BE NOT ANXIOUS

 

BE NOT ANXIOUS

The story of the matriarch I recounted yesterday still fills my heart. Truth to tell, I shed some tears as I thought of the love she showed even in the mundane act of counting her earnings each night. That love was like God’s own, who counted sparrows and hairs on our heads.

I am not a parent who had to raise kids and send them to school. But anxiety gets the better of me when I count the coffers and go to bed with the scary realization that there might not be enough to pay all the bills and meet up with all the obligations to employees, or to feed all the seminarians who depend on us. These were times when counting blessings was more like wishful thinking, for, being at the helm, the buck stopped with me and I knew I couldn’t count on anyone else around or above me.

I remember my parents who had to send all nine of us to school. Budget was tight all the time. My grandmother, old that she was, spent her day planting vegetables and taking care of pigs and chickens in our relatively big backyard. She reminded me of the matriarch I spoke of yesterday and today.

But this time, I remember them, not for counting money and not counting on others to do what they could do on their own. I remember them, for despite the lean resources and the tight finances, my parents and my two grandmothers—like the matriarch I admired—never for once lost their taste for faith and prayer.

In love there is no fear. And because of that love, like the famed psalmist of old, they “feared not the heat when it came.” They were ready. They stood steadfast in faith and hope. Without knowing much how to read and write and speak, all three women, including the matriarch, showed what it meant to never be anxious.

And this is the best part. With their silent lives, devoid of anxiety, they defended the faith and said what needed saying better than anyone I knew. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

----------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

What causes you to be anxious?

Lord, I lay down at Your feet my present and my future. There is so much uncertainty. Help me to hold on to You in faith. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________