4th Week of Easter 2023 - Friday - Let not your hearts be troubled

 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus gave these words to us on the night before he died for us. He uttered these words knowing what would happen in the following few hours on Good Friday: his disciples would see him arrested, mocked, tortured, crucified, killed and buried.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled” as you witness these things. 

So often our hearts are filled with all types of troubles and concerns. Anxieties about the future of our nation, about the future of our parish, or the Church. Uncertainties about future employment and financial stability. Concerns regarding our physical health. Apprehensions perhaps about a certain vocational path God is slowly revealing before us. Jesus knows that we are susceptible to this emotional and spiritual state.

This is not the only time Jesus speaks about our troubled hearts. On the road to Emmaus, the Lord asks the disciples why they were troubled and why they had allowed doubts to arise in their hearts. The Lord also diagnoses Martha’s anxious heart: Martha, Martha, you are anxious about many things, but only one things is necessary. 

Interestingly, in the Greek, the word for “troubled” is the same word St. John uses to describe the pool of Bethesda. It is also the word St. Luke uses in Acts to describe the Jews who were stirring up the crowds into antagonism toward St. Paul’s preaching in Thessolonica. 

Our hearts can become so stirred-up that we become irrational, overwhelmed, unable to discern the truth because of our agitation. And Jesus says, stop it. Stop working yourself into a tizzy whenever you experience hardships. Stop allowing your worldly cares to keep you from focusing on matters of faith. Stop allowing worldly people to stir you up into such a frenzy you lose sight over what matters. I think of the flurry of voices on the internet, speaking of matters of politics and the church, that stir people into a real unhealthy anxiety. 

So, the Lord diagnoses the sickness, but then provides the remedy. 

“Have faith in me” the Lord commands. Faith which is oriented toward eternity helps us see all of our earthly issues in perspective. 

Don’t let your hearts be troubled on Good Friday, for Easter Sunday will come. Don’t let your hearts be troubled when you are persecuted, for Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake, for their reward will be great in heaven. Don’t let your hearts be troubled by the fact you will be mocked and misunderstood, when the powers of hell seem poised against you, don’t be afraid, I’m with you.

Faith enabled Paul and Barnabas in our first reading, to embrace the hardship of evangelization: the anxiety of unknown places & unknown peoples, physical dangers, mental exhaustion—all of it is worth it, because when our earthly labors and earthly sufferings are done for God, we will reap eternal reward.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”. These words of the Lord Jesus are not a suggestion, but a command—for his disciples and for all of us.  We are to view all of our earthly sufferings through the eyes of faith, that this world is but a preparation for the next. We are to have untroubled hearts when we face our own serious illnesses, when we see loved ones pass away, when earthly minded-leaders persecute us, when enemies of the Gospel conspire against us, when we are called upon to spread the Gospel to unknown people in unknown lands for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For Pope Francis and Bishop Malesic, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd and for an increase in vocations to the ordained priesthood, and that our priests may serve the Church with the love and devotion of the Good Shepherd.

For our parish, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ and his tender love for sinners and for the poor.

For members of Christ’s flock who have wandered far from the Church: for the desire and will to return to the Sacraments; for deliverance from all spiritual evils and an increase in virtue for the faithful. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know the peace and consolation of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray to the Lord.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.