Homily, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 10/04/2026

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Okay, I’d like to begin by saying good afternoon, and I need your help today. There’s a little song that I’d like you to have your part in, and it goes really easily. It goes, don’t worry, be happy.

Can you try that with me? Don’t worry, be happy. One more time. Don’t worry, be happy.

Here’s a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note. Worry, be happy.

Ain’t got no place to lay your head. Somebody came and took your bed. Don’t worry.

The landlord say your rent is late. He may have to litigate. Don’t worry, be happy.

Now that’s the voice, the song of Bobby McFerrin. And wouldn’t it be easy if that was all there was to it? Just don’t worry, be happy. Ah, but there’s much more.

There’s much, much more to this. I love Bobby McFerrin’s talent, his voices. He does things that you didn’t think would be possible with a human voice.

But St. Paul has a voice, too. And what St. Paul tells us is, have no anxiety about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Have no anxiety.

Anxiety, the word here in the original language, the Greek, is merimna, which is a deep, emotional concern, care, or a burden. In other words, have no worries or lack of trust in God’s care. The problem I had with that in putting this together for today was that I knew that St. Paul had a list of woes and difficulties that he went through.

And that’s recorded in the second Corinthians. And you look there, and he tells about his scourging, his beatings, his shipwrecks, his imprisonments, and on and on of the difficulties and the hardships that he went through in his life. But at the end, he has this final word where he says this, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.

My anxiety for all the churches. Now, is this some kind of a contradiction? Have no anxiety, Philippians, but my anxiety for the churches? How can this be? Well, it’s not really a contradiction. The truth really is that at times and in various degrees, we all have anxiety.

Anxiety in relationships, anxieties of money, health concerns. Kids have anxiety going to school for being bullied. There’s job losses.

And we could go on and on speaking of the various anxieties that we all encounter in life. The Mayo Clinic puts it this way, experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, people with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.

This past week, my intention was to speak today about the beautiful text in Isaiah and the gospel about the fruit that God expects from us, the beauty of his work by the Holy Spirit in our lives, the fruitfulness that he is looking for from us. But as I began the preparation, I ran into this big stone wall. And I couldn’t get anywhere.

And I wondered what was going on. And so I prayed. And I read through all of the readings of the mass today.

And the one that just leaped off the page was the second reading today, St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians. And it had a lot to say to me because I was struggling myself. We, in this past month in September, we had two deaths in our family.

And it seemed as though the beginning of this week, you know, there were just so many things that converged to pile up, to result in an overload. You know, there was a car issue that we had to deal with. And I mean, that’s just part of life, cars and lawnmowers and things falling, you know.

And there was just so much, though, that came that I felt like a circuit breaker just snapped. And there was also, though, grace that came with that, an undertow, I would say. The office of readings was all about the Philippians, the letter to the Philippians, as well as the reading for today.

And I believed that this is what I would be speaking about today, is anxiety. And I said, well, Lord, I’ve got anxiety this week. I don’t really think I’m qualified to talk about it.

But that’s okay because we are in good company. Because St. Paul, perhaps he had anxieties that he admits. And also, there’s probably no greater anxiety or agony ever than our Lord Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he sweat blood.

He sweat blood and trembled for the imminent crucifixion and the weight of the world’s sin was on him. God’s providence, though, allows us to have anxieties. And it can lead us to a deeper faith and trust in him.

And the critical issue for us all that we have to ask, answer is, how do we deal with anxieties? How do we deal with anxieties? The first thing that’s foundational is the very words of our Lord where he said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Seek first the kingdom of God. Jesus said, don’t be anxious about your life.

Don’t worry about what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to drink, what you’re going to wear. Don’t be anxious about those things. When we place our trust and our hope and our faith first in the kingdom of God, in every circumstance, we actually have the anxieties of life can melt away from us.

They often fade when we give our hearts to Jesus. The next thing is to pray, earnestly pray through our anxieties with St. Paul by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God.

When we do that, we can experience the lifting of these anxieties. In addition, I would add the Eucharist, sacramental life, the Eucharist, our strength, and our life in the Eucharist and confession. Confession is very, very important because unconfessed sin produces anxiety in our lives.

Unconfessed sin will do that. Now, I’ve got an important distinction to make here. This is my little disclaimer.

In more serious cases of anxiety, prayer does not replace medical or psychological care. Prayer is a true and powerful source of grace and peace, but the Church does not teach that it substitutes for the help of a doctor or counselor in more advanced serious cases. Prayer and professional help are not opposed.

They work together. And now I want to look to the great fisherman of Galilee himself, who in fearful anxiety denied even knowing Jesus three times. And he would later write in his letter to the exiles in Asia Minor who were suffering religious persecution, saying, cast all your anxieties on him.

And it is then that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God bless you.