TUESDAY I LENT: I have always put all my confidence in the goodness of God

Posted on February 28, 2023 by franksantucci

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Mt. 6:8)

“It is true that I have always put all my confidence in the goodness of God… and I ought to avow, if ever I have prayed as much, never have I prayed with so much consolation (effect of an absolute but filial confidence) to the point of speaking to our Lord as I dare believe I would have done had I had the happiness of living when he moved about this earth to spread his goodness and grant to each what he asked.”

Letter of Eugene de Mazenod to Fr. Henri Tempier, 16 February 1826, EO VII n 224

REFLECTION

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton

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One Response to TUESDAY I LENT: I have always put all my confidence in the goodness of God

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    February 28, 2023 at 12:59

    “I have always put all my confidence in the goodness of God…” My initial reaction as I read these words is to remember the first 30 years of my life when I turned and ran from God.

    In the Pastoral Centre of St. Paul University hangs a painting of the Good Shepherd who is flat on the ground, hanging over the edge of a cliff. The shepherd is reaching down to save a lamb who has fallen to a very small shelf partway down the cliff because once the lamb grows tired and relaxes its small legs, it will fall to its death.

    I think of St. Eugene who seemed to find himself looking for the life that only God could give to him and then finding that life when as he said, “his eyes met mine”…

    Each of us experiencing a “life changing moment” that only God can bring about. We did not as the popular saying goes ‘find God’ but rather ‘God found us’.

    Thomas Merton’s prayer to God reminds me of Eugene’s “Prayer to grow in love for Jesus Christ”, and I find myself thinking of Psalm 51 which we sang at Mass this past Sunday and which echoes within me this morning. “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.”

    Reply

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