By Daniel S. Mulhall | Catholic News Service

Trust is a simple word. While a basic concept, trust is a necessary component of all human interaction. By definition, trust is the firm belief in the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing.

When we say that we trust someone, we mean that we feel comfortable in that person's company, that we feel safe and secure, able to let our guard down. We know that we can count on the person to treat us kindly and to do what is promised.

Without trust, we would live in a world of fear, always having to be wary, never being able to rely on anyone or anything else. Trust is an essential element for life. The phrase, "In God We Trust," is the official motto of the United States of America and the nation of Nicaragua. The phrase appears on all U.S. currency.

But what exactly does it mean to place one's trust in God?

As Catholic Christians, the Bible is the first place we turn to try and answer that question. In many ways, the Bible is one continuous story of how God has called humanity to a relationship of total trust and how people have responded to that call.

Every story in the Old Testament, starting with Adam and Eve, then on through Noah, Moses and Miriam, David and Solomon, up to the Maccabees shows that peace and happiness come from putting one's trust in God, while war and disaster come from putting our trust in anyone or anything but God. This is also the message found in the writings of all the prophets.

Many of the psalms express this trust in God. Psalm 5:12 says, "Then all who trust in you will be glad and forever shout for joy. You will protect them and those will rejoice in you who love your name."

Psalm 9:10-11 makes an even stronger case: "The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you. You never forsake those who seek you, Lord." Psalm 27:5 offers us assurance: "For God will hide me in his shelter in time of trouble, he will conceal me in the cover of his tent; and set me high upon a rock."

In Psalm 62:9 we are admonished to "trust God at all times, my people! Pour out your hearts to God our refuge!"

Proverbs 3:5-6 proclaims that we are to trust God more than ourselves: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths."

In the New Testament, Jesus teaches what it means to trust in God completely and gives witness to that trust throughout his life, and even unto his death and resurrection.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also advises us to put our trust in God. The catechism in No. 154 points out that "trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises."

So, what does it mean for a person of faith to trust God? While some people practice a radical Christianity and depend totally on God for all that they have, most Christians show trust in God by simply living.

They count on God to look after them and to take good care of them, to protect them and those they love from harm, and to prepare a place for them in heaven following death. They work, earn money, plant gardens, and fix the car -- all of those ordinary aspects of living.

They don't expect God to do it for them. Rather, they see themselves as co-creators with God. They do the best work they can and trust that God will do amazing things with their work. They ask God in prayer for what they want and need, but trust that God will do what is best for them. Their trust in God gives meaning and purpose to their lives.

In his exhortation, "The Joy of the Gospel," Pope Francis assured us that even when we face tough moments, the continuous trust we've built over time will carry us through. Sometimes we witness the fruits of that trust, but sometimes we don't. That doesn't mean it doesn't produce results.

The pope wrote, "Because we do not always see these seeds growing, we need an interior certainty, a conviction that God is able to act in every situation, even amid apparent setbacks. ... This certainty is often called 'a sense of mystery.'"

He continued: "It involves knowing with certitude that all those who entrust themselves to God in love will bear good fruit. This fruitfulness is often invisible, elusive and unquantifiable. We can know quite well that our lives will be fruitful, without claiming to know how, or where, or when."

Radically trusting in God

By Louise McNulty | Catholic News Service

One of the most often repeated phrases in the Bible is, "Be not afraid."

It is, of course, a spur to fearful humanity to trust in God and his goodness, mercy and benevolence in overseeing their lives.

Generally people fear the same things: the loss of health, happiness, financial security, loved ones. The themes are the same, the details different.

It is hard to trust an unseen God who does not speak to his people using words. Yet, there are people, such as author Susan K. Rowland, who are examples of what it means to go ahead, with trepidation, but not outright fear, because they believe in the biblical exhortation to put their trust in God, who promises he will lead them.

Rowland learned early on that she wanted to serve the church and be a writer.

A native of New York, she was married and living in Ohio when she got her theology degree. She worked at a Catholic newspaper in Youngstown. The last of her three sons had gone off to college. Things seemed to be falling into place when her husband asked for a divorce in 2000.

Devastated by this unexpected turn of events, Rowland spiraled into depression. She turned to prayer, spiritual guidance, books and an abiding faith that God would guide her if she followed. She sorted through her belongings, packed up her things and moved to Arizona, where her mother lived.

During the process, and with more faith than finances or employment prospects, she developed an idea for a book, based in large part on her experiences of downsizing for a move across country.

