Doing God's will:
Everything else is taken care of

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Jorge Miramontes

After I left home for the seminary, I became literally sick with worry every time something happened back home. After all, I used to help at home, was part of my family and church life, was always available for people. So now that I was gone, my family, friends, and church were doomed without me.

Somehow, when I left for the seminary, without consciously knowing it, I got the idea that the world needed me so much that it was not going to be able to run without me. It appeared that one of the requisites for me to follow the will of God was to be able to bilocate, that is, be at two different places at the same time.

Since I did not get the divine gift of bilocation as I had requested it, I had only one thing left to do: worry and worry hard. It was as if by worrying hard everything would go back to normal and nothing else would go wrong because I was so worried that everything in nature was going to re-accommodate so I could be at peace again.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006) Wis 7:7-11 Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Heb 4:12-13 Mk 10:17-30 or 10: 17-27

Well, it did not work. I kept getting sick and was losing my focus on my studies. Things were still the same back home and with the world.

Through prayer I received the grace to know that those instances were opportunities for me to let go and to learn to really trust the Lord while I was doing His will. The grace to know that I had to put my trust completely in Our Lord Jesus came through my family - the thing that I was mostly concerned with. It was the Lord telling me, "See? Nothing happens when you are doing my will, so trust me, be quiet, and do not worry."

Ask, the Lord to show you how to trust Him, totally, with abandonment, with love. Ask Him to let you see, soon, that He is your Best Friend and how much he really loves you.

If we do not know Him and love Him as our best friend, how can you and I trust Him with everything we have?

He is the ONLY one who will never fail us. Read Scripture; pray all the time and spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and I mean lots of time; that is the only way.

	Reflection questions • Do I trust God? And if I do not, is it because I do not really love Him? • Why do I trust others, something, or myself more than I do God?

After all, He made us a promise: "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother . . . he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, . . . and in the age to come, eternal life." And remember, this is a promise for all, not only for religious people.

Lastly, as my mother reminds me constantly through the words of a saint: No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, trust in the Lord. What is impossible for us is possible for God.

Jorge Miramontes is a seminarian for the Diocese of Madison. He is currently in his second year of pre-theology (second philosophy) year at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Mich. He is a member of Holy Redeemer Parish in downtown Madison and Saint Joseph Parish on the Beltline, where he helped with the choir, youth group, and different ministries. If you wish to write to him, he can be reached at miramontes.jorge@shms.edu

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

Faith Alive!

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	Faith in the Marketplace   This Week's Discussion Point: Describe an ecumenical activity you've participated in on the local level.     Selected Response From Readers:
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