Gospel Reading: Mt 6:24-34
Jesus said to his disciples: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW.
There are certain problems we cannot avoid, difficulties we dread going through again. And so we worry and make our day miserable without solving the problems. A wise man once wrote that “90% of what we worry about never happens, and the remaining 10% that does happen happens even if we have worried about it.”
Though futile, worrying or thinking about what lies ahead is very human and natural. Students worry about the approaching final exams. But their worry does not do away with the exams; only serious study today can give the inner assurance to face the test questions.
Jesus makes us aware that we do not need to carry tomorrow’s burdens today. When we get to tomorrow, he will be there, ready to help us deal with them. He expresses this basic truth for a calm life of trust in him when he teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” If we pray this every day, we will receive every day the bread we need.
This is a very effective strategy for coping with depression as well. Let us take it one day at a time, trusting in Jesus to strengthen us and help us through the day, rather than constantly fearing what tomorrow may hold.
Of course, this does not mean that we do not have to work any longer. As a student has to study hard, we do what we can and leave the rest to the Lord.
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SOURCE: “366 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.