(Homily for February 26, 2017).
Being worried,
anxious or troubled is our biggest problem. We never stop thinking, we never
stop analysing and dissecting our problems. It is only when we manage to sleep
at night that our minds get to rest but even then, our worries during the day metamorphose
into bad dreams during sleep. Then we wake up frightened, shaking with fear and
then we go about our day again worrying, panicking and expecting the worst to
happen. The cycle continues. What a life! If this is your situation, today I want
you to say out loud: Enough is Enough!
The simple
summary of our readings today is: WORRY NO MORE. Step out of the trap of worrying.
Whenever you are worried about something, your mind magnifies it and blows it
out of proportion so much so that a minor issue becomes like a mountain before
your eyes and your faith crumbles. Worry is Fear mixed with Doubt. Fear that
the problem will increase or get worse and doubt in God’s ability and care.
The cure
for worry is to Trust God with a childlike confidence. Be rest assured that no
matter how terrible your problem is, God is fully aware and like a mother who
will never forget the child in her breast, He knows what to do. Even as things
are right now with you, God has not abandoned you. The Psalmist today sings: “In
God alone be at rest my soul.” Yes, even if all your problems suddenly disappear,
you will still be worried. Only God can bring peace to your heart because God alone
is our rock, our salvation, our fortress.
Jesus tells
us today: “Don’t be anxious about what you shall eat, what you shall drink or
what you shall wear.” These are the things that the people of the world regard
as their top priority but for us Christians, our top priority should be to seek
the Kingdom of God. Forget about food, forget about money, forget about house,
car, degree, position and all that, stop asking where these things would come
from or who will provide them, just let your only focus be on how to enter
heaven, how to avoid sin, how to obey God’s commandments, how to please God
every day and God who knows your deepest needs will provide them.
When God
told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God wanted to see if Abraham would put Him
over and above his love for Isaac and when Abraham obeyed, God provided a lamb
for the sacrifice. This is what happens to us, when things are difficult, we
are tempted to put God aside and help ourselves; we steal, convert, lie, cheat,
and so on. Because we fail to seek first God’s kingdom, we end up never satisfied,
never happy and never at rest. Abraham Maslow said: “man is an insatiable
creature.” The man Abraham Maslow was describing is the man who does not know
God, the man who fails to seek first God’s kingdom. If we just allow ourselves
to focus on how to serve God better and surrender our future and its needs into
God, we would live in true satisfaction and deep inner peace.
I have
come to discover that what makes us worried is not because God fails to
provide, it is because we are constantly comparing ourselves with others. Our desire
to outshine everyone else, our attempt to have more money, more of the things
of this world makes us serve two masters and it makes what we have look too
small, too insignificant and insufficient. Stop comparing yourself with others
and start counting your blessings. Stop focusing on your problems and start
seeing them as blessings in disguise.
Again our
worries are never about today but about tomorrow. Because we are trying to take
of a future that does not exist, we worry perpetually as that future never
comes to pass. Live each day as if it is your last day and allow God take care the
future. Focus on one thing necessary – Seek First God’s Kingdom.
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, teach me to trust my tomorrow into your hands. Amen.
Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live
Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A. Bible
Study: Isaiah 49:14-15, 1st Corinthians 4:1-5 and Matthew 6:24-34).
Fr. Abu.
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