A healthy spirit of abandonment

WITH all the things that we have to contend with in this

life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s

loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways

that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what

we would like to have.

  

            A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is

necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our

goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments

of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith.

  

            Let us quote some words of Christ that form the basis for

this belief:

  

                “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow

nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add

one cubit to his stature?

  

            “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies

of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say

to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of

these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is,

and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe

you, O you of little faith?

   

            “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or

‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these

things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need

all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His

righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore

do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own

things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Mt 6,26-34)

  

            We need to engrave these words in our heart so that

whatever difficulty we encounter in our life, we would know how to

react. Very often, we tend to face things simply on our own, relying

only on our own powers that no matter how impressive can only do so

much.

  

            We always have to go to God through Christ in the Holy

Spirit. This is not an exercise of surrender and futility, but rather

of conquest and victory. With God, everything always works for the

good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

  

            St. Paul precisely recommended this move. “Do not be

anxious about anything,” he said, “but in every situation, by prayer

and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the

peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 6,6-7)

  

            Let’s take note that St. Paul said that the peace of God

transcends all understanding. That means that God’s peace may impact

on us in a way that can seem to be the opposite of what we want.

  

            And so, we just have to see to it that we always activate

our faith in reacting to our difficulties in life, because left to our

own devices, there is no way we can be calm and be at peace. And the

sufferings that are unavoidable in this life will mean nothing to us.

             We just have to learn and develop a healthy sense of

abandonment in the mysterious will and ways of God. What can help in

this regard is to cultivate also a sporting attitude to life. We win

some, we lose some, but in the end God takes care of everything as

long as we always go to him!