8th ORDINARY SUNDAY A

8th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (First Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

A fire broke out in a neighborhood. Everyone was accounted for except a 5-year old girl. A rescue team had been dispatched to locate her, but all of a sudden the girl appeared at the balcony of the house’s top floor. Everyone below looked up and told the girl to jump down into a net strategically placed to catch her. The girl was scared to death, and no amount of assurance from the crowd could convince her to do as she was told. Few precious minutes passed and the fire was fast engulfing the whole house. The girl was in a serious threat of being burned alive, but was frozen with fear. Amidst all the commotion, the girl’s father, who rushed to the scene from work the moment he heard of the incident over the radio, appeared. When the girl saw him, it was then that without hesitation she threw herself down, assured by her father’s presence.

Trust is a very powerful force in life. We can have whatever we want to have, we can be with whoever we want to be with, but without trust, we might just as well have nothing or live on our own. However, despite its unique importance in life, trust is not easy to achieve. We need to have the right frame of mind in accepting some uncertainties and let go of our insecurities. Better said than done. At the bottom of it all, trust is about relationship with someone whose assurance we hold on to, and whose person we dearly cherish in our heart.

In today’s gospel reading, the Lord tells us that “no one can serve two masters; we either love one and hate the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.” It is an intriguing thought, though something we ourselves could verify personally. Could we indeed serve two masters? Could clinging both to God and mammon make our life more secure? When torn between two interests, our relationship with God often suffers. God is an awesome God; but He is also a jealous God. Confidence in Him means putting things at His disposal, including ourselves, and let our worries take the back seat.

Yet worry is the maiden name of many of us. We might have ‘married’ God, but we are still stuck with the dear old Mr/Ms Worry. Curiously, we feed our worries, so that they multiply in number and acquire a gargantuan size. Curiously as well, we feed on them, so that they become us and we become them. We got so engrossed and preoccupied with our worries that we could no longer distinguish ourselves apart from them. Worry has a way of eating us alive. It can wrap our face (notice the wrinkles?), color our hair white, rob us of our appetite (or, conversely, turn us into binge eaters), give us nightmares, make us take medicines, give us hypertension, steal our sweet smiles, control our moods, and, ultimately, kill us.

News report: A person with a history of heart problem died last week. In a post-Morten analysis, it was found out that the 45-year old banker was killed not by his heart problem but for worrying about his heart problem. It is a worrying fact. People are dying not of their problems or illness or poverty or joblessness or heartbreaks—but for worrying about these things. It has been reported as well that in the recession-battered country of Ireland, cases of suicide are rising at an alarming rate. 

At the present estimate, 10 people are taking their own lives each week. Despite the gravity of their socio-economic conditions, many Irish did not die of hunger or poverty. They were simply taken over by worries and despair, and so gave up. It is also a worrying fact for the Lord.

Thus, without beating around the bush, Jesus hits us right on our head by asking: “Can anyone of you by worrying add a single moment in your lifespan?” We grin and blush, but we still worry. How should we deal with our worries then? Jesus’ proposal is downright simple and straightforward: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall be given to you.” It is a time-tested promise with an effectiveness that is second to none. Prophet Isaiah’s testimony in today’s first reading (49:14-15) gives us the assurance of a God who does not abandon His people, come what may. We just have to trust in Him.

An Associated Press article recently released said that “Scientists have estimated the first cosmic census of planets in our galaxy and the numbers are astronomical: at least 50 billion planets in the Milky Way.” The vastness of the universe is unfathomable; its wonders are mind-blowing. To believe that God created all this should give us a sense of how small we are in relation to the Almighty Creator. It is a perfect plan. The more we discover things about the universe, the more we realize we have barely scratched the surface of God’s creation. And if God can take care of the whole universe, there is no reason He cannot take care of each one of us.

Linda is the name of the 5-year old girl in our above story. One day, after the fire incident, she looked up to the sky and noticed a cloud formation shaped like an ‘L’. She then said to her father: “Father, look, my name is written in heaven.” That was how Linda became convinced that she was indeed in God’s hands and will always be.

