Troubled No More

4^th Week of Easter (F): Acts 13.26-33 and John 14.1-6
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
Serra Club Mass and the Church of the Incarnation

Think for a moment what it might mean for your heart to be troubled. It could be that your heart is racing like a hummingbird or beating irregularly or pausing sometimes for a bit too long or maybe your heart is burning…with too much coffee or a bad egg sandwich. What troubles the heart troubles the whole body, so perhaps your upset heart is causing you a headache or shortening your breath or sending your stomach into backflips. When the body is roused in turmoil, the mind and spirit aren’t far behind the commotion; so, perhaps along with a troubled heart and a malfunctioning body, your mind is jumbled, fogged in or asleep or just plain exhausted. And your spirit too must be a jangle of confusion, a knot of one-way or no-way chat with God. Now, what if we weren’t talking about your heart, your mind, your spirit, your body but rather the Heart, Mind, Spirit, and Body of the Church? If the Heart of the Body the Church is troubled, where do we go?

Jesus says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Apparently, being troubled is a matter of choosing not to be troubled. Just don’t do it. Do something else! Let your hearts and our Heart be glad. But do we as a Church have any clue about what might provoke us into choosing to be troubled? Of course, we do! Lack of priests and religious, declining membership, the scandals, lack of energetic lay participation in the Church’s daily life, the suicide of Catholic universities. . .and on and on. Plenty there for us to be troubled about. And again, Jesus says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled?”

Jesus, seeing the incredulous looks on our faces, quickly adds, “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” He might’ve just as well have said, “Look! Who’s in charge here? Your troubled hearts and minds? Or my Heart, my Mind, my Body, my Spirit?” Fine, we get it: a perturbed heart can be settled with a little trust in God and His only Son. We need—and that’s a literal need, by the way—we need to release the reins and trust God to be God. And when the Body the Church trusts God to be God, then what? Where are we going? And do we know how to get there?

Jesus, quite possibly looking for a whip and staring at us like the moneychangers in the temple courtyard, says to us, “I am going to prepare a place for you…I will come back again and take you myself. . .” Good! That whole Trust Business sounds a lot easier knowing this little tid-bit of info. But! our anxious hearts cry out: do we have the wisdom to hear and see the truth of what he is saying to us? Can we call upon any history or experience that will confirm for us the truth of what he is promising? We do. Let’s rehearse: slaves out of Egypt; Red Sea parted and manna from heaven; guidance from the Tablets, Promised Land found; lots of good judges and kings; plenty of holy prophets; and then there’s that whole Virgin Birth/Star in the East/This is my beloved Son thing; not to mention, the forty days, the passion, the execution and the promised resurrection. But still. . .he has to say in his best fatherly voice: “Where I am going you know the way.”

Really? Do we? If we knew the way would our hearts be troubled? Would the Heart, Mind, Spirit, and Body of the Church be so anxious right now, so perturbed? If we trusted God to be God, no. But do we? Trust God, that is; truly trust that what He promised then is as good as done right now? I don’t know about that. Jesus, obviously quite ready to stalk off in disgust, says to us, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Ooohhhhh…OK. We’re not waiting for someone else to show up? For something else to happen, right? You are it. . .“him,” we mean. You are him: the way, truth, life. Jesus, brightening noticeably, looks to the sky and slowly counts the gulls, then just barely above a whisper, says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So, where do we go? No where. We are there. Who are we looking for? No one. He found us. In whom do we trust? The one who is himself the way to God, the truth of his Father, and our life everlasting. Is the Heart of the Body the Church still troubled? Nope. There’s no room for anxiety here. Trust rules this Heart.