Feb242017
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus offers some very sound advice: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to their span of life?”
Here we see the great wisdom of Jesus. Worry is futile and has no direct impact on the outcome of what we are worrying about. Even those in the medical profession believe that worrying is bad for your health. If it is so counterproductive then why do we worry? According to Jesus, it is because we lack faith. In the Gospel He asks us to consider the grandeur of creation.
God maintains a perfect balance by caring for the least to the greatest with steadfast love. When we begin to doubt this, Jesus has something to say to us " “you of little faith.” To believe in God’s providence is not always easy. What we need is a child-like trust in God. This is why in another scripture verse from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus states, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The beloved St. Therese of Lisieux understood this very well when she developed her own spiritual doctrine of childhood. St. Therese wrote in her autobiography, “We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs to perfection. So I sought in the holy scriptures some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: “Whosoever is a little one, come to me.” It is your arms Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is not need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less.”
As we begin our immediate preparation for the season of Lent (which begins next Wednesday), the Readings help us to focus. If we want to grow in faith then we need to become like a little child and place our total confidence in God. During Lent, let us work on trusting more and worrying less! “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.”
Category: Publications
Posted by: Margaret