Do Not Worry | February 16

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Do you ever worry about something you have planned in the future and after the fact you realize it wasn’t so bad after all? It’s tempting to be apprehensive about our future and situations we can’t control. The devil must enjoy using our doubts and fears against us.
 
That scenario is very familiar to me and I was reminded of it when reading our Gospel for today. The Disciples are scolded by our Lord for their lack of faith and understanding. Jesus echoes the Old Testament prophets when he asks: “Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
 
Our Gospel today provides us a chance to reflect on spiritual blindness and deafness that we may be suffering from. A short term spiritual memory loss can test our faith when we forget how many times we worried for no reason at all.
 
Jesus may have summed it up best in the Gospel of Matthew when He said: “Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself.”
 
We certainly don’t need to worry about tomorrow but since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, we may want to consider spending some time this Lent reflecting on the situations in our life that harden our hearts, blind our eyes and deafen our ears.
 
As it turns out, these are human conditions brought on by the effects of sin. Fortunately Lent is a chance to consider how God may be calling us to let go and let God be in charge more often. Let us always remember those comforting words from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans when he said:  “that all things work for good for those who love God…”