Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
»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 not worth much more than birds? Can any of you add a day to your life by worrying about it?
»Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at the flowers in the fields how they 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».
«I tell you not to be worried about food and drink for yourself»
Fr. Antoni CAROL i Hostench (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)Today, Jesus uses metaphors taken from the nature that surrounded him in some of the most fertile lands of Galilee, where he spent his childhood and adolescence — the lilies of the fields and the birds of the sky— he reminds us that God the Father is provider and if He looks after the needs of the smallest of creatures what more will He do for human beings, His favored among creatures (cf. Mt 6:26-30).
This text from Mathew is on an optimistic and happy note, where we can contemplate a Son who is proud of his own Father because He is provider and constantly looks out for the welfare of His creation. We should share in Jesus optimism so as we can stand firm in hope —«Do not worry» (Mt 6:31)— when we come across difficult situations in our lives. It should also be an incentive to us to be a source in a world that needs to live true charity, in other words, love in action.
In the broadest sense, we are told that we should be the feet, the hands, eyes and the mouth of Jesus in the middle of the world, but, in terms of charity this is even more profound: we must be charity itself, and the Father will provide from heaven. We human beings are called to make the providence of God a reality by being sensitive and helping those most in need.
In the words of Benedict XVI, «those men, who have the love of God in them, are converted into instruments of Gods charity and weave a web of charity». But the Holy Father also reminds us that charity must always be accompanied by the Truth that is Christ, so as it is not converted into mere philanthropic deeds, that are bare of any Christian spiritual sense that is typical of those of us who live by the teaching of the Master.
