April 2024

Letting go and letting God is easier said than done but, oh, the peace of mind that comes from simply trusting that God knows better than I do.

The following homily, delivered by Fr. Dominic at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greenfield, WI, on August 2, 2021, was recorded, transcribed, and edited (Lanoux, April 12, 2024).

If you have a family to support or take care of, I’m sure you have days when you feel the burden of it.  At times you may wonder how you can purchase something you need, especially if it’s for your children.  Other times you’re physically tired.  You go to work, you come back home, and you are exhausted!  Then, perhaps, an emergency happens and, if you’re trying to serve the Lord the best you can, you feel like Moses— so overburdened that you have to ask, “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me so much?”  Then God says, “Why don’t you trust me?  I got you to this point.  You know already that your mission is to lead these people to the Promised Land.”

Complaining is human.  You don’t know how many times I complain to God for one reason or another!  It’s human!  But, God simply says, “Trust me.  Place your faith in me.”  Even St. Paul complained to God.  “There is this thorn in my flesh.  Why don’t you take it away?”  And, God says, “My grace is enough for you.  Trust me.”  Just think of the  Israelites in the desert.  God had provided manna for them, but they were sick and tired of it.  “We want meat!”  This reminds me of the people of Bangledesh.  Their staple food is rice and, if they don’t eat it at least once a day, they’ll tell you that they have not eaten.  The poor Israelites probably didn’t eat meat for a very long time.  Can you imagine yourself traveling through the desert for forty years?  When we journey through life, we sometimes feel that we’re going through the desert.

Have you ever felt abandoned by God?  At times you pray to him quietly; other times you like to wake him up.  “Where are you?”  And, again, God says, “Trust me.  I know where you are going.  I know that I’m leaving you there.  Simply trust me.”

Try to think of situations in your own life when, had you had the courage to trust the Lord a little more, perhaps the situation would not have been as heavy, as burdensome, as you found it to be.  Much too often I think that we rely on ourselves more than on the Lord.  We forget who’s in control.  It’s not I.  It’s the Lord.

When we feel burdened, when we don’t know where to turn, why don’t we take time to rest with the Lord?  Jesus oftentimes went to the mountains.  Back in those days, that’s where people thought you could encounter God.  Yet, here we are.  God came down and remains with us so that we can encounter him whenever we find our lives burdensome.

Faith and trust.  These are two virtues we often talk about yet seem so hard to live by.  If I’m behind the wheel, I know where I’m going— or, at least I think I do— but, if I let God get behind the wheel, I don’t know where he’s taking me.  He might surprise me!  And, it’s this uncertainty that makes faith and trust very difficult.  So, here’s a good reason to trust the Lord: He loves us so much that he died for us.  God bless you.

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Prayerful thoughts

And God said to the soul: I desired you before the world began.  I desire you now as you desire me.  And, where the desires of two come together, love is perfected.

The soul speaks to God: Lord, you are my lover, my longing, my flowing stream, my sun; and I am your reflection.

God answers the soul: It is my nature that makes me love you often, for I am love itself.  It is my longing that makes me love you intensely, for I yearn to be loved from the heart.  It is my eternity that makes me love you long, for I have no end (Mechthild of Magdeburg, edited).

“Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God” (A.W. Tozer).

“Trust God that you are where you are meant to be” (St. Teresa of Ávila).

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Postscript

     

    

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