I invite you all to come join us this evening for the first night of our 3-night Parish Lenten Mission with Gary Zimak (zim-mack), titled “Give Up Worry for Lent.” Together, we can learn how to give up worry for Lent. As “homework”, I have been reading his book. Day 4 is entitled “Give Him Your Problems” and the reflection includes this question from Jesus to the blind beggar Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51) As I reflected on this question, I cannot help but wonder to myself: what are our coping mechanisms when we are frustrated, worried, or stressed? Would God be the first person we turn to for help? Would we tell God what we want him to do for us in those moments?
“Give Up Worry for Lent” by Gary Zimak (zim-mack) is one book in a long line of books to help us do the one thing that Jesus asks of us but we cannot seem to do on our own: DEPEND ON GOD. What did God say to the disciples in today’s Gospel? "This is my beloved Son. LISTEN TO HIM." Mary, the Mother of God, also said something similar, “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU” (John 2:5). In the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 5:25-34), our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tells us: “DO NOT WORRY about your life” and “DO NOT WORRY about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself”. Christ asks us, “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?” Rather than worry, Jesus invites us to “[come] to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. . . my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus wants us to surrender our worries, our pain, our suffering. . . and all those things that bind and enslave us. . . over to him so that we can truly be free.
You see, when worry occupies us, we do not leave room in our hearts for hope. The Holy Father, Pope Francis, talks about hope in his Message for Lent, saying: “. . .we need to combat a deficit of hope that stifles dreams and the silent cry that reaches to heaven and moves the heart of God. This ‘deficit of hope’ is not unlike the nostalgia for slavery that paralyzed Israel in the desert and prevented it from moving forward. . . The desert is the place where our freedom can mature in a personal decision not to fall back into slavery. . . This, however, entails a struggle. . .” We know we are doing it right when our Lenten offering is a struggle for us. And in those moments of struggle, we should absolutely depend on God. “Let go and let God” should be our mantra. However, Christ does not want us to say, “Jesus, take the wheel,” and then for us to let go of the wheel completely. God desires us to cooperate with him. God wants us to be participants with Him in the unfolding story of our salvation in the same way that He took Peter, John, and James up a high mountain so that he could show them his glory when he “transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white.” The Old Testament is filled with stories of God’s people cooperating with Him. Noah cooperated with God when he built the ark, and from Noah’s son, Shem, we have his descendent, Abraham, our father in faith, who also cooperated with God.
This Lent, we are doing a Message Series, titled “Give up Worry for Lent: Freedom in Pain and Suffering,”. This week’s theme is “Offer It Up.” “OFFER IT UP” is when we give over to God those things in our lives — our worries, our pain, and our suffering — that we have been clinging onto. A young couple with a newborn offers up their sleepless nights to God for the health and well-being of their child. A wife who is caring for her sick husband offers up her exhaustion and concerns to God for her husband’s health. To the parents — who are clinging onto the pain of losing their child because they believe that pain is the only memory they have left of their child — to them, Jesus says, “Offer your heartache and pain to me and I will give you rest and peace.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, only when we let go of all those things that bind and enslave us do our hands become free to grasp and hold onto the cloak of the only Person [pointing to the Crucifix] who can heal and strengthen us and give us real peace and true freedom in our lives even in the midst of life’s struggles. When I think of offering it up to God, I think of Christ crucified on the Cross. Saint Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans: “He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all. . .” As Jesus hung on the Cross in pain and agony, he united his suffering to every man and offered up his suffering to his Father in heaven for the redemption of all men, saying, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In the same way, as members of the One Body of Christ, we are called to be participants in the mystery of the redemptive suffering (or self-offering) of Christ when we unite our suffering to the suffering of Christ crucified on the Cross. Saint John Paul II summed up the relationship between Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and our mysterious participation in this way: “In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (Salvifici Doloris, 19).
Abraham trusted the Lord and was prepared to offer up Isaac but the Lord stayed his hands and blessed him. saying: "Do not lay your hand on the boy. . . I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son. . . because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly. . . and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore. . . [and here is the hinge] in your descendants ALL THE NATIONS of the earth SHALL FIND BLESSING. . . all this because you obeyed my command." Saint Paul states that “[we] know that all things work for good for those who love God (Romans 8:28). Therefore, know that when we offer ourselves up to God — our worries, our pain, and our suffering, not only does He bless us abundantly but we become the vessels, the instruments God uses to bring blessings to countless others so that they, too, may have HOPE through FAITH in God who is LOVE and loves all of us. We become participants in Christ’s redemptive suffering (or self-offering), and that gives meaning and purpose to our own suffering. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment