Wednesday we begin the season of Lent with ashes imposed on our foreheads while the words of truth are proclaimed: Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. It is a bit sobering yet also freeing. Today’s readings set the scene well knowing that Lent is a time for soul searching and if necessary to reconnect our faith with our actions. It is also a time of preparation for Easter joy.
Each of us is faced with the tensions of how to balance often conflicting demands of body, mind and spirit in morally appropriate ways and how to deflect the temptations of the Evil one who encourages us to believe that we can go it alone, that we do not need God. During this season we are asked to pray in a deeper way, to occasionally fast and to abstain from meat which upsets our desires and our routines, and to give alms, to share ourselves and our blessings in special ways. These small adjustments to our lives and lifestyles are designed to encourage us both to take a look at what is happening in our lives that need attention and to recall our many blessings, beginning with the gift of life itself.
One tradition during Lent is to give up something, to fast from something, to exercise self-discipline in a new way, Our readings today suggest that one thing we might give up for Lent – and forever – is worry and replace it with Jesus Christ.
The beautiful and consoling words from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah could make a good topic for reflection during the coming season of Lent. “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child in her womb? Yet, even should she forget, I will never forget you”, says the Lord. These words are spoken to those who are burdened with anxiety, loneliness, and worry.
Jesus in the Gospel reading affirms that promise of the Lord to never forget us even in the midst of the heaviness of everyday life. He tells us over and over not to worry. “Do not worry about your life.” “Can any of your worrying add one moment to your life span?” “So do not worry about . . . what you are to eat . . . or drink . . . or wear”. “Do not worry about tomorrow.” The way not to allow worry to overtake us is proclaimed in our Psalm for today: “Rest in God alone, only in God is my soul at rest.” That does not mean that we are off the hook for attending to those things that we should do for ourselves. It does mean that we need to ultimately trust in God’s will and God’s way even when we do not fully understand or when we feel rudderless. St. Paul in the letter to the Romans (8:28) put it succinctly: “for those who love God, all things work out for the best.us.” Thus I suggest we all give up worry for Lent.
Worry is not the same as having high standards and seeking to do things right and well and seeking relationships that are healthy and loving. Worry is thinking we must depend on ourselves alone or accept fatalism. St. Augustine said: “For if the providence of God does not preside over human affairs, there is no point in busying oneself about religion.” Abiding faith in Christ and worry do not go together.
We tend to worry about the sins and mistakes of our past. What good does that do; the past cannot be undone. However we can come to terms with it, be cleansed and begin anew through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We worry about the strength to cope with sickness and loss and other hard realities of our human frailty. These can be helped through the healing ministries including anointing of the sick, calling on the gifts of the Holy Spirit received in baptism and confirmation, and especially through regular receipt with true humility of our Lord himself in the Holy Eucharist confident that our Lord is present body and blood, soul and divinity.
St. Paul in the 2nd reading from his first letter to the Corinthians identifies another one of those areas about which we worry – what others think of us or about us. He declares: “It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal . . . the one who judges me is the Lord.” His declaration ought to be ours.
Worrying is a useless exercise that often wears on our hearts and bodies as well as our judgments and decisions. The story is told of a doctor who was paralyzed and bedridden, yet was so cheerful and upbeat with a constant smile that others were drawn to be with him without feeling sorry for him. When one of his children was ready to leave home the doctor dad said to him, “Johnny, the thing to do is to hold up your own end, and do it like a gentleman, and please remember that the biggest troubles you will face are those that never come.”
A dad entered his son’s room and saw comic books spread over the bed. “Where did these come from?” he asked. “I took them from the library.” “You mean you stole them?” “Yes.” The dad made the boy take them back to the library while admonishing him that stealing is a sin. After the family returned from a vacation, the dad entered the boy’s room again and found more comic books. “Where did these come from?” “I stole them from a store while we were on vacation.” As dad burned the comic books in the fire place he sternly spoke to his son about the commandment not to steal. Sometime later the son was discovered having stolen more comic books. The dad responded that this time he would have to punish the boy and spank him. He did so with five whacks; enough he hoped to have the boy learn the lesson and enough to control the dad’s anger. After the punishment the father left the room and in the hallway broke into tears. Some years later the grown son was driving with his mother and they recalled these events. The boy said, “You know, I never stole again.” “Because your father spanked you?” asked his mother. “No,” was the response, “because after he left the room, I heard him cry.”
“I will never forget you,” says the Lord. “Do not worry about tomorrow.” The cross affirms the love of God. Let’s give up worry for Lent and for every other season of our lives. When we rest in God alone and acknowledge that only in God is my soul at rest, all things will work out for the best.