Faith is an attitude of trust in the presence of God (Bishop Robert Barron)

   Faith is an attitude of trust in the presence of God. Faith is openness to what God will reveal, do, and invite. It should be obvious that in dealing with the infinite, all-powerful person who is God, we are never in control.

   That is why we say that faith goes beyond reason. If we can figure it out, calculate precisely, predict with complete accuracy, we’re in charge…

  One of the most fundamental statements of faith is this: your life is not about you. You’re not in control. This is not your project. Rather, you are part of God’s great design. To believe this in your bones and to act accordingly is to have faith.

--Bishop Robert Barron, Gospel Reflection, February 17, 2020 

Image source: The Sacrifice of Isaac, Catacombs of Via Latina, Rome, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abraham_Isaac.jpg

Faith reassures (Sherrie Dunlevy)

Stress makes you believe 

that everything has to happen now. 

Faith reassures you 

that everything will happen 

in God’s timing. 

--Sherrie Dunlevy     

Image source: Alexandr Ivanov, Transfiguration (1824), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_of_Jesus#/media/File:Alexandr_Ivanov_015.jpg
Quotation source

Faith in the giver of all good things (Henri Nouwen)

   When we live with hope, we do not get tangled up with concerns for how our wishes will be fulfilled. So, too, our prayers are not directed toward the gift but toward the One who gives it. Ultimately, it is not a question of having a wish come true, but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of all good things… Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good. Hope includes an openness by which you wait for the promise to come through, even though you never know when, where, or how this might happen. 

 --Henri Nouwen 

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding_of_Isaac#/media/File:Abraham_about_to_sacrifice_Isaac.jpg
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 28, 2020: I will bless you abundantly...

I will bless you abundantly… 

Do you have absolute confidence in God’s promise? 

    Abraham has complete confidence in God’s promise, even though he does not know how God will follow through. When, in the Book of Genesis, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, Abraham does not hesitate: he is willing to do as God commands. Here I am, Abraham says, present to you, ready to listen, to hear your word, to act upon what I hear. Although he knows that the sacrifice of Isaac would mean that the hope of generations to come would be sacrificed, Abraham is willing to comply because he has great trust in God and in God’s intent to prosper what God has made. And God blesses Abraham abundantly for his faith: I will make your descendants as countless as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.. Abraham might well have prayed Psalm 116, To you I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Whatever held the psalmist back was a kind of binding, yet he sings, you have loosed my bonds. The psalmist believes, even at his most difficult moment, as Abraham believed and had faith in God’s promise.

    In a similar way, the disciples are called to have faith, even when Jesus predicts his own death. In Mark’s version of the Transfiguration, God says, This is my beloved Son; listen to him. The Transfiguration is a revelation of what is to come; the disciples must have faith and trust and confidence in the promise. In similar fashion, Paul tells the Romans to have confidence, no matter what life might bring. If God acquits us, who will condemn? We are to see in the death and rising of Jesus an absolute hope, and have absolute confidence in the promise. We are all called to the faith of Abraham, according to which God’s love will be victorious. We have nothing to fear, so long as we have confidence in that absolute love.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

I run to the Father (Cody Carnes)

I’ve carried a burden 

For too long on my own 

I wasn’t created 

To bear it alone 

I hear Your invitation 

To let it all go 

Yeah, I see it now 

I’m laying it down 

And I know that I need You 

 

I run to the Father 

I fall into grace 

I’m done with the hiding 

No reason to wait 

My heart needs a surgeon 

My soul needs a friend 

So I’ll run to the Father 

Again and again 

And again and again 

Oh, oh, oh 

 

You saw my condition 

Had a plan from the start 

Your Son for redemption 

The price for my heart 

And I don’t have a context 

For that kind of love 

I don’t understand 

I can’t comprehend 

All I know is I need You 

 

Refrain

To hear Run to the Father by Cody Carnes, click on the video below:

Image source: http://thefaithpal.blogspot.com/2010/03/prodigal-son-and-forgiving-father.html

Quotation source

If you knew who is with you (St. Macarius the Great)

   Believe me, if you knew who is with you, you would not fear anything the world has to offer.

--St. Macarius the Great 

Image source: https://llerrah.com/footprints.htm

We can nowhere evade the presence of God (C.S. Lewis)

 

   We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.

--C.S. Lewis 

Image source: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/March-for-Life-brings-crowd-to-San-Francisco-12530684.php?ipid=amp-related-link