Living Trust: The Importance of Faith in God’s Goodness

Ever since my parents passed down a first-class relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, I have had a special devotion to her. That devotion joins several others, including St. Charbel, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Monica, St. Carlo Acutis, and St. Rita. Recently, I needed their intercession more than normal, as I was about to embark on a trip that really had me worried.

In January, I visited a friend out of town. The day before I was supposed to fly home, I felt like I was getting a cold. The next morning, I definitely knew I had a cold, but I figured I would power through and just get home. That was not to be.

As soon as I sat on the plane, I felt hot and dizzy. I ended up passing out. Long story short, they turned the plane around (thankfully it was only taxiing), called the EMTs, and took me to the hospital, where they found that I had pneumonia. I hadn’t realized I was so sick.

Fast-forward a few months, when I began to plan a summer trip. Every summer, I take my two sons (who are now young adults) on a trip to see a baseball game in a different stadium. We hope to someday visit them all.

Because of the experience in January, I was extremely nervous about flying again, as I just haven’t felt strong or normal since (despite all tests and bloodwork being normal). I have flown hundreds of times in my life, but this trip I truly feared. I didn't want to ruin the trip for my sons, as I get so little time with them as it is.

So I knew I had to seek the intercession of some of my friends in heaven.

I began three novenas—one to St. Rita, one to St. Charbel, and one to the Infant of Prague—asking for strength and good health. And every day I said this prayer to St. Therese: “St. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore, and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.”

And wow, did she send roses!

On one spontaneous outing during our trip, we passed a rose garden, filled with acres of beautiful rose bushes. The next morning at breakfast, we sat at a table next to a woman who had a rose tattoo on her arm. We then passed Rose St. and a truck with a rose painted on its side. Then in the airport, we stopped for lunch and ended up sitting next to a man who had a dozen yellow roses in his backpack. Finally, when I disembarked the final flight, two people were waiting for passengers. One had a bouquet of assorted flowers, including a couple roses, and one had a bouquet of yellow roses.

I made it through the vacation without any health problems, and for that I am immensely thankful. But the whole experience has taught me an important lesson.

Padre Pio once said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” But what did I do? I prayed, hoped, and worried. And while my sons probably didn’t notice, that worry occupied a lot of my mind. It didn’t keep me from enjoying the time with them or the trip itself, but it was always there, lurking.

Reflecting back on that, I realize that that is what the devil wants. He wants us to be so focused on momentary concerns and worries that we don’t put all of our trust in God and we forget (even for just a short time) that he is a good Dad, who loves us more than we can imagine. Our preoccupation with what could be keeps us from truly enjoying the gifts we actually have, as we allow doubt about the future to sink in.

That doubt—the minor cracks in faith—damage our relationship with God. And this is certainly pleasing to the devil, for he delights in anything that makes us lose focus on our faith or on our heavenly Father.

I see now that the lesson here is to trust that God will take care of us, no matter what, and that worrying about what might happen is useless and a waste of precious time. While it’s true that God doesn’t always prevent bad things from happening, when we trust in him, and when we allow our suffering to serve a purpose, he will always help us derive something good from even the darkest of times.

So let us always trust that God hears our prayers, that he wants what’s good for us, and that even if something bad or uncontrollable happens, he will be right there with us, for his love is everlasting.