The seventh of the month is reserved for a meditation from God the Father. I take the text of the meditation from the “God the Father speaks to his Children” by Mother Eugenia Ravasio, a message recognised by the Church.
“I have raised you all to that dignity which is due to children of God; yes, you are my sons and daughters and you are to tell me that I am your Father. Do not fail to trust me accordingly, for without this trust you will never attain true freedom.”There is much talk about the dignity of man, what it consists of, that it should be respected, that it must be defended and much more. In these brief words we are told the deepest reason for our dignity: The elevation by God as sons and daughters of the heavenly Father.
The Lord wants us to live in the security of his love and to attain true freedom in this special trust.
And it is true: we receive fundamental security in life when we are loved. If we accept this “yes” over our life, it can always prevail, even if we encounter many “no’s” in this world and also in ourselves. The love of the Father is always greater, which also overcomes our turning away and sin, if we allow His love and return to Him. This last point is very important, because there are quite a few people who, when they have fallen into grave sin, accept forgiveness from God in such a way that they can also forgive themselves, then stand up again to continue on the path with God as a son or daughter.
Often the freedom we have received as children of God is restricted: Through the chains of guilt, through fears, through disorderly attachment to this world and much more, our freedom to respond to God in the right way and to respond to his love is clouded.
Nor can we wait until all our limitations have dissolved before we trust in the Lord. The way is different: it is the fundamental trust in God that the Lord accepts in order to heal us and to be able to exercise his benevolent fatherhood. Here is an example of how much God is ready to lift us up again and again. The Father speaks of his love for us and calls himself the “ocean of love”:
“So that you may feel how good I am to you all from my heart, I am about to show you the ocean of my all-embracing love. You can immerse yourselves in it without hesitation and with closed eyes. Why? Because the souls that have become bitter drops through vice and sin lose their bitterness in this bath. They will come out of there purer, happy that they have learned to be good and filled with love and to act accordingly.”
Trust in our Father therefore implies that even as stumbled sons and daughters we do not lose our dignity, but unfortunately do not live up to it with our actions. But we can immediately revive this dignity if we dive into the “ocean of God’s love” and regain our freedom. If we do not do so, we will remain in captivity.
It is trust in God that gives us freedom and releases his love for us. Even if we make every effort to live an authentic life of following Christ, we are not without sins and weaknesses. So we do not achieve the freedom of a life without blemishes. We do not succeed by our own strength! But trusting in our Father, we can find true freedom in all situations, whether in the midst of oppression from ourselves or from other people and circumstances. A path will always open up when we say: Father I trust in You. And if our trust is very small, then we will ask, in a reference to the disciples of the Lord: Lord help us to trust. They asked: Strengthen our faith (cf. Lk 17:5) and we also ask: Strengthen our trust!