HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER
THEME: LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.
BY: Fr. Karabari Paul
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY MAY 13 2022
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.’
In the Gospel of today (John 14:1-6), Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” The state of human heart is a natural reflection of the circumstances around. Environment matters. Relationship also matters, and other things are not removed. Things like security situations, job interviews, financial, and health issues can all cause the heart to be troubled. Infact, at the wake of a new day, we have already so many things to worry about. But we can dwell on Jesus’s instruction.
Evidently, whatever troubles your heart takes away your joy. And one truth we can’t discard today is that the level of depression in the society has so much increased. Now we feel overwhelmed by troubles almost in every area around us. We even fill our minds with loads of information by scrolling through social media. We don’t know where we are going from here if we have to rely on ourselves.
God is desirous of our calmed and peaceful hearts. A troubled heart is a prepared tool of the devil. A troubled heart can reject God’s love, seek its own joy and cause stress to others. God can easily work with a calmed heart. It is fertile ground to grow faith. However, it is natural to experience a troubled heart. It is not evil in itself; what it does can be.
But it is not just us who struggle with feeling overwhelmed. A number of times in the Bible we can see people crying out to God because they felt like they couldn’t cope with what they were facing. Jeremiah said: ‘I am overwhelmed with trouble! Haven’t I had enough pain already? And now the Lord has added more! I am worn out from sighing and can find no rest’ (Jer 36:3). David said: ‘I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!’ (Psalm 61:2-4). God is our ‘safe refuge’ too. We can run to Him with everything that’s going on in our lives.
When we feel overwhelmed, we can be tempted to think that God has abandoned us. Gideon questioned how God could have been with them when everything seemed to be going wrong: ‘If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?’ (Judges 6:13 ). But the truth is, God’s always there for us. We may not understand why so many things are happening in our lives, but we can trust that He is still good. And we can know that He will give us the strength we need to cope with whatever we are facing.
God’s peace is a wonderful thing. It comes when we commit our lives to Christ and live by the principles laid out in the Bible. When we ‘commit’ something to the Lord, we transfer every part of it from us to Him. So when we commit our problems to Him, we are handing them over. And He exchanges the stress and hurt for His peace. The Bible says: ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ (1 Peter 5:7).
His peace, and willingness to listen, isn’t only available for the big problems. We can give Him the smaller stuff too. He cares for us, and He wants us to turn to Him with everything. As soon as we become aware that we are starting to worry and lose our sense of peace, we need to take it to God immediately and then leave it with Him. It can be so tempting to hand things over to Him, and then take them back again because we want to try and fix things and feel in control. That might give us temporary peace, but long-lasting and true peace only comes through relying on, and trusting, Him.
In Isaiah 26, it says: ‘You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you’ (v.3 ). When we are confident that we can trust God and that He cares about us, we will be able to hand our problems over and experience peace. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God heal our world, bless and protect us all through Christ Our Lord Amen. Please, stay safe. Good morning.
Fr. Karabari Paul