Trust: The Cure Against Worry.

(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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