God has got our backs

By KATHLEEN M. GALLAGHER- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

FROM A READING FOR FEB. 26, EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
'Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you...' -- Isaiah 49:15

I have an admission to make: I am a worrier.

I worry about pretty much everything. I am a planner. I like to know when things are going to happen, why things are happening and what the results of the things that happen are going to be. I like to make "to do" lists.

Where some people find that daunting, I find it freeing, knowing what it is that I have to do and then beginning what I have to do.

I like to have a plan and to then follow that plan. I guess that's one of the reasons I like being a teacher. I go into a classroom with a lesson plan: an objective (what to do), a means (how to do it) and an assessment (how to see if what I did was successful).

I guess one could label me slightly controlling! Yet, I find that, whenever I try to control things -- to be a "master planner" -- the Lord has other plans for me, and those plans are always better than I could ever have asked for or imagined.

Not my plan
Those plans are usually not what I wanted, either, but I can honestly say that they are always what I really needed for my growth in virtue, in knowledge and, most importantly, in holiness.

Sunday's Gospel (Mt 6:24-34) has beautiful words from Jesus to us worrying types: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?"

Jesus even takes it further: "Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan?"

At the root of needless worry is one thing: fear. The root of fear is lack of trust in the plan of the Lord for our lives, and doubt that the Lord has our backs!

God loves us. God created us out of love -- no other reason besides that! He knows us, inside and out. God does not approve of our sins and wants to forgive us, if we are willing to repent, but He never, ever stops loving us.

Jesus is the plan
God has our back and has a plan for us, even when it is not clear to us. That plan was made flesh in the person of Jesus, sent to save us and make us whole. "Perfect love casts out all fear" (1 John 4:18).

Jesus Himself is perfect love. We have that perfect love -- Jesus in His real presence, given to us who are weak and worried - in the Eucharist.

We have fears and anxieties, and many of them are legitimate. But, even in the most dire times, trust in that fact that God is there. He loves you and cares for you. God has already won the victory for us. All we have to do is to remain faithful to Him who is faithfulness and truth Himself. Trust in God, for He truly loves you.

(Other readings for this Sunday are Is 49:14-15; 1 Cor 4:1-5.)[[In-content Ad]]