Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR
Homily for the eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church
Memphis, Tennessee
February 27, 2011
Philippians 4:6-7, says, “Do not worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
Psalms 55: 22 says, “Cast your all your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.”1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
Has there been a time in your life when things were so overwhelming that you could not sleep? Have there been times when you were so preoccupied with a problem that you were not able to function effectively well? Have there been issues in your life that dominated your thought? You thought about them all morning, all day, and all night, and sometimes you were lost in thought? If you have experienced any of these, then you have known worry and anxiety.
Being worried and being concerned do not mean the same thing. There is a difference! Concern leads to action. But worry is a dead-end street. It goes and leads nowhere. You can be concerned about something like preparing for retirement, saving for college, buying a new house or a new car, and you begin to make plans about these concerns. You can be concerned about your health, and you begin to eat healthy and exercise more regularly. You can be concerned about your children and you begin to get more involved in their lives, devoting more time to them and exposing them to the way of the Lord. But it is when your concerns become all- consuming and debilitating that you slip into worry. If the concerns of life are dominating us totally, affecting our relationship with God and others negatively, and affecting our productivity in our jobs, affecting our sleep at night, and affecting us physically, emotionally and spiritually then we have a big problem with worry and anxiety.
Worry or anxiety is a universal phenomenon; it is the greatest thief of joy and peace. Our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of John 14: 1-2 says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me, for in my Father’s house there are so many mansions.” And in today’s gospel from Matthew 6:25, the Lord says, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
Sometimes we scorn at people who tell us not to worry. We argue that it is easy to say that and a lot harder to do it. Recently a friend said to me, “One day a friend of mine called to tell me what she has been going through. After listening to her, I told her not to worry, instead should cast her problems unto the Lord because he cares a lot about her. As soon as I said that, she cut the call, I tried calling back severally; but she refused to pick my call; and other efforts to reach her failed because she refused to pick my calls. When eventually I met her in person, I asked why she was refusing to pick my call, and she bluntly said, “I hated and still hate your advice. I don’t want to hear that again please!” Some of us feel the same way towards people who tell us not to worry. We feel that people telling us not to worry do not understand our problem because if they did they too would also be worried.
But in today’s gospel, Jesus condemns worry and says that it is worthless and folly because it shows a lack of confidence in the ability of God. We worry because we doubt God. We worry because we walk by sight and not by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” We worry so much because our relationship with God is not unyielding. We worry because we are serving the god of worry; we worry because we are serving the god of materialism. We worry because we are not impeccably right with God. We worry because we are serving two masters, and we are not sure if any of them will come to our rescue. Jesus himself says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” We worry because we don’t really know the God we serve. We have not entered into an intimate relationship with him. Our service of him is halfway.
Dearest beloved, worry is useless. Worry does not resolve any problem. Worry does not add any moment to our life-span instead it shortens our life. Worry is a gravedigger. Worry is the shovel of the gravediggers. Worry is a quick race to the bottom. Worry is wrong because it focuses on the wrong issues. The Lord says, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” As I said before, worry is worthless because it keeps one’s attention on the wrong things. For instance, a student gets so worried about graduation party that he or she misses the joy that comes from the accomplishment of graduating. Some of us worry so much about the winter weather that they don’t enjoy the present weather and do not enjoy the Christmas vacation with family. Some ladies worry so much about looking good that they are so absorbed with themselves and cannot even enjoy the people around them. Some of us worry so much about not having enough money that we fail to enjoy the journey of life and what life offers us at the present. We worry about old age that we don’t get to enjoy now that we are still young. We worry about death that we don’t get to enjoy the life we have now.
Worry fuddles our thinking. Trapped in the state of worry, we often look at situations with a magnifying glass which makes things bigger than they really are. Worry makes our situations bigger than God. Why worry when you have a very big God? The book of Isaiah 41:9-10 says, “…you are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my victorious and righteous hand.”
Worry is irreligious because it makes us loose sight of who we really are and who we belong to. Our Savior Jesus Christ tells us today that God is more than capable of taking care of us. God is abundantly able to guide us through. Why worry when we have a very big God? It is our God that cares for the birds, the flowers, and the animals. Therefore Jesus asks, “Are you not more important than they?...If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you…?” Worry belittles our God. When we worry we only show that we are less important to God than birds, flowers and animals. But we are not. We are more important. God takes care of us. Psalm 68:20 says, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior who daily bears our burden.” Psalm 37:23-24 says, “Those whose steps are guided by the Lord, whose way God approves may stumble, but they will never fall, for the Lord upholds their hand.” Proverbs 16: 3 says, “Commit to the Lord your works and your plans will succeed.” Our heavenly Father knows all that we need. “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.” Do not worry about tomorrow, for God knows tomorrow. In one of my Facebook updates I wrote, “We don't know what tomorrow holds for us, but we know who holds tomorrow. The one who holds tomorrow is no other person but the good God who loves us so much. Because the one who holds tomorrow is good, we have nothing to fear. Because the one who holds tomorrow loves us so much, we can set aside fear and embrace hope, hope in God who loves us and cares for us.”
Worry shows we don’t really trust God. Worry is as a result of doubt. Even after talking to God in prayer, we still feel we are not heard. We therefore doubt, and when we doubt, we fret and worry. The epistle of James 1: 6-8 says, “But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. Such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” Worry is essentially a sin. By getting worried, we demonstrate two things- either God is not able and capable or God does not care. But scripture tells us that God is abundantly able. Ephesians 3: 20-21 says, “Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ever ask or imagine, by the power at work within us. To him be glory…forever and ever. Amen.” And 2 Corinthians 9: 8 says, “God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you will have abundance for every good work.” In Matthew 19: 26, Jesus says, “…with God all things are possible.” God also cares for us. Psalm 46:1-2 says, “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble.” And from 1 Peter 5: 7 we read, “Cast all your worry on to him, because he cares for you.”
Dearest beloved, worry is a wasted energy. There is nothing productive about worry. It is a journey to nowhere. It hinders us rather than help us. Worry leads to fear and can eventually paralyze us. Worry is like a cancer; it gradually eats up the faith of a believer. Worry can lead to agnosticism, apostasy and even atheism. Worry weakens physically, emotionally and spiritually. It robs one of happiness, peace and serenity. It affects one’s health; it causes ulcer, high blood pressure, heart problems, depression, crushing headaches, and colon distress. Worry makes it difficult and sometimes impossible for us to address the issues we should be doing something about.
To avoid worry, Jesus urges us “To seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things (food, clothes, house, money, jobs, life-partner etc) will be given you.” Seeking God first who is goodness ultimately leads to finding the good things of life. And finding the good things of life eliminates worry and anxiety that usually come as a result of their lack. To eliminate worry, St. Paul says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
St. Paul tells us to confront worry by prayer. Pray about everything, St. Paul says. There is no situation, circumstance, or problem that cannot be brought before our loving Father. Rather than talk to ourselves, we should talk to God. Worry is talking to one self; but prayer is talking to God. Rather than fret, talk to God. Instead of wasting your sleep, keep watch in prayer. Rather than waste your tears, pour out those tears at the feet of Jesus. Rather than put your hands on the head as you walk around in your house looking dejected, hold the hand of the Lord. Last year, I wrote on my Facebook page, “Hold that Hand! Grip that hand reaching out to you! Hold the hand of God. This life doesn't last forever. Don't wait any longer. You're better off holding God's hand. Are you miserable? Hold that hand! Is your life dark and cold, then, hold that hand. By holding that hand, things will get better. The hand of Jesus is your sunlight, your peace, your morning, your love and everything. Come, let's hold that hand, it's the hand of the Lord.”
Finally, I will not forget to tell you that worry or anxiety can be conquered by gathering with other members of the Church in the worship of God and in the sharing of the Word of God. The book of Hebrews 10:25 says, “Do not give up the habit of gathering together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another all the more as you see the Day is drawing near.” And Jesus himself said in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather together in my name, I am there among them.” If we stop worrying, instead start turning to God with an unyielding trust of a child to the father, then, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). Remember, the Scripture did not tell us that all our problems will go away. We are not told that we will immediately comprehend the problems we are going through. We are not told that by turning to God, all human problems will go away. No! earthly life comes with the cross. The Lord himself said in Matthew 16: 24, “If any of you wants to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” In Luke 14:27, he says, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” So turning to God does not exterminate life’s problems. But by turning to God, worry is replaced by faith; anxiety gives way to peace; doubt is replaced by trust and confidence, and fear gives way to hope. With that we can loudly and confidently say with Job, “I know my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
May the Mother of Perpetual Help pray for us!
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