Holy Trinity & St. Anskar

…if the owner of the house had known at what house the thief was coming,

he would not have let his house be broken into.

+ In the Name of God the holy and Undivided Trinity

I am tempted to call today Don’t Worry Be Happy Sunday. What Jesus’ Father says to Abram, Jesus says to the disciples, that is to us: Do not be afraid. God is going to give you everything. “Don’t worry, be happy.” Good advice; easier said than done. But it really is just about all there is to say about spiritual practice. When Meher Baba had said it, he never uttered another word as long as he lived, and he lived a long time. Just chill, relax, God is going to give you things better than you can imagine: descendants more numerous than the stars, the Kingdom in all its fullness. So, don’t worry. Don’t be afraid.

The Gospel illustrates this in a strange way, by yoking it with the practice of vigilance. At first glance, watching for housebreakers doesn’t seem to be a very good metaphor for fearlessness! It sounds more like the obsession of a worry-wart, to me, the opposite of not being afraid, somebody staying up all night precisely because he is afraid that a thief will come when he’s asleep. It’s worried people who lose sleep. But I think this is a kind of droll irony. The house is the house of our heart, and the thief who would despoil the house is fear. Jesus advises us to keep constant watch that we do not let any fearful thought steal into our consciousness, no habit of worry sneak in to despoil our spiritual peace. God Himself will wait on such vigilant slaves. Fear and worry are a kind of spiritual sleep.

Fear is the opposite of faith, hope, and love. Most obviously, it is the opposite of hope. Fear and hope are the two attitudes we can take toward the future. Fear opposes love by suspicion and self-regard, and perfect love casts it out. Fear is the negation of faith, too, which means trust in the goodness of ultimate Reality. The Reign of God ~ that Kingdom which it is the good pleasure of the Father to give us ~ is the Kingdom of Faith, Hope, and Love, and it does away with fear. There is no place for fear in the consciousness of those to whom the Reign of God has been given, no place for fear in the spiritual house of our heart. There are many different kinds of saints ~ paupers and kings, martyrs and hermits, heroes of justice and missionaries of the Good News ~ but they all have one common characteristic: fearlessness. Saints are not worried people. Do not be afraid. That is a way of saying be faithful or have faith. And that doesn’t mean affirm some doctrine; it means Trust in God.

Be not afraid, is another way of saying Trust in God. Trust that Reality is undergirded by a Benign Intelligence, and that the future, both our personal future and the collective future of the whole universe, is better than anything we can desire or pray for. Be not afraid: Abram decided to follow this command and he became the Father of Faith. The disciples decided to follow it and that is why we are here now. Do not be afraid: be confident, faithful, trusting. That is the foundation and the end of the spiritual life. Fear is the dreadful source of all kinds of toxins, otherwise known as sins. We must keep constant vigil so that no fear creeps into our consciousness. We never know when some assault on the stronghold of our trust will occur. We need to keep awake, not out of worry but to observe when worries try to gain entrance. This is not a counsel of imprudence. Real prudence, the kind that is a virtue, has nothing to do with worry or fear. Worry itself is imprudent, a kind of folly. It poisons our serenity and renders real prudence impossible.

Last week the Gospel warned us about greed. Beware every kind of greed. Fearless people are not greedy. It is the fearful who pile up treasures where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal. Abrahamic trust produces the opposite of greed: an open-handed generosity that refuses to grasp and hold on to anything, and thereby stores up treasure in heaven. With that trust, you will never be afraid of anyone, and so you will never pass judgment upon another person. That trust fulfills your calling as a human being and as a member of the Body of Christ. As the old desert father told the novice, who asked how he could be sure of salvation: Trust in God, Give to those who ask of you, Never condemn anyone, and you will be saved. He was completely right, in my opinion, and these three counsels all come out of what God said to Abram and God’s Son says to us: Be Not Afraid, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

AMEN

MARANATHA

COME, LORD JESUS!