First Reading: 2Chro 24:17-25; Psalm: 89. R. v. 29a; Gospel: Mt 6:24-34

WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW?

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP

One of the reasonable features of man is his potential to be proactive. Every wise man plans for the future not because it is a customary relative practice but because the future is part and parcel of the circle of life. This in itself is not wrong. Wisdom demands this proactive measure. When Jesus admonished us not to worry about tomorrow, he was not castigating this approach but was only implying that we should trust in God despite our own human efforts in planning for the future.

Every plan we make comes with it the latent likelihood to fail. Our monies, investments, savings, and our reliance on the cooperation of man in executing our future plans are not hundred percent safe or guaranteed. So it is natural for us to get worried. For this is enough to trouble anyone. But this tension is precisely what Jesus frowns at. We should not be drained by the thought of these things as though we are the ones to make them happen. If we centre our hearts on these things, it becomes idolatry. And Jesus warned that we cannot serve both God and mammon.

We can make our plans for the future but we shouldn’t be carried away by the fear of not potentially realising them. Jesus used the figure of a bird to assure us that he will take care of our needs. The birds of the air do not work yet God fends for them. How much more we who are made in God’s own image. Farmers scatter seeds but how these seeds germinate to become crops are what they do not know and cannot control. When we make our plans, it is God who materialises them. Therefore we need to trust in God’s volition and stop worrying.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Lord Jesus, help us to trust in your care and take one day at a time as it comes. Amen.