Rather Than Worry, Turn to God with Unyielding Trust

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Sunday, March 2, 2014

 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) 

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 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.

There is a difference between worry and concern. Concern leads to action. But worry is a dead-end street. It leads to nowhere. You can be concerned about 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. This explains why Jesus in the gospel of John 14: 1-2 says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me…” And in today’s gospel from Matthew 6:25, he 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 deep. 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.

Beloved in Christ, worry is useless. It does not resolve any problem. It does not add any moment to our life-span instead it shortens our life. It is a gravedigger. 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 makes us loose sight of who we really are and who we belong to.  Jesus tells us today that God is more than capable of taking care of us. God is abundantly able to guide us through. 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 us by making us less important to God than birds, flowers and animals. But we are not.  God cares for us. 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. 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, worry, and anxiety, and embrace hope, hope in God who loves us and cares for us.

Dearest beloved, there is nothing productive about worry. It is a journey to nowhere. It hinders rather than help. Worry leads to fear and can eventually paralyze us. Worry is like a cancer; it gradually eats up the faith of a believer. 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 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 that come from him. 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.” There is no situation, circumstance, or problem that cannot be brought before our loving Father. Rather than talk to self, 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 in worry, keep watch in prayer. Rather than waste your tears, pour out those tears at the foot of Jesus. Instead of pacing around in your house looking dejected, pace to Jesus and hold his hands.

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 and 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. 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.” So turning to God does not exterminate all 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).