“DO not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself.” These words of Jesus are wise and unburdening but they’re challenging.
It’s because for many of us, it’s not easy not to worry about the future such as our next meal, the education of our children, or our retirement. It’s not easy not to be anxious when one’s blood pressure has gone up or a family member is diagnosed with cancer. It’s not easy not to worry when our children are not getting jobs with the still staggering economy.
Yet Jesus continues to challenge us to trust by reminding us: “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?”
Jesus doesn’t mean to tell us that we should not plan for the future, work hard for a living, or be proactive. For in another passage of the Gospel of Luke he states, “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not sit down and calculate the cost to see he has enough to complete it? (Lk: 14:28)
Jesus wants us to be prudent too and to use our abilities to improve our lives. He doesn’t say that we’ll just sit around and wait for the next day to come. In fact, he wants us to use our gifts. And so he reprimanded the man in the Parable of the Talents who hid his talent in the ground instead of investing it. He called the man a “wicked and lazy slave.”
With this in mind, of course, he wants us to use our intelligencer and skills to improve our economy, our health, our families, communities and society. He’s never against responsible use of science or engineering as long as it is for the common good and the well being of others. After all, he wants the world and our hearts to be in peace.
What Jesus desires is that we refrain from inordinate worrying of one’s life and the lives of other people. He doesn’t want us to make the things of this world as our ultimate concern. This is the reason why he says in the beginning of this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
We must make our relationship with God our priority in life. With God, we can let go of all our anxieties. In God, we can live the present moment and not worry about tomorrow. As he says in the Gospel, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”
Let’s keep trusting the Lord who says in the Book of Isaiah: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”
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Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas attended St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California and earned his Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. For twenty years, he has been in the parish ministry of large multi-cultural communities. Since 2002, he has been the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. Please email Fr. Rodel at [email protected].