Worry is a good thing, but only if it is a worry about not trusting in God enough. We might not completely understand the direction of our life; we might have many questions about what is happening to us, to our family, and to the world. But we will be helping ourselves in an authentic way if we let go and let God. Addressing our fears, anxieties and worries could be best done by surrendering them to God and seek Him above all else.

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8th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (Second Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

The story is told about a man who, after going out of his car after a vehicular accident, exclaimed: “Oh, no! my Porsche!” When someone pointed to his left wrist which was profusely bleeding, all he could exclaim was: “Oh, no, my Rolex!”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us in very clear terms that we cannot serve two masters, i.e., God and money. We have to make a clear choice—hate one or love the other, be devoted to one or despise the other. In other words, a true follower of Jesus cannot make money his/her god.

Attachment to money makes us worry. Actually, he/she who makes money his/her god, ends up with a lot of unnecessary worries and useless anxieties. How beautiful to hear Jesus’ words today telling us not to worry about what to eat, or what to wear, and not to worry about tomorrow, reminding us that we have a Father who knows and who will provide for our needs!

Attachment to God sets us free. Those who rely on God’s help and not on their resources and wealth are less uptight than those who rely on their own power and strength. Those who know how to let go and how to let God are in a better position to be trusting and obedient than those who control people and life itself. The sooner we learn to rely and trust in God, the better. May we not waste a whole lifetime pretending we are gods and believing we don’t need a God.

It is always a very edifying experience to meet people who give up worldly pursuits for love of God and His kingdom. In the Mission House where I stay, I receive so much inspiration from our Filipino SVD missionaries who go to other countries braving loneliness, poverty, deprivation and even persecution for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

How disgusting on the other hand are those who seek themselves and who even use God for their own personal gain. They literally and unashamedly use the name of God in vain. They are users, and in my card, users are the biggest losers. Why? Because they are the ones bound to lose their self-respect, other people’s respect and their very souls when the final day of reckoning comes.

Are you some kind of a monster master who lords it over people? Are you involved in the control game? Do you have to have a grip over everyone and everything? Then you are an insecure person with lots of fears deep inside, and you are taking the lonely road that will be strewn with regrets because of foolish pride.

Recently I met a wife who realized how she had been so controlling and demanding of her husband and children all these years. Older and wiser now, she has realized the futility of her efforts to be on top of everything and everyone, plus the hurts she caused her loved ones in her desire for order and unity. Actually, she said, all the toughness and rigidness were a front to cover up her need for love and affection deep inside.

I have met many well-meaning persons who sincerely want to correct what is wrong and to put forward their principles and beliefs, all in the name of goodness and righteousness. The problem with such people is that their idea of goodness is based on themselves, and their idea of righteousness is that of self-righteousness. The problem with people who mean well is, well, they can be mean.

A word of caution to parents who work so hard so that they can leave behind lots of money for the children and grandchildren. The whole thing can be a cause of so much division and strife. In other words, it can backfire. It can even make one wonder in the end if they love you for you, or for what they can get from you.

On a personal note, our 89-year-old Mama has not much money to give us or to leave us. From time to time, she would pull me aside in her room and tell me she has something for me—a very good book she has read, a box of chocolates she has kept or a little cash she has saved. Little things, but given with so much love! Beyond material things, she gives us so much love, inspiration, encouragement, respect and pride.

Instead of just getting more and more money, let us remember that a meaningful life is all about keeping in touch and getting involved with God and with people!

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8^th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (Third Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

Today's Gospel begins with a very strong statement: “No one can serve two masters.” Now, take a moment and calculate how many masters we strive to serve in one day’s time. How many masters do we have? Who and what are our masters? Note: a master does not have to be human. It may be helpful to write down who and what our masters are.

A master can be anything or anyone. Today cell phones seem to be the master of many people. No matter where we are or who we are with, the phone is right with us. And we might even feel lost when we don’t have our phone with us. If we have been in an airport lately, we may have noticed that everyone seems to be on the phone, Ipad or computer. These days the need to be constantly connected almost seems obsessive. Ask ourselves: do we feel “lost” or “naked” when we don’t have our cell phone or Ipad?

