Trust in the Lord
December 17, 2024
Hello! How is each and every one? Today is the birthday of the Holy Father Pope Francis. Let us keep him in mind throughout the day and every day in our prayers, work and other activities during the day. As he is the sweet Vicar of Christ on earth, let us keep him company in our prayers as Jesus Christ does with each one of us in our day to day life.
Last Saturday, we had the Christmas party of our
staff in the house with their families.
It started with anticipated Mass at 4:45 before which there were ongoing
confessions for whoever wanted and needed to receive the sacrament. After the Mass of course was dinner and then
the fun moment everyone was eagerly awaiting to participate in.
The games were held outside in the garage
which was cleared of cars. There were two petite young energetic female game
masters. Participants were all
generations from grandparents, parents to 2, 3, 4 year old girls; 8 year old
boys; teens and young adults. Teams of boys and girls in the family
participated. It was hilariously fun.
Prices ranged from food staples to canned
goods, drinks, snacks, chips and candies and toiletries, laundry detergents.
Funny episodes were two instances that the boys won over the girls and the
price given to each of the boys was a box of safeguard. When the girls won each one received a pack
of spaghetti noodles. Somebody commented
on the observation and asked why for the boys soap while for the girls
spaghetti. Another one answered because
the girls cook and the boys take a bath?
It was fun though food didn’t seem enough because more party food were
ordered while the games were going on. Over
all, simple joys are still the best of joys for families.
Simbang gabi started yesterday evening and/or the morning
after. Somebody observed that simbang
gabi in some Churches is scheduled in the evening while in others is early
morning.
Sunday was fruitful for me. I was able to distribute half of the gift
packs I prepared for persons in my list this year. I am happy because I had
enough time to prepare them and source them out joyfully. And also because I
was able to serve some persons with the same vibes as mine. And I am also
hopeful that some persons with whom I shared my joy would find the gift packs
suitable for their constituents.
Following
is the beginning of the chapter on our divine longing for trust (From Broken Gods, Hope, Healing, and the
Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Gregory K. Popcak, Ph. D. Ch 8).
[The Christian life requires] firm trust in the Holy Spirit, for it is he who “helps us in our weakness” (Rom 8:26)…It is true that this trust in the unseen can cause us to feel disoriented: it is like being plunged into the deep and not knowing what we will find….Yet there is no greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills. The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. —Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks
about God’s original intention behind work, which is very different from how
many of us experience work today.
Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another… (CCC, no. 2427).
In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work (CCC, no 2428).
The kind of work our first parents did in the Garden and of which the Catechism speaks is the kind of world that enables us to feel accomplished because we’re engaging in meaningful pursuits that challenge and stretch us in the best ways and help us to become everything, we are created to be. This kind of work is infused with the trust that our work befits our dignity, that our needs will be provided for, that our efforts will pay off, and that we have nothing to fear because our work is blessed by the God who will meet all of our needs.
Jesus affirms this call to trust when he reminds us, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear…. Notice the ravens; they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds! Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your life-span? If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest? Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?” (Lk 12:22-28).
Note Jesus’s use of the word “toil” (Lk 12:27). Toil is a very different kind of work. We first encounter that word after the Fall, in Genesis 3:17-19: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, you shall not eat from it Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you, and you shall eat the grass of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you shall eat bread.
After the Fall, when the delicate balance between God, the world, and humankind was disrupted, work got a new name, “toil.” Sin entered the world and the harmony that characterized our labors no longer existed. Our efforts no longer produce the fruit they once did. Toil is, essentially, work stripped of our trust that the things we are asked to do are not beneath us, that our needs will be provided for, and that our efforts will, in fact, pay off.
And yet, though this natural ability to easily trust in God’s Providence has been largely lost to us, a part of our collective unconscious remembers and aches for a return to our original state, a state in which we had confidence that we could know that the work God was asking us to do was consistent with our dignity, and that through our good efforts God would supply all that we need. This ache represents the divine longing for trust.
St. Josemaria, the saint of the ordinary is a saint
because he was the chosen instrument of God to proclaim the threefold
sanctification of work. That through our
professional work and daily ordinary activity we can be holy serving God and
humankind in the middle of the world.
What does it mean to sanctify work?
(Opusdei.org)
To sanctify work is to strive to do
it well, with professional competence, putting all of one's talents,
intelligence, will and affection into the work at hand. However, it is also a
matter of one’s intention at the moment of working. It is worth asking oneself:
Why am I doing this? What is the point of doing it well when no one sees me?
Summary
1. Are we made to work, or is work a punishment?
2. What does it mean to sanctify work?
3. Three facets of the same reality
4. Is all work of equal value?
Source the above article in
opusdei.org to get the text in full and reflect on its message in the quiet
moments of your prayer together with the topic of this post on satisfying our
divine longing for trust.
Wow! This is exactly what I am
experiencing in these moments. And I can
attest to the fact that God would really supply all that we need if we put our
complete trust in Him and do as He tells us to do at every given moment of the
day in the midst of joy and difficulty, in sorrow and grief, continue going to
Him and tell Him what it is that is in your heart and mind.
You will satisfy your divine
longing for trust little by little.
See you in the next post, “May
tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may
God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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