VIII-Sunday in Ordinary Time. Cycle -A.

VIII SUNDAY HOMILY-: ISA 49: 14-15, 1 COR 4:1-5;Gospel: MT 6: 24-34

Kais Rayes writes that he and his wife found their whole life turned upside down when their first child was born. Every night, the baby seemed to be fussy, and many nights, it seemed that their baby cried far more than he slept. Says Rayes, "My wife would wake me up, saying, 'Get up, honey! Go see why the baby is crying!'" As a result, Rayes found himself suffering from severe sleep deprivation.

While complaining to his coworkers about his problem one day, one of his colleagues suggested a book on infant massage. Rayes immediately went in search of the book and that night, he tried the technique, gently rubbing his baby's back, arms, head, and legs until the baby was completely relaxed and obviously had fallen into a deep sleep. Quietly tiptoeing from the darkened room so as not to disturb the rhythmic breathing of the baby, he made his way directly to his own bed in hopes of enjoying a well deserved full night of sleep.

No such luck. In the middle of the night, his wife awoke him in a panic. "Get up, honey!" she said as she jostled him awake. "Go see why the baby is not crying!" Some people are just worriers. Even when things go well they worry, they fret, they fume. They worry that something bad will happen. They see the dark side of any cloud, even one with a silver lining. They are worriers. They fume, they fret, they stay stressed out.

Today’s readings give us an invitation to avoid unnecessary worries by putting our trust in the love and providence of a merciful God, and then living each day’s life as it comes, doing His will and realizing His presence within us and others.
Today’s first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, begins with the Lord God’s rhetorical question “Can a mother forget her infant?” and His solemn pledge, “Even should she forget, I will never forget you!” This is one of the most touching expressions of God’s love in the Bible. Through the prophet, God assures Israel of His unfailing love when the people of Israel cry out in despair, believing that they have been forgotten by God. The Prophet Hosea also speaks about a loving God Who holds Israel to his cheek and teaches Ephraim to walk (Hosea 11: 3-4). Isaiah reminds Israel that even the best of human love is only a shadow of God’s eternal, life-giving love for his people. When we know we are loved by an all caring God we don’t have to worry at all. We can enjoy life like butterfly and sleep like a baby.
Do you bring along a sandwich in your coat pocket when you are invited to dinner at a friend's house? Of course not!
Can you imagine inviting twenty people to a party, but only buying enough food to serve ten? Never!
Would you send your child out into a snowstorm in a swimsuit? No way!

As rude and self-centered and uncaring as we all can be, we still abide by some basics of good behavior. So why do we think God won't? Trust that he is a loving Father. We worry when in our minds we try to bite off more than we can chew.

The late Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald used to tell about a man he knew years ago. This man’s life was hard yet he was the most serene and deeply contented man Bishop Fitzgerald had ever known. So he asked the old man one day if he had ever had any troubles and if he had ever spent sleepless nights. "Sure, I've had my troubles," he said, "but no sleepless nights. When I go to bed I say, 'Lord, you have to sit up all night anyway. There's no point in both of us losing sleep. You look after things tonight and when tomorrow comes, I'll do the best I can to help you.'"
Doctors today are quite candid in admitting that more than half the patients in hospitals are there as much because of the accumulated effects of mental problems as anything else. Thomas Borkovec, a professor of Psychology at Penn State University made his study and has determined that 15 percent of us are "chronic worriers". He claims that the single most frequent source of worry is other people's opinions of our lives. "If this happens, what will they think? What will people say? Will I be laughed at? Will I be excluded?"
A small boy mistakenly killed his grandparent’s favorite duck with a slingshot. Fearing their response, he tried to find the most unthinkable hiding place to bury it. He thought he had found the perfect place; however, his sneaky little sister saw his every move. She now had power over him. He was forced to do all of her chores so that she would not tell what he had done. Every time he was just about to tell her to go jump in the lake, she would look at him and say, "Remember the bird...remember the bird." Finally, one day he could no longer take such cruel and unusual punishment from his demonic little sister, and he confessed the whole story to his grandparents. It was their response that surprised him. They said that they had found the dead bird days ago and surmised what had happened. They said to him, "We love you, we forgive you, and were just waiting to see how long you would allow your little sister to control your life with the information she had on you." The power of worrying is often just like that. We allow it to enslave us when all the time there was another power that could have freed us from its crippling grip.
Jesus exhorts us to do our daily tasks serenely and not to worry uselessly about what happened yesterday or what may happen tomorrow.
"There are two days in the week upon which and about which we should never worry. One of these days is Yesterday. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our recall, with its cares and frets and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders. It was ours; now it is God's.

