Homily for Saturday, 23 June 2018– Ferial

Saturday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time

Our Lady's Saturday, optional memorial

Readings of the day: 2 Chronicles 24:17-25; Psalm 89:4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34; Matthew 6, 24-34

This homily was given at the Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada. 

What are some of the things we typically worry about? Since all of us here are religious under a vow of poverty, I doubt that wealth is of great concern for us. And so when Jesus warns his disciples, “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and wealth,” how might this relate to us?

By my count, three times in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not worry.” And two more times he asks questions related to worry: “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life,” and “Why do you worry about clothing”?

However, Jesus allows us to worry about one thing. He says, “Strive first for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.” All our other worries are less important than for us to be concerned for our salvation and, even more so, for loving one another into the same salvation; the same Kingdom of God.

Yet, even if we do not worry about wealth, about our earthly life and its comforts, about our bodies, about clothing, about food and drink, or about tomorrow, are we still not concerned about the well-being of our confrères, family members, and friends? Do we not, more or less often, worry about our health? Do we not worry about the future of our Basilian community, especially as we approach Chapter, even though our community, although small in numbers, gives us many encouraging signs? Do we not worry about the good of our country; our society; our world? Do we not worry about death?

These are all legitimate concerns. Jesus does not mean otherwise in today’s Gospel, but then what does he mean by his repeated call not to worry? Perhaps he means that any worry, even legitimate ones, may become obsessive to the point that our worry replaces God, the Kingdom of God, and our faith in these. Our worries may then become like idols. Not only might we worry about keeping our bodies healthy for as long as possible to be effective ministers in God’s name but, if we allow it, our concern for our physical well-being may become disproportionately greater than our concern for our other dimensions: Spiritual and prayer life, for instance. Without prayer, although our bodies live, we risk becoming like zombie Christians, miserable and only half alive. A zombie Christian is no Christian at all, if we fail to recognize God’s “steadfast love” for us that our Psalm especially proclaims, a love that will allow us to inherit the Kingdom of God. The same goes for when our concerns for wealth, clothing, food, drink, the future, or the security and well-being of our world, our country, or our religious community or our institutions and apostolates become disproportionately greater than our faith in God and in the promise of God’s Kingdom.

All these elements of this world, even our worries, will pass. Jesus invites us to live in this world with our legitimate worries, but at the same time to fix our hearts on the eternal Kingdom of God, where our worries, even the most legitimate, will be no more.