Recently, I felt that a favorite on-line retailer had not been “true.” For almost 40 years, deliveries from this store have found my addresses. Now the shipper has changed their approach, necessitating travel to different drop sites. Grrr!
In today’s Gospel, when Jesus tells us “the one who sent me…is true,” he is not sharing an answer to a true-false quiz or a suggestion for a dependable retailer. The daily readings seem more ominous and Jesus repeatedly attests to his experience of Abba. Jesus knows the Father. Jesus comes from the Father and is sent to us. We are invited to believe: God is true, trustworthy, and authentic.
As Lent moves toward Holy Week, we pray to enter deeply into the sufferings of Jesus, a grace of the Third Week of the Spiritual Exercises. Might I also ask Jesus to help me trust that his Abba is true?
—Maureen M. Martin is a writer, spiritual director and hospice chaplain, living in Evanston, IL.