CHILDREN CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. TRUST IN GOD
We surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit, accompanied by Mary and imitating her: this leads us to grow in trust in God.
What does it mean to trust in God? It seems a very simple thing and in a way, it is; but it is not so ‘natural’. Everyone who is going through life as an adult, in its various stages, has experienced the temptation and probably the reality of wanting to be ‘self-sufficient’. In itself, this is good, but it becomes bad when, at the end of the day, ‘self-sufficiency’ means that I want to be the one to guide my life, in the sense that I am convinced that I am the one who knows best what is good for me.
In this sense, Pope Francis reminded us that it is important to do what Naaman, the Syrian, did when he wanted to recover from leprosy. He had to accept to take off his grand and sumptuous robes he wore to go and bathe in the Jordan, like everyone else. Naaman had to trust the prophet Elisha and put aside his pride and put on humility. So also, the Samaritan leper was able to turn back and thank Jesus. Lord Jesus is more important than everything, even the healing itself and the fulfilment of the rules! (cf. Francis, Homily for the canonisation of St. John Baptist Scalabrini and St. Artemis Zatti, 9 October 2022).
Trust in God, then, could be described as the deep (and growing) conviction that it is God who knows - better than me! - what is good for me. This is very easy to say or write, but not at all easy to live. It would suffice to examine a few examples of my prayer of request. What do I normally ask God for me? For example, when I do not feel well, I ask for health for me “to continue to serve him with joy”. It is alright. But have I stopped for a moment to ask myself whether having good health, at this moment, is really the absolute best for me? It certainly is from a human point of view but is it also from the only point of view that matters - that of the Father?
When a loved one is seriously ill, we pray that he or she may regain health. But what if the only way for that person to be truly and totally in God’s embrace is to go through that illness - and die of it? If I knew this, would I still pray for that loved one’s health? Or would I not rather pray for the fulfilment of the Father’s dream for him/her, come what may? Because the most important thing is not to have health or sickness, but to reach, at the end of the earthly experience, the Father’s embrace. If I truly trust in God, my perspective changes. This does not mean that I stop praying for the needs of my life and the lives of my loved ones and the world, but that I learn to add to each request prayer a thought such as: ‘if this is your dream, Father...’; ‘if this is your will...’; ‘I pray for N.N. to get well, if it will help him to reach you forever...’ or similar prayers. A prayer of request without this very important ‘addition’, after all, is a bit like going to the Father like to a selling machine, not of drinks, but of graces! If we consider that prayer is like the coin I insert, when we do not get the grace, we may feel that the selling machine has ‘stolen’ my coin! This is not the God of Jesus Christ!
“Ah, then, this God is a cruel God!” Not at all! He is a God who puts himself at stake, because, in Jesus his Son, on the cross, the Father is close to all those who suffer and who are in difficulty, in ways that we human beings cannot even imagine. However, it takes a profound attitude of reliance and this is difficult in the perspective of self-sufficiency. Indeed, it often becomes 'self-reliance' or 'selfishness'.
That is why Jesus asks us to become children!
In Matthew 18:2-4, the evangelist puts those very famous words on Jesus’ lips: “Then he called a little child to himself and set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever will become as little as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven...’”. It is a matter of ‘becoming’ children and not ‘remaining’ or even strictly speaking ‘becoming’ children again. Becoming indicates a lifelong process of growth - like any true spiritual process. Only an adult who entrusts himself to the Father, through Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, can 'become' a child... and the main characteristic of a child is that he trusts Daddy and Mummy. He is so certain of their love for him that he does not need anything else: neither power, nor position, nor recognition, nor 'self-sufficiency'.
Living like a child in a world of cut-throat competition is not easy. We must be adults while maintaining the heart of a child, a heart that rests in God, that surrenders to God. He will know how to be our defender. He is our Father, He is faithful. We often fret instead of trusting in the Lord (editor's note: adapted from words by the writer Jacques Philippe).
A friend once recalled an adventure he had as a child. He must have been 5 or 6 years old and his family went for a walk in the mountains: it was a beautiful day and very tiring. On the path back to the place where they had left the car, he was feeling very tired. He also remembers his father taking him in one hand and his mother in the other and off down the path. He no longer knew whether he was walking or flying... They arrived at the car 'safe and sound'; he settled into the back seat and fell into a deep sleep all the way home. Many years after the event, my friend still used that image to describe what it is to trust in God: it is like walking on a mountain path with confidence, because daddy and mummy's hands hold me and will never allow me to fall and hurt myself... A childish image? On the contrary: a powerful image in its simplicity, for us adults who would like to do everything ourselves and tend to turn to the Father only when we are in trouble.
The source of this style of trust, the model, is Jesus himself. In the Letter to the Hebrews, the sacred author puts these words on Jesus' lips:
"Therefore, entering the world, Christ says:
You wanted neither sacrifice nor offering, a body instead you prepared for me. Thou hast pleased neither holocausts nor sacrifices for sin.
Then I said, 'Behold, I come - for of me it is written in the scroll of the book - to do, O God, thy will'" (Heb 10:5-7).
