Thou Shalt Not Worry

by Stuart A.T. Trippel, Advisory Committee Member

To appeal for funds, as has been our custom on this last page of the Siena Scribe, is a seemingly unenviable task. For me, it immediately conjures up images of myriad television evangelists employing tricky piety in order to bring forth what are known in that industry as "love gifts." I recall Oral Roberts, who a few years ago allowed as how God would end his life if he didn't raise $20 million for his university and hospital. According to his web site at www.oru.edu/ministry/oralrich (yes!), Mr. Roberts is still with us.

Even for Catholics, and even at the Catherine of Siena Institute, it is all too easy to slip into the mode of worrying about having enough resources for tomorrow. As we prepare our periodic cash flow forecasts, we consistently show a deficit situation a few months out. I doubt that the situation will ever change. There is always more to do, especially in this enterprise that seems to be taking off so very well. So we look at our spreadsheets, and we begin to worry. Will we make it? Shall we send out another fund-raising letter? How much like Oral Roberts shall we behave?

Our Lord, it would seem, has a different idea about all this. We are told not to worry about what we will eat, or wear, or how to meet payroll, or about tomorrow at all—because tomorrow will take care of itself (Mt 6:25_34, par. Lk 9:22_32). We are inclined, I think, to hear this as, "You needn't worry, because God will take care of everything anyway, but of course you're going to worry, and I'm only trying to comfort you." Thus the words of the nice, sweet, inoffensive Jesus who chimes in with a good word occasionally but otherwise lets his servants do what they will.

No, I think Our Lord means something else altogether; namely, "Thou shalt not worry," not unlike "Thou shalt not steal." That is, adopt a new attitude towards your place in the world—an attitude of faithful servant and co-creator.

Is God telling us not to bother with financial planning, not to balance our checkbook? Of course not. Joseph was rewarded for having had the foresight to store up food during the abundance in Egypt, drawing on it during the famine (Gn 41:37_57), and the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14_30) makes clear the Father's view towards those who do not use their gifts wisely. Nonetheless, there is no sign of worry in either of these stories, neither on Joseph's part nor on the part of the servants who wisely invest their talents. The only worried creature is the poor lazy servant: "I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground" (Mt 25:25).

I do not worry about whether the Catherine of Siena Institute will have enough money in six months. If it is Our Lord's will that we should continue this ministry, then the money will come. If the money does not come, that is a message for us, and a message that we will do well to heed. God sees that we're doing our best at the task at hand. I have never once prayed that God would send money to us. We are told to pray, rather, "Thy will be done." And we are told by the great theologians that the Holy Spirit almost always works through very ordinary means. In our case, this means you, dear reader, and your checkbook.

If you share our enthusiasm for this wonderfully developing ministry, know that your donations will be put to good use. And above all, pray with us that God's will may be done through our hands, in whatever way he decides to call us forth.