Don’t get me wrong. The reality today is that technology is an integral part of most people’s lives. Technology is useful in a wide variety of ways. However, the question may be: is technology ruling our lives, be that personal, professional or spiritual? Has technology become our “God?” Have we lost a sense of the “Sacred” in our lives? 

Today Jesus warns his disciples to keep their priorities in order. He doesn’t want them to worry about the little things, to worry about tomorrow’s needs, or what they will eat or wear in the future. Jesus reminds them that life is more than food or shelter. We can have all the money in the world and still not be satisfied. Jesus is reminding his listeners that only God has the ability to give us true and lasting peace and happiness. Yes, there are many gifts in our wonderful world, but without God, there is no meaning! Yet so often, We continue to look for love (or satisfaction) in all the wrong places. 

Jesus makes a condition of discipleship in the very first statement of today's Gospel when He says: "You cannot serve both God and mammon.” “Mammon” is an Aramaic word meaning wealth or property, and signifies a choice that is not of God, but one driven by greed and avarice.

Jesus knows human nature so well. He knows that the human person can only concentrate on one thing at once. I do not think Jesus would have agreed with the modern notion that multitasking is a virtue! Jesus wants his people to concentrate on what matters most. Look beyond the day-to-day concerns of food and clothing and see the bigger picture, says Jesus in the Gospels. He advises his followers to focus their attention on God, the creator and sustainer of all that is. Food and clothing pale in comparison to the love of God shown through Jesus Christ.

Fully concentrating on day-to-day living issues can lead one away from God. If food, clothing, and shelter become the priority, the person will never have enough or be satisfied with what he or she has right now. In the consumer society in which we live today, there is always the temptation for bigger, more expensive, the latest fashion or technology, and the most popular. Any of these whims could change tomorrow, and the cycle begins anew. This is why Jesus says the person cannot serve both God and mammon! Serving mammon will take one’s full undivided attention and all of one’s resources.

Instead, Jesus wants his followers to focus on God and his call to a life based in him and his teachings. These are the things that are permanent! Food, clothing, and shelter are all perishable in the end. What is not perishable is one’s relationship with God. It takes a certain maturity in faith to look beyond the perishable and concentrate solely on God. For the person who does, life takes on new meaning. The latest whims of the market take on less priority. Learning to live with what one has becomes easier and one has the ability to live well with less.

It is only in prayer that this attitude toward worldly things can be achieved. Food, clothing, and shelter take on less importance in the face of prayer and of being in the presence of God. One realizes rather quickly that those things don’t matter as much, and more importantly, if one makes a conscious decision to spend more time with God, the rest takes care of itself. 

At the realization that all things come from God, the person becomes very satisfied with what is, and does not look to the latest fashion or whim. The list of worries begins to shrink because the disciple believes the list is in God’s hands, and that in his time all concerns and issues will be remedied. It is the goal of every follower of Jesus Christ to set his or her sights on him alone, and allow him to direct, guide, and supply his followers with all they need in this life and, most importantly, with life eternal.

May we look to God today for our peace, our grace and our happiness leave everything that is short-lived!

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8th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (Fourth Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

Today’s Gospel helps us to review the relationships with material goods and presents two themes of diverse importance: our relationship with money (Mt 6, 24) and our relationship with Divine Providence (Mt 6, 25-34). The advice given by Jesus gave rise to several questions of difficult response. For example, how can we understand today the affirmation: “You cannot serve God and money” (Mt 6, 24)? How can we understand the recommendation not to worry about food, about drink and about dress (Mt 6, 25)?

But Jesus is very clear in his affirmation: “No one can serve two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and money…Each one has to make his/her own choice. They should ask themselves: “To what do I give the first place in my life: to God or to money?” On this choice will depend the understanding of the advice which follow on Divine Providence (Mt 6, 25-34). It is not a question of a choice made only in one’s head, but rather of a very concrete choice of life that has something to do also with attitudes.

He criticizes the excessive worry about eating and drinking. This criticism of Jesus, even in our days, causes great fear in people, because the great worry of all parents is how to get food and clothing for their children. The reason for the criticism is that life is worth more than food and the body more than the clothes. In order to clarify or explain his criticism Jesus presents two parables: the birds of the air and the flowers.

