Playing in the Mud?

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 8, 2023

 

Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Phil 4:6–9)

Homily

We often feel crushed under the weight of the anxieties of our lives and of the world — anxieties that come from personal struggles, family struggles, work struggles. We might worry about a loved one who is sick. We might worry about elderly parents. We worry about children or other family members going down the wrong road. We might be worried that they will harm themselves or be miserable their whole lives. We worry about paying all the bills and providing for everything the family needs. If we did not have enough to be anxious about in our own lives, when we turn on the television or grab our phones, we are bombarded with the bad news of the day: hostile politics, wars raging, violence in the streets, hurricanes and wildfires, and more. There is no doubt that a huge segment of the population nowadays is worried, anxious, and suffering from depression.

Yet, in the midst of the worries and anxieties of our lives and the world ... God’s word gives us another way. St. Paul is no stranger to worry and anxiety due to difficult situations. St. Paul says: "Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea . . . In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches." Obviously St. Paul was not living in comfort and luxury and he had lots to worry about. Yet the same man who experienced all of this says to us today in the second reading: have no anxiety at all. How can he say this? Well, it is not as if he just says, “don’t worry,” and leaves it at that. St. Paul offers us a two-part alternative.

First he says: In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. In everything, make your requests known to God. St. Paul exhorts us to turn to prayer, rather than to remain stuck in our own minds. Not only in good times and not only in bad times, but in everything. St. Paul urges us not to hold anything back from God in prayer. Whatever fear, whatever worry, whatever anxiety we experience, we must make the decision to pray always and to pray without ceasing.

A Christian must have a life of prayer that goes beyond the superficial. Pope Benedict XVI once said, “Prayer is not an accessory or ‘optional,’ but a question of life or death. In fact, only those who pray, in other words, who entrust themselves to God with filial love, can enter eternal life, which is God himself” (4 March 2007). St. Paul adds that when we go to God with our prayers and petitions, we ought to do it with thanksgiving. Whether we are coming to God in a moment of joy or suffering, we ought to do it with thanksgiving because everything comes from God or is permitted by God. If we are rejoicing, we rejoice because the Lord has blessed us. If we are suffering, we thank Him because we have come to trust that God will transform that suffering for our good. Jesus transformed the suffering of the cross. He can transform our sufferings, and will indeed do so. If we go to the Lord trustingly in prayer in everything and with thanksgiving, St. Paul says, then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The second part of St. Paul’s alternative to living a life burdened by worry and anxiety is this: "Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." One of the reasons why we are often stuck in the mud is because, for some reason, we like to play in the mud. We are fascinated with the bad things that are happening. If we were not, we would not ever turn on the evening news or endlessly go down the rabbit holes of the internet! We are fascinated with evil. Just look at the majority of films that are produced, filled with evil and violence. We are so quick to share all the wicked things that go on and that other people do. We say, “look at what he/she did,” or “did you hear what he/she said?”

Instead of remaining in the mud, St. Paul urges us, think and talk about the good, the true, the beautiful, the pure, the lovely, the gracious. Think and talk about whatever is worthy of praise. These are the things that should flood our minds and hearts. How much less worried and anxious we would be if we spent just a few minutes more each day focusing on the good things that are happening, and most importantly, focusing on the only One Who Is Good — God Himself.

 FR. LOUIS PHILIP MASI