Hve Faith, Love and Trust in God

Have Faith, Love and Trust In God
A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
Readings: Romans 13:8-10, Matthew 8:23-27,
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry

The readings for this Sunday sum up the basic truths of Christ and God’s desire for the human race. I believe that if we do not start to implement this every day in our lives that the situation the world finds itself in will only get worse. We first need to Love God totally and completely for the day is fast approaching when we will need to answer for the way we lived our life. The Epistle reading clearly states how the writer of the letter to the Romans understood what Jesus taught when He was asked what the greatest commandment was and Christ replied “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and body is the first and most important commandment and the second is like unto it, Love your neighbor as yourself” Today we hear the words from the letter to the Faith community of Rome which is very clear and precise; Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10
“Love is the fulfillment of the law” Love of God and love for all God’s children.” If we love someone we do not go about causing them pain and suffering. When we love someone we attempt to insure that they are comfortable, well fed, healthy, and safe. We do not intentionally place someone we love in the way of danger or somewhere that they are apt to be killed. I will elaborate more on this after I introduce the second part of today’s message, the need to put our complete trust in Almighty God. The second reading is the story of how the disciples and Jesus had gone out on the lake and a sudden storm arose while Jesus was asleep in the bow of the boat. The apostles became very frightened and woke Jesus with these words; "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" Jesus replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" Matthew 13:25-27 The lesson here is one of faith and trust in God. How often have we gone into a panic about something and totally forgotten to turn to God and place the result into His hands?
Granted, the results we desire are not always the results that God will provide, but they are His answer and we have to accept those results as being God’s will. We have to trust that God has a very good reason for things turning out the way they do and if we do trust God we eventually will learn God’s reason. I can testify to that myself. So many times in the past things have happened that I did not understand why and I agonized over what I might have done to cause what I perceived was a negative result. The events usually forced me to make changes in my life that I had not planned on. The strange thing was that each time I found myself being led closer and closer to what eventually became my current life. I must admit I had some help in accepting the changes. When I was in the depths of depression of one of the climatic changes in my life I actually was contemplating ending it all but in a moment of desperation and I must admit anger, I threw open the Bible and it opened to the Book of Job. I read the story of Job and it was like a spotlight was beaming down upon me. I realized that I had spent most of my life searching for fame and fortune I thought important because of the gifts I was blessed with instead of seeking out what it was that God wanted me to do with those gifts.
When I stopped living according to me plans and began to ask God to lead me where He wanted me things became clearer and though not always smooth my road was mapped out for the remaining journey of life.
Each day I awake thankful for another day to try to do God’s will and to proclaim to all that I can of the everlasting mercy and love of God for all His children. God is Love, not vengeance, retaliation, discrimination, hatred, or condemnation. God asks us only to love and trust in Him, to accept His desire for us and to live our life in a manner that does not hurt anyone else.
Today our world is embroiled in conflicts between political parties, nations and even churches. This is not God’s way. Conflict is the domain of Satan and He uses it to tear families, governments and nations apart in order to cause pain and suffering and to attempt to turn people away from God just as he did with Job.
Our country is following in a pattern that has caused the downfall of every great empire and kingdom since the beginning of time. When the great empires tried to force their religious and cultural ideologies on others and expand their land holdings and wealth and domination of other cultures, they eventually came to a crashing demise. That history has been repeated from the Ancient Babolonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Roman, Spanish, English, and French and Prussian empires.
Without respect and love for others there will never be peace. Love has to begin with loving ourselves and loving and accepting the way God created us. We cannot truly love others until we love and accept ourselves.
In order to comply with the teaching of the lesson from scripture this week we need to begin the process by accepting who we are, and then going about and making the best of the gifts we have been given by actively promoting peace and brotherhood in our families, neighborhoods and speaking out against injustices we observe being done to others by our friends, neighbors, government and churches. By doing that we are demonstrating our love of God and the love He has for all His children. We become a beacon of God’s love here on earth to all we encounter.
I end with the words of St. Francis’s Peace Prayer;
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; when there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand, to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. AMEN