But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

- Matthew 6:25-34 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught His disciples, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 

  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"  My study Bible explains that Jesus is warning against anxiety here, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, it says, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  It further remarks that to be anxious over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

 

 "So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  Because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained dependent upon earthly things, my study Bible says.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.  

 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount, my study Bible notes.  It says that Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven -- secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

 

So, what is God's righteousness?   The entire Sermon on the Mount is a way to express this, what life is like in living for the Kingdom.  We started with the Beatitudes, which taught us how to live and to view a blessed life.  From there we learned that believers are like salt and light, and carry these needful qualities with them in spiritual terms that help their societies and communities.  Deepening our understanding of the Law and its aims, Jesus teaches us about the reality of our interior lives, what it means to be part of this communion, and to take action to avoid sin at deeper levels within our own hearts.  In other words, true righteousness, and justice, even spiritual perfection.  Giving examples of this life, He teaches us how we should pray, and what to pray.  Yesterday, He taught us about the impossibility of serving two masters; we'll either be a slave to materialism or freed in true righteousness, embracing the life of the Kingdom (see above).  Moreover, in today's reading, Jesus elaborates on that freedom, asking us to become freed enough from attachment to our material desires so as to avoid excess anxiety, to stop making that the central focus of life and put God there instead -- "for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  In other words, we don't divide life into two realms, but we do put one first, the one governed by God, under whom are all things, for God creates and upholds all of reality.  When we lose the righteousness -- the kingdom of God and His righteousness -- then we lose the reason for being, the ways of relationship to the world and even to our material possessions, how to use them, what they are for, and how they are provided for us.  In our lives we may work hard, we may find very creative ways to live material lives, but ultimately our well-being depends upon placing our faith in something that colors everything and transcends it.  In recognizing