Peace Through Us

Jesus tells us first and foremost to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.  He tells us second to love our neighbor as ourselves.*  

In these two most important commandments, Jesus directs us to love.  We are to let love flow out of us to God and to our neighbor.  God asks us to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, to help us to love Him.**  God asks us to consent to Him loving our neighbor through us.  

To love God, I must also love my neighbor.  Anyone who claims to love God but hates his or her neighbor is a liar.***  

To love my neighbor, I must not judge my neighbor.****  If I am judging my neighbor, there is no room in my heart to love my neighbor.   

We judge persons when we see what we do not like in them.  When I encounter thoughts, words and actions I dislike, I am to despise them in myself.  I am to be outraged at the appalling tendencies I notice in myself.  

I believe that the path to salvation is paved with despising my own horrible tendencies and begging God to forgive me out of His great mercy. We receive the infinite gift of God's immense mercy when we turn to look at ourselves, acknowledge our own sinfulness, and implore His mercy.  

Since I prefer to direct my energies toward how I need to improve, rather than on where other people might need to change, last week I made a choice reflecting this aspiration I have.  As I have previously mentioned, Catholic Workers regularly protest outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Last week I was asked to choose the short writings we would read before and after our protest.  

In line with the sentiments I have expressed about trying to focus on how I need to improve, for our brief reading just before the protest, I selected a composition in which the Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote 

Instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all.  And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war.  If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed--but hate these things in yourself, not in another.  

I strive to love my neighbor, though often I find it challenging, and although often I fail.  We love our neighbor by taking an honest look at ourselves and how we need to improve so we can better love our neighbor.  

Thus I prefer to focus on what I need to do to treat people better than I do.  To help work for peace, we can examine our own thoughts, words and actions.  As Gandhi suggested, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  

Herein rests the reason why I don't protest more than I do and why I don't write about protesting more than I do.  While I find it important to speak out against injustice, I strongly contend that it is far more appropriate to try to improve myself than it is to point out why others are inappropriately acting. Since I wish to witness to peace, I want God to bring about peace through me.  For God to bring about peace through me, I must open my heart to God so He can transform me and thus create peace in the world, right now, in this very moment.  

Consequently, for our short reading together immediately after the protest, I selected the prayer commonly attributed to Saint Francis, which beseeches God 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.  

We can agree to God's plan to be channels of His peace.  We can consent to God bringing peace to the world through us.  

In every little fragment of time, in the present moment God is always extending His hand to us, inviting us to open our hearts to Him.  He is requesting that we assent to His will and open our hearts to Him, and love Him, so that He may enter into our hearts and love our neighbor through us, and thus bring peace into the world through us.  Let us open our hearts to God so He may abide in us,***** love through us and bring us peace.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** Romans 5:5 
*** 1 John 4:20 
**** Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37 
***** John 15:7 

Gentle Little Tap

Today I was happy to cross paths with a particular homeless woman who here I'll call "Anna."  As I was talking with Anna next to the van I use, I opened the back two doors of the van to take something out.  The back doors of the van easily swing.  Even if there's just a little wind, the doors readily swish back and forth.  

At one point, when the back doors of the van were open, Anna was bent over, collecting some of her property which she had placed on the sidewalk.  She got a little distracted from the task at hand.  One of the doors turned toward her, hitting the end of the bill of her baseball cap she was wearing.  She acknowledged the gesture, remarking, "Yes, thank you, God."  

I was struck by how she seized the opportunity to show gratitude to God for a gentle little tap on the head.  It seemed especially touching how she thanked God for that tiny collision given how, she told me, she had spent much of today repeatedly crying.  Even amidst such intense pain she had been feeling, she found it in herself to give thanks always.*  

It is true it was just an insignificant slight bump on the head.  Perhaps one can see it as something to ignore and forget.  Yet, as Jean-Pierre de Caussade counsels us in "The Sacrament of the Present Moment," we are always being afforded opportunities to embrace how God is trying to reach out to us.  In every microscopic fraction of time, as "The Cloud of Unknowing" describes, we have chances to embrace the will of God.  

God speaks to us as we are able to hear.  God gives to us according to our capacity to receive.  God does not give us more than we can handle.**  God gives to us what we can manage, for in our dear Jesus, we do not have an unsympathetic mediator, but rather one who is most certainly sympathetic to us, since He was tested just as we are tested.***  Therefore, God meets us where we are, in the place in which we find ourselves.  Anna had wept much today, and so God gently and lovingly reached out to her and poked her playfully in the head.  

In this vein, when Anna thanked God, I noted, "Yes, Anna.  It's like God was just saying to you, 'Now, Anna, stay on task!'"  

* 1 Thessalonians 5:18 
** 1 Corinthians 10:13 
*** Hebrews 4:15 

Keeping Some Perspective

Today a particular homeless man I know who I'll call "Han" arrived here at the Catholic Worker House with his bicycle.  I asked him how his day was going.  He responded that he had a flat tire.  

I replied, "Oh, man.  Bummer."  

Han noted, "Well, this isn't that bad.  If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, this is a pretty good day."  

Han makes a good point.  When mishaps seem to occur to us, do we keep them in perspective?  

When we suffer setbacks, do we keep in mind that anything other than sin can sanctify us, if we but respond to it in the right way?  Do we remember that anything that is not sinful can bring us closer to God if we merely react in the correct manner?  Do we recall that God works all for the good of those who love Him?*  

As apparent misfortune seems to befall us, do we remain grateful to God, conscious of the abundant blessings in our lives?  Once we realize how good we've got it, it becomes much easier to give thanks to God always.**  

* Romans 8:28 
** 1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Setting Matters Right

Sometimes we think we've gone wrong.  At such times, as always, God is working to set matters right.  

Today it has seemed God has been fixing things in this way.  This morning someone I know was headed out to a funeral.  This afternoon when I saw him, I asked him how his trip went.  

He explained that he had gotten the day wrong.  Today was not the day of the funeral.  However, he added that it worked out well because he was able to catch up with his friend who is the widower; he had more time alone with him than he would have had if the funeral had happened today.  Then he claimed, "But I still messed up."  

Did he get it wrong?  Did he go when he was not supposed to go?  Or did he get it right?  Did he go right when he was supposed to go?  

His friend needed to be comforted; he went and consoled his friend.  Often when we think we have made a mistake, God is working through us for the good of our neighbor.  Sometimes when we think we've gotten it wrong, God is getting it right through us.  

Called To Respect

We are called to respect others the way we would like to be treated.  Otherwise, when we fail to respect others, we are telling them that they are not worthy of respect.  In time, they come to disrespect themselves, as they slip into a downward spiral in which they get used to abusing themselves.  We can think that we have no responsibility for others' actions, but when we fail to build up people, we choose not to lift them up, we keep them down, and we push them even further down.  

Often I think about the people who sift through the garbage and recyclables in the dumpsters in the parking lot outside my window.  They usually sort through it around 5:00 a.m.  I've imagined that they come at that time because they want to get what they can out of it before the garbage truck comes around 5:30 a.m. to empty the dumpsters.  

I've imagined talking with them when they are going through the garbage and the recyclables.  I've envisioned saying something to them like, "I'm not going to try to stop you from going through the garbage.  You can do so.  I'm not disturbed by the sound.  I am deeply saddened that human beings care for each other so little that some people are reduced to rifling through garbage.  I believe you were meant to be treated with more dignity.  We are supposed to treat you with more respect."  
Homeless folks have told me and shown me that they collect recyclables to exchange for money.  Earlier this week, I asked a homeless woman, who I'll call "Kelly" here, what she was going to buy with the money she was going to get from the recyclables she had.  She told me she was going to buy cigarettes.  

In addition to nicotine, homeless folks also fall prey to illicit drugs.  Kelly has confessed to me that she has taken methamphetamines.  Meth is inexpensive, so homeless folks can get it.  

Although meth doesn't cost much money, homeless folks pay a high price for it.  In using it, people become less than they were meant to be.  

When we do not acknowledge the presence of a homeless person, we treat them as less than they actually are.  By acting as if homeless people do not exist, we rip them down just like an illicit drug tears them down.  

In addition to meth tearing people down, people use it in the first place since they are down.  Kelly has identified her low self-esteem as the root of her problems.  She admitted to me that she does things which she thinks will make her feel better, but which don't help.  She has acknowledged too that she tries to numb herself to prevent herself from feeling what she doesn't want to feel.  Kelly does not want to feel the disrespect that has been shown to her.  She would rather turn aside from the pain inflicted on her.  

We cannot justify ignoring and casting aside those who are homeless or otherwise poor.  We cannot in good conscience tell them that they must accept their lot, for in doing so we reject our duty to love them.  

In loving homeless persons and showing them respect, we build them up.  We help them become more than they have been.  By treating homeless persons with dignity, we help them to rise above the suffering they have endured.  If any of us refuse to help our neighbor, whether homeless or not, we are ignoring the lessons of love presented to us.  

If any of us, whether we are homeless or rich, only try to escape from pain, and never embrace suffering, we are refusing to learn from what life presents to us.  Through life's hardships, God seeks to mold us, just as He does by way of life's blessings.  

God asks that we agree to become who He created us to be.  We are called to become who God made us to be.  

We find out who we are as we endure life's challenges.  If we reject what we have to learn in what unfolds in our lives, we refuse to accept what God is trying to give to us.  If we decide not to seize the chance to love our neighbor, we throw away the gift God is giving us.  

Yet God made us to learn and grow through endurance, which is a reflection of love.  To become more than we have been, by obediently submitting ourselves to the will of God, we show who we are.  By loving our neighbor, we demonstrate who we are.  

In the film "Restless Heart," Saint Monica says to her son, Saint Augustine, "Don't forget who you are."  As he continued to ignore the call from God to become who he really was, she admonished him to embrace his true identity, where he would find deep joy and happiness.  

God made us to be happy and joyous.  We find deep joy and happiness when we turn towards God, and submit ourselves to Him, and praise and glorify and adore Him, and love our neighbor.  We do not realize this is why God made us.  We must not forget who God made us to be.  

We are to use what God has given to us to bear much fruit to His glory.  We are to use the gifts God has given to us.  

Kelly told me that at one point she had been in college.  She has told me that she would like to go back to school and get her Bachelor's Degree.  

Kelly realizes that she is meant to be more than she has been.  She knows that she must respect herself.  In loving herself, she can become who God has always meant her to be.  In loving each other, we become who God created us to be.  

God calls us to respect each other.  When we respect others, we invite them to respect themselves too.  

We respect and love ourselves.  We wish to be respected and loved.  Thus we should respect and love others, since we wish to be respected and loved.  Seeing that we too would like to be respected and loved, we come to be able to love our neighbor as ourselves,* just as Jesus taught us.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Little Loving Present

This morning I picked up and dropped off food donations.  When I got home, I was happily surprised to see a few of our friends on our front porch.  

One of them, who I'll call "Betty" here, asked me for a pen and paper so she could exchange contact information with someone I'll call "Jane" here.  Someone I'll call "Christy" asked me for a bag so she could more easily carry the items she had just gotten for free that had been left on our front porch.  

When I had gotten what they had requested, I came back out onto the porch to give them the seemingly insignificant items they wanted.  First I gave a pen to Betty, along with a little pad ornately decorated with colorful flowers and sparkling designs, and told her she could keep it.  Then I said to Christy something like, "And much less impressively, here is this bag."  

Immediately Jane got up and came over to me.  She embraced me.  Right away I could tell she needed comfort.  I rested my head against hers and really tried to soothe her with calm and peace as we hugged.  

Before today I had already known that Jane was homeless.  However, after I saw Jane today, someone told me that all of her possessions had just been stolen.  She had nothing.  In the context of being bereft of all she had had, she was in dire need of tenderness and kindness.  She just needed someone to do merely what they were capable of doing, showing her love.  

We do these things in life we don't even consider.  We do little things we forget.  We don't even think about them, so we wouldn't even think that they matter even if we did think about them.  

Yet tiny little moments can be windows of opportunity for great love to be shown through us. If we open ourselves up to what is happening right in front of us, we can let God love others through us.  

In each tiny fragment of time, we can be present to our neighbor to perform little acts of love for each other.  In this vein, I have been wondering if anyone has ever written about the convergence and intersection of thought amongst "The Story of a Soul" by The Little Flower, that is Saint Therese of Lisieux, and "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, and "The Cloud of Unknowing" by an anonymous medieval author.  

The anonymous author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" wrote of how we are responsible for even fractions of seconds.  Thus, even an instant, although it is so brief, holds much significance, since it holds the potential for great love to be expressed in it.  

Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote of how she would get to Heaven along her little way of serving her neighbor through little loving actions.  She saw her vocation as being one of love expressed in small gestures of love for others.  

The Jesuit priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade, in his book "The Sacrament of the Present Moment," explains that we find our duty to God in the present moment.  He explained that we serve God when we embrace what the present moment requires of us.  
If we are attentive to what the current moment presents to us, then in every microscopic moment, we can realize immense potential to love through seemingly insignificant little acts of charity towards others.  Jesus told us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.*  If love that is the size of a mustard seed is in our hearts, we can move mountains with this little love.  The mustard seed of our little loving act may bear much fruit in the heart of the person who receives the love of God that is being shown through us.  If we embrace the duty currently being presented to us, if we agree to love our neighbor** in little ways, even in fleeting instants, we can be witness to much love blooming in the hearts of others.  

Each of our little loving acts can be little flowers.  And from one little action of love, much love can be sown in the heart of another, just as from one little flower, much pollen can spread and germinate and bear much fruit.  

We can become convinced that some actions are insignificant.  How do we know this to be so?  We can assume some acts have no important impact.  How can we be sure this is so?  

Do we think that what we do makes no difference?  Maybe we think it makes no difference to us, but maybe it makes a big difference to someone else.  

* Matthew 17:20; Mark 11:23  
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Humility Welcomes Learning

When we keep an open mind about others, we remain open to what they have to teach us.  If we are humble, we welcome what we can learn from others.  

Today I was reminded of these truths upon looking back on last weekend.  As I mentioned in the blog entry I wrote yesterday, there was a festival this past weekend here in Redwood City.  Men and women and children dressed in traditional garb were dancing in the town square.  

This morning, my fellow Catholic Worker Susan showed me a photo of our friend, who here I'll call "Bill," who was in a dance performance in the festival.  In the picture, Bill is exquisitely dressed in a certain type of ethnic clothing, elegantly dancing with a woman on the town square, for people to admire.  Bill is also homeless.  Early this morning I saw him sleeping outside.  

When I saw the photo, I remarked something like, "You see, that's a good example of how people can have a certain idea of what homeless people are like, and they're not like that.  People's ideas about homeless people can be so inaccurate."  

Susan added that while Bill has been homeless, he has had a job for two years.  He is nice, kind and polite.  He was a member of a monastic community for years.  

Upon Susan noting some of these points about Bill, our fellow Catholic Worker Larry said that Bill breaks stereotypes.  Bill contradicts what people expect homeless persons to be.  

We've got our own ideas about people.  People have so much more to give us than we expect. If we respect others enough to learn who they are, we can receive much from them.  If we love them enough to get to know them, we will be educated about those individuals we do not know.  

If we have the humility to realize that we do not know people, we will learn about them.  We must be humble to welcome others into our hearts.  We must be humble in order to love our neighbor* as Jesus instructs us.  

If we are humble, we will open our minds and hearts towards others.  If we let ourselves be humbled, we can receive what others can give us.  If we allow ourselves to be humbled, we can receive love.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Coming To See

When we can see a person, then we come to know her.  When we come to know the person before us, we come to love that person.  

This weekend I was reminded of how preconceived notions can crumble once we actually spend time with people.  Yesterday I recalled how our assumptions often turn out to be incorrect.  

Yesterday some former guests who used to live here at the Catholic Worker House, and our current guest Samah and I walked into downtown Redwood City.  We went to see my fellow Catholic Worker Susan perform in her band, which was playing in the midst of a festival happening here in town.  We took food and beverages with us in a cooler and had a picnic on the town square.  

At one point, everyone else was out exploring the festival as I sat in one of the folding chairs we had.  I was looking across the square and noticed Samah on the steps of the building directly across from me.  She was standing there looking out across the crowd, wearing her sunglasses, sleeveless top and shorts.  As I watched her, I was struck by how she was wearing thoroughly summer clothing although she is Saudi.  

A short while later, she rejoined me at our picnic spot.  I shared with her emphatically, "I never, ever, ever would have expected to meet a woman from Saudi Arabia wearing a sleeveless top and shorts!"  

I had been coming to that conclusion without contact with Saudi women.  I had always heard that Saudi women had to wear headscarves and be completely covered.  Of course, Saudi women are supposed to have the permission of a male relative to travel; Samah is contradicting that Saudi cultural norm by refusing to return to Saudi Arabia despite the demand that she do so.  Similarly, she rejects the societal expectation that as a Saudi woman she wear a headscarf and be completely covered.  

Despite how Samah bucks cultural expectations, the fact remains that when we operate without contact with others, we remain in the dark about them.  When we interact with them, we learn who they really are.  As we come to see them in front of us, the light of truth illuminates their true identity for us.  

When we get to know our neighbor, we find that we are not as different as we had assumed.  We find we are more alike than we had thought.  

When we come to find that our neighbor is like us, we come to love our neighbor as ourselves, just as Jesus taught us to do.*  When we open our hearts to our neighbor, we open our hearts to love.  When we open our hearts to love, we open our hearts to God.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Learning From Littleness

Here in the community of the Catholic Worker House, we learn from each other partly through the stories we share with each other.  We learn from hearing how others have grown.  

This morning another Catholic Worker and I were on our way to pick up a donation of food.  While we were in the car, he was telling me about how he brought his daughter, when she was only a few years old, to a monastery.  For much of the visit, the little girl was wearing a miniature wedding veil.  At one point when she was wearing the veil, one of the nuns was teaching her one of the tasks done at the monastery.  A photo was snapped of the small child performing her work, thoroughly enjoying it.  In the picture, the young girl is full of glee, overflowing with joy and happiness as she went about her work.  

This morning her father was relating to me how the nuns took her as an example.  The nuns had been consciously aspiring to live each moment with the joy and spontaneity of a child, yet simultaneously with the wisdom and knowledge of an adult.  For years to come the nuns referred back to the little girl as an exemplar of how to live with a spirit of joy and spontaneity, like a little child.  

The nuns saw that the child provided a model for them to follow.  She simply set herself to the job before her, and joyfully reveled in what she had to do in that moment.  

We can learn much from those who are little.  We do well when we do not take ourselves too seriously.  Of course we should not forget what we have learned, but we should also have the humility to realize that there is much we do not know.  We are called to have the humility to be willing to learn from little children, for as Jesus told us, the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.*  

When we worry about nothing, but out of great love of God, with much faith in Him, simply trust in Him, we are filled with joy.  We feel such abundant joy when we throw all our cares to Him, and trust completely in Him.  

We are called to depend totally upon God, just as little children completely rely on their parents.  We must become like little children if we are to enter the Kingdom of God.**  

We can grow by becoming little.  The one who humbles himself will be raised up.***  When we have the humility to learn from others, even from little children, we are opening our hearts to others and what they have to teach us.  When we consent to learn from others, we open our hearts to them, and thus love them.  

As we love others, we grow closer to them, and thus closer to God.  Let us humble ourselves, learn, and love, and return back home to God.  Amen.  

* Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16 
** Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17 
*** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 

Trust Always Thanks

Do we thank God always?*  No matter what is happening, do we trust God that all is going to work out in the end to be all right?  

In a previous blog post I mentioned Samah, who is our guest here at the Catholic Worker House.  Today Samah and I received good reminders of the need to give thanks to God always and to trust in God always.  In the midst of what seemed like a predicament, we saw how the Providence of God works all things to the good of those who love Him.**  

This morning I went to pick up a donation of food at one location and to drop off a donation of food at another place.  Once I had returned home and had parked the van across the street from the Catholic Worker House, I was on the sidewalk about to open the side of the van to remove some food I had picked up for the house.  

I looked up and saw Samah on the sidewalk waving to me.  Now, typically when I'm out on the sidewalk and Samah and I see each other, she waves to me.  However, today, when I first saw her, she was waving a bit insistently to me.  At first I was puzzled over why she was waving so emphatically to me.  I asked her if she had gotten locked out of the house.  She replied that her car was at the gas station and wouldn't start.  We walked together a few blocks to the gas station.  

At her request, I tried starting the car so I could hear the sound it had been making when she had been trying to start it.  Upon trying to start it, I told her that, with my limited knowledge of car mechanics, I wondered whether she needed a new starter given the sound it was making.  

Then we pushed and steered the car as it was in neutral gear.  Soon a young man, who had been hanging out in the park on the other side of the street, ran across the street and asked us if we wanted his assistance in moving the car.  We gladly accepted his help, and he helped us push it to the gas pump.  

Once we had gotten the car to the pump, we introduced ourselves to each other. He told me his name is Mario.  He mentioned that he works in a Christian ministry which serves homeless folks.  I was so glad to meet him!  I enjoyed hearing about his ministry, since he serves some of the same persons who come to the Catholic Worker House for help.  He told us that after we had put gas in it, if we needed his help again to push it away from the pump, we could call him back over to us from across the street.  

Samah put five dollars in her gas tank.  Then she tried again to start the car, but it wouldn't start.  At some point, frustrated, she exclaimed, "I don't want this car!"  

At some point while we were at the gas pump, I turned and saw that a man was in a car waiting to use the pump after Samah.  I explained to him, "Her car wouldn't start, so we pushed it to the pump to see if it needed gas."  

He replied, "I'll buy that car."  As I stared at him in disbelief, he explained, "That's what I do.  I buy cars."  

I responded, "Great!  Can we get your number?"  He gave us his number, which made Samah very happy, as she was receiving contact information for someone who wanted to buy the car she didn't want to keep.  

After we realized at the pump that the car wasn't going to start, I got Mario's attention from across the street.  He came back over to us and helped us push the car out to the street, where Samah maneuvered it to the curb, where she parked.  After expressing our gratitude yet again to Mario, Samah and I parted ways with him and began to walk home.  

As we were walking home, I pointed out to Samah, "You see?  You wanted to get rid of this car, and now you know of someone who will buy it."  I said that when things seem to be going astray, God is working things out for us.  

She replied joyfully, "God, I love you!"  

When something seems to go wrong, do we thank God?  When events are unfolding in our lives such that we feel our lives are unraveling, do we have faith in God and trust in Him?  

Today we witnessed the loving care of God.  Yet again we heard the call from God for us to abandon ourselves to Him and to trust in Him.  Today once again we saw how God takes care of us, even when we think all is lost.  

And so, having seen the obvious evidence of God's loving Providence today, we are called to deepen our trust in Him.  I said to Samah, raising my hands toward the sky and shaking them, perhaps God is asking us in such a manner, "Do you trust Me now?"  

* 1 Thessalonians 5:18 
** Romans 8:28