Friends who are non-Catholics

I am a Catholic and I have several friends who are not Catholic but we get along quite well. No one critizes another's faith. We respect our individual religious beliefs. We simply see each other as pursuing different paths towards a common goal and that is, to someday be with God when our earthly life is over.

I have encountered several people who literally enumerated to me why I shouldn't be a Catholic, telling me everything they think is wrong with Catholic practices and beliefs. But you know what, I don't really waste my time questioning the intricacies of religion-related rituals and practices or whatever "politics" is going on in Rome. My practice of my Catholic faith is centered on Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior and I conduct my life based on His teachings of loving God with your whole heart, mind and soul and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. If ever I do go thru the sacraments or other Catholic practices, it is with the intention of pleasing God, having a relationship with my God, communing with Him, getting to know Him and being closer to Him. After all, God looks inside my heart and not on the external and I believe it doesn't matter to Him if I pray, ask Mary, St. Joseph and all the saints to pray for me, (or even dance if I want to) as long as my intention is to please Him and to commune with Him. My Catholic practices build my faith and is my way of communicating with God.

On Trusting God

When I posted last week's blog about Saint Joseph's trust and obedience to God, I got an email from someone asking me how to stop worrying and truly trust God. I would like to address that in today's blog.

I remember the time when I took the first step to trusting God. I was working in one of the coastal villages in the Philippines many years ago and I remember going to the beach after work and noticing the beautiful sunset over a very calm sea. That spectacular view so touched my heart that I stopped for a while and said to myself, "Babes, surely God alone can create such an amazing scene. If He can do that, certainly HE can easily take good care of you."

I got to thinking afterwards about my relationships -- with my parents, my best friend and other significant people in my life, why I trust them and how I learned to trust them. It all boiled down to the fact that I KNOW them, I know their character and that is why I trust them. You see, trusting someone is closely related to knowing someone.

So to TRUST GOD, one has to KNOW GOD. How? Spend time with Him. That is how you got to know the people you trust, right? Find time to know God. Set up a regular time for prayer and reading the Bible and other spiritual books which teach you about Him. And remember what He has done for you in the past. I'm sure you had survived personal crisis, went through and resolved a lot of problems not because of your own efforts alone but more so by the grace and love of God.

Note that your trust in God should be based on His character and love and not on specific outcomes you see and experience. There will be times in your life when trusting God may be difficult -- when you lose your job, when someone you love passed away, when the answer to your prayer is not what you expected etc.. But it doesn't mean that God is not trustworthy. Look at these times as times when you need Him the most so hold on to God and know that He is with you and that He will see you through rough and difficult times. You will come out from this darkness into the light with your faith strengthened and with an even greater trust in your Creator.

I am not a Bible expert and I am certainly not one of those people who can recite verses from the Bible effortlessly. I must confess I know only 13 verses in the Bible by heart but believing the truth contained in these verses, works for me when it comes to completely trusting God. These verses are from:

Matthew 6:25-34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than
they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how
the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that
not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is
how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or
'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 10:29-31

29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid;
you are worth more than many sparrows.

So, there is really no need for stress and worry. God is in charge of our lives!