Sunday, March 02, 2014
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Is 49:14–15
Ps 62:2–3, 6–7, 8–9
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 4:1–5
Gospel: Mt 6:24–34
Jesus said to his disciples. “No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money.
“This is why I tell you not to be worried about food and drink for yourself, or about clothes for your body. Is not life more important than food, and is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you less worthy than they are?
“Can any of you add a day to your life by worrying about it? Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at how the flowers in the fields grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass in the field, which blooms today and is to be burned tomorrow in an oven, how much more will he clothe you? What little faith you have!
“Do not worry and say: What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? or: What shall we wear? The pagans busy themselves with such things; but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God, and all these things will also be given to you. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A story is told of a job applicant interviewed by a very nervous man who ran a small business. “I need someone with an accounting degree to do the worrying for me,” the owner said. “And how much does the job pay?” the applicant asked. “I’ll start you at eighty thousand dollars,” the owner replied. “What? How can such a small business afford a sum like that?” “That,” the owner said, “is your first worry” (Jokediary.com).
Worry is an exhausting emotional state due to an attempt to live both the present and the future. Chiara Lubich compared those who worry a lot to a train passenger seated at the last cabin who runs to the first cabin in an attempt to arrive at the destination ahead of the train. Worrying amounts to nothing, drains inner resources, and distracts one from God’s providence.
The Gospel says, “Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God and all these things will also be given to you.” The kingdom and justice of God? That should be everyone’s first and only worry! — Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr. DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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