The parable of the birds of the air: life is worth more than food. Jesus orders them to look at the birds. They do not sow, or reap or gather into barns, but they always have something to eat because the Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?” Jesus criticizes the fact that the worry about food occupies the whole horizon of the life of persons, without leaving space to experience and relish gratuity of the fraternity and of the sense of belonging to the Father. This is why the neo-liberal system is criminal because it obliges the great majority of persons to live 24 hours a day, worried about food and clothing, and produces in a rich minority, quite limited one, the anguish of buying and consuming up to the point of not leaving space for nothing else. Jesus says that life is worth more than the goods to be consumed! The neo-liberal system prevents from living the Kingdom.

The Parable of the lilies in the fields: the body is worth more than clothing. Jesus asks to look at the flowers, the lilies of the fields. How elegant and beautiful God dresses them! “Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith?” Jesus says to look at the things of nature, because seeing the flowers and the field, people will remember the mission which we have: to struggle for the Kingdom and to create a new life living together which can guarantee the food and the clothes for everybody.

He furthers warns us not be like the Gentiles. Jesus once again criticises the excessive worry for food, drink and clothing. And he concludes: “The Gentiles are concerned about these things!” There should be a difference in the life of those who have faith in Jesus and those who do not have faith in Jesus. Those who have faith in Jesus share with him the experience of the gratuity of God the Father, Abba. This experience of paternity should revolutionize the life together. It should generate a community life which is fraternal, and the seed of a new society.

He tells us to set our hearts on the Kingdom first. Jesus indicates two criteria: “To seek first the Kingdom of God” and not to worry about tomorrow”. To seek first the Kingdom and its justice is a means to seek to do God’s Will and allow God to reign in our life. The search for God is concretely expressed in the search of a fraternal and just life together. And from this concern for the Kingdom springs a community life in which all live as brothers and sisters and nobody is lacking anything. Here there will be no worry of tomorrow, that is, there will be no worry to store up things.

The kingdom of God should be in the centre of all our concerns. The Kingdom demands a life together, where there is no storing up of things, but sharing in such a way that all have what is necessary to live. The Kingdom is the new fraternal life together, in which each person feels responsible for others. This way of seeing the Kingdom helps to understand better the parables of the birds and the flowers, because for Jesus Divine Providence passes through the fraternal organization. To be concerned about the Kingdom of God and its justice is the same as to be concerned about accepting God, the Father and of being brother and sister of others. Before the growing impoverishment caused by economic neo-liberalism, the concrete form which the Gospel presents to us and thanks to which the poor will be able to live is the solidarity and the organization.

A sharp knife in the hands of a child can be a mortal weapon. A sharp knife in the hand of a person hanging on a cord can be an arm which saves. The words of God on Divine Providence are like this. It would not be evangelical to say to a jobless father, who is poor, who has eight children and a sick wife: “Do not worry about food or drink! Because why worry about health and clothes?” (Mt 6, 25-28). We can say this only when we ourselves imitate Jesus, organize ourselves to share, guaranteeing in this way to the brother the possibility to survive. Otherwise, we are like the three friends of Job, that in order to defend God they told lies on human life (Job 13, 7). It would be like “abandoning an orphan and betraying a friend” (Job 7, 27). In the mouth of the system of the rich, these words can be a mortal arm against the poor. In the mouth of the poor they can be a real and concrete outlet for a better life together, more just and more fraternal.

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8th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (Fifth Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

What do we really need? Our society is based on acquisition of things, especially wealth. We are concerned about what we do not have, especially people who are considered to be “have not”.  Jesus is saying that it doesn’t matter how hard we try to get things, we can’t accumulate more than what God can provide for us. If we are called to our heavenly home by God, what good will earthly goods be? After all, we can’t take them with us. What Jesus is saying in the reading we just heard from Matthew’s Gospel is that we must put first things first. In other words, we are to seek first the Kingdom of God, and we must do this every day. To seek the Kingdom, we must first seek the King.

We must first seek his righteousness. In other words, we are to be seeking God’s character within us, not God’s control over us. It is our job to serve God and God’s job is to supply us with what we need-not the other way around. God will supply us with what we really need if we put our trust in him. We don’t need everything we want, and we don’t want everything we need. God doesn’t give us everything we need.  

