The Gospel for February 27, 2011 is from Matthew 6:24-34. Jesus tells us not to put the riches of this world in front of the majesty of Heaven. He says, “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.” He then asks us to put our faith in Him and not worry so much about acquiring earthly possessions. The Third Luminous Mystery of the rosary echos this same theme when Jesus asks us to put living for God’s Kingdom before our earthly one.
Jesus’ statements in this Gospel lead to a lot of confusion. Why is He telling us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, wear, or live? Don’t we have to work and earn a living so that we have a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear? After all, I don’t think He wants us to be homeless and dieing of starvation. I don’t think Jesus is calling for a total collapse of society because no one needs to put in a hard day’s work. Or is Jesus telling us we do not have to work at all and God will just give us everything we want on account of our faith in Him?
Any reader of this blog or the Gospel obviously knows that Jesus isn’t literally telling us not to work. Jesus understands that we need to work and provide for ourselves and others. He is not telling us to be slothful and just await for God to “bail us out.” Jesus’ main point is that our earthly pursuits should not be the focal point of our lives. We should work, but not solely for the earthly wealth and power. As in the Third Luminous Mystery of the rosary, Jesus asks us to live for His Heavenly kingdom of Heaven first. He asks us to convert from our native, earthly focus and orient ourselves towards God. We do this by consciously making a clean start with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, praying more, and really letting the Holy Spirit guide us through life.
According to the Gospel, God will provide for us. Note that Jesus does not say that our faith will give us an easy life free of burden and responsibility. This is not what Jesus meant by providing. Just look at many of the saints. Their lives were not easy. Many of them were persecuted, ignored, hated, and even martyred. But in the end they were all blessed with eternal happiness because they chose to live for God’s kingdom first. In the end, God did provide for them with the ultimate gift — Heaven.
We have a choice. Where are we going to put our priorities? Are we going to choose living for all the good things of this world or all the great things in Heaven? We only have so much energy and time in the day so we do have to make a choice. We cannot live for God’s kingdom by accident. If we do not explicitly choose to live for God, we naturally tend to drift towards living only for this world. That means we need to make many small decisions every day to choose God’s love over earthly pursuits. Do we choose to set aside time for prayer? Do we go to Sunday Mass and treat it seriously and with respect? Do we receive the sacraments (particularly Reconciliation)? Do we go out of our way to avoid sin even if it makes our life harder? Do we help our brothers and sisters, particularly our enemies or those in need? Those are just a few of the choices we need to make that will either bring us closer to God or away from Him. This week is a good time to pray the rosary, focus on the Third Luminous Mystery, and ask yourself, “Who will you serve?”
Related articles
- Pope Benedict: Jesus’ new law of love calls man to fraternity in tragedy (catholicnewsagency.com)
- New start available for those who accept Christ, says Pope (catholicnewsagency.com)
- Baptism frees man from materialism, selfishness, says Pope in Lenten message (catholicnewsagency.com)
- We’re Not Forgotten — A Lectionary Meditation (pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com)
- Father Corapi: Everything For Jesus, Through Mary’s Hands! (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
