Faith and Trust

Genesis 12:1-4a; , Psalm 33:4-5,18-20,22;  Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9

This week’s readings teach about living in faith and trust.  To be truly alive, to live truly in love, a person needs to listen to God’s call. Following this call must be done in faith and trust.  Following His call opens us to God's purpose and plan.  This is where a person can truly find blessings and happiness. 

Christians hear this call in Christ.  After Jesus’ transfiguration, the voice from the cloud said to the disciples, "Listen to him!"  Listen to what he is saying, Listen to Christ’s call to your heart.

God is always calling us; God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will man (humanity) find the truth and happiness that he never stops searching for (CCC 27).  He called “Where are you?” in the Garden when Adam and Eve hid from him.  Even in our human failings, God is always calling.

God's plan for this world since He created and made man the principal being was to share His own eternal happiness with him.  This plan is  found in the call of Abram.  Abram was a pagan living in Mesopotamia.  God called Abram and convinced him that God alone was the true God.  God alone should be served. This calling had to be a powerful experience because Abram left everything; family, home, and country for God’s call.  This was an act of faith and trust.  In was in this act that Abram would be blessed.  Abram became Abraham and received blessings and happiness. 

The passage from Timothy picks up the message of being called.  Paul explains that the call to be a Christian is not based on our merits.  We are called in God’s purpose and plan just like when He called Abram, the pagan.  This purpose and plan is now found in Jesus Christ and accomplished thorough the strength of faith and trust.  God's purpose and plan is unchanged and unchangeable. In Christ, His plan would come to all.

This introduces the theme of the transfiguration, in which Jesus is manifested as the Savior who brings God’s purpose and plan into the world.  The voice from above says “Listen to him.”   Listen because Christ brings God's purpose and plan to the world.  It is found in Christ’s faith and trust of the Father.  Jesus Christ calls us to the same.  He calls with a reassuring touch to our hearts, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”  In the transfiguration, Jesus showed how we are to let go of where we are and leads us to a new place of blessing of happiness.

No matter how much humanity thinks otherwise, all our vision is limited by the boundaries of human experience.  An experience enclosed by our imperfection, suffering, and sadness; but, in God’s purpose and plan we are all called to blessings and happiness.  In Jesus, we can find the glory that is ours to come. It is God’s purpose and plan, the gift found in blessings and happiness to those who listen to His call with faith and trust.