People must see the Kingdom in us as we see the Kingdom of God. That is the real mark of a Christian. When ordinary people begin to talk about their faith in Christ, long-lasting results are achieved. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. We are all called to be a witness for Christ in our lives. It opens the door, even slightly, for God to do something in the life of the person who hears the story. In order for the message to have integrity, it must first be embodied in our lives. In other words, God must be number one in our lives. 

The message of the Gospel about the power of Christ to change a human life is by its very nature controversial, because people just naturally resist change and agents of change. Most of us would rather settle for our old familiar second-best lifestyle than venture with Christ into a far more excellent way of life. We simply don’t like for people to make waves. 

But whenever the Spirit of Christ is released in a person’s life or let loose on a congregation, things begin to happen. Broken relationships are healed as reconciliation takes the place of alienation. The fruits of the Spirit such as love, peace, patience and kindness begin to emerge. And people catch fire for the Lord! No one can deny that something is going on. The earth may not quake, a sound like a mighty wind might not be heard, tongues of fire may not appear, and people may not speak in strange languages, but it could be described as a “second Pentecost”. And at times like these you can either respond favourably or negatively to Christ, but you will find it hard to ignore him. There is something about the activity of Christ that causes us to choose sides.  

Jesus’ parable of the rich fool is a good example of what he is trying to tell us in today’s Gospel reading. The rich man kept building bigger and bigger barns, and then he died. He was foolish because he spent all of his time preparing for a future that never came. The future is not God’s creation-it is our imagination. We dream about the future, but God creates today. God is not saying that we should not prepare for the future at all. On the contrary, he is telling us to prepare for a future with him by putting our trust and faith in him, and by letting him work through us to do his work in the world.

The main problem in society today is worry about the future. The problem with worrying is that it is easy to do but so hard to lose. It is a power that controls our lives. Worry is a big problem for our society. Advertising only adds to that worry because it tries to convince us that we really need the newest car, computer, dress, suit, etc. This is really about acceptance, but the only acceptance that should matter to Christians is acceptance by God. 

Many of the problems we can’t solve instantly can be moved one piece at a time, one day at a time. When worries seem to be overtaking you, let God take over. Trust God to supply our needs and take care of our future. Let faith provide you with a healthy and balanced perspective about life and its demands. Instead of nursing wounds of self-pity, pray for the grace to forgive. Instead of worrying about those for whom we are responsible, ask God to intervene and lift the burden from our shoulders. Instead of thinking creatively about how to bring someone else down, pray creatively how to build them up. We find peace of mind and heart only when we wrap ourselves in something bigger than ourselves. Peace is a by-product of being committed to the Kingdom of God and the resources God gives us for the journey we call life. 

We serve only that which we love supremely. We can’t serve both God and man. In other words, a man of the world can’t truly be a religious character. We can be in the world but not of the world only if we trust and serve the Lord. Our existence depends solely on God. We must trust on his wisdom that what he provides for us is truly what we need. We must obey his instructions and submit to whatever he uses to transform our character, whether it is hardship, suffering or ease. When we make a commitment to become increasingly like Christ, God will take responsibility for providing whatever we need.

Grace is the way to glory, holiness the way to happiness. God has conferred the greatest blessings (Life and the body) so he will be willing to confer the lesser blessings of food, clothing, shelter and other necessities. Those who ask receive, and those who seek find, but not always in the way they expect because God answers prayer in his own time and in his own way. 

Man has three basic, insatiable needs:

1.      To feel significant

2.      To feel secure

3.      To be loved

The best way to meet these needs is to make God number one in our lives. Everything we do and say, day by day, is of importance to him. Only as we love God can we love our spouse, children, neighbours, siblings and friends in a complete way. Man is formed for nobler pursuits than the desire to be rich. He lives for eternity. Those who do not know God WILL be anxious about the future, but those who do know him may surely trust him for the supply of their wants. If our minds are directed to both earthly and heavenly things, we become distracted, confused and darkened. We can’t serve both God and man. Trusting and serving God will prevent worldly anxieties. 

