Homily for Ordinary Time 6
February 13, 2022
In Whom Do We Trust?
October
29, 1929 was no ordinary day. That was the day that the stock market crashed,
with investors losing over 50% of the value of their stocks overnight,
launching our country into the Great Depression. It was not only an economic
depression – it caused many people to take their own lives in despair. In fact,
when one actor was seeking a 19th floor hotel room in New York to
stay the night, the clerk asked him, “Will this be for sleeping or for jumping
out the window?” Another man, Wellington Lyle, down to his last four cents,
wrote in his final note, “Give my body to science, my soul to the Secretary of
the Treasury, and my sympathy to my creditors.”
But not
everyone fell into despair. It was said that during the Great Depression,
atheists jumped out windows while Christians went back to work. In New York, a
group of ex-carpenters, ex-plumbers, ex-laborers used rickety wooden carts to
bring scrap metal to junk dealers to make a quick buck. Some enterprising
neighborhoods would repurpose empty lots into gardens. We Americans are a hardy
lot – and though there was a lot of suffering during the Great Depression,
there were a lot of inspiring stories of charity and perseverance.
The way
people dealt with the Great Depression depended, in large part, to where a man
put his trust. Was his trust in the New York Stock Exchange? Or in God?
That
same question looms equally large in our modern world, because there are many
things we put our trust in.
Some of
us trust in money. I have always found it ironic that every dollar bill has the
words, “In God We Trust” – when more people trust in the dollar bill than in God!
We sometimes think that a comfortable nest egg, or a solid stock portfolio, or
a good job is security. We won’t suffer if we have enough money.
But
let’s be honest – can money ever give us a truly secure life? How much money would
be enough that we wouldn’t worry about the future? Andrew Carnegie, who was
worth millions, once said, “The rich never smile” – because they were too
worried about their bank account to truly enjoy life. Study after study has
shown that lottery winners do not report greater happiness than ordinary folks.
So often, we put our trust in money, and in the end it leaves us empty.
Some of
us trust is science and technology. We often think of science as settled,
rock-solid, something we can trust - but it has changed drastically over time –
just remember how doctors used to practice bloodletting and put leeches on
people’s body in an attempt to heal them! As good as science is, it’s not
foolproof.
Technology, too, is fragile. It’s
amazing how dependent we are on technology. A couple years ago I accidentally
tripped and fell, and when I got up I found that my cell phone had shattered in
my pocket. You’ve probably felt that panic of thinking, “Oh no! What’s going to
happen? I don’t have my phone!” We act as if our phones are indispensable, but
how fragile they are! About three weeks ago the World Economic Forum published
a video saying that a cyber-attack that takes out the world’s internet is,
quote, “inevitable”. We can’t trust something as fragile as science and
technology.
Some people
put their trust in public opinion. If people think well of us, we think we are
secure. If we get into the right college, have the right resume, say the right
things on Twitter, we think we’re set. But the example of Jesus shows us just
how fickle public opinion can be – the very same crowd that praised Him on Palm
Sunday were yelling “Crucify Him!” on Good Friday. Look at how many good people
have been “cancelled” in our cancel-culture by the social media mob – there is
no security in what others think of us.
Some of
us trust in our beauty or our health. A friend of mine is a gym rat and often
spends three or four hours a day at a gym (he’s single, so he can do stuff like
that). One day he asked me if it was a sin to work out so much. I asked him, “Well,
how much time do you spend every day on your soul?” He didn’t want to respond. In
a hundred years, his body will be rotting in a grave and his soul will be
around forever, as an eternal triumph or an eternal tragedy. So we cannot trust
in our health or our beauty, because that too will end up passing away.
So – who
can we trust? Only one – God. Only He never changes; only He is always
faithful; only He remains when the money dries up and the wifi goes down and
the friends betray us. Today’s first reading reminds us: “Blessed are those who
trust in the Lord alone!”
What does
it mean to put our trust in Him? It means that He is our rock, our foundation,
our truest happiness. Even as we go about our necessary daily duties of making
money and paying bills and going to the doctor, we remember that all things are
passing except for God alone. This helps us not to worry about the future, and
not to get upset when we lose our money or our hair or reputation.
I love the example of the holy
man Job in the Scriptures – he ended up losing his house, his children, his
flocks, his health, his standing in the community…all in one day. But he still
said, “The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! Blessed be the Name of
the Lord!” He wouldn’t let it upset him, because he knew that God was faithful,
and would repay him when it pleased the Lord. And – God was faithful, giving
him abundant blessings at the end of the Book of Job.
How do we grow in trust in Him?
Invest more in generosity than in the stock market; spend more time with the
Lord than putting on makeup; seek His approval, rather than the approval of the
world. To trust Him more, remember how He has helped you in the past. Search
the Scriptures, and you will find ample evidence that He comes through for His
friends. Pray a very simple prayer to grow in trust: “Jesus, I trust in You” –
which we see on the image of Our Lord behind us.
There’s
a great story from the life of St. Clare of Assisi, the friend of St. Francis. Inspired
by St. Francis, Clare also embraced a life of poverty and penance, as a
cloistered nuns. One time, her city of Assisi was in danger of being attacked
by a vicious army bent on destroying the whole town. Clare’s fellow nuns were
all terrified and wanted to flee the convent. But despite the fact that Clare
was elderly and sick in bed, she rallied her strength and gathered her nuns
around her, telling them, “If you only trust in the Lord, you will have nothing
to fear.”
Struggling
to her feet, she went to the tabernacle and took out a golden vessel called a ciborium
containing the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. She then went to the roof of the
convent and stood there holding up the Eucharistic Lord just as the army began
to invade the town. When the general and the soldiers caught sight of this
fearless elderly nun holding up Jesus Christ, they realized that God was on their
side – and fear struck their heart. They fled the town, and never attacked
again. Clare turned to her sisters and said, “I assure you, daughters, that you
will suffer no evils if only you have faith in Christ.”
Do you
want to build your life on something that cannot fail? Not money, or popular
opinion, or science and technology, or our health. No – “Blessed are those who
trust in the Lord” – in every suffering or trial, they will stand firm.
No comments:
Post a Comment