This is the context in which Scripture invites us to read the whole mystery of the Incarnation (cf. Luke 2), which is a very profound mystery of trust of the Son in the Father and of the Father in the Son. Jesus comes into the world not because he ‘likes it’ in a particular way, not to fulfil himself as a person, nor even to show us how good he is, but to do the Father's will. This is the basis of the attitude of trust that will reach the highest level in Gethsemane (cf. Lk 22:42: "Father, if you will, remove this cup from me! Yet not my will but Thy will be done") and on the cross (cf. Lk 23:46: "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit").
Of course, once again, we see that this is an attitude that needs a long time to become second nature to us... It is important not to be discouraged if we see that we are still so far from this ideal.
If we take all this as a background to the Incarnation narrative in Luke 2, perhaps we can grasp the sense of development and fulfilment that we read between the lines in that chapter of the third gospel. Who knows why the census happens - and Joseph and Mary's journey accordingly - just as Mary is pregnant and about to give birth? Could not a better time have been chosen? Could they not have found a place in an inn? Oh yes, it was a full house because of the census... And the first witnesses? Could it be that they had to be shepherds - not very recommendable people according to the mentality of the time (they were always with the animals and then worked at night, like thieves...)?
Mind you, twice in this chapter of Luke a remark about Mary is repeated: in v. 19 and then in v. 51b - "Mary, for her part, kept all these things, pondering them in her heart". Here there is an important indication that comes to us precisely from Mary, the teacher, in becoming like a child: meditation, silent prayer. The mystery of Christ's obedience can only be approached in this way: with prayer.
Mary, in turn, shows us how to accept God's will. At the end of the story of the Annunciation, Mary comes out with that striking statement: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). What she understood, at that point, of all that was to happen to her was unclear. Certainly, it was not much.
How many questions must have passed through her mind and heart at that moment... And how many more during the journey of daily life, especially during the 30 years in Nazareth, when she must have asked herself: “Is this really the Son of God?” This child of mine who laughs and cries, who sleeps and eats, who falls and hurts his knees...? This boy whose eyes reflect the clarity of heaven but who does nothing special at all? Does he study like everyone else at the synagogue and learn his father's trade? This young man who evidently has a big heart and loves everyone but does not seem interested in any girl of his age? What will become of him? What will become of that promise, almost thirty years ago?"
Yet, Mary trusted and let God's hand hold her through the journey of a lifetime. There were certainly many dark moments but Mary decided never to abandon the hand that she grasped the day she said her ‘yes’ – ‘the fiat’. And to do so, she chose the attitude of meditation and silent prayer.
One of the most privileged avenues of God's revelation - as he is - is precisely the mystery of the Virgin Mary. It is beautiful to see how Mary is present in the life of the world today. If we entrust ourselves to her, if we allow ourselves to be guided by her, she gives us access to true knowledge of God, because she introduces us into the depths of prayer and authentic trust. If we place ourselves totally in her hands, she educates us and communicates to us the true knowledge of God (editor's note: adapted from words by the writer Jacques Philippe).
In the light of the Strenna 2022 which invited us to rediscover the figure of St. Francis de Sales on the 400th anniversary of his death, it seems to me that we can find some interesting insights precisely on obedience and trust in God. The very title of the Strenna is taken from a letter of Francis to Joan Frances of Chantal. The precise point reads:
“If you are very fond of the prayers you have indicated above, do not change; I beg you and if you seem to be giving up something I propose, do not have any scruples because the rule of our obedience, which I write to you in large letters, is: DO EVERYTHING FOR LOVE, NOTHING FOR STRESS; IT IS BETTER TO LOVE OBEDIENCE THAN TO FEAR DISOBEDIENCE.” (Letter CCXXXIV. To the Baroness of Chantal, 14/10/1604, OEA XII, 359,)
'It is better to love obedience than to fear disobedience'. These words give us a glimpse into Francis de Sales' approach to the subject of obedience. It only works in a context of total love and trust and cannot be based on the fear of doing wrong. It would be a bit like deciding to stop running or even walking because we might fall!
To do this, Francis de Sales suggests the very important path of prayer, as communication from the heart of man speaking to the heart of God. That God who is not only God of the human heart but also ‘friend of the human heart’. Therefore, through this type of prayer, it is a matter of loving God's will, of making the beating of our heart coincide with that of the Master... since prayer is not thinking much but loving much... (cf. Á. Fernández Artime, "Do everything out of love, nothing by force" Strenna 2022).
For personal prayer and meditation
In what areas of my life do I tend to be more ‘self-sufficient’ or even ‘self-referential’ and how do I combine this with my relationship with God?
How do I conceive of my prayer request? According to what parameters? And is it really done in the light of God's plan or only my own? Can I still discover moments in me when I address the Father as a ‘selling machine’ of graces?
At what point am I on my journey of becoming a child? How do I grasp the hand of God that holds me and how do I cling to it?
Do I try to imitate Jesus, basing my trust on my choice of obedience to the Father's will? How?
Do I reflect on Mary's human journey of faith, from the ‘fiat’ to Pentecost.
Do I love obedience rather than fear disobedience? Am I tempted, at times, to stop walking in order not to fall?
Is my personal prayer made of silence, increasingly becoming an experience of my heart speaking to the heart of God? Or is there still a lot of ‘noise’ and too much of me, too little of Him?
Monthly commitment
Add to each prayer request, we will add a thought such as: “if this is your plan, Father...”; “if this is your will...”
