Dear Parishioners and Visitors,
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD!
The words of today's Gospel reading always leave us with a feeling of uncertainty about ourselves and our own Christian life. We are able to discover the beauty of Jesus' words but at the same time they leave us with a sense of 'unaccomplishment'. Do we really feel like Jesus is setting goals too high for all of us, an unattainable dream? How can we find blessing in poverty or in hunger? How can we find blessing in sorrow or in tolerance of hate?
The real challenge behind Jesus' words is the question: How much do you trust in God? How much do you wholeheartedly believe that God takes care of his children and specifically you?
The issue of trust is fundamental in our life and faith. Faith is more than knowledge. It is grounded in trust - trust that there is a God who loves and cares for us, trust that God sent his only begotten Son into the world to show us the way, trust that there is a life after death and that we will share in Jesus' resurrection. Saint Paul reminds us in today's second reading, that if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, our faith is in vain, and we are still in our sins.
In whom do we place our trust? The prophet Jeremiah proclaims and warns us that "cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord ."
If we but believe that the words of Jesus in today's Gospel reading are impossible to realize in our lives, we need to question ourselves: In whom do we trust? If we trust in God, those words become goals to realize in our lives, and we trust that God's grace will enable us to achieve them. If we only trust our own strength and the human realities around us, those words become unreachable goals for our life. Our faith tells us that we are called to holiness, and the beatitudes become the path to achieve closeness to the Lord.
-fr. Alberto Rodriguez, O.P
