Homily: June 22, 2024. Saturday of the eleventh week in Ordinary time (Don't worry).

 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."

‘Tomorrow will take care of itself’; do you trust that?

But note the verse that came before it, ‘seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’.

When Pope John XXIII decided on the convocation of the Second Vatican Council, which was a huge historical event seeking to renew and restore the Church back to its roots, our late holy father had great difficulty falling asleep the night before the announcement to the whole church. He later told that he finally convinced himself this way: “Giovanni, why don’t you sleep? Is it the pope or the Holy Spirit that governs the Church? It’s the Holy Spirit, right? Well then, go to sleep, Giovanni!” and then he fell asleep and slept well. 

If the Pope was able to entrust the work of the whole Universal Church to the Holy Spirit and thus sleep well at night, then surely, we all can rest well, right?

Compared to the Pope, and to many other people in worse life conditions, most of us here don’t face life-threatening issues point-blank, yet we seem worried and anxious about many things in the near future, in the far future, even in the unlikely future. We are blessed to enjoy a high level of security, comfort and freedom. At least we have the time and space to plan for the next day, or weeks, or months.

We even have the energy and mental space to think and talk about other issues not directly affecting daily living. Once, I was sitting amidst a heated argument among the priests about gender identity and other social, cultural, and religious problems, then someone turned to me and asked about the situation in India related to these issues. I told them, “I have never heard about such things being discussed in my country until my arrival here.” Because we have more pressing and basic issues to talk about and deal with daily, issues which determine life and death.

There are thousands, or possibly millions, of people who live in constant fear for their safety and have little control of what happens in their environment every day. The common folks in South Sudan, Nigeria, Palestine, Ukraine, North Korea, and Israel are anxious even about the next minute, not knowing what to expect at all. They live in fear and insecurity. They have no capacity to plan for tomorrow.

Yet effectively, they still have two options, since there is nothing they can do about what comes next, they can choose to worry about it, or to trust God completely.

Jesus reminds us, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.” 

‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.’ If the Kingdom of God is in clear focus, everything else fades into the sidelines and will not bother us.

Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.