Celebrating 100 over years in Irondequoit
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Cycle A
Let Tomorrow Take Care of Itself
We are all more or less "worry warts." Not content to focus on the good (or bad) things we face today. We tend to wring our hands over the good (or bad) things we will face tomorrow.
Common sense tells us that this is silly. Why waste worry over a tomorrow that isn't? Jesus tells us the same thing. In today's gospel he asks, "Which of you by worrying about it can add a moment to his lifespan... Enough, then, of worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow take care of itself. Today has troubles enough of its own."
Amen!
There is a story told about the young 16th century Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga, which fits into this picture. One day he and other junior Jesuits were playing some sort of football game during their recreation period. (Set times were mapped out by the Jesuit Superiors for daily prayer, study, manual labor and creation.) Suddenly, one of his fellow players said, "I was just thinking, the world might come to an end while we are playing this game. I wonder what I would do. What would you do, Aloysius?
Aloysius, not yet a saint but getting there, simply shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I'd keep right on with the game."
The point was well taken. We can no longer serve God in the past, because it is gone. We can't serve him in the future, because it hasn't come. But we can serve Him in the present; and we serve Him now by doing what we're supposed to be doing now. In Aloysius' case, it was playing ball.
St. Teresa of Avila showed a like wisdom. One day at dinner she was heartily enjoying the roast partridge. Another nun, a little shocked, asked her if it wouldn't be better to be praying than to be enjoying dinner. Teresa answered, "When I pray, I pray; when I partridge, I partridge!"
(Of course, the habit of living just in the present is something that it takes time to cultivate. As I write this sentence, I am beginning to worry whether my car will start tomorrow morning!)
-Father Robert F. McNamara
