Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Trusting God in the Desert: A Lenten Meditation

American Catholic
Friar Jack's E-spirations
February 28, 2009

by Friar Jack Wintz, O.F.M.

Q U I C K S C A N
Jesus in the desert: keeping trust
Moses’s failure of trust in the desert
To trust or mistrust—an ancient problem

Some years ago I heard a psychologist give a talk in which he shared this insight: A love relationship is a relationship of trust. And if you allow a relationship of trust to become one that always demands proofs and evidence, you run the risk of undermining that relationship.

If your husband, wife or dearest friend, for example, were regularly to demand from you alibis, tests and airtight evidence to explain why you arrived home late from work, etc., your relationship could well be in trouble. Such attitudes can transform a relationship of trust into a relationship of distrust. And the relationship—as a love relationship—could be doomed.

We can apply the same insight to our love relationship with God—a relationship that many of us are seeking to renew and deepen during these days of Lent. Our love relationship with God has one of profound trust rather than one that demands proofs and tests from God.

Jesus in the desert: keeping trust

We apply this to Jesus’ relationship of love with his Father as he goes into the desert to be tested. The three temptations of Jesus in the desert are attempts by the devil to entice Jesus to place his trust in something other than God. In the first and third temptations the devil tries to persuade Jesus to respectively put his trust in bread and in worldly power. But Jesus chooses to place his trust firmly in God alone.
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 11:05 AM