Fr Terry writes:

We have had two weddings this week at Holy Trinity. As the bells ring and the couple come out, passers-by often pause for a look. Drivers of cars going past sometimes toot their horns in approval and encouragement. Everybody looks happy. There are many reasons why weddings are usually bring good cheer. At the most obvious level, we are happy for the couple, for the love they bring to each other and for the life they are about to launch together. But actually, I think that there is more going on than that.

Every wedding is an act of trust. And each of us feels touched by that act of trust, each of us, in some way feels the world is a better place. You see, we are surrounded by so many negative things. The economy is deteriorating. Schools are dumbing down. Health care is a problem. Crime is terrible. The doom-mongers and nay-sayers are many and they might even be right. So when a couple commit themselves to each other in marriage, it defies the gloom that is so pervasive. They trust each other. They trust God. They trust that the unknown future is still one into which they can tread hopefully, and find a blessing through each other and for each other. They trust, and because they trust, new possibilities, new life, new hope can come.

One of the themes of today's gospel (Matt. 11.25-30) is trust. The preceding part of chapter 11 shows Jesus a little disheartened. He finds that people are listening to him but finding all kinds of reasons not to accept the message. They cannot take the leap of faith. By contrast, as he points out in the gospel today, children are prepared to trust. In the same way you and I are called to trust in God who comes to us in Christ. We don't have to have everything worked out. It is not necessary to be clever. Rather, we begin by trusting God. If we begin with our heart which is where we trust we will find that our head will follow. If we build up a relationship with Christ, we will find that bit by bit, as the years go by, we understand more. And what we do not understand we will be prepared to leave in Christ's hands.

That is why surely, in the same passage today, Jesus tells us that we can come to him and rest (Matt. 11.28). To be with Jesus is often to find that famous peace that passes all understanding (see Philippians 4.7). To trust is to take our steps into God, and to find there a peace which endures even during the storms of life. The past, the present and the future are all in God's hands, and we can trust even when we do not understand. May what St Paul writes to the Romans indeed be true for all of us: that the Spirit of God has made his home in us (Rom. 8.9). We think of God with awe, and yet this same God reaches out to us and is present there in our hearts. We only have to turn aside for a moment from the busy distractions of life, and God is already there among us and within us. We can trust, and we can find rest because we can trust.

Fr Terry Tastard is Parish Priest of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, Brook Green, London W6.