Do Not Worry: 28th Week of Ordinary Time

The hope in chapter 65 of Isaiah that the wolf would lie with the lamb, and that no one would ever be hurt again, was expressed much earlier in chapter 11. And given the context of these chapters, they were probably written decades apart. Chapter 11 was written when the descendants of King David still ruled in Jerusalem, and the prophet hoped that those kings would be the means by which God would end all violence on the earth. Chapter 65 came after Jerusalem had been conquered, the king and his sons destroyed, and the Jewish people exiled to Babylon.

And yet the same hope of peace and justice endured for some 500 years to the time of Jesus. Indeed his Jewish disciples hoped that through the magnificent Temple, God would act to give Israel freedom and peace with all the nations. But only 30 years later, Roman soldiers would reduce the Temple to a heap of stones, just as Jesus predicted, and carry the chosen people off to another exile. The Romans thought they had created an eternal peace, a Pax Romana; until 400 years later when those German tribes they called Barbarians brought their empire to an end.

And so it goes. There aren't too many Americans left alive who can recall what President Woodrow Wilson hopefully called the War to End All Wars. More Americans can recall for us the war to save the world from the horrors of fascist tyranny. Because we are no longer required to serve our country in a time of war, I wonder if enough Americans understand what today's veterans have given of their bodies and souls in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

So the wars go, on and on. And like His first disciples, we ask Jesus: what are the signs of the end? Will this be the last war? To which our Lord and Savior answers, not yet. Before all this happens, Jesus says, you will be harassed. You will be brought before those in power; religious, political, economic. And then, Jesus says, you'll have them right where you want them. This will be your opportunity to testify.

And then, Jesus says, don't worry about what you're going to say because then you can be sure that the Spirit of God will be speaking through you. Don't worry about getting killed because in the Resurrection of Christ, not a hair on your head will perish. Don't worry because, in a sense, the last war has already been fought and won by Jesus Christ, who has conquered death, and through whom we too conquer death and despair.

Do not worry, veterans, about whether your sacrifice was worthwhile. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross didn't seem worthwhile to those who scoffed at Him and mocked Him. But He trusted that Sunday was coming, and so it was. Do not worry, Christians, about the future of the Church. For as the Roman Catholic bishop Romano Guardini wrote, the Church may too often be the cross on which Christ was crucified. But who could ever separate Christ from His cross. In the power of the Resurrection, not a hair on the Church's head will perish. Do not worry, people of the world who yearn for justice and peace. For beyond the injustices and wars of today, the last word belongs the Word made flesh. And that word is Resurrection. Do not worry.