August 21, 2009
The Second Half
No Time to Complain
BY DEACON JIM AND ANN CAVERA
If we could set aside one month out of the year for grumbling, August would be our choice. The weather is usually too hot and sticky and the garden is full of bugs. Parents complain about how much it costs to send children back to school and the kids complain because they would rather not go back to school at all. Parishes that welcomed new priests at the beginning of July have now discovered these same priests are human after all and rumblings are beginning to stir the air. Maybe we could choose one day in August as National Complaint Day and get everything negative out of our system once and for all.
Have you noticed? An undercurrent of grumbling moves through most of the Sunday readings for August. The month began with the Israelites complaining that life as captives in Egypt had been a whole lot better than freedom with God in the desert. They spent their time making the same complaint people often make today: things just aren’t as good as they used to be.
The second week of the month we found a depressed Elijah curled up in the desert ready to give up. Instead of death, God had plans for Elijah and he provided food for his journey. Meanwhile, in the gospel readings, the Jews complain about the very Bread of Life. Jesus didn’t meet their expectations and in the end, some of them went back to their old way of life. In the last gospel of the month, the Pharisees completely miss the message of God’s love because they are focused on whether or not the disciples wash their hands before they eat.
Though they often miss the bigger picture, complainers feel they know what is wrong. Whatever it is happens to be somebody else’s fault and the other person ought to fix it. Complaints are like a virus. They spread rapidly from person to person, picking up steam as they go until, finally, everybody feels sick. There are lots of different remedies but none of them are very effective.
Prayer is the most powerful antidote we have against the kind of grumbling that undermines good will. Remember the wedding at Cana in Galilee? Instead of complaining that the wine had run out because of poor planning or because the wedding party had been drinking too much, Mary simply said to Jesus, “They have no wine.” Without pointing fingers or offering solutions, Mary left the problem in her son’s capable hands and walked away. Prayer doesn’t pretend problems don’t exist. Prayer sees the problem and takes responsibility for placing things in God’s hands. Because of Mary’s faith she had the freedom not to complain or worry. She asked, trusting Jesus was more than able to solve the problem in ways beyond her imagination.
When things aren’t going well, the easiest thing to do is complain. It’s a little harder to stay quiet and work behind the scenes to make things right. The most difficult thing of all to do is to pray with Mary’s faith knowing that once we place our need in God’s hands the best solution will turn up. Trust in the abundance of Christ is far more effective than the complaints of those who worry.
Deacon Jim and Ann Cavera are former residents of Evansville; their award-winning column is a regular feature of the Message. Contact them at www.catholicseniorspirit.com.