In order to trust God to provide for our daily needs, we must value ourselves and forget ourselves and focus on God. God does not tell us not to work. In fact, he tells us in the Ten Commandments to work six days and rest on the seventh. Those who do not trust God to provide for their needs will not rest in that seventh day. By not worrying about our needs, we are free to serve him, love him and help our fellow man. We have a power stronger than anxiety-the power of God and prayer. We have a peace that outlasts our anxiety and difficulties-the peace of God, which passes all understanding. 

God is committed to the gospel of Jesus and to anyone who makes it their first priority. Other than that, we’re on our own. We’ll have to “Fish or cut bait”. God is not obligated to fund our dreams and projects-only his and the ones planted within us through spiritual gifts and divine calling. To strip Christian faith of its unpredictability and risk in order to turn it into a warm velvet limo ride to a perfect world is to destroy it. 

Those of you who watch the reality program Fear Factor may be disgusted by some of the stunts, but at some level we all know that getting the rewards of life is dependent on conquering and facing our fears, and that is nowhere more true than in our relationship with Jesus Christ and the kingdom he is intent on bringing to this world. He knows how large our fears are and how puny our faith is.  It honours him when we trust him. Nothing about us surprises him or makes him loves us any less. To always be seeking the kingdom is to live near the outer edge of predictability, where needs are always greater than resources. Empty hands are not hard to fill, especially when they are lifted to heaven.  

We must always ask ourselves the question, “Is my life a gift from God, and if so can I trust God to sustain it?” There is no more basic question, and our lives each give an answer. Once the basic needs are met, is there anything more? Life without an appetite for God is flat and stale. Our good deeds must not loom high in our own minds. They are to be hidden from us. With one’s goodness looming before one’s eyes, one soon comes to feel that they deserve the recognition and admiration of the people. Jesus tells us not to seek this transient reward. 

This does not mean that we have no interest in what others think of us. Sometimes we need to hear what those around us are saying, even if we find it unpleasant. Profiting from this praise is not the same as counting such praise as the supreme good. Jesus invites us to seek the true and lasting reward, not the transient and perishable one. 

That reward is the companionship of God himself. As Jesus said, “Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. It is not in satisfying our craving to have more and more that we have abundant life. No, it is in serving God and loving others as we love ourselves that abundant life is gained and lived. Possessions on earth are not for accumulating, they are for distributing in ways that Christ is honoured and our joy in heaven is increased. When we give (especially when we give so generously that we have to sell something to have anything to give), we show that Christ is our treasure and that we love others more than we love our own security and comfort.

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8th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (Sixth Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

Once a manager whose business was floundering hired personnel and told him that his job was simply to worry for the company. " I will pay you 20,000 a month,” the manager said. The hired man was elated. “But with your business failing, where will you get that money, sir?” he asked. "That’s your first worry!” said the boss.

In this 8th Sunday of the year, our Lord tells us in the Sermon of the Mount, “Do not worry about your body, what you are to eat or drink or use for clothing. Is life not more than food? Is not the body more valuable than clothes?” (Mt 6:25).

But someone might say Jesus’ words sound hollow and unrealistic. “Should I not worry when my business is floundering as in the above story or when my creditors are running after me over millions of debt, or I’m about to lose my job, or this lump on my neck is diagnosed as cancerous? These should be a cause for worry, indeed. But we must not lose hope. We must believe in God’s providence and do everything possible to remedy our problems.

When the Lord says “Don’t worry,” He doesn’t mean “Don’t work” or just sit around waiting for manna to drop down from heaven. Even the birds of the air, which He says the Father feeds, have to work hard. As the writer J.C. Holland puts it: “God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into the nest.”

There is another view espoused by people who are fond of quoting the proverb, “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” In practice, however, these people forget God’s rule in their lives. They live and act as if their achievements and success depended entirely on their own human effort. Worse, if they use their talent and astuteness to make money by illegal means.

Focus on the goodness and providence of God. Excessive worry manifests a lack of the proper spiritual outlook or a deep faith in God. “Worry is a form of mild atheism,” a spiritual writer aptly said. In letting God share our worry, we offer our problems to Him. We do our best and God does the rest.

