PSALM 148
Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights. Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host.
Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, shining stars.
Praise him, highest heavens and the waters above the heavens.
All earth’s kings and peoples, earth’s princes and rulers;
young men and maidens, old men together with children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord for he alone is exalted.
The splendour of his name reaches beyond heaven and earth.
He exults the strength of his people. He is the praise of all his saints,
of the sons of Israel, of the people to whom he comes close. Alleluia!
LITANY OF PRAISE:
The response to our prayers of praise and thanks is:
We praise the splendour of your name!
SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 12:22-32
Jesus said to his disciples: I am telling you now not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Think of the ravens. They do not sow or reap; they have no storehouses and no barns; yet God feeds them. And how much more you are worth than the birds! Can any of you, however much you worry, add a single cubit to your span of life? If a very small thing is beyond your powers, why worry about the rest? Think how the flowers grow; they never have to spin or weave; yet, I assure you, not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of them. Now if that is how God clothes a flower which is growing wild today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he look after you, who have so little faith! But you must not set your hearts on things to eat and things to drink; nor must you worry. It is the gentiles of this world who set their hearts on all these things. Your Father well knows you need them. No, set your hearts on his kingdom, and these other things will be given you as well. There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. The Gospel of the Lord.
REFLECTION: (Fr.John Dalrymple)
Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom, and all else will be given unto you.” He does not ask us to cultivate an impassive indifference in life. He knows we are human beings as he was, and therefore needing to be passionately concerned and anxious about things. To be concerned, anxious and passionate is to be human. It is not something to be ashamed of, but something to rejoice in. To be without desires, a passionless pudding, is inhuman. Jesus was human, so he does not ask his followers to deny their desires. What he does is to re-direct those desires. Jesus directs our anxieties towards the true object of human aspirations; the only one which will fulfil them. This he called the Father’s Will, or the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ gospel says: Strive fully after that; be thoroughly anxious about that; exercise all your human endeavour towards that. When you do so, you will find that you have little anxiety left for the things most people are anxious about in our consumer-oriented world. You will become less bothered about material comfort, spiritual gifts, social acceptance. Your strivings in that direction will diminish and fade. You will discover a pure beauty in Christ’s Kingdom which at first was not visible to you. Then you will discover that same beauty in the world, a beauty which you can fully enjoy because you are not now striving anxiously to possess it. It is there simply to enjoy for its own sake, and to give glory to God.
No wonder Jesus called his message Good News. It is good news to be told how to live in this beautiful world and love it properly.
INTERCESSIONS: Lord, in your mercy . . . Hear our prayer
CLOSING PRAYER:
O Lord, we know that we very often worry
about the things that may never happen.
Help us to live one day at a time,
and to live it for YOU, for your name’s sake.
Amen.