Spera in Deo

Witnessing a great deal of evil and scandal in the world that can take on many forms, is not an easy feat to go through. We’d like to think we can know the hearts of others by their works and actions, yet later discover that such actions only buried their festering wounds and disordered behavior.

While St. James is right in stressing that our faith is signified by our works, it remains nonetheless possible that those without faith may merely mimic what they believe to be external signs of faith. Thus, to a certain extent there is a degree of ignorance that must exist even with those we think we know.

What is more important is that we detach ourselves from the need to find a perfect priest, or a perfect father or mother, or husband or wife, or teacher or Prime Minister, or President. It’s not to say we become indifferent to their policies and moral characters, but to establish a sense within ourselves that our interior peace and sense of self cannot rely upon anyone but the Perfect God-Man. So long as we seek to construct an idol in our human relationships, God will allow the scandals of sin to chasten our pursuit and redirect it toward Him.

If this occurs, truly, we will not crumble at being abandoned by those we think ourselves dependent upon looking up to. Rather, we may even find in all humility someone who needs healing, and service. We may find in them the same need that exists in every soul, so wounded by the Original Sin: for a Savior. And the path of salvation for those in leadership that abuse their power is made known in Mary’s singular monologue in the Gospel of Luke: to bring down the mighty and lift up the lowly.

This is not done out of resentment, but as a remedy to both the prideful and dejected. It unwrites the lie that God cannot work through those the world think too little of, and it humbles those who think they don’t need God to shape the world. It humbles, therefore both, one who diminishes responsibility due to a lie, and the other who gluttonously strives to obtain power to merely exercise his/her own will.

All roads, therefore point our attention towards the One who never scandalizes us, Jesus Christ. And He is not separate from His Church, who despite members who gravely sin, God still has grace unfold in His providence. For it is not in man that we place our faith in, but the God who became man, and united that same Spirit to His Church.

So if your heart has lost trust, and is left with a gaping hole of abandonment and the throbbing pain of indifference to your wounded soul, cease turning to a mere creature to remedy it, but rather to providence whereby God’s perfect plan for you unfolds, a plan with you in mind.

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Photo: Kreated Media, Unsplash / PD-US

Fr. Christopher Pietraszko

Fr. Christopher Pietraszko

Fr. Christopher Pietraszko serves in the Diocese of London, Ontario, Canada. He has a blog and podcast at Fides et Ratio; he also blogs at Father Pietraszko’s Corner.

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