There’s a puzzling teaching in gospel related to money. Jesus says, “No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt 6:24). The Lord is not telling us to make a choice between God and money. It is because in practical life, money is important. We need money to live, to support ourselves and families, to help sustain our country’s economy.

But money can become bad when it replaces God as the center of our life or when our sole preoccupation is making money without regard for God and the spiritual values. This is what Jesus means by “not serving God and mammon.

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8th Ordinary Sunday of the Year A (Seventh Sermon)

Is. 49:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; Mt. 6:24-34

A Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students “How much do you think this glass weighs?”

’50gms!’…'100gms!’ …'125gms’. The students answered. “I really don’t know unless I weigh it,” said the professor, “but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?” 'Nothing’, the students said. 'Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?’ the professor asked. Your arm would begin to ache, said one of the student you are  right. Now what would happen if I held it for a day? Your arm could go numb and you might have severe muscle stress and paralysis,  and have to go to hospital for sure.

But during all this, did the weight of the glass change? Asked the professor.'No’…. Was the answer. "Then what caused the arm ache and the muscle stress?” The students were puzzled. "What should I do now to come out of pain?” asked professor again. "Put the glass down!” said one of the students. "Exactly!” said the professor.

Life’s problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in our head and they seem OK. Think of them for a long time and they begin to ache. Hold it even longer and they begin to paralyze us. We will not be able to do anything. It’s important to think of the challenges or problems in our life, But EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is to ‘PUT THEM DOWN’ at the end of every day before we go to sleep. That way, we are not stressed, we wake up every day fresh and strong, and can handle any issue, any challenge that comes our way!

So, when we start our day today, Remember friend to ‘PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY! ‘Yes, it is easy to get rid of the glass. But we find it so difficult to get rid of our worries.  They hurt, we still hold on to them.

In the gospel text of today, as we continue to listen to his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us: do not worry.  Be free!

What is worry? It is the mental process of rumination about a negative experience. It is a repeated thinking about the negative experience focusing on impossibilities and their consequences. An online dictionary defines it as “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts.”  While the influence of some personality types cannot be ruled out in habitual worrying, it could also be an outcome of a certain style of functioning in daily life.  My intuition is that people who tend to focus on urgent and unimportant tasks might build a habit of worrying too much (fretting), and end up with anxiety and stress.  It could also be a result of the lack of some skills in time-management and planning. 

On the other hand, people who tend to be less worried might be focusing on important and non-urgent tasks.  The question is, how do I make out on a daily basis what is more important than another.  To me this seems simple: if I have the purpose and mission of my life clearly sorted out, then what contributes to my purpose in life is important, and everything else is only at the periphery!

This simple insight from popular psychology is not isolated from what, I think, Jesus is saying in the gospel of today.  Jesus calls us to prioritize: “No one can be the slave of two masters” (Mt 6:24).  Jesus invites us to sort out our value system: “Set your hearts on his kingdom first” (Mt 6:33); “That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Mt 6:25). We can render what contemporary psychology is saying in terms of the teachings of Jesus as follows: if I want to enjoy wellbeing, then, the purpose in my life needs to be determined by the values of the Kingdom!  But before we go any further, a caveat is in place.

What Jesus is not saying? He is not encouraging lethargy (or sloth). In the Christian tradition, sloth was classified as one of the ‘deadly sins’. Sloth includes emotional or spiritual apathy, being physically and emotionally inactive, not using the gifts God has given, and at a deeper level not co-operating with the grace of God.  Elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew, in the parable of talents (Mt 25:14-29), Jesus condemns lethargy and sloth. As someone once told me, as Jesus quotes the example of ‘ the birds of the air’ and ‘ the flowers of the field’, it is insightful to look at that analogy a little more deeply:  the birds of the air do not just sit idle and wait for the Creator to bring them food.  

They work – fly around and scavenge – to get access to the food that the Creator provides for them.  And the flowers of the field, as per their nature, continue with the metabolic activities of absorption, transpiration and photosynthesis.  They continue to grow.

The bookmark of Teresa of Avila summarizes it all: “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things pass away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has God finds he lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”

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