The Healing Journey

November 1, 2025

The following excerpt is taken from “Trusting God in the Present” by acclaimed author Father Jacques Philippe.

Every trial, no matter what its causes and characteristics are, is a trial of faith or of hope or of love. All three aspects usually are involved, with particular stress on one or the other. Every trial is a trial of faith. If I am a believer and I am going through a difficult time, I will unavoidably ask myself at some stage, “What is God doing in all of this? Does he really love me? Is he present in what I am living through?

”No matter whether it’s sickness, unemployment, or something else, trust in God is put to the test, called into question, and to that question, we always give, consciously or unconsciously, some answer. We may doubt God’s love, we may accuse him of abandoning us, we may rebel against him. These things often happen.

However, it is possible—and this is beautiful and constructive—to see this time of trial as a call: a call to have a more determined, mature, and adult faith. The specific question we are faced with—What is God doing? Is he really faithful? Can he draw good out of what is happening?—is simply a question of faith.

We are invited to respond by deciding to have faith: “I believe! I continue to trust God! Even though I can’t see, even though I don’t feel anything, even though appearances are against it, I decide to believe. I will believe that God is faithful, that he will not let me fall, that he can draw something positive out of everything that is happening to me.”
©Jacques Philippe

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