Day 37: Fostering Promises

BY BENJAMIN CARIÑO-PETERSEN | March 21st, 2024
Today’s readings

As a clinical social worker, I offer therapy to children and families in the foster care system. I see them for a relatively short time, doing what I can to help them adjust to very uncertain circumstances and rarely get to see how their case ends.  At times the work can feel hopeless, and the only satisfaction I can find is knowing that I have “planted a seed” in the child’s life that some future therapist or resource parent may cultivate. 

This concept was brought to mind when I placed myself as Abram in today’s first reading anticipating God’s covenant to someday be fulfilled. At times, with a hardened heart or exhausted heart, all I can hold onto is the promise that our work toward justice will someday be realized by our descendants. 

Reflecting on the psalm and the gospel readings, I was able to recognize that we are the descendants, and the Lord’s covenant is being realized now, daily, all around us. We work toward justice, within God’s promise of its realization. 

As workers for justice, we each plant seeds, and we each get to see other worker’s seeds bear fruit. We are reminded that “Abraham rejoiced” and are prompted to “Recall the wondrous deeds that God has wrought.”

Whenever a neglected child is able to trust me just a little bit, that means that some worker before me just sat with their silence. Whenever a new parent shows empathy to their child, that means that someone before me coached them as they struggled to connect. 

Whenever small justices are achieved, God’s promise is further fostered. 

• When were times that you were simply trusting that the promises would someday be fulfilled? Reflect on promises that have already been fulfilled in your life. 
• What efforts did those that came before us make to allow us to realize our own goals?