Blessed Are Those Who Trust

How well do you trust God? If you think on a scale of 1 to 10, where would you be on the level of trust? How much do you trust him?

The readings today weave together this whole idea that being blessed relates to the concept of trust. So, we hear in the first reading: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord.” We hear that again in the Responsorial Psalm: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”

How well do you trust in God? The Beatitudes really get to the core of it. We have these Beatitudes that really are Jesus’ summation of the teachings. We hear the blessing right next to the thing that we normally do not think of as a blessing.

If you are parents, you probably do not want your kids to grow up poor. You probably do not want them starving all the time, and you probably do not want them crying all the time. You probably do not want them to be hated as they grow up, yet Jesus says that these moments are experiences of blessing.

Why? Because when we experience these moments, we have to trust in God because there is no one else and nothing else that we can trust in. Think about it. “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”

We have some religious here with us. (If you could just stand up for a moment so everyone can see you. Thank you for your witness.) They vow poverty, chastity and obedience, and these seem to be the greatest things.

We have a wonderful witness of those who are blessed in their poverty. Thank you for your witness. We need you. How well do we trust God when we experience being poor? When we have a lot, we can get out of any problem we have. Money can get us out of a lot of difficult situations. But if we do not have the resources, we ultimately have to depend on God. How well do we trust him?

“Blessed are those who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.” I think maybe for most of us, we know where our next meal is going to come from. Even if it is here at the Scurve, we know we are at least being fed. “Blessed are those who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.”

Is there anything we are hungering for in life right now? Is there any way that we are not satisfied? Blessed are we because that moment of desire and not feeling fulfillment is going to cause us to trust very deeply in God.

If we have all our fulfillments met at every moment of our lives, we do not need to trust, right? There is no need for it. But if we are unfulfilled in some way – and there is a need in us – that is a blessed state to be in because it is going to bring a complete trust in God.

“Blessed are you weeping, for you will laugh.” There are times in our lives where we do go through difficult times, and it seems like all we can do is just break down and cry. That is a blessed state because, when we are in moments like that, it fosters this vulnerability of trust and neediness. We can only turn to God to comfort us.

 “Blessed are you when people hate you.” Is there anybody in our lives right now that just for some reason despises us? Cannot stand us no matter how hard we try? We just cannot get this person to like us? Blessed are we when we are in an experience like that. Those moments cause us all to really trust in God to love us – to trust in God to be the one that we look to.

“Blessed are you when people exclude you.” Being left out provides wonderful opportunities to grow closer to God. We might even be close friends, but for some reason, we are locked out of a relationship. Being excluded is a blessed state to be in because it is going to foster trust in God. 

“Rejoice and leap” especially when people reject you because of your faith. Those moments bring us to this wonderful trust in God.

I ask you, how well do we trust him? These experiences that we go through in life are experiences that should not bring about sadness or should not bring about despair. They can actually increase our hope because they force us to grow closer to God.

They ultimately bring us to our knees and lead us to trust in God. The Beatitudes seem like a paradox, but they are in place to increase our trust. Those who trust in the Lord and hope in the Lord can rejoice and be glad because they will be fulfilled.