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EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME -- YEAR A Welcome everyone to the program IN THE BEGINNING.
I am Fr. Linh. Today we celebrate the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary
Time -- Year A. Our Gospel passage is from Saint Matthew,
chapter six, from verse twenty-four to thirty-four.
The story is told of a man who worried so much
he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Life was becoming more and more unreal to
him. He began to imagine that he was other than
human. He decided to see a psychiatrist.
"What's your problem?" the psychiatrist asked. "Actually I have got two problems," the man
replied. "My first problem is
that I think I am a soft-drink vending machine. I can dispense six different kinds of soda
for fifty cents each: orange, grape, lime, cherry, root beer, and
cola." The doctor pondered the man's claim for a
while, then decided on a course of action.
He put two quarters in the man's mouth and said,
"I'll have an orange soda, please." At that point, the man answered,
"That's my second problem. I'm out of order."
The humorous story above presents relatively the principle of worry.
Worry causes us think ways to make things in life more productive,
yet in fact, worry itself makes us become mental dysfunction.
Worry is a desire to control all things to our benefit,
including things over which we truly have no power.
Worry may spring from a lack of trust in God, who alone can control every aspect of our
lives. Worry or anxiety has been linked
to numerous ailments and conditions, from heart attacks and strokes to high blood
pressure, from digestive tract disorders to nervous
breakdowns, from an increase in accidents at home and
at work to less efficiency and less focus on any given
task. You have never heard of people
"worrying themselves to life." The phrase we often use is
that a person is "worried to death." In truth, anxiety can kill a relationship,
destroy the fun of any event or experience, and detract greatly from a person's willingness
to get on new challenges and opportunities. People worry about so many things
they can never control. Our anxiety will not make a bit of difference
in tomorrow's weather. It will not make another person love us.
Therefore, let God do what only God can do. Trust him to act on our behalf
out of his infinite love and mercy toward us.
Second, concerning for what others think brings us to another level of worry and anxiety.
It is true. We are concerned about how others think we
look. We get anxious about our appearance
and our performance in life. In other words, many of us worry about
how we stack up, and that is another cause of deep inner anxiety.
We work harder with longer hours and over-schedule our lives
in an effort to impress others with our productivity and performance
or at least to satisfy our own internal need for success.
Jesus tells us that our heavenly Father's opinion about who we are
is all that truly matters. If he approves of us, that's all the approval
we need. He gives us our identity and an inner beauty
that far surpasses anything. The truth of God's love is that his love is
unconditional. He loves us at all times with an infinite,
overwhelming, merciful, gracious, passionate love!
God's embrace of love does not change based on our performance.
He will never leave us, forsake us, or turn away from us.
Our part is to trust God and acknowledge him in all things.
His part is to lead and guide us in the paths he wants us to pursue.
Third, striving to follow the world's pattern causes us worrier.
The world tells us that we will feel secure and be free of all anxiety
if we just have enough money in our bank or our retirement accounts.
That just isn't true. There is no lasting security in money, stocks, bonds,
or any other form of financial investment. The world tells us that we will feel secure
if we just get our house mortgages fully paid. Not true. No house is ever fully secure
against natural disaster or fire. The world tells us that we will feel secure
if we just follow a certain health regimen. Not true.
Even very physically fit and apparently healthy people
contract infectious diseases and are subject to life-threatening illnesses.
The truth is that the world has no definite solution
for 100 percent security in any area of life. Only Jesus can give a person the confidence
of security deep within. "Do not worry about tomorrow;
tomorrow will take care of itself" said Jesus. The God who is in control of today
is also the God who is fully in control of tomorrow.
Brothers and sisters! Be certain about this and you will find yourself living
with a growing deep inner peace.
Let us pray: Lord, please put Your peace in my heart.
I'm worried and anxious. My mind races and obsesses.
I can't help thinking about my problems. And the more I think about them,
the more depressed I become. I feel like I'm sinking down in quicksand
and can't get out. Calm me, Lord.
Slow me down, put Your peace in my heart.
No matter what problem I have, Lord, You are bigger,
You are more powerful than it is. So I bring my problem to You.
I know what I want. I know my will.
I do not know Yours. I do not know how You will use this problem
for my salvation. I do not know what good You will workout from
this evil. But I trust You.
I trust Your goodness and Your wisdom. So I place myself in Your hands.
Please fill my heart with peace. Amen. Thank you for listening.
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May God bless you.