Today, on the sixteenth day of our “Lenten retreat,” the prophet Jeremiah reminds us unequivocally in whom we should trust and in whom we should not: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.’” (Jer 17:5). This is a similar exhortation to that found in another valuable saying from the Psalms: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Ps 148:3).
Indeed, it is foolish to seek in people the security that only God can give us. It is a sign that faith has not yet taken root deeply enough in us. That is why we continue to seek false securities that ultimately place a heavy burden on our lives and, in a way, keep us captive. The prophet Jeremiah expresses this reality in strong terms and goes so far as to say that the man who acts in this way is “cursed,” since he turns his heart away from the Lord. In fact, it can become a kind of curse, because, on the one hand, we will never obtain the security we seek in people, and on the other hand, we do not turn to the Lord and thus deprive ourselves of His help in overcoming threatening situations. It will remain so as long as we do not recognize it and set out on the path to God.
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