Trust

Trust is to relationships, like flour is to bread… Today, I was driving on a beautiful road with trees covering both sides of the road and looking up to the last tree, I noticed that it had a branch extending towards the road. What caught my attention was that a nest was built on that branch, and heavy traffic would drive underneath. This really made me think of the amazing trust that little birds have, by building their nests where it seems the most suitable to them. But from a human perspective, it was a very risky place. One of the eggs could fall on top of a car, and there would be no way to recover it. But, sometimes, trust can be blind. Is it possible that we build our lives on the equivalent of the nest on the tree? Trust is one of the most important building blocks of relationships. As a parent, as a teacher, as a priest, or a community leader, if we don’t promote trust and truth, we are bound to lose our relationships. Here is a reflection from an anonymous friend: A Poetic Reflection on Trust Trust is the quiet architecture beneath every relationship — the invisible beams that hold the roof even when the storm comes. It is not loud. It does not demand applause. It grows the way dawn grows, slowly, faithfully, almost unnoticed. Trust is the courage to place your heart in someone else’s hands and believe they will not close their fist. It is the soft agreement between two souls: I will not hide from you. I will not harm you. I will meet you where you truly are. Trust is built in the small things — in the kept promise, the returned call, the eyes that do not look away when truth becomes heavy. And when trust is broken, it does not shatter like glass — it bruises like a wing. It can heal, but only if both hearts are willing to sit in the quiet and relearn how to fly. In the end, trust is a kind of sacred hospitality: a home we build inside ourselves and offer to another with the hope that they will enter gently.

Litany of Humility

At the core of the family estrangement, is the feeling and attitude of Pride. The antidote for pride, is humility. Enclosed is the litany of humility, authored by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta. Cardinal Merry del Val was the Secretary of State to Pope Saint Pius X (1903-1914). The Litany of humility is a private devotion, asking Jesus to deliver him from the desire of being esteemed, loved, extolled, honored, praised, and preferred to others. It was written around at the beginning of the last century. O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus. That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Charity Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked; thinks no evil, does not rejoice over wickedness, but rejoices with the truth, bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4-7). To have Charity is to love God above all things for Himself and be ready to renounce all created things rather than offend Him by serious sin. ( Matt. 22:36-40)