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Our Lady - Star of the Sea |
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Homily for the Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Year A, 2011
Last couples of weeks, some people came to me
with some anxieties
about the future of our society such as: our
electric bill will go up;
food price will go up; earth quake, or tsunami,
etc. Yes, we have to
plan for the future, but we also have to trust
in our heavenly Father,
who knows what we need to survive. From Jesus’
teaching, my question
is when we are worried too much, or when we are
not worried at all.
Of course, Jesus does not tell us to live as the
lilies in the field,
or the birds on the sky, rather, he warns us not
to pursue earthly
things such as food, clothing, or pleasures. Actually,
if we care too
much about what we shall eat, or what we shall
wear, we become its
slaves. We are not free to serve God and his
Church. The negative side
of anxiety is: we lost our trust in the Lord,
and we become selfish.
We always care for ourselves, or our family
first, then we care for
the poor and the Church. Unfortunately, the
Church and the poor hardly
have a piece from us, because we will never feel
enough secure for
ourselves.
From my experiences, anxieties only
prevent us to sacrifice for
others. For examples, we will not help the
Church and the poor if we
are worried too much about our eating and
clothing.
When I was in twenties, I was scared whenever I
think about having a
family. Just thinking about how to take care my
wife and my children,
I was frozen. I just think I cannot do it. I
think I lack trust in the
Lord when I think about my future.
It was different when I began to discern my
priesthood. I knew, I will
not make a lot of money as many of my friends
do, but I have trust in
the Lord. I believe that Jesus will not abandon
me when I surrender my
future to him. I do not worry about what kind of
house I will have,
what to eat or what to wear. My goal is on what
Jesus said today:
“seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness.” Don’t think
that he said this only for religious people or
priests, but for all of
his followers.
Dear friends, when we have to contribute to our
Church, or help the
poor, we should not think too much about our own
needs for tomorrow.
We have to focus on who needs our help here and
now. What can we do to
help our neighbors who do not have food on the
table, or who do not
have a place to stay overnight. That is how we
seek the kingdom of God
and his righteousness everyday in our life.
In the Eucharist, Jesus gives us an excellent
example. He totally
trust his Father even died on the Cross. He
totally gives us his Body
and Blood to give us life. So what can we
sacrifice for him?
Trust is a Christian virtue. Prophet Isaiah and
Matthew remind us to
keep trust in God’s providence. Some of us may
struggle to survive,
but we still trust in Him and do the best we
can. Some of us may
struggle to share what we have, but we have to
trust in Him and give.
Jesus once said: “come to me, who are burdened
and wearisome, I will
give you rest. Learn from me because I am gentle
and humble of heart.”
So, he wants to set us free from all fear and
anxieties. Let us
refresh our trust in him again. Amen.
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