She sold the idea to St. Anthony Messenger Press (now Franciscan Media), which published her first book, "Make Room for God: Clearing out the Clutter" in 2007 -- an eminently readable book about clearing out physical and spiritual clutter in one's life.

She followed this with a journal on the same subject, brought out by Tau Publishing, and then wrote another book called "Healing After Divorce: Hope for Catholics" in 2010.

While her finances were at times precarious, she stuck with God, bravely trying to overcome fears about her future and writing, on a spiritual level, about dealing with problems common in today's society. One review of the book on divorce noted that it was so down to earth that it proved to be an excellent resource, not only for those involved in a divorce but "for those currently in marriages, whether they be strong or faltering."

When using her experiences, Rowland was not reluctant about describing her less attractive reactions to the process, which gave the book immense appeal.

But perhaps the most astounding part of Rowland's dependence on God is the fact that in late 2011, she was calling her friends and telling them about an unbelievable thing that had happened to her. While preparing to give a retreat, she felt overwhelmed by the subject she was writing about and couldn't stop writing.

She felt compelled to publish it quickly and went to the publishing house to work with an artist who was designing the cover: a woman in running gear hanging by her fingernails off the side of a cliff. The illustration had God's hands extended below her ready to catch her in case of a slip.

A slim volume at only 70 pages, the book was entitled "Radical Trust in God." While inspiring for readers, it turned out to be fateful that Rowland had researched and written it. A month after the book came out, she was diagnosed with cancer and in an email to friends, she wrote, "Guess it's time for some of that radical trust I wrote about in my last book!"

After a two-year battle, she died in 2013.

It is likely that Rowland began her eternal journey without fear, trusting in the one who led her.

On the other side of trust

By Janelle Alberts | Catholic News Service

When Moses' mom laid her baby boy in a papyrus basket and settled that basket down into the Nile River reeds, she must have had one thing in mind. I would like to know what that was.

Because, how? How could she possibly do that?

The king had ordered all Hebrew baby boys killed, so she hid her son as long as she could, then she brought him to the river. What went through her mind? What did she think God would do?

Many read the story as an act of unprecedented trust in God -- trust that was rewarded with Moses' miraculous return to his mother's arms. The Bible is packed with people exercising what looks like superhuman trust in God.

In fact, the entire cast of characters can be broken into two groups: those who trusted and those who did not. Sounds simple, but this is not a book of trite storylines.

Consider what happened to Jairus. He was an important Jewish leader and a man who trusted God. When his daughter became ill with the threat of dying, Jairus went to look for Jesus to ask for help but couldn't find him. It took a while to locate him and by then Jairus' daughter had turned from bad to worse, and some said she was dead. But Jairus stuck with it. He trusted and Jesus healed her. Jairus was "astounded" (Mk 5:42).

Jairus wasn't really sure what would happen. He seemed to know only this: that God was his best shot. Trust isn't seeing the future. It is seeing the present and deciding to do what we can and to believe that God will help, too, even when it looks as if all hope is lost.

Take, for instance, another example in the Bible involving three Hebrew men. In Daniel 3:15, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a wicked hot furnace by a king who wanted them to denounce God since he was obviously not saving them. In reply, they told the king that their God could save them, and even if he did not, they were still sticking with him and would not denounce him.

They trusted God, but they could not, with certainty, say what God would do.

Their circumstance begs the question: If we are bold, if we give God a chance to show himself in our circumstances, will he? And what exactly will he do?

Even these characters, Bible elites that they were, received little more than: "You're about to find out." In the end, the three men came out of the fire unscathed. They didn't even smell like smoke.

God wants to be close to us and trust is one way to do this. A personal treatment from God is on the other side of trust. The common denominator in these biblical stories shows us that trust, if nothing else, is what our ancestors greatly placed in God's hands.

Food for Thought

It's no small task to trust someone we can't see or hear -- at least not with our five senses. And yet, since the beginning of Christianity, trust in God has been central to us, as a body of believers and as individuals. Trust is the basis for peace, both in our personal lives and on the world stage. Trust is especially important when we're faced with a world, a home or any other space filled with violence and strife.

Without trust, or trust in the wrong person or things, said Pope Francis, there is no internal or external peace. "The one who trusts in himself, in his own richness or ideologies, is destined for unhappiness," he said. "The one who trusts in the Lord, on the other hand, bears fruit even in time of drought."

We need to ask ourselves, said the pope, "Where do I place my trust? Have I placed it in the Lord or am I a pagan who trusts in things, in idols that I have fashioned? Do I still have a name, or have I begun to lose my name and to identify myself only as 'I' with all its variations?"