Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, March 5, 2023 / Categories: Blog, Homilies A Matter of Trust Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year A Are you afraid to die? That’s what Heidi asked me after bursting into my office, closing the door, and grabbing the seat in front of me before I could even look up from my desk. I think we were both surprised at how quickly and confidently I said, “No,” to which she just as quickly asked, “How do I get that way?” As you can imagine, a long conversation followed. I can’t give you a detailed account of all we discussed in the little time I have for a homily, but in short, it’s a matter of trust. Today’s readings explain why. The predominant theme of the readings for this Second Sunday of Lent is trust. In our First Reading, Abraham, our Father in faith, responds to God’s promise of blessings and descendants by packing up his family and trekking some 1,000-miles to a new life in Canaan at God’s request. That’s trust. Our Psalmist, then, assures us that God is trustworthy, that God’s steadfast love and kindness for all humanity proves that God deserves our unfailing trust. And in our Gospel, Peter, James, and John get a sneak peek of Christ transfigured in glory, where a voice from the heavens instructs them to “listen to him,” to trust him. Today’s readings invite us into covenant relationship with God, a relationship that requires us to trust God with our lives, like Abraham and Jesus did. We humans are hardwired for relationships. Within an hour of birth, an infant will strain to look into the eyes of the person gazing at her. Within a few more hours, a baby will orient his head in the direction of his mother’s voice. “We’re social beings from the get-go”: we’re born to engage with others, to make social connections rooted in trust,[1] and no more so than with God So what is trust? Isn’t it just another word for faith? Well, faith and trust are definitely related, but they’re not the same. Faith, as we know, is a theological virtue—a gift from God that disposes us to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity. Faith, then, is the virtue that makes believing God possible. Trust is a choice we make in faith. Think of it this way: Faith is a noun, a gift that enables us to believe and enter a relationship with God. Trust is a verb. It’s something we do that shows that we really believe God and have a relationship with him. Here’s a secular example: Faith allows us to believe that a tightrope walker can safely cross a treacherous ravine with nothing more than a cable and a pole. Trust is agreeing to ride on his back while he does it! Faith is God’s contribution to the human/divine relationship. Trust is ours. Faith always comes first. Trust is a choice that follows it, a deliberate action that grows out of faith.[2] Abraham had to believe God and have a strong relationship with God well before he could possibly trust God enough to move his family clear across the Middle East. We need to trust God, too. Why? Because faith with trust is life changing! When we trust God, we live with the calm assurance that our lives rest in the hands of the One who loves us most, the One who died to save us from our sins, the One who offers us eternal health, happiness, and life. Trusting God empowers us. It conquers self-doubt by helping us see our God-given dignity that no one can take away. It mobilizes us to live responsible lives loving God and loving our neighbor. It gives us the strength to keep on going when life seems unlivable. People who trust God feel at home and find meaning in the world and in their lives, a meaning that’s profound, ultimate, and stable no matter what happens. People who trust God face catastrophe unperturbed, opportunity with conviction, and others with self-forgetting charity.[3] People who trust God aren’t afraid to die because they know that the life that God offers us after this one is perfect. So how do we get that way? How do we develop so profound a relationship with God that we trust him with our lives? Well, there are lots of ways, but since it’s Lent, let’s focus on the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In prayer, we talk to God and get to know God better. Conversation’s a great way to build a relationship, and in prayer, we discover just how trustworthy God is when we find that God’s always with us, and always loving us through the most challenging times of our lives. Fasting helps us shed the things that interfere with our relationship with God. It focuses our attention on God as the loving source of everything we really need. It helps us realize that we really need to trust God. Through almsgiving, charity, we love God by loving our neighbor. We love God by continuing Christ’s work here on earth to the point of putting the needs of others ahead ours because we trust that God will take care of us. Almsgiving helps us enter into the deepest possible relationship with God, a loving relationship steeped in trust. These are just a few examples of how we can develop our relationship with God, but if you’re still afraid to die after trying these, come talk to Fr. Chester, Deacon Dennis, or me. We’d be happy to offer a few more suggestions. That’s what Heidi did. Death terrified Heidi. She came to me for advice because she knew deep down that her relationship with God was tenuous at best. I told her that we all face the same choice: We can live our lives living, or we can live our lives dying. Living our lives in constant fear—is dying. Handing our fears over to God and trusting that the Author of Life has opened the gates of eternal life for us—is living. We trust all sorts of people with our lives everyday—the contractor who builds our house; the pharmacist who fills our prescriptions; and the doctor who treats our illness. If we want to live our lives living, we need to trust God with our lives more than we trust any human being. Scripture proves over and over again that God delivers, that God deserves our unfailing trust. Trust me when I say, living our lives living, not being afraid to die, is a matter of trust. Readings: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 33; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9 [1] Robert M. Kramer, “Rethinking Trust,” Harvard Business Review (June 1, 2009), https://hbr.org/2009/06/rethinking-trust. [2] Henry M. Morris IV, "Faith v. Trust," Institute for Creation Research (July 29, 2016), https://www.icr.org/article/faith-vs-trust/. [3] Charles Hefling, Why Doctrines, 2nd ed. (Chestnut Hill, MA: The Lonergan Institute, 2000) at 20. 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