Let us Trust in the Lord
On Monday, I was hoping for a good day. When I got to my office I found that my desk drawer was locked. I normally don’t lock this because I don’t have important things in it. It was annoying, I couldn’t find the key and finally I had to pull it apart and reassemble the drawers, taking off the lock.
All of this reminded me of St Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, whose feast was last week. She was once going to visit one of her convents on a donkey. The donkey dropped her in the mud and she had a terrible journey. Later in prayer she asked God why this happened, and he said, “that’s how I treat my friends”, and she replied “and that is why you have so few of them!”
Now what happened to her can’t compare with my situation of a locked drawer, but being upset is universal. These are the moments we are called to enter into a dialogue with God in prayer.
In the Gospel of John the Lord has a dialogue with the disciples when they pose this question to him. Why is this man born blind? Is it because he or his parents sinned. The Lord says to them neither he nor his parents sinned, but that the glory of God can be shown in him. In other words the question is not why me, but what is God trying to say to me through this event, big or small.
Todays’ world tells us suffering is wrong, and the merciful thing is to take care of it ourselves, or not to become a burden on others, or that we are the victim of circumstances.
But in Christianity, suffering comes to help us, and those around us. If we live with this dialogue with Christ then as the Word of God says; Gold is purified in the fire and the Gospel this weekend invites us to drink the same cup that Our Lord drunk from.
This little event on Monday that annoyed me reminds me of a beautiful little prayer card I was sent when I became a priest. It was Our Lord carrying His Cross to heaven, behind Him a priest doing the same. There is a bigger plan of God for me.
This is a message not only for priests but for all Christians. We are all invited to have that dialogue with God, and even like St Teresa, be upset with Him. Ultimately we are called to have faith and to accept the way God wants us to be united with Him and give Him glory.
St Teresa: Pray for us.
God Bless
