Trust In God the Father
ONE
To build on our meditation from yesterday: Anxiety is just a signal from the brain that danger is present. Sometimes our danger signals are mistaken and there is no real danger present.
When you experience anxiety, don’t give so much importance and power to the anxiety you feel. It’s just a message. Anxiety can lead to fear, but it does not need to.
Fear is the fuel. Take away the fuel and the anxiety fades.
The fuel, meaning the fear, in our current societal situation comes from the media and being out in public during these times. Our brains interpret what we are seeing as grave danger lurking everywhere. So your brain sends a message of anxiety. And then we add fuel by adding fear.
Let me give you a simple way out of anxiety: ground yourself in the reality - you are safe. I can say with confidence - You are safe. Well, how can I say that with such confidence? Because you are in the hands of God your Father and under the mantle of Mary. They will let nothing happen to you that won’t contribute to your greatest good. You are safe.
TWO
The quintessential expression of these truths is the Story of Joseph from the Old Testament
Joseph was kidnapped by his brothers, sold as a slave in Egypt, then falsely accused of rape and thrown in prison. But we are told: And there in jail he stayed - But God was with Joseph Genesis 39: 21
And Joseph grew in trust, in hope and in the love of God
Then Pharaoh’s Cup-bearer and Baker were tossed in Prison with him
● The Cup-bearer and the Baker had dreams
● Joseph interprets their dreams – the Cup-bearer will be released and the Baker, well, he will lose his head
● To the Cup-Bearer Joseph says: Remember me when all is well with you.
However, Two more years pass (13 years since Joseph was sold into slavery)
· And the Cup-bearer has forgotten Joseph
Then Pharaoh has a dream: 7 fat and 7 skinny cows
● Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams correctly when no when else can
● He is placed “over the household of Egypt,”
● 2nd in Command only to Pharaoh
Joseph marries Asenath, the daughter of the Priest of On who, in some ways was revered even more than Pharaoh. Joseph has two sons and by the names he gives them, demonstrates his recognition of God’s Providence
● Manasseh = God has made me forget all my suffering
● Ephraim = God has made me fruitful in the country of my misfortune
Joseph sees that God guided all things
● Even the evil of his brothers
● For his good
● He abandons himself into the Hands of Divine Providence
Then the 7 years of plenty came to an end…
● There is Famine throughout the Middle East
● Joseph’s brothers come from Israel to Egypt to buy grain
Though they do not recognize him, Joseph recognize the brothers who did him evil
● He reveals himself to them
● They are convinced Joseph will avenge himself upon them
● They are scared to death
Genesis 50
But Joseph answered them: “It was not you,” said Joseph to his brothers, “who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.”
THREE
Things are chaotic in the world around us. It appears as if everything is spinning out of control and insane. Anxiety and then Fear are natural responses to chaos. The question is: what will we do with the Fear? We could panic because we want the world to be the way it was before. But, remember the Baker – losing your head will only make you dead.
Instead, let’s learn from Joseph – when all control is taken away from you – God is not gone. God reminded Joseph over and over – I am with you, I am working all things for good. Trust me.
FOUR
What is our stable foundation, our anchor in the storm? It is God our Father and in Him alone that we place our trust because He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The world looks like it is in chaos. I’m sure it looked that way to Joseph when he was in prison. But God oversees the world. Don't worry about what God is in charge of. He'll take care of that. If you focus on what God is in charge of (meaning the whole world and the global community), it'll stress you out, because it always stresses us out to assume responsibilities that weren't meant for us.
You focus on what you are in charge of, what you can control: your thoughts, your emotions, your choices. You should pray, think and do what you need to take care of those around you. Spend more time with God in silence. Go outside and take a walk, listen to the birds sing, and talk with your loved ones, then watch the sunset.
FIVE
Things may get more chaotic outside before they settle down. But that does not mean you should get more chaotic inside, in your soul.
Julian of Norwich: Nothing can hinder us except sin. this I saw to be generally true of us all. I thought to myself: if there had been no sin, we should all have been pure and clean like our Lord, as he created us. In my foolishness, I had often wondered why God, in his great foresight and wisdom did not prevent the beginning of sin in the first place. For then, I thought all would be well…But Jesus instructed me about everything I needed to know and answered me with this word, “Sin is inevitable because of free will, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”