When Both Cars Fail to Start

Pastor’s Column

6th Sunday of Easter

May 25, 2025

“Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

from John 14:23-29

          Worrying is something that comes naturally for many of us, and yet Christ advises us to try and avoid it. Being a bit of a worry-wart by nature myself, I often remember a wonderful quote that has been attributed to Mark Twain: “I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”  So many things we tend to worry about never happen, while other things occur all the time. We (sometimes fortunately) don’t even see them coming. This is why the Lord insists that we rely on him.

          During the ten years I worked for American Airlines in Los Angeles in the 1980s, one of the big things they insisted on was attendance and the importance of not arriving late, an ongoing concern with the long commutes and regular traffic jams some of us had. No excuses allowed! Three strikes and you’re out. Partly as a way of guarding against a car breakdown getting me in trouble, I owned two vehicles. That way if one wouldn’t start, I would have the other one (I inherited the second car from my mother, a 5000-pound land yacht). One of the two was a new car, so there was little to worry about that one, but it didn’t stop me from worrying all the same. One day the morning finally came when the older of these cars would not start. So, having planned for just such an event, I got in the “spare” car (the new one) and … it wouldn’t start either! So much for all that worrying. I ended up taking a taxi and it worked out. 

          Brother Andre Bessette, the great Saint of Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, Canada, was a simple man of few words, yet his holiness and reputation for miraculous healings and closeness to God were apparent to everyone. His collected sayings are contained in a book of only 70 pages, and among them is this gem:

People are worried for nothing.  When help is needed, 

it will come in the right place by God.

          Most of us worry about the wrong things. All we need concern ourselves about in the end are those things which are important to God, and He will take care of us. Of course it is always good to plan ahead and prepare contingencies but the fact is that what frequently happens is precisely what we do not expect. At the end of our lives we will see that the Lord had everything in hand, no matter how grave things seemed to be at the time. This is why he advised us to worry only about pleasing God, to be concerned with what the Lord desires in our lives, and then we will be better prepared when both cars fail to start at the same time.

Father Gary