By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
February 13, 2022: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 17: 5-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20; Luke 6: 17, 20-26
In God we trust, is a famous dictum, not just because it is found printed on the much sought after dollar bills of the United States of America, but because it is the motto adopted by the nation since almost seven decades (to be precise, 1956). This phrase is famous, but is it practised? It is popular but is it meant when and where it is used? This is not to criticise the Nation in reference here, but to bring our attention to such a statement that we make so frequently… that we trust in God. Do we? Do we really trust in God, in our practical day to day life?
One of the first questions to be answered here is, what does ‘trusting’ mean? Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something! When I say I trust, I know that the person or the thing, is capable of something that is in reference. To trust, therefore is to know. To trust is to use that knowledge to rely on that someone or something. To trust is however not totally foolproof. Because trusting is a leap that one takes from what one knows about someone, to a judgement about what that someone is. The knowledge one has can be deceptive, or purposely created and shared to deceive. Remember the episode of Adam and Eve with the serpent… they trusted the serpent! That is why the whole idea of who is trust-worthy and who is not, arises.
Here comes the second question, what does it mean, when I say, I trust in God. It means that I know God, I have gotten to know God, I have my convictions about God, I have a relationship with God as a result of knowing God. Can I say, ‘O God, in you I trust’, without really knowing God? Can I claim to trust in God, without really developing a true relationship in God? Do I really trust in God or do I trust in what I have created for myself as trust-worthy gods? May be riches, may be power or position or dominion over the other, may be the pleasures of life, may be my ego, may be the opinions of the world, may be the false image that I wish to give the world about myself… anyone of these I could create for myself as my trust-worthy deity.
The question that remains to be answered is, do I really trust in God? Or am I using God for my own purposes – pacifying myself, justifying myself, satisfying myself, fending for myself and reaching my own ends! The world today teaches this generation to look at the what is here and now, to consider the facts and concrete reality as seen, to value statistics and believe in calculated precisions. In the name of science, certain knowledge is created and spread and everyone is directly or indirectly obliged to accept it, submit to it and act on it. What is ‘spiritual’ is considered unreal, what is ‘theological’ is considered unscientific, and what is ‘transcendental’ is considered a waste of time. To add to the predicament, there are those who misinterpret the ‘spiritual’, manipulate the ‘theological’ and maneuver the ‘transcendental’ to suit their own ends. As St. Paul says to the Corinthians in the second reading today, these are the ‘most unfortunate of all people’ and not only that the most dangerous of all, misleading every one.
The contrast that repeats itself in the first reading and the Gospel – the blessed and the cursed – consists in trusting truly in God or trusting in the gods that we create for ourselves!
The worst of the possibilities is that we intentionally create deities for ourselves and for others around and make people trust in them. As the society today creates success, popularity and comfort as deities and propose to people to chase after, for the sake of happiness and meaning in life! It is enough a person is successful and moneyed, whatever he or she says becomes trust-worthy, today. Look at some bigwigs who make statements about corona variants and vaccines, who have nothing but money and might! What a ruin such mentality can lead to!
Another possibility is that we are mistaken in our understanding and conceive God in a manner much limited and wrong. Some so-called preachers who delight in making fancy predictions and frightening propositions, make people fall for this and there are persons who trust in some rites, rituals and rules as those which can really save them from all pain and suffering in life. What a deception it can cause when they really get to know the Truth!
The only possibility that can do us eternal good is to earnestly pray with the psalmist today: happy is the one who trusts in the Lord. In God should we trust… in God, who is Love, Truth and Goodness. Only in love, should we trust, not in hatred and vengeance, not in proving one’s point and winning over all others. Only in Truth should we trust, not in half truths and fancy ideas, not in the deceptions of the evil one. Only in Goodness should we trust, not in craftiness and deceit, not in manipulations and exploitation.
Only in God should we trust, for in God lies our eternal salvation. We are called to resurrection, to eternal life, to that salvation…which cannot be made sense of except in relation to God. May our every day life choices and priorities show to ourselves, that only IN GOD WE TRUST.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.