“Believing in God, the only One, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life. It means coming to know God’s greatness and majesty: ‘Behold, God is great, and we know him not.’ Therefore, we must ‘serve God first.’ It means living in thanksgiving: if God is the only One, everything we are and have comes from him: ‘What have you that you did not receive?’ ‘What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me?’ It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men: Everyone is made in the image and likeness of God. It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him: ‘My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.’ (Prayer of St. Nicholas of flue) It means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A prayer of St. Teresa of Jesus wonderfully expresses this trust: Let nothing trouble you / Let nothing frighten you/ Everything passes / God never changes/ Patience / Obtains all/ Whoever has God / Wants for nothing /God alone is enough.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 1, Profession of Faith #222-227) Practically speaking, what does it mean to believe in God? These paragraphs of the catechism give us a partial answer to that question. It means understanding who we are in relation to God, serving him first with a thankful heart, appreciating the dignity of all men and women, respecting and using his creation wisely in order to grow closer to him, and trusting God in all things. In each of these categories, we will always have room to grow, but hopefully, we are making progress. If we reflect on where we are in each of these areas of our life, and make the prayers of St. Nicholas and St. Teresa our own, we will surely grow a little closer to the Lord today.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 05:09:00 +0000
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