Trust – Day 29 of 40

Armodoxy for Today: Trust – Day 29 of Lent

Continuing on the theme of the Unjust Judge, we take our lead from the evangelist St. Luke, who shared this parable as offered by Jesus. We are talking about prayer and that if God knows our needs, why pray?

How often do we give time to hear ourselves, to hear the inner self speak? Part of this Lenten journey has been to open the ears of our heart, to be able to listen attentively. The Psalmist says, “Be still! And know that I am God.” (46:10) Lent gives us the opportunity to sit still and listen, hear, absorb and thereby grow spiritually. Lent is not merely to cut down on food, but it is to come down to the bare essentials: What is necessary to survive? Or in Jesus’ words (to the tempter), “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the Lord.” (Matthew 4:4)

When teaching us to pray, Jesus directs us to go into a small room and pray without any distractions so that we understand what our needs are. How are our needs to be satisfied? We need to find strength, patience and devotion.

Someone once wisely said, If you want your dreams to come true, first you need to wake up! It’s certainly logical. You can’t dream and do at the same time. Take control of your life and make it happen.

Jesus taught us to call God, Father. No other religion dares to call the Lord of the Universe, Father. Jesus does and he sets up a relationship of care. If, then, we accept that we are God’s children and that He is our Father, then we know that He will take care of us in all circumstances. Just as He takes care of the birds in the air, as He takes care of the lilies of the field who are here today and gone tomorrow, so too, He will take care of us. Jesus tells us, “How much more are you worth than those lilies of the field, than those birds of the air? Your Heavenly Father takes care of them. How much more He will take care of you.”

Do you believe this? It requires unquestioning faith and is difficult to achieve, hence the need to discipline ourselves. What remains for us is to continue to pray. Persistence! Persevere! Consistency! Like the woman in the story, never doubt that in the end, you will get what you need, because in that persistence, it is you listening to yourself. In your persistence you’ll find that these prayers turn into mantras. They turn into guidelines by which you start living, by which you start accepting responsibility in your life.

An act of charity is to inventory the times when you have trusted God and things have fallen into place. Fast from feelings of distrust.

Try the Mediterranean Bean Salad, the featured Lenten meal with a recipe below.

We pray the prayer our Lord, Jesus Christ, taught us,
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Lenten Recipes by Deacon Varoujan: Recipe 29: Mediterranean Bean Salad