STOP WORRYING, START LIVING!

8^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A

Matthew 6:24-34

Because we were born into an anxiety-driven world, we have to grapple with the attacks of stress every moment of our lives.   We worry about almost everything including the fact that we worry about our worrying.  How do we stop then from worrying and start living?  In an attempt to cope with anxiety, many have set up multi-billion dollar empires and businesses offering us medicines and ways  towards a stress-free world.  Some turn to meditation hoping to control one’s consciousness through techniques that lead to quiet and tranquility.  Those who are not able to cope enter into depression and not finding light at the end of tunnel many commit suicide as the last recourse.

Jesus in our gospel gives us the Christian perspective in coping with anxiety. He brings us back to our true identity, being children of God.  If God can provide the needs of other living things, how much more of His children?  Plants and animals follow their instincts in the rule of the jungle which is survival of the fittest.    In the modern jungles of humanity, we are beset with anxiety for our own survival.   If our parents know how to provide the needs of our families, how much more of Our Father who will provide the needs of His children.  Jesus reminds us that we are worth more than the sparrows and the lilies in the field.

Relying on the providence of God does not mean passivity or being unconcerned because we might be tempted to think “I don’t have to do anything, anyway God is there and He will provide”.  The other extreme would be to do everything on our own as if we don’t need God’s help.  This has been the belief of those who do not embrace any religion because of self-sufficiency.  The deification of the self has always been the aim of those who think they can keep up with life even without any relationship with God.

The extraordinary story of Dr. Richard Teo, a cosmetic surgeon from Singapore stunned the world. He was very anxious about his life so he strived to be better than the rest until he achieved fortune and fame.   Truly a remarkable example of a man who built up his personal empire without God. At the age of 40 he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.   His famous words: “I cannot embrace my Ferrari”  were a testimony that no luxury nor wealth can add a bit to one’s life towards the end.  Before he died, he realized that he needed only one thing in life: God!

As Christians, there is only one thing we should worry about:  to lose God!  With God, we can do everything.  With God we can have everything more than we can ever imagine.

A nice book by Dale Carnegie "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" is a good read but let this beautiful poem of St. Theresa of Avila be our prayer when we start worrying:

 

       Let nothing disturb you;
             All thing pass;
             God never changes.
             Patience attains
             All that it strives for.
             He who has God
             Finds he lacks nothing:
             God alone suffices.