Thursday of the Second Week
Reflection

Trusting is hard.  When we trust, we place our vulnerable selves in the hands of others and hope that they will not break us, but we are all only human. No matter how much we love and are loved by those on earth, the people we meet—from parents to friends to professors to colleagues to even passersby in the grocery store—will not always be as gentle as we hope, and we, in turn, will most likely drop them as well when they need to be carried. While this does not mean that we should love them any less, it does mean that we should seek support from the one who will never let us down: God.

God is not fickle. God is not spiteful. God is not selfish. God loves us more than anything, even though we often feel undeserving of something so magnificent. When we fully devote our faith and ourselves to Him, we rest assured that He will not fail us, though in times of darkness we may feel forgotten, like Lazarus laying hungry at the foot of the rich man’s door in today’s Gospel. Every day, we must remember God’s everlasting wisdom. We must remember to breathe. If we don’t, we will be nothing more than the barren bush in the desert, abandoned and without the nourishment we need to carry on with our earthly lives. Because while trusting is hard (especially when we cannot actually see God), the reward is certainly great.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to place my trust in You even in times of hardship and confusion. Please continue to guide me through my life here on earth and to everlasting life with You.

Mackenzie Faber, ’18

 

Scripture

First Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1:1-4, 6
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website