"The other day that we do not worry about is Tomorrow. Tomorrow, with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its perils, its large promise and performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond our mastery as its dead sister, yesterday. Tomorrow is God's day; it will be mine.
Poor people worry that they don't have any money, and rich people worry that they don't have enough money. Sick people worry about their premature death, and healthy people worry about getting sick. Everyone it seems, worries about something all the time. The tragedy of most of our lives is that we worry so much about tomorrow that we never claim the resources God has for our living today. Hence, Jesus gives us some reasons why we should not worry. 1) Worry is a pagan or an irreligious attitude of those who don’t believe in a loving and providing God. 2) In nature, other creatures, like birds, work hard for their daily food, but they don’t worry about tomorrows. 3) Worry is useless because we cannot increase even an inch of height by days of worrying. 4) Worry is injurious to the health because it causes physical and mental problems and illnesses. 4) Worry robs us of faith and confidence in God’s help, and it saps our energy for doing good. 5) Worry takes all the joy from life and wears out our mind and body. Doctors agree that emotional stress can bring actual changes in the organs, glands, and tissues of the body. It’s not so much "what I’m eating" as "what’s eating me" that’s getting me down.
One day the German mystic Johann Tauler met a beggar. "God give you a good day, my friend," he said. The beggar answered, "I thank God I never had a bad one." Then Tauler said, "God give you a happy life, my friend." "I thank God," said the beggar, "I am never unhappy." Tauler then said in amazement, "What do you mean?" "Well," said the beggar, "when it is fine, I thank God. When it rains, I thank God. When I have plenty I thank God. When I am hungry I thank God. And since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases him pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not?" Tauler looked at the man in astonishment, "Who are you?" he asked. "I am a king," said the beggar. "Where, then, is your kingdom?" asked Tauler. The beggar replied quietly, "In my heart."
How to overcome worry: This brings us to the all-important question of how to overcome worry. We overcome worry by living in the present moment, focusing on what we need to do today, knowing that we can figure out how to cross tomorrow's bridge when we get there. Jesus, similarly, teaches us to focus on the present and not on the future, "Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil" (Matthew 6:34).
Is Jesus teaching us to live a life without plans or not to make provisions for the rainy day? No. He is rather teaching us the basic truth of faith, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain" (Psalm 127:1). Hence our plans for our life, security and welfare in the future must start with our total submission to God. If God cares and provides for lower creatures like the grass of the field and the birds of the air, how much more will He care for us who are made in His own image and likeness, if we let him?
It is said that Pope John XXIII, everyday before going to sleep look up the crucifix in his room and tell Lord, I am going to sleep. Take care of your Church. And when visiting a group of seminarians in Rome and knowing that he was dying from cancer, said to them: "My dear students. Every day is a good day-- a good day for living and a good day for dying!"

Jesus, therefore, teaches us to replace our many mundane concerns with one over-riding concern: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides" (Matthew 6:33). God who gave us life knows that life needs to be sustained. God who gave us bodies knows that the body needs to be clothed and fed. The best way to assure that the gifts will keep coming is to develop a good relationship with the giver. This is the only sure prescription to overcome worry in our lives.