TRUST IN GOD

Meditation for Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

(Jer 17:5-10; Lk 16:19-31)

The words of the prophet Jeremiah in today’s first reading are at the heart of Christian spirituality. His message is like the ladder on which we step on to climb to the heights of faith and total surrender to the will of God. The prophet declares, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” He described the person like a tree planted in a salty desert land. The good it longs for will not come, and the tree will dry up. On the other hand, he says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” Such a person is like a tree planted by the waterways; its roots receive nourishment, and its leaves are evergreen. “It is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

How easy it is for us to idolize ourselves or others! Once our ultimate trust in not in God, we shall be floating around our emotions and sentiments, people’s promises and goodwill, etc. Sometimes we engage in tedious tasks, undertake spiritual exercises, but all for people to applaud us and for us to gain material things. When we judge God’s grace by human or material standards, that could be a sign that our trust is in the flesh. The disastrous end of the man who trusts in possessions and in pleasure is clearly demonstrated in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

 

The man who has climbed the heights of spirituality and placed his trust in God will go out of his way to care for his neighbor. He will not be attached to wealth, but will be charitable. Since his heart is rooted in God like the tree that is planted by the waterways, he will always be evergreen and flourish. That means as we practice almsgiving this season of Lent, we thereby deepen our trust in God. The Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah, “I the Lord search the mind and try the heart, to give go every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Thursday March 9^th, 2023.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com
16^th Lenten meditation