Question 7.121

7.121 Today, for many Christians, it is sometimes difficult to have confidence in the future. …

In Christian life doubts sometimes arise, but confidence always returns. The best synonym for the word “confidence” is the word “faith”! Indeed, confidence is the best sign that man is turned toward God. His Word cannot deceive me or lead me astray. A Christian’s confidence consists of abandoning himself totally to the eternal fidelity of Christ. Today some French literature is haunted by the problem of transparency; it seems that everything has to be transparent in order for there to be sincerity. But true transparency is Christ. Confidence is born of this light of truth that is never spent. Circumstances can become difficult, winds may buffet our life, and storms may destroy our human landmarks, but Jesus remains with us always: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green” (Jer 17:7-8).

In her meditations, Saint Teresa of Avila wrote some magnificent lines on true confidence in the Son of God: “Let nothing trouble you, let nothing scare you, all is fleeting, God alone is unchanging. Patience everything obtains. Who possesses God nothing wants. God alone suffices.”²

The nuns, by their pure, demanding way of life, show an everlasting hope in the Word of God. They possess abundantly the simple, beautiful, exemplary confidence of little children. They have confidence because God alone truly suffices for them. They know that God will not deceive them. The key to such great self-denial in everyday life is confidence, prayer, and absolute love for God. Love is a fire; this blaze inflames them with a desire that is not immediately directed toward action but, rather, toward God alone.