glorify myself in a spirit of grandiosity and not the humility of Jesus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)