Speaking about belief, Benedict XVI writes, "[Belief is] the trustful placing of myself on a ground that upholds me, not because I have made it and checked it by my own calculations, but rather, precisely because I have not made it and cannot check it. It expresses abandonment of oneself to what we neither make nor need to make," (Intro to Christianity, p. 75).
The world makes us tense. The world is a dangerous place in many regards. But what is most dangerous of all is to put all our trust in only ourselves, our own navigation and decision-making and value.
We are meant to abandon ourselves to Another. We are designed, like a seed that blossoms only after it has fallen to the ground and died, to fall into the arms of the One who IS. When we fall into Him and die to ourselves, only then do we find the true fulfillment of who we are.
There is only one God; all other gods who say they are gods are evil in disguise. There is only one trustworthy God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God revealed in the person and life of Jesus.
But we are not to think about, calculate or control our relationship with God. We are meant to turn ourselves over and abandon ourselves to Him. As Benedict writes, "Christian faith is more than the option in favor of a spiritual ground to the world; its central formula is not 'I believe in something,' but 'I believe in you,'" (p. 79).
I believe in Jesus, the revelation of the one true God, and I abandon myself to Him.
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