Who Can You Trust?

Who can you trust these days to be completely truthful, to be completely free of bias, and to be completely “right-on?”  You think maybe your clergyman?  You think maybe your congressman?  Maybe your mother/father?  You think maybe your husband/wife?  You think maybe your best friend?  Or maybe someone who always seems to strike a chord with you in every way?  To me, there is only one such source of truth, and that is God.  Okay, you say, but God never speaks to me.  But God HAS spoken to you and to me.  The inspired word of God is Sacred Scripture.  When Jesus speaks, we should listen!  When St. Paul speaks, we should listen!

Today, I’m thinking about this trust, this … faith, and how we should listen!  I’m reminded of the gospel story of the woman who “suffered hemorrhages for twelve years.”  (See Matt 9:20-22, Luke 8:43-48 and Mark 5:25-34).  She came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel of his cloak, thinking that she would be cured.  And she was!  Immediately!  Following this incident, the words of Jesus tell it all:  “Daughter, your faith has saved you.  Go in Peace.”  (Luke 8:48).  The woman had great faith.  She placed her trust in Jesus. 

There are some wonderful words of encouragement in St. Paul’s three letters to Timothy and one to Titus.  Allow me to give you a couple of excerpts.  To us (through Timothy), he says:  “Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace, imparting the word of truth without deviation.  Avoid profane and idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless and their teaching will spread like gangrene.”  (2 Tim 3:15-17).  To us (through Titus), he says:  “For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself to us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.”  (Titus 2:11-14).  Meditate on these beautiful words!

When the woman with the hemorrhages was cured, Jesus said “Go in peace.”  Wouldn’t we love to hear those three little words of Jesus directed at US?  But how can we hear them?  Pursue Jesus.  Touch his tassel through prayer.  Go to your private place and pray.  And then listen.  He will turn to you and say “who touched me?”  Then, hear him whisper to you:  “Go in peace.”  Amen.