Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry

Homily for Saturday in the 11th Week of Ordinary Time

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, popularly known as Padre Pio, used to repeat a short mantra that fit perfectly with today’s Gospel passage. He would counsel those who came to him with the words: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” Jesus doesn’t say it so succinctly, but his message to us is basically the same.

Worry has been a daily part of the last sixteen months as we took precautions to keep ourselves safe during the pandemic. It is not over yet. The news media is still warning us of the dangers of the Covid 19 virus, urging people to get vaccinated. Apparently, the newest variant of the virus is particularly dangerous for the young. I am sure that this has added to the nightmares of all parents, especially parents of the very young who have not been vaccinated.

However, worrying about our health is just one thing in a large catalog of anxieties. We worry about shelter and food, about job security, about what others are saying about us. We are worried about education, safety, gun violence and an escalating rate of inflation. Despite our best efforts, we spend a great deal of time worrying about all sorts of things. In the face of such worries, Padre Pio’s advice seems a little simplistic and comparing ourselves to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field seems equally nonsensical. Being naïve about our lives is not the answer either.

The saint we remember today, St. Romuald, expressed a desire as a young man for virtue and sanctity. However, his early life was wasted in the service of the world and its pleasures. Then one day, obliged by his father, Sergius, to be present at a duel fought by him, he watched as his father killed his adversary. He was so horrified by this that he shut himself up in a monastery for forty days. However, those forty days never came to an end as he began to devote his life to prayer and penance. Despite numerous times of adversity throughout the rest of his life, he persevered until the day of his death.

Maybe St. Pio had the write idea. “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” God will provide.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator