Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 2, 2014 - 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 49:14-15; 1 Cor 4:1-5; Matt 6:24-34]So do not worry and say, "What are we to eat?" or "What are we to drink?" or "What are we to wear?" All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."
If I were accused of the kind of worry that the Lord mentions, I'd have to plead "guilty as charged!" I suspect there would be a lot of people in the same fix! My worry, however, is not the same as those folks I meet on the street near the Dominican priory. They truly may not know how they are going to feed or clothe themselves! My worry is not the same as the refugees from the various conflicts in the Middle East or Africa! They may not know if they are going to eat or have shelter at all! How can I tell them not to "worry?" I would be preaching from my "comfortable" worries about getting this or that done, or going here or there!
Isaiah says today that God will care for us like a mother cares for her infant. Jesus tells us that God will care for us. I certainly believe this but I think that even if my own worries are real enough to me, they cannot come close to the desperation that I see in the faces of so many who suffer from those conflicts in the Middle East and Africa! I can only pray over and over again that those who promote the political and social violence that leads to the desperate kind of "worry" I speak of will somehow stop and allow people to get on with their lives. I know I can't take on all the "worries" of the world, but I can somehow come up with a "worry" prayer that God will help them as much as God helps the birds of the sky! At least I can think of "tomorrow" and pray that others can have a "tomorrow." AMEN