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(Is.49:14-15;\xa0\xa0 Ps.62:2-3,6-9;\xa0\xa0 1Cor.4:1-5;\xa0\xa0 Mt.6:24-34) \xa0 \u201cSeek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.\u201d \xa0 Today\u2019s gospel is the Lord\u2019s beautiful exhortation not to be anxious about the things of this world: God takes care.\xa0 \u201cDo not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear,\u201d Jesus instructs us.\xa0 And how true it is that \u201cthe birds of the sky,\u201d who \u201cdo not sow or reap,\u201d are fed in abundance, and that there is nothing more splendidly clothed than the flowers of the field.\xa0 And do we indeed think the Father will not care just so for our lives?\xa0 Yet all we do is worry about these passing things, even as our soul calls us to peace. \u201cOnly in God is my soul at rest; from Him comes my salvation,\u201d David so poignantly and appropriately sings.\xa0 And with this trust in his rock of refuge he knows he \u201cshall not be disturbed at all.\u201d\xa0 Similarly, St. Augustine has declared, from his own experience of pursuing worldly cares, that only in God do our souls find rest.\xa0 Are these witnesses not enough to trust in the salvation that comes from God alone?\xa0 Then hear of the undying love God holds for His creatures in the prophecy of Isaiah: to those who fret, \u201cThe Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me,\u201d he asks the simple yet profound question, \u201cCan a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?\u201d\xa0 Yet greater than a mother\u2019s love is the Lord God\u2019s care for us, for \u201ceven should she forget\u201d (as seems to happen all too often in this age of abortion), the Lord states with certainty and full assurance, \u201cI will never forget you.\u201d And much like this inclination to anxiety about the cares of life, and coming from the same faithless source, is our proclivity to judge others.\xa0 How many of us heed St. Paul\u2019s warning not to \u201cmake any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes\u201d?\xa0 How many cannot trust that \u201cHe will bring to light what is hidden,\u201d that all things He sees \u2013 that we need not do His job for Him.\xa0 \u201cThe one who judges me is the Lord,\u201d Paul states.\xa0 Really, who else can do so?\xa0 As by no other hand does our food come, so by no other tongue shall all be judged. \u201cTrust in Him at all times, O my people!\xa0 Pour out your hearts before Him.\u201d\xa0 Try it, and you will see \u2013 He alone provides all things.\xa0 Set your hearts on Him and He will take care. \xa0 Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. \xa0 Music: "Breathing for a Living" from Breath, the Apple Rises, fifth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. \xa0 ******* O LORD, let us take rest in your arms and not in the world\u2019s distress.\xa0 YHWH, you alone provide for all our needs; in you alone our souls find rest.\xa0 We cannot be at peace unless we give our lives in service of you, for serving the world we find only distress. What is the motive of our hearts?\xa0 Whom do we truly serve?\xa0 What is it we seek with our lives?\xa0 Only you know our hearts, LORD.\xa0 Only you can see where our desire lies.\xa0 We cannot deceive you, and any attempt at deception, at pretending love for you above all, will only leave us in the same state of unrest as our openly seeking the things of this world. Let them all die, all our errant desires, all of our fears about the things of tomorrow.\xa0 What indeed is food and drink and clothing?\xa0 Where do they lead us in themselves?\xa0 And what is not in your hands, O LORD?\xa0 Then why do we not trust ourselves into them?\xa0 There is no hope for us apart from you.\xa0 Let the peace of which your Son speaks be with us always, dear God.