God Is In Control
(This homily is for the school mass Wednesday morning.)
Today’s readings are telling us God is in control. God made the universe, the stars, the earth, the trees, the animals, and He made us. God promises to take care of us in everything that happens. But sometimes we wonder if God remembers us. Or maybe we think God should take care of us in a different way. We forget God knows best.
Does anyone ever have bad dreams? When I was small, I would have these dreams where I thought I was falling. That was always scary. And what was worse is when you hit the bottom. It would knock me out of bed, and I would fall on the floor. I was awake then. I would ask people how you stop having the dream of falling but nobody could give me a good answer. Then one night I had the dream again. I was kind of half awake, half asleep. I thought, I am having this dream again and I do not want to hit the bottom. Then I thought, wait a minute, this is my dream. I do not have to hit the bottom; I just need to go back to sleep. So, I rolled over and went back to sleep. It worked and after awhile I stopped having that dream. I think God gave me that idea, to go back to sleep and not be afraid.
Sometimes there are other dreams that make me wonder. Once I woke up in the middle of the night and I looked out the window because it seemed so bright outside. On the corner of my bed, sitting up on the frame, I saw what I thought was a goblin. It had a pointed hat. A big nose. Beady, mean looking eyes. A green coat. Pointed toes on his shoes.
You know what I did? I closed my eyes. I thought, did I just see what I thought I saw? I laid very still. Maybe he will think I am dead and leave. Then I remembered. God is in control. Did God really want me to see what I saw? I do not think so. What am I going to do? OK, so I will have to open my eyes and look again.
But I was still nervous, so I thought, how about if I open just one eye. So, very slowly I opened my right eye and you know what I saw? Nothing. I had opened the wrong eye. So, I closed that eye and very carefully opened my left eye. He was still there. But something was different. I did not see the big nose or the pointy shoes. And as my eye focused, and I opened my other eye he almost disappeared. What was left was my reading lamp. It is in the shape of a cone, and I thought it was a hat. Everything else was shadows.
Then I remembered God is always saying be not afraid. I was afraid of just shadows, and I let my imagination run wild. I should have trusted in God and not give in to being afraid. Think of the times you were afraid. When the lights were turned on what you were afraid of is no longer there. We really need to trust in God.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen