March 8/Second Wednesday of Lent
Into your hands I commend my spirit, for you will redeem me, O Lord, O faithful God.
My trust is in you, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” ~ Ps 31.6 and 15
The story is told in the Talmud (the ancient compendium of rabbinic writings on Jewish law and tradition) of a stranger who came to the great first century Jewish sages, Shammai and Hillel, and said, “Teach me the Torah while I stand on one foot.” (Shammai dismissed the question, while Hillel replied, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary.”) Acknowledging the limitations of the one-foot-summary approach to the New Testament as well as to the Old, I propose that the Gospel of Christ might be summed up as follows: “Trust in the Lord.” Easy to write, hard to live. While we may know from Scripture that the hands of God are powerful, wise, gentle – and unfailingly trustworthy – we resist surrendering our autonomy and our vaunted right to self-direction. We fail to trust that God knows us, and knows what we need, far better than we ourselves. So we hold back, relying on ourselves. To cultivate trust in the Lord, we can begin by setting aside a time apart for praying every day – even if some days, this is just a few minutes. In the warm nurturing environment of daily prayer and reflection, we can come to know Christ in the Gospel accounts of his life and ministry, his death and resurrection. We can soak up the praise of the Lord that permeates the Psalms, and we can come to a deeper knowledge of God’s interventions in the history of his people. And if we inhabit this prayer incubator long enough and often enough, we will deepen our wonder at the incredible mystery of the divine revelation, and the utter steadfastness of the divine love. And then can we truly trust, and commend our spirits, our souls and bodies, into his hands.
Loving God, Give me the confidence and faith I need truly to place myself in your trustworthy hands. Amen.
To hear “If You But Trust in God to Guide Thee,” sung at the First-Plymouth Church (Lincoln, Nebraska), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IIzx0-Sdrk&t=39s
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030823.cfm
