Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday Father began his homily by saying that he hoped we had really paid attention to the responsorial Psalm today. Even though I just sang it several times, I had to go back and reread it in my worship aid.

”I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.”

Father then went on to talk about our current state of affairs in the world, specifically with the COVID pandemic. He reminded us that whether or not we become ill with this virus, it is ultimately the Lord who calls us home according to His plan and His time.

I have struggled (at times heavily) with anxiety since I was a young child. Even though it is a running joke with several of my closest friends that I’m obsessed with planners, it all stems from my desire to have things planned out and scheduled. I don’t handle the unknown very well.

Ironically, isn’t that what ALL of life is – unknown?

We worry as children about school.
We worry about our futures.
We worry about schooling and whether or not it’s for us.
We worry about choosing the right career path.
We worry about finding a spouse.
We worry about marriage.
We worry about children and whether or not parenthood is right for us.
We worry about our family members and our parents as they begin to age.
We lay awake at night, imagining situations and outcomes that may never come to fruition.
We also lose sleep over tomorrows that aren’t even promised to us.

If you’ve never had any of those worries….well, first – I think you’re a liar, and second – I envy you. The truth of the matter is that we spend SO MUCH OF OUR LIVES worrying about things that will NEVER happen. Now, I’m not saying to throw caution to the wind, cash in your 401k, and take off to Bora Bora. What I am saying is that we spend more energy than we should worrying about things that the Lord already has in order.

This Sunday we began our Little Black Books for the Lenten Season. The first Sunday always talks about your Lenten journey and how you are feeling about the direction you’d like to take. I’d like my Lenten journey this year to be one where I come to rest in the Lord more fully. I want to shed the weight of anxiety that I have carried all these years. I want to spend my energy living the life the Lord has planned for me not worrying about how it will all come to together.

I think about the leper in this week’s Gospel. I think about the worries and anxieties he must have had. All of a sudden one day……along comes Jesus……and the leper was made whole. How often does that happen in our everyday life? We worry and stress over so many things day to day, and then the Lord comes along and delivers us.

This Lent I want to spend more time walking with the Lord an less time worrying about the walk.

Have a blessed week, and we’ll see you back here next Sunday.