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Franciscan at Home

Forming those who form others

The Spiritual Life— Confident Trust

Image of married couple overlooking a wide river bank in the city“Yes, ‘tis sweet to trust in Jesus, / just from sin and self to cease, / just from Jesus simply taking / life and rest, and joy and peace.”[1] These lyrics, sung repeatedly in my youth, planted in my heart seeds of longing to trust Jesus, to hear his voice, to take him at his word, to be confident that he speaks to me. So far, the journey has consisted of trudging through miles of the mud of my doubts and renewed resolves, punctuated by joyful epiphanies and triumphs. I also look back on humiliating defeats from which, paradoxically, my trust in God’s love and mercy grew more confident than I once imagined possible.

I was still a child when I began to conceive of growth in holiness as something like a self-improvement project, with the goal of eliminating vice and growing in virtue. If something went wrong, I’d ask myself where I messed up and make a resolve to do better next time. If I had a nightmare, I’d chastise myself for not praying before I went to sleep. This “be good, and God will bless you” approach to my relationship with God kept me on the straight and narrow in my youth and followed me into adulthood.

Although I could quote Scripture, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9), shadows obscured my view of the heart of the Father. So, I tried repeatedly to prove my love for him. I worried whether I was pleasing God rather than simply receiving his love for me. Thankfully, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, comes to our aid even when we’ve lost our way (see Lk 15:3–7).

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Lani Bogart oversees all things catechetical at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a mostly Hispanic urban parish in Glendale, Arizona. She holds an MA degree in Theology. She also co-leads the Committee to Serve Wives and Widows of Deacons for the Diocese of Phoenix. Lani delights in each encounter with her five children and seven grandchildren and enjoys knitting, calligraphy, and singing.

Notes

[1] “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” Louisa M. R. Stead (1882), full lyrics and music available at https://hymnary.org/text/tis_so_sweet_to_trust_in_jesus_just_to.

[2] St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Manuscrits autobiographiques, 244, quoted in Jean C. J. D’Elbée, I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, trans. Marilyn Teichert and Madeleine Stebbins (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2001), 28.

[3] D’Elbée, I Believe in Love, 28.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path to God (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2000), 5.

This article originally appeared on pages 15-20 of the print edition.

Art Credit: Pixabay.com by Andi Graf.

This article is from The Catechetical Review (Online Edition ISSN 2379-6324) and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of The Catechetical Review by contacting [email protected]

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