THE REALLY BIG ISSUE

May 13, 2009

What's the biggest question or concern in your life right now? What is it that's most on your mind, that keeps you anxious or preoccupied?

Life is never without its problems, challenges, and worries, and there's no end to the list of personal issues, great and small, that preoccupy our minds from one day to the next, and from one season of life to the next. Here's the kind of question that can seem so pressing to one person or another at one time or another: Will I make the team? Will he ask me out again? Will I need an operation? What's happened to our son? Will anyone find out what I've done? Will they pick on me at school today? Will I get the job? How could they say that about me? Who will care for my cat after I'm gone? Will this business deal go through? How can I go back; what should I say? Does my husband still love me? Should we put dad in a home? Can I ever get off drugs? How can we pay the bills? Can I bear keeping the child? How can I make up for what I've done? Why did he have to die? Will my work ever get recognized? Can I go on like this?

What burdens other people may not seem troublesome to us, and vice versa. We each have secret problems and crosses which belong to us alone, and we all find our own way of managing our pain. Children's concerns, for example, are small‑scaled in adults' eyes, but they can be terrifying to children. On the other hand, adult worries do not bother children, but they can make adults lose sleep or even their health.

Contrary to what one may think, concerns of the wealthy are many.  The well‑to‑do are concerned about things like the stock market, tax rates, company mergers and buy‑outs, what party is in office, new investment opportunities, and juggling work and vacation schedules. If money could buy happiness, the rich would have no problems. But it can't, and they do.

The poor have their own questions and concerns, many of which really are urgent. They don't care much about the Fortune 500, or about who is running the government or what bills are before congress. They are trying to figure out how to pay their own bills. They worry about food, shelter, and holding their family together. They wonder if the ache they feel in their body is something serious, or if they will get ousted from the condemned building they sleep in, or if there's someplace they could go, where the gang problem isn't so bad.

If we could distract ourselves from our own concerns ‑‑ however great or small ‑‑ long enough to look around, I think most of us would admit that we see other people with problems that make our own pale in significance. It's like the man who worried because he didn't have any shoes until he met a man who had no feet.

Moreover, if we look at the world as a whole and ask what the burning issue of our time is, we can see that there are some really big concerns affecting millions of people that dwarf the problems of any single person. Medical researchers, for example, might say the really big issue is genetic engineering or finding a cure for AIDS. Naturalists would no doubt say that environmental degradation is the really big issue, including matters like global warming, endangered species, toxic waste, the depletion of non‑renewable energy sources, and the destruction of the rain forests. Global planners might say it is Third World development and overcoming extreme disparities in wealth and poverty. Astrophysicists might say it's the danger of a stray meteor hitting the earth. Politicians might express concern over the stability of the present world order. Economists might say it's the health of the national and global economies. Social reformers might say it's a decline in morality and civility. Demographers might say it is population growth. Police might say its runaway crime and the threat of nuclear‑armed terrorists.

These are not trivial problems, but I would like to suggest that there is a bigger issue than any of these ‑‑ bigger because it affects every human being who ever lived or will live. Today's big issue, I say, is the big issue of every time and place: is Jesus Christ who he said he is? Is his word true? Is he God's only son, and is his God the real God? If so, then all our worries are for naught, and we should follow Jesus' instruction not to worry about what we shall eat or wear, or what tomorrow may bring. We should seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, confident that the Father knows all our needs and will supply them. We should reform our lives and, like Jesus, go about doing good. And we should remember that the same Jesus who calls us to life will stand in final judgment over all the living and the dead, ourselves included. And we should remember that we are choosing our eternity by the choices we make every day.

I suggest that anyone who has not yet resolved this issue should immediately make it the really big issue of their life.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap