Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 26, 2017 – Year A
Readings: Is 49:14-15 / Ps 62 / 1 Cor 4:1-5 / Mt 6:24-34
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor 

A story is told about two business executives who met for lunch, and Gene asked Ed, “How’s your health?”   

Ed replied, “I feel great!  My ulcers are gone; I feel really great!”   

Knowing his friend’s health situation, Gene asked, “How did it happen?” 

Ed said, “Well, you know my doctor told me that my ulcers were caused by worrying, so I hired myself a professional worrier.  Whenever something worrisome comes up, I turn it over to him, and he does all the worrying for me.” 

And Gene said, “Wow!  I’d like to hire someone like that!  How much does he charge?” 

Ed said, “$100,000.” 

Gene asked, “How in the world can you afford $100,000?” 

And Ed said, “I don’t know – I let him worry about that.” 

This is not the approach that the Lord Jesus is telling us to take, but in today’s gospel He  does say, “Do not worry about your life.  Look at the birds in the sky.  They do not sew or reap.  Yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.  Are not you more important than they?”  He then asks, “Can any of you, by worrying, add a single moment to your lifespan?”  Of course you know the answer is “definitely not.”   

Moreover, if you google the words “worry” and “lifespan” together, it will lead you to several studies that have shown that worrying actually shortens lifespan.  And that’s on top of making life miserable.  The poet Robert Frost once said that the reason worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.  Common sense tells us that if you are too busy working and doing something for others, you just don’t have time to worry. 

Of course, all of us here have some concerns in our lives, and we may even use the word “worry” loosely every once in a while.  But as God’s children, we don’t allow it to be a part of our lifestyle.  There is a Chinese proverb that says, “That the birds of worry and care fly above your head, this you cannot change, but that they build their nests in your hair, this you can prevent.”   

In the gospel, Jesus gave us a formula towards having a worry-free life when He said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”   In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, which we heard in today’s first reading, the Lord God gave us this assurance: “Can a mother forget her infant?  Though she may forget, I will never forget you.”