Saturday of the 2nd Week of Eastertide
Acts 6:1-7
Jn 6:16-21
“But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.””
We are now in April and have passed Lent into Easter. Yet I feel like I am still carrying my cross and that my tests are not over. I know that it never is over, but this year has gone off to a particularly rough start. Not only are there uncertainties in the world, but there is so much flux in my life that I feel like I am starting to lose control of the situation. I feel like the balls that I am juggling are starting to fall and I can’t catch them. And it makes me afraid.
There is a well-known quote: “People fear what they do not understand”. Naturally so, for you can’t control the circumstances if you do not understand it. You can’t anticipate your responses or prepare for Plan B without full knowledge and that leads to fear and anxiety. I feel like I am losing control over how life is spinning right now and I know that the most appropriate thing that I should do is to lift it to God and leave it with God. Yet, like the disciples trying to get their boat under control in the storm, I am being hit by wave after wave of challenges, the storm in my life is starting to get relentless. Maybe it is a good thing that this reading has been given to me as a reminder for me, personally. Perhaps it is also a sign to tell me not to be afraid, that help will come if I ask for it.
Even in the first reading, there was deep concern for the widows who were a marginalized part of society in biblical times. Help came from the disciples, who selected God-fearing followers to assist them. Even so, the disciples also recognized that their ministry was getting too big for them to manage, and they acknowledged that they needed to enlist help to share the work. Perhaps I too, need to recognize that whatever concerns that I am facing, I need not worry that God will abandon me, and that I need not shoulder it all alone. God will send help.
Whatever our troubles, whatever our worries, Jesus only has one reminder: “Do not be afraid.” The only way to block out that fear and the anxiety that creeps in, is to let go of doubt and trust in Him. Trust that the Son of God will quieten the tempest in our lives, calm the raging waters that threaten to overwhelm us, and rescue us from the depths of despair that try to drown us. Do not be afraid, for He will never abandon us nor leave us unaided.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Annette Soo)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I have put a wedge between You and me with all the thoughts in my head. You know what troubles me, You know what overwhelms me. Therefore, I pray for peace in my heart and mind, the peace that only You can give, trusting that You will help me in my struggles.
Thanksgiving: Lord, I thank you for giving me friends and family, people whom I can lean on in the face of my challenges. Thank you for letting me lean on You too, and for Your promise that You will never leave me. Thank you for the promise of sunshine after the storm.
OXYGEN 
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