Worry

How often do you get caught up in the things that are going on, things that you have no control over? We live in a time in which you can pull out of your pocket or purse a device that can instantly give you information from just about anywhere in the world with the click of a thumb.

I have a friend who has banned his mother from watching the Weather Channel because she used to sit and watch it most of the day and worry about the weather in other countries and regions. The weather is something that she could not control but she worried about it anyway. While there are times that we really wish that we could control the weather, but we cannot. We spend so much time stressing and worrying about things that we shouldn’t because they are things that are not in our hands, but in God’s. This is something that I need to listen to myself, I constantly worry about the things that are going on in this parish, even though I know that God will provide! I, by my own nature, tend to worry and I need to keep reminding myself that worry steals from hope and peace and peace of tomorrow, and hope and trust in God overcomes worry.

When we allow ourselves to get caught up in those things that may never happen, we forget to concentrate on the people and things that are going on right now. When we get stressed about things, we often take it out on people that are around us, most especially those that are closest to us. This is something that we can work on and that will help us with the worry. Even in our busy lives, we can take some time to pray, pray for calmness and peace in our hearts. We can often look to the lives of the saints and wonder how they were so calm in their lives, even though they often had good reason to worry. Many of the saints were persecuted for their faith, and some even by leaders of the Church. Mother Teresa was a woman of great faith and trust in God, she is quoted as saying “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today. Let us begin.” When I begin to worry about things myself, I remember that if we trust in God everything will work out.

Padre Pio was another saint who had some incredible struggles in his life, but he was also one who had a great saying “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” And also “My past, O Lord, to Your mercy; my present, to Your love; my future to Your providence.” My advice is to Pray, hope, work to change those things you can, and trust that God will take care of the rest. If I were to add to Mother Teresa’s quote, I would say something like we remember the beauty and good things of the past, we plan for the things in the future, but we live for today.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken