Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6 and 40:5a; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26

The first reading, from the prophet Jeremiah, focuses entirely on a comparison between a person "whose heart turns away from the LORD," and a person who trusts in God. This comparison emphasizes the barrenness of the person without faith, and the fruitfulness of the faithful one. However, it also points to an incentive, as it were, to faith: the person of faith "fears not the heat when it comes" and "in the year of drought it shows no distress," because "its leaves stay green" and it "still bears fruit." Trust in the eternal God helps us to overcome the fears that must be our constant companions if we rely entirely on the changing things of this world.

This theme of the prosperity of those who trust in God, and the failure of those who do not, is continued in the responsorial psalm. Here there is further development of what it means to trust in God, or to turn one's heart away from Him. We are told not only "Blessed are they who hope in the Lord," but also "Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night." In other words, faith and hope are demonstrated primarily through one's adherence to the law. The man who hopes in the Lord is contrasted here not merely with the person who does not trust in the Lord, but with sinners and the wicked. Faith and hope are only perfected in the person who knows, follows, and delights in the law. Since the moral law at its most basic calls us to love God and our neighbor, this shows us one of the most basic connections between faith and hope and love.

So, following the will of God is the best expression of trusting and hoping in God. That is the principle that is being stated here, and it makes perfect sense. The more we trust God, the more willing we will be to do as He wills, confident that it will be what is best for us in the end. As long as we retain hope in God, we logically should not turn our backs on His will. However, an interesting aspect of this is that many people commonly associate trust in the will of God primarily with in some sense following the plan of God for their lives. This approach leads to people asking questions such as "What does God want me to do?" or "What path is God pointing me to in my life?" People asking such questions sometimes look for things that they perceive as signs from God about what choices they should make in life. All of this is fine, but in some ways a concentration on this kind of approach misses the original point, and makes the whole issue much more complicated than it really is. As the responsorial psalm says, "Blessed the man who . . . delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night." Faith and hope must be lived out by following the will of God, and clearly the real test of following the will of God is in following the law of God, which is where we find His will for us expressed explicitly. What God does want me to do? Keep the commandments. What path is God pointing me to in my life? The path to which God is always pointing me is the path of righteousness.

Of course it is completely appropriate to seek the will of God and pray for His guidance, even in prudential decisions in which none of the choices are morally wrong. Discerning the will of God is important. However, the truth is that we ultimately have to make up our minds about these things with God's help, but often without any reliable external indicator of God's will. In most cases, the only completely reliable indicator of God's will available to us outside our own minds and hearts is His law. In these circumstances, after praying for God to enlighten and guide us, we have to decide in our minds and hearts, which we trust are being aided by God. From our point of view, whatever decision we make usually will primarily be based on the judgment of our own intellect, and yes, even on our own desires, and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as our intellect is open to God and our desires conform to His law. God gave us our intellect and will to be used precisely in this way. It is important to remember that no prudential decision we make in this manner, even if it is a very important decision that seems to turn out very badly, ever is truly wrong in the same sense that even the most minor sin is wrong. What matters first and foremost in life is that, whatever decisions we make on prudential matters, our first desire must always be for God, and so we must follow His will in loving Him and our neighbor. This is why morality is so important. In the commandments and all other moral truths expressed either in Scripture or in the teachings given by God through the Church, we find the sure and certain will of God, and these are the things that God urges us to follow in faith and hope and love for Him. If we do this, we can be confident that God will guide us in all the ways of our lives.