TRUST AND HOPE CHANGES OUR PERSPECTIVE
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream.” - Jeremiah 17:7-8
I recently had a conversation with a brother Jesuit. When I asked how he was doing, he said, “During these past months, everything feels foggy. The days seem melded together in a haze.” Being in quarantine during the pandemic has definitely clouded our sense of reality. Time seems to both slow down and speed up without any sense of where it is going.
Such haziness can pull our attention in all sorts of directions. People’s quirks may start to irritate us, we may find ourselves isolated or depressed, and we cope by picking up and practicing bad habits that are unhealthy. While these dynamics may be caused by the pandemic, we have all found ourselves in similar spaces before. The lulls and decrescendos of our life blind us from recognizing God’s beauty and grace that are sometimes right in front of us.
How do we snap out of this? One of the gifts of the Examen is the invitation to remember. This simple prayer starts with gratitude. Gratitude is an affirmation that our “trust and hope in God” (as Jeremiah reminds us) was not in vain, because we understand that he was present all along. Trust and hope are the roots watered by the streams of grace, and gratitude is the sweet nectar savored as we contemplate God’s goodness. We no longer focus on ourselves, but on God.
That was one of the rich man’s sins. His dependency on himself created this haze that blinded him to the problems and true beauty of the world. While he may have enjoyed the world’s treasures, he ignored God’s beloved in the form of Lazarus. The rich man failed to recognize God’s invitation to charity and compassion. God’s grace not only consoles us during our trying times, but it also challenges us to look outside of ourselves so that we can be in relationship with God and our neighbor. Therefore, let us step back, take a deep breath, and remember that when we hope and trust in God, the gift is gratitude. And seeing the world through gratitude has the power to clear up even the thickest of fogs.
What are you grateful for these days? How is God inviting you to care for yourself and others?
Alex Llanera SJ