Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled


"Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them."

Today’s readings reassure our worried, anxious minds. Trust in God, don’t be disturbed by anything, pour out your hearts before Him. He knows what you need even before you ask. Seek Him, and He will care for you.

These words are comforting and yet so difficult to take to heart, especially in hard times. The sudden loss of a job or a shattering divorce shakes us to the core. We may not know where the money will come from to pay the rent, buy groceries, or pay the bills. Knowing how hard it is not to give in to worry and fear during such difficult times, Jesus reassures us that the Father will never cease to care for us.

Mother Angelica, the foundress of the EWTN Global Catholic Television Network, did not have an easy life. Her father abandoned her and her mother when she was only six, and she grew up in extreme poverty with an emotionally fragile mother. After she entered the Poor Clares, she started her television venture on a prayer. Her first studio was in a converted garage. To raise funds, the sisters sold peanuts and fishing lures. Never knowing ahead of time where the money would come from for each new piece of television equipment, each necessary license, or the people, land, and resources she needed to build a television network – and to build the beautiful Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament – she trusted in God to know and provide all that was needed.

Mother Angelica often said, “Faith is having one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach.” She did the work God gave her, trusting in Him to provide, and He provided more than anyone could have imagined. He gave her the airwaves to evangelize the world. Last year on Easter Sunday, Mother Angelica finally reached the end of her long journey on earth, entering into the Kingdom of God she’d been seeking all her life. Along the way, always trusting in God, she founded the largest religious media network in the world.
 
Mother Angelica photos via olamnuns.com / ChurchPOP
 

Feb. 26th, 2017 - Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 49:14-15 ~ Ps 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 ~ 1 Cor 4:1-5 ~ Mt 6:24
 
 
 
 

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