Daily Thought For May 19, 2018

Confidence In God

Be as delicate as you can with our Lord. Watch your conduct most carefully to avoid all venial sins. But, for the love of God, do this without losing confidence and peace.

I recommend this counsel to such a degree that, if it were necessary to lose these two goods, confidence and peace, in order to arrive at this exquisite delicacy, I maintain that it would be preferable to restrain one’s efforts for a while. For peace of soul and confidence in God are more necessary goods, so they should be preferred.…
No doubt someone will say: How is it possible to feel that keen grief for one’s offense against God, yet have the confidence necessary to cast oneself into the arms of our Lord, without any misgivings or reserve? I will try to explain.

The foundation of our confidence does not rest in us, but in God. Hence we trust in our Lord and we draw near to him, tranquil and sure, not because of what we are, but because of what he is. We can be miserable sinners, wayward and headstrong. But our ingratitude, our sins, and our wrongdoing should not diminish at all the trust that we should have in our Lord, for the simple reason that our trust is not based in ourselves but in him. Jesus is the same forever, ever good, ever loving, ever merciful. I was the one who changed, but these changes in no way affect my confidence, since my confidence is based on God, not on myself.…

We have confidence in God because of his goodness, mercy, and love. And does God cease to be good and merciful because I am weak, inconstant, and miserable? Impossible!… We are trying to judge God in a human manner. We would measure his divine heart with the yardstick of our petty heart, and it is not God’s yardstick. We, of course, conduct ourselves with everyone according to his merits. We are good toward those who treat us well, and we are indifferent toward strangers. Only virtue can keep us from being hostile toward our enemies. In order that our hearts may love, they must always take into account those which reside in others. For our love has its basis in the things that we love—in the goodness that they possess, or seem to possess. But that is not the basis of God’s love. The measure and the reason of his love does not reside in things or in us; they are in him and in him alone.…

I maintain that if an angel should come from God to tell any of us, “God no longer loves you; hence do not confide in him,” we must not believe him. For above this feigned revelation stands the words of Jesus, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31). Jesus is the one who brought us a message from heaven. He came to tell us that God loves us with an infinite love, with an eternal love. He loves us to the extent of giving us his own Son, and delivering him to death for love of us.

—Excerpts from Secrets of the Interior Life, pp. 34–39, 41


Martinez, L. (2011). Secrets of the Spirit: Wisdom from Luis Martinez. (G. Santos, Ed.) (pp. 11–13). Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media.