Trust in God
Ps 56:1-3
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for men trample upon me; all day long foemen oppress me;
2 my enemies trample upon me all day long, for many fight against me proudly.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee.
Prov 3:5
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely;
Lk 5:5-7
5 Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. 7They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
1820 Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the “hope that does not disappoint.”88 Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul... that enters... where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.”89 Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: “Let us... put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”90 It affords us joy even under trial: “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation.”91 Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire. (1716, 2772)
1821 We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will.92 In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere “to the end”93 and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for “all men to be saved.”94 She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven: (2016, 1037) Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.95
Diary of Saint Maria Faustina
1777 My daughter, know that My Heart is mercy itself. From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world. No soul that has approached Me has ever gone away unconsoled. All misery gets buried in the depths of My mercy, and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain. My daughter, I desire that your heart be an abiding place of My mercy. I desire that this mercy flow out upon the whole world through your heart. Let no one who approaches you go away without that trust in My mercy which I so ardently desire for souls. Pray as much as you can for the dying. By your entreaties, obtain for them trust in My mercy, because they have most need of trust, and have it the least. Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moment depends on your prayer. You know the whole
Trust
Trust is the virtue that is the foundation and essence of those "desiring to live the Message of Divine Mercy. We are to be vessels of mercy and how much this vessel can hold and radiate out to others depends on trust. There is much more to trust than believing God is trustworthy; we must act on that belief and tum control of our lives over to Him. Trust requires a conversion of the heart and soul and gives us the wisdom to understand the need to ask for His mercy, be merciful to others and let Him be in charge. True peace will then reign in our hearts.
Trust requires humility. The proud person, lacking humility, feels accomplishments are of his own accord and sees no need to trust in God. But trusting in oneself and not the Lord will only lead to failure in our service of the kingdom of God. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Ps 127: 1).
The Lord made it clear to Saint Faustina that the more we trust in Him and strive to live His will and not ours, the more graces we will receive. He told her, Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls (Diary, 1074).
On another occasion He told her, Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I Myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts (Diary, 1578).
The Lord asked St. Faustina to pray for souls. Fight for the salvation of souls, exhorting them to trust in My mercy, as that is your task in this life and in the life to come (Diary, 1452). "Today, the Lord came to me and said, My daughter, help me to save souls. You will go to a dying sinner, and you will continue to recite the Chaplet, and in this way you will obtain for him trust in My mercy, for he is already in despair" (Diary, 1797).
The Lord wants us to trust in His mercy, and when we sin and falter, we must humble ourselves and ask for His mercy. Intertwined with lack of trust in God many of us carry guilt, anger, shame, and lack of forgiveness in our souls. We ponder, "How could God ever forgive me?" In a powerful testimony to His mercy, St. Faustina wrote, "On the evening of the last day before my departure for Vilnius, an elderly sister revealed the condition of her soul to me. She said that she had already been suffering interiorly for several years, that it seemed to her that all her confessions had been bad, and that she had doubts as to whether the Lord Jesus had forgiven her. I asked her if she had ever told her confessor about this. She answered that she had spoken many times about this to her confessors and ...'the confessors are always telling me to be at peace, but I still suffer very much, and nothing brings me relief, and it constantly seems to me that God has not forgiven me.' I answered, 'You should obey your confessor, Sister, and be fully at peace, because this is certainly a temptation.'
"But she entreated me with tears in her eyes to ask Jesus if He had forgiven her and whether her confessions had been good or not. I answered forcefully, 'Ask him yourself, Sister, if you don't believe your confessors!' But she clutched my hand and did not want to let go until I gave her an answer, and she kept asking me to pray for her and let her know what Jesus would tell me about her. Crying bitterly, she would not let me go and said to me, 'I know that the Lord Jesus speaks to you, Sister.' Since she was clutching my hand and I could not wrench myself away, I promised her I would pray for her. In the evening, during Benediction, I heard these words in my soul: Tell her that her disbelief wounds My heart more than the sins she committed.
