Submitted by: Submitted by benjee310
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Category: Spirituality
Date Submitted: 01/18/2011 08:07 AM
Trust in the Lord!
(Read Psalm 13 and Mark 5:25-34)
The common theme in today’s Scripture readings is waiting. In Psalm 13, David cries out over and over again, “How long, O Lord? How long must I wait for you to take away the pain in my soul? How long must I wait for you to take away the sorrow in my heart?” I suspect the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years also cried out to God, “How long, O Lord? How long must I go on suffering before you will heal me?”
Waiting for God tests the soul, but it is a universal experience of the faithful. Most likely, we will wait for God to answer us many times throughout our lives. Like the woman in Mark 5, we wait for God to heal us of our infirmity and disease. Like the psalmist, we wait for God to heal our broken hearts and anguished souls. We wait for God to mend broken relationships and ignite new relationships. We wait for God to enter into our earthly situations and alter them so that we have more happiness and peace. We wait for God to rescue us from our trials and tribulations. We wait for God to save us from ourselves. You might consider: what are you waiting for God to do in your life?
St. Augustine (354-430), who is arguably the most influential Christian theologian in the history of Western Christianity, writing over 400 letters, books, and sermons, and serving as a Bishop in an influential part of northern Africa during early Christiandom was waiting for God to change his heart. Before he became a great spiritual leader,
when Augustine was a young man, he was a very successful orator, and he loved the praise and admiration he received from the people. He also loved women and caroused in many illicit affairs.
God’s Spirit was at work in him though because on the one hand, Augustine loved women and praise and debauchery, and on the other hand, he did not feel good about his behavior and he wanted to make God the priority in his life. He wanted to grow in virtue and holiness. He wrote, “My inner self...