{"id":1300,"date":"2014-03-02T07:15:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T12:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2014-03-02T07:15:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T12:15:27","slug":"homily-8th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/homily-8th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A"},"content":{"rendered":"

8th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nIsaiah 49:14-15
\n1 Corinthians 4:1-5
\nMatthew 6:24-34
\nMarch 2, 2014<\/p>\n

The Israelites had been in exile in Babylon.\u00a0 While in exile, many felt that the Lord had forgotten them.\u00a0 What is the Lord\u2019s response to this?\u00a0 \u201cI will never forget you<\/i><\/b>.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you ever feel like the Lord has forgotten you?\u00a0 If you have, it\u2019s probably because something bad happened.\u00a0 Maybe you prayed for something and didn\u2019t get what you wanted.<\/p>\n

When we face problems in our lives, do we really turn it over to the Lord or do we spend a lot of time worrying about it?<\/p>\n

What do you worry about?\u00a0 Jesus tells us not to work about what we have to eat or drink, our bodies, or what we will wear?<\/p>\n

These things are things we really need.\u00a0 It would seem that we have every reason to worry.\u00a0 When we don\u2019t have these basic needs fulfilled, we might feel forgotten<\/i>.<\/p>\n

When we feel \u201cworry\u201d we should remember the words of Jesus and ask ourselves \u201cCan any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

Worrying accomplishes nothing but what are we supposed to do?<\/p>\n

First, we must ask ourselves if whatever causes us to worry is that important.\u00a0 If it isn\u2019t, then why are we worrying at all?<\/p>\n

If it is important, we can ask ourselves what we can do about it.\u00a0 Our actions must always be good and should be rooted in prayer but we must also realize we can\u2019t do everything ourselves.\u00a0 Some people worry about not having enough but they won\u2019t accept charity.<\/p>\n

Maybe the precise way that God wants to answer our prayers is through the charity of others.<\/p>\n

St. Catherine believed that worry indicates a lack of trust in God.\u00a0 We might ask ourselves why we won\u2019t trust God.\u00a0 The first answer might be that if God really cared we won\u2019t have problems in the first place.\u00a0 Or we might feel that God hasn\u2019t answered our prayers in the past, then we can\u2019t count on him for help now.<\/p>\n

I would also wonder how hard it might be for us to trust anyone<\/i>.\u00a0 Sometimes we have people in our lives that we can\u2019t count on.\u00a0 Unfortunately, not only does that make it hard to trust the individual, this can make it hard for us that we can trust anyone, God included<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us that we cannot serve both God and mammon, mammon being earthly riches and\/or material things.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it can be easier to focus on worldly things.\u00a0 Worldly things are here and now.\u00a0 We know they are real.<\/p>\n

Godly things are more abstract.\u00a0 Sometimes we have to wait for heaven\u2019s reward so we might doubt it will ever come.<\/p>\n

The things we worry about can be very real.\u00a0 We think if we just make a little more money, have a little bit bigger house, all our worries will go away and we will find rest.<\/p>\n

The psalmist reminds us of this says \u201conly in God is my soul at rest<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

True spiritual rest<\/i> does not come from material things.\u00a0 It is rest in the peace of Christ that we are created for.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it came seem so hard to know the peace of Christ but when I do, for me, it changes everything.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that all my problems and concerns go away.\u00a0 I just realize they aren\u2019t so important.<\/p>\n

When I am finally able to let go and find peace, one of the amazing things for me is I get more done.\u00a0 Everything falls into place.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because when we let go and enter into God\u2019s peace, we let God into our lives.<\/p>\n

Lent starts this week.\u00a0 Our church calls us to give something up for Lent.\u00a0 If you are a worrier, I suggest you think about giving up \u201cworrying\u201d for Lent.\u00a0 It might seem odd or impossible but the reward can be good.\u00a0 Hand it over to God.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a worrying, whatever you do choose to give up for Lent, don\u2019t let it be something trivial.\u00a0 Pick something that is important to you and in giving it up, you show that God is more important and you put your trust in him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 49:14-15 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Matthew 6:24-34 March 2, 2014 The Israelites had been in exile in Babylon.\u00a0 While in exile, many felt that the Lord had forgotten them.\u00a0 What is the Lord\u2019s response to this?\u00a0 \u201cI will never forget you.\u201d Do you ever feel like the Lord …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Homily – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-kY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1301,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}