When I told her this, she began to cry like a child, and great joy entered her soul. I understood that God wanted to console this soul through me. Even though it cost me a great deal, I fulfilled God's "wish" (Diary, 628).
Reflect on His words; "Tell her that her disbelief wounds My heart more than the sins she committed." When we confess our sins and show remorse, there is no reason to carry guilt and shame, because He is the Great Physician and can heal our wounds and scarred hearts. Saint Faustina wrote, "Today, the Lord said to me, I have opened My heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour of death" (Diary, 1520). "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need!' (Heb 4: 16).
Trust in God is easy when things are going well. However, in times of trial and suffering, doubt appears and we wonder, "Where is God?" or "Does He really exist?" If we pray, discern, and believe we are doing His will, then we must ask for fortitude and strength and a deeper faith. Many of us are so used to being in control and in charge, only to later realize that it was God who opened the doors. In times of struggle and frustration, we should have the attitude of Peter, who said, " 'Master, we have worked all night long "' but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them" (Lk 5:5-7). This attitude obviously requires great faith. However, in times of trial our faith is tested and that is when we must trust in Him. As spiritual warriors, we must "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7).
Bryan Thatcher, founder of Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy, shares his personal witness on the need for trust in our lives. "In November 1996, I had come home from a conference and was very tired. I stepped out onto the back patio of our home and out into the back yard, but inadvertently left the gate to our swimming pool open. Our oldest son called for me to come out to the front yard; when I went in the house, our oldest daughter asked me to take her to swimming practice. In the process, I forgot that I had left the gate to the swimming pool open. About 20 minutes later, our 10-year-old son called me on the phone and said in a frantic voice, "Dad, little John Paul is dead!"
John Paul was 18 months old at the time and was the fruit of a healed marriage. John Paul was a joy in our hearts and the apple of my eyes. I could not believe what I was hearing. I was told that John Paul was blue and not breathing; my wife had found him floating in the pool, as someone had left the pool gate open. I told our son to call the emergency squad and to have mother start resuscitation. As I drove home with our daughters, I began crying and praying to God, our Blessed Mother, and all the saints. I pleaded for all in heaven to intercede and for Jesus, The Divine Mercy to have pity on John Paul. I realized that at this point in my life what I needed most was trust. As a Eucharistic Apostle, I had been talking and traveling and speaking on Divine Mercy and trust, and yet that was what I needed most of all. The Scripture verse that came to my mind was the story of Abraham offering Isaac up to God. And like Abraham, who offered Isaac to the Father, I said to Jesus, "He's yours, I am giving him back. I thank you for the time you have given him to us. I realize what a great gift John Paul is, but he is Yours, and I give him back." I finished the drive home not knowing what I would find. As I turned the comer to our home, the emergency squad arrived. They rushed a semi-comatose John Paul to the intensive care unit. All of our family went to the hospital, and I called my sister and asked her 'to pray for John Paul at her prayer group that night. Over the next 24 hours, John Paul's mental clarity and orientation improved, and within 36 hours he was released, totally normal.
Three weeks later, I saw my sister for the holidays. She said to me, "I haven't had a chance to tell you this story. We prayed for John Paul in prayer group that night, and the following morning a member called and said that she knew John Paul would be fine. While praying the following morning, she had a vision of Abraham offering Isaac up to God, and Jesus stepped in the middle and gave him back!"
I looked at her and said, "Let me tell you the rest of the story!" The episode also gave me a deeper appreciation of the gift of life. I now better recognize the fragility of life and the fact that God does not promise us tomorrow. I try to take things more on a day- to-day basis, realizing that God is in control. God has blessed me with a beautiful wife and family. Whether any of us will be here tomorrow is of little significance, as I realize that I must enjoy them today. When you are facing trial and adversity in your life, trust in the Lord with all your might, regardless of the outcome. He will pour His abundant graces upon you, and give you the strength to get through any difficulty.
O Lord, touch our souls and let Your Divine Light put our hearts on fire. Help us realize that only by trusting You and putting our lives in Your hands can we understand true peace, the peace that only You can give.