The Perennial Way of Faith
“The Lord wanted trust, above all trust. And this trusting was the foundation of the personal holiness from which right action flowed. By seeking solutions before the foundation was firm, he had been wanting to bypass faith and to grasp at knowledge, as if knowledge alone could save. This was an old error, a subtle one, part of fallen human nature...
He understood that the divine economy affirmed man’s need to build secure dwellings in the midst of the instability of a damaged creation; knew that God willed man to use every reasonable and moral method to avoid evil and do good. But at some point every soul was put to some ultimate test, each must turn and face its eternal foe in a definitive struggle between radical terror and radical faith. And in such combat ordinary human strategies would always prove to be ineffective; moreover, by relying on them, one could easily be misled into a state of false security—and thus be doubly defeated.
...With each question the awareness grew in him that the time was close but was not yet; that the Lord would answer him when it was necessary for him to know, and then only as much as he needed to know. He supplied only enough manna for one day at a time. This was the perennial way of faith, the path of absolute abandonment to the will of God. This, and this alone, was the sure foundation.
Still, it was hard to feel so helpless.
...
‘Are you saying we shouldn’t prepare?’
‘I’m not saying that at all. We can and must take certain measures, whatever is prudent and reasonable. However, that is not the foundation.’
‘And the foundation is . . . ?’
‘To so love the will of God, to so believe in his mercy, that whether or not we live or die, we accept as a great gift whatever form our trials may take. This is the refuge.’”
~Michael O’Brien (partial re-post)
He understood that the divine economy affirmed man’s need to build secure dwellings in the midst of the instability of a damaged creation; knew that God willed man to use every reasonable and moral method to avoid evil and do good. But at some point every soul was put to some ultimate test, each must turn and face its eternal foe in a definitive struggle between radical terror and radical faith. And in such combat ordinary human strategies would always prove to be ineffective; moreover, by relying on them, one could easily be misled into a state of false security—and thus be doubly defeated.
...With each question the awareness grew in him that the time was close but was not yet; that the Lord would answer him when it was necessary for him to know, and then only as much as he needed to know. He supplied only enough manna for one day at a time. This was the perennial way of faith, the path of absolute abandonment to the will of God. This, and this alone, was the sure foundation.
Still, it was hard to feel so helpless.
...
‘Are you saying we shouldn’t prepare?’
‘I’m not saying that at all. We can and must take certain measures, whatever is prudent and reasonable. However, that is not the foundation.’
‘And the foundation is . . . ?’
‘To so love the will of God, to so believe in his mercy, that whether or not we live or die, we accept as a great gift whatever form our trials may take. This is the refuge.’”
~Michael O’Brien (partial re-post)
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