8th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 26th February, 2017
Is 49:14-15; 1 Cor 4:1-5; Mt 6: 24-34
Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere. I was struck by this saying which I came across somewhere. Worrying is the most unchristian attitude of all, because a Christian has grown out of an experience of a God who is a mother, a God who is the master and a God who is a motivator!
In the Old Roman Catholic Missal, after the Lord's prayer the prayer of deliverance would go thus: Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Some fellow priests, in the name of adapting it and making it more personalised, would change it slightly to say, "keep us free from sin and protect us from all needless anxiety"! I would take very serious exception to it and argue against it saying - the words 'all anxiety' should not be changed because for a true Christian, every anxiety is needless and there are no justified anxieties! If I were a Christian I should be anxiety-free! However, that version is changed today in the Missal. But the message the Word has to give us today is that: Worry is the most unchristian attitude of all.
I need to experience God as a Mother, a mother who would never forget her suckling child. A mother would never forget her child, much less a child at her breast! Even after a decades of its existence, the child would still be a child for the mother and the mother would never feel detached from it. That is how the Lord looks after me, reveals the Word. A Mother who loves her child as much or even more that herself - that is what the Lord is to me! If I knew it, if I believed it, if I were convinced of it, would I have anxieties threatening me? I have someone who is so concerned about me and that someone is so powerful!
I need to experience God as my Master, my Master who has planned everything for me! Even before I was born, the Master thought of a plan for me, a family for me, a place for me...what a great master I have! The sad fact is that I often forget this master and go behind other masters serving them...masters like those who offer me attractive lifestyles devoid of values, those who assure me a cosy life but filled with unrighteous things, those who seem to be taking me very high in life but leave me abruptly to crash down to nothing at a crucial moment! I need to find my master, who is incharge of everything! I remember an episode told in the life of Don Bosco and his successor Don Rua. When Don Bosco thought of starting a new house in a new place, he thought of sending his confidant Don Rua there. And when Don Rua really set off, Don Bosco asked him what he had in his hand as resource. Don Rua infact had very little in his hand given by the Economer. Surprisingly Don Bosco took away a major part of that resource and leaving Don Rua with a bare minimum, he said, 'Go just with this, is not the Divine Providence even there?' God as a provider was a great experience of the people of God. If only we believe in Jehovah Jireh (the Lord who provides), we would experience miracles in our daily life.
I need to experience God as a motivator. When troubles come, the Lord does not solve them for me, the Lord motivates me to solve it myself. At times we may blame God that God is not doing things for us, while we may be constantly missing out on the numerous ways, means and helps that the Lord keeps sending for us to tackle those issues. It is like that little John who was standing at the threshold of a forest which he had to cross to reach home. He felt stranded because it had gotten dark too early and little John was frightened. He was about to cry, when an old man happened to pass by. When he knew what the problem was, he gave John the lantern he had in his hand and told him to go his way, for the old man's house was just round the corner. After a while when the old man peeped out of his house, he found the boy still standing there with the lantern, but this time really crying! The Old man came up and asked the boy what the problem was - the boy said- I wanted to go, but i can see the light reaching only upto a small distance, after that it seems to be still dark, what will I do when I reach there? The boy may look stupid for us, but at times we act so. We worry so much about things that have not yet reached us, missing out on the myriad of opportunities that are at hand. What the boy needs to do is take those simple steps and find the light accompanying him. That is what the Lord does - the Lord motivates us to take those hopeful steps and keeps following us, accompanying us, leading us. If only we experience that, we would be truly anxiety free because the Lord is always with me!
My Mother, Master and Motivator - the Lord is there! What need I fear when the Lord is near!
