St. Bernadette Catholic Church

Part of a trusted relationship is knowing that the other will come through on their side of the bargain or be there when help is needed. It's a lonely and difficult life without these kind of relationships. Trust gives us the space and assurance to live and be who we are.

The same holds for the spiritual life. Abraham in this Sunday's first reading was able to muster the trust in God's promise to leave his native land and his known way of life for the unknown. A spiritual trust like his is in tune with the urgings of the heart and acts upon it believing it will happen somehow. God will be there and provide. The hangup for most of us is that the only way we can discover this faithfulness is to take the first baby steps. When we trust and move in the direction that God beckons us towards, things happen. We discover the meaning of blessing - things come together, what is needed is provided, others are there at the right time and place, all because we were able to trust and because God is always faithful.

In a lot of the helping professions, we hear much about burn-out especially these days when so much is asked from people like nurses and teachers. Sometimes the well seems to dry up and to keep giving is an extreme force of will. You could say that the Christian way of life is threatened in the same way. We are called to live a life of generosity and to keep giving to the point of sacrificing our own comfort even our own needs. It is easy to fall on times when we feel we just don't have more to give and those words of Jesus to be light of the world or salt of the earth feel more like an indictment than an inspiration. But what should distinghish our Christian life is a well that doesn't go empty because it is renewed by God's Spirit. In reality, it is not even possible to attain this life without this Spirit. So when Jesus urges us to be light of the world, he is saying at the same time stay rooted in my love. Therefore, the practice of prayer and reflection is every bit as important as the good deed itself. In fact, it is what makes the good deed good.