Homily for July 27,
2003
Year B -
Cycle I
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. John Carney
Topic:
Wants vs. Needs
+ + +
Gospel Reading: John 6:1-15
“...So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to the disciples, 'Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.' So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, 'This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world...'"
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145
"The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This homily is about how he feeds us with everything we need for eternal life. Some of you have probably been at the sight where this Gospel occurred. It is in Upper Galilee, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. How many did he feed? 5,000. No, there were 5,000 men; there must have been at least 25,000 women if there were 5,000 men! We’re talking about church here. He fed a lot of people. It’s beautiful. If you haven’t been there, you probably have heard this Gospel all your life and if you imagine what that place looks like, and you’re exactly right. When I visited, it was exactly as I thought it would be. It is very close to the Golan Heights; it’s very fertile part of Israel, and it’s a gorgeous place.
“The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” Do you believe that? Some of you are saying, “Well, I don’t know, I’ve got some prayers that haven’t been answered.” Well, it says he answers all our needs, not all our wants. There’s a difference. “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.”
I’m the Dr. Joyce Brothers of Los Alamos. Have you’ve ever watched “Everyone Loves Raymond”? There’s a priest in that show, and there’s one scene where they’re all in one room and they’re fighting and yelling, and the priest yells, “Shut up! This job is driving me crazy.” The people who come to see me are worried and anxious about many things…about health problems, the health of loved ones, about jobs and addictions, marriage difficulties, about sin, and unhappiness. A lot of people say they’re unhappy. I say, “Well, are you okay? Is your family healthy? Have you got enough money? Is everything going okay?” And they say, “Yeah. But I’m unhappy. I’m sad.” A lot of people suffer from depression. People have problems and challenges with the faith. And then there’s this great 21st century disease carried over from the last century, which is “Free-floating Anxiety”. You’re anxious and you don’t even know what you’re anxious about. You’re just anxious. Most of the time I just listen. I have a standard line, “I don’t know the answer to your problems, but I know someone who does. So lets pray. Let’s pray to him. His name is Jesus Christ.”
I think many people, of course, need some help, some psychological help, especially with depression. Those things are physiological, they are not chosen. There are ways to help. In most of these cases there is an underlying problem, and that is trust. To some extent we don’t trust God. We say we do. We say we believe that the hand of the Lord feeds us and answers all our needs, but we don’t act like we believe it. You know, I see a scale of trust and anxiety. The more you trust God, the less anxious you are. Frankly, I think this hurts God greatly. You who are parents, and even those of us who are not parents, can imagine if you had an 11-year-old daughter crying in the middle of the night. You say to her, “What’s wrong with you?’’ She replies, “I don’t trust you. I don’t trust you, Mom. I don’t trust you, Dad. I don’t believe you are really going to take care of me and I’m worried and anxious.” How would you feel? How does God feel? We say we trust him, but we don’t act like we trust him. Frankly, we worry about too many things…things we have no control over anyways.
We haven’t changed a bit since this sermon was first preached 2000 or so years ago. The people gathered because this Jesus was showing signs, he had power. They came because they wanted favors…they wanted him to do stuff for them. He wanted to do stuff for them, but not what they wanted. They wanted a king, and he wanted to be a Savior. They wanted a ruler; he wanted to be a servant. They wanted the bread of wheat; he wanted to give them the Bread of Life. They were concerned with temporary problems and issues; he was concerned with what is eternal.
I wrote some notes last weekend, and I wrote that most problems are temporary. I had to change that. All problems are temporary. I’ll prove it, because life is temporary. If you’re dead, you don’t have any problems. Right? So, problems are temporary. There is a beautiful saying; it’s anonymous. “All that gives us pleasure is passing. All that give us pain is passing. That which is important is that which is eternal.” How true that is. How fleeting and temporary this existence on this planet is. If we focus on the next life, if we focus on eternity, we’ll also do a lot better in this temporary journey on Earth. C.S. Lewis once said,
“If you read history, you will find that Christians who did most for the present world were those who thought most of the next world. It is since Christians have ceased to think most of the other world that they have become ineffective in this world. Aim at heaven and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim at Earth and you will get neither.”
That’s so true. In the last several decades, the Church changed; many in the church, many local churches, many national churches, changed their focus from the eternal to become social organizations and did less good than they did when they had their focus on the eternal. Liberation theology is not the answer. Jesus Christ is. St. Teresa of Avilla reminds us of how simple this all is. She said, “Solo Dio Basta.” “Only God is necessary.” For if God is for you, who can be against you? If God is your loving Father, why are you anxious? The hand of the Lord feeds us. He answers all our needs.
Last week was the week of patience. Were you all very patient with each other last week? Little problem here, little problem there. Was anyone patient, other than myself? Then this is the week of no anxiety. How does that sound? We aren’t going to worry about anything this week! I know in families you can check each other. I bet last week by Sunday night someone got impatient and the wife or the husband said, “Uh-uh.” Let’s try this week to truly trust in God. Say the Our Father - that’s a prayer of trust. Or say, “Jesus, I trust in you.” Then live this life to the fullest and you’ll have a good week. Please bow your heads if you would. I want to conclude by reading this prayer written by John Henry Cardinal Neumann.
May the Lord strengthen you all the daylong, ‘til the shade lengthens, the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the busy life is over and your work is done. Then in his mercy may He give you a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace that lasts.
Amen.