You Seek The Road In You

The old road is no more 

The new road is in you 

What you sought is no more 

What you seek is in You 

In The Midst of Trials, Trust To Receive More

In today's Gospel reading we heard about Jesus' disciples panicking since their boat is filling with water while they're out on the lake, while Jesus is sleeping in the boat.  They wake him, and he rebukes the storm and quiets the sea, bringing a great calm.  He questions them why they are terrified, and asks them if they still don't have faith.*  

This week in California we received heavy rain, including here on the Big Sur coast.  Such a deluge of rain fell that in one spot, about seven miles north of the hermitage, both lanes of Highway 1 fell out, rendering that section of road impassable.  The rain has ended, leaving stillness.  

In the midst of trying circumstances, we can fall apart.  Yet if we have faith, we are called to witness to that faith and to the sureness and confidence it gives us.  We can recall that God brought us through fire and water, but then brought us relief.**  

We get relief through trusting God because we love Him.  God brings us through trials for our own good because we love Him.***  If we love God, then we trust Him.  When we trust in God, then God can bring us through fire and water and all sorts of supposed disasters, and we emerge miraculously better off.

As I've noted before, we grow more when we are challenged than we do when we feel comfortable.  If we want to become more than we have been, then we should welcome tribulation and apparent mishaps when they befall us.  

With each and every situation, we are asked what we want to become as a result of it.  Do we want it to unfold for our good and the good of others?  If so, then trust that God will work it to our advantage.  As Jesus told Saint Faustina, the more we trust Him, the more we receive from Him.****  

* Mark 4:35-41 

** Psalm 66:12 

*** Romans 8:28 

**** Diary of Saint Faustina, 1578.  

Honor The Truth

On this day we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany.  Today we heard at Mass the Gospel reading telling us of the wise men coming from the east to honor the true King, Jesus.*   

Whenever we honor the truth, we honor Jesus.  Every time we reject the truth, we tell Jesus that we do not want Him to be our King,** since He is The Truth.***  

Today the outgoing President of the United States once again repeated his baseless claim that the most recent Presidential election was stolen, and that he was fraudulently defeated in that election, despite no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud; he encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol and protest the outcome of the election, which they did, so that protesters stormed the Capitol and people died.****  In the lawfully sanctioned electoral process in the United States, the citizens told the outgoing President that we do not want him to be our President, yet he and some of his supporters refuse to acknowledge that truth.  When any of us supports unfounded allegations, we are rejecting the truth, and consequently we are telling Jesus that we do not want Him to be our King.  

How far are we willing to go to support the truth or deny it?  All of us, each and every one of us, with no exceptions, will have to give an account of whether we have fostered or undermined the truth.  On that day, the Truth may very well say to us, "Any time you denied the Truth, you denied Me."  

* Matthew 2:1-12 

** Luke 19:14 

*** John 14:6 

**** https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-video-statement-capitol-rioters-we-love-you-very-special-2021-1