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| FEAR ENSLAVES |
Having lived in and having studied some kingdoms around the world, I have come the conclusion that some kings find it very effective to keep their subjects in constant anxiety. The rule goes like this: if the people are anxious about their life, and worry about where their next meal is coming from, then maybe they will be more willing to do what the king wants. Anxiety keeps them in their place. Fear makes the monarchy firm. More people live in poverty, more people live on food stamps or are unemployed, more they will expect from the government and therefore they will be willing to do whatever the government wants them to do; They will vote for the candidate of the government; they will embrace and support the ideology promoted by those in charge of the government. Where is the freedom of someone who is unemployed and who is receiving subsidies from the government? Can someone who is receiving free stuff from the government vote for a candidate of his/her choice? History teaches us that a big government always produces dictatorship and suppression of freedom, therefore it is ineffective, intrusive, and even corrupt.
But one the greatest things about Jesus is that he does not want his people to be anxious. The main point of Matthew 6:24-34 is that God is King over everything and He does not secure his kingship by cultivating anxiety. God does not need to keep us anxious in order to establish his power and authority. Instead, he uses his power to take away our anxiety. All he is asking us to do is to seek the kingdom of heaven first.
To seek first the kingdom of God is not an easy command.
This is why we talk about “The life of prayer.” We cannot seek first the kingdom, unless prayer is the foundation of our lives; unless the ongoing conversation of prayer is part of everything we do; unless we live by some kind of rule of life that makes prayer, the reading of Scripture, praise, confession, supplication and thanksgiving part of the very fabric of our daily lives.
When we commit ourselves to prayer, to seeking first the kingdom of God as a way of life over long seasons of time, a strange thing begins to happen. We experience a decrease in anxiety, and an increase in faith. We find ourselves worrying less and trusting God more. This is not because the future becomes any more certain; it is because we come to learn that God is good and trustworthy. We learn how to be faithful creatures, and we learn how to let God be God.
When our lives are governed by prayer and devotion to God we enter into the various circumstances of life filled with God’s Holy Spirit, who gives us the grace we need to do the will of God in each moment. The more we drift away from our prayer, the more we are governed in each moment by our disordered desires and we become dry spiritually.
When we pursue money or any temporal things as the goal of life; when we make compromises and take shortcuts in order to make it in the world, we are on our own. But when commit all of our life and money to God in prayer; when we commit ourselves to doing his will in every circumstance; we have the privilege of trusting him for the results. Then we come to a place where we truly understand the meaning of this Eucharistic words: “and here we offer and present unto thee O Lord, ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee”.
And, as Jesus said, we discover that “All these things” are indeed, added unto us.
St. Paul sums it up in Philippians when he says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).
Fr. Thierry
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3
