“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” (John 14:1)
May 27, 2025
Hello Everyone –
In recent years, Memorial Day weekend has been dubbed the unofficial kickoff to summer. Originally, Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day. Whatever the name, it is a sacred time given to honoring and mourning U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
One of the Gospel readings suggested for Masses on Memorial Day opens with the words cited above. But living with an untroubled heart is sometimes easier said than done.
Recently, I ran across a quote about worrying. It states the following:
40 percent of the things I worry about never happen; 30 percent are beyond my control; 12 percent will happen even if I continue to worry; 10 percent are none of my business in the first place; and the remaining 8 percent I will face as courageously as I can.
How does that ring with your own experience?
Truth be told — worrying is a normal part of life. But sometimes our hearts are filled with worry and anxiety — for ourselves — for our loved ones — for our world — all of which may appear to be spinning out of control — and perhaps they are.
But when Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” — he was not telling us never to worry. He knew the human condition after all.
What did he say? “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” He reminds us that God is always bigger than our worries — the Lord remains faithfully with us — in our worries — our fears — our doubts — the struggles we face — and the losses we will have to endure. He is not there to magically erase it — but is ever-present to journey with us and to help see us through. Hence,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
Some years ago, I ran across a comic strip that I have kept – taken from “For Better or For Worse”:
The mother is doing errands downtown accompanied by her four-year-old daughter, April. They pass by a member of a veteran’s group selling the traditional poppy to raise money for veterans in need.
“Why are people selling poppies today, Mom?”
“They’re a symbol, April,” her mother explains, as she pins one of the poppies on the little girl’s jacket. “Something to make us remember. A man called John McCrae wrote a beautiful poem about poppies that grew in Flanders Field. Also, in the fields were crosses marking the graves of soldiers who died fighting the war.”
Little April doesn’t understand it all. She looks at her poppy and asks, “Why do I hafta wear a poppy? I’m not really sure what a war IS!”
“I know,” her mother says. “And that, I think, is the best reason of all.”
Two realities captivate our attention as we live through the days surrounding the annual celebration of Memorial Day:
1) A wide variety of worries and distractions that possess the power to overwhelm us and take our focus off the end game. But the Lord Jesus will see us through. That’s what we are called to believe. May we always have faith in God — and in his divine Son.
2) So many selfless women and men who have courageously sacrificed their very selves – and many others who continue to do so that we might live in freedom. It is not just something that happens — or that we should take for granted.
One thread weaves these two realities together, namely that of gratitude – for all that God has done and continues to do in our lives — and for all that valiant men and women have done throughout the years up to the present moment. We are truly blessed.
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
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