Where does your trust lie? Is it in yourself, your own efforts, and your own abilities? Or is it in God? Our readings today challenge us to ask this question about our lives. Our readings also give us a clear answer as to where our trust should lie. This answer comes in our psalm response: “Blessed the one who trusts in the Lord.”
Why is trust in the Lord so important? The answer to this question is revealed in various ways throughout our readings. Perhaps it is most striking in the words of St. Paul, who reminds us that our salvation comes through Christ alone- through his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. As St. Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
To place our trust in God means that we recognize that we need his grace to live. We need his presence in our lives to inherit the promised reward of salvation, and to be found worthy of eternal life in God’s kingdom. The imagery in the first reading from Jeremiah paints a stark picture of how a person who does not trust in God withers like a shrub in the desert. His point is clear: without God, we die.
Jesus takes this one step further by reminding his followers that wealth, success, and social standing are not always signs of being among the elect in God’s eyes. In fact, he tells people who place their trust in worldly things that they have already received their reward. This message certainly challenges our materialistic culture, which tells us that true happiness, and indeed our very worth as human beings, is only found by having the latest and greatest possessions. Jesus flips this message on its head and reminds us that all that the poor and the downtrodden have dignity, because they are created in the image and likeness of God, just as we are.
Learning to place our trust in God can be a lifelong struggle. We are called to continually pray for the grace of humility, and to give thanks to God for his blessings in our lives. The more we are able to do this, the more we will be able to place our trust in God, and allow him to lead us to his Kingdom, and there dwell with him forever.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB