Saint Andre Bessette teaches us to put our lives in God’s hands, who never abandons anyone. Even in darkness, we should trust and place our lives in God’s hands. If we feel God’s absence, it may be a time of purification or a gradual moving away from God. We should not abandon God, who loves us and never abandons us. We should practice childlike abandonment to the father’s will and place our lives in God’s hands.
Brothers and sisters, today we’ll hear from Saint Andre Bessette. He says, “Put yourself in God’s hands. He abandons no one.” It’s a simple and obvious phrase, and the first question we can ask is, does God have hands like we humans do? Other saints respond that His hands are big, motherly, fatherly, secure, and firm. Benedict XVI says that God is our Loving Hands, and even if we fall in the abyss, we’ll fall into God’s hands. Even in the darkness of our lives, Saint Andre teaches us to put our lives in God’s hands. It is as if it’s a spiritual gesture, an attitude with which we place our lives with sincerity in God’s hands, saying, “You take care of me. I’m placing my life in your hands, and I trust you to protect me because you are the Risen one, the stronger one.” Saint Andre says that God never abandons anyone, but sometimes we may feel like He has abandoned us. Many people say that, and we may wonder, “Where is God in all that is happening to me?” One thing we need to be concerned about, as Benedict XVI teaches, is that we don’t abandon God, who never abandons us. If we turn the cold shoulder towards the one who loves us, we start sensing that He is not there, and this is where the Devil comes to cheat us, saying, “Come to me, I’ll give you a better option. You’ll be better off with me than with God, who has abandoned you.” We remember Jesus on the cross, who said, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” But shortly after, he said, “Into your hands, Father, I commend my spirit.” Childlike abandonment to the Father’s will. “I place my life in your hands, my spirit in your hands,” and the Father receives Jesus’s spirit into His hands, into His bosom. Let us practice this phrase early in the morning and late at night, according to the Jewish tradition. It was the children’s prayer who, before going to sleep, if they couldn’t pray the whole Psalm, at least they would use this phrase, “Into your hands, I commend my spirit.” We should pray with our Lord, saying, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.” In the morning, as you start your day, say, “Father, into your hands, I place my life, my whole day. I abandon my life to you. Take my life, and I believe and trust that you, who sent your Son, Jesus Christ, for my sins, who rose from the dead, will never abandon me.” Brothers and sisters, let us practice this phrase of abandonment, knowing that God never ever abandons us, although sometimes we go through moments of desolation. But let’s remember, as the saints teach, that even if we perceive His absence, Christ is present next to us. Let’s connect with Him, surrendering and putting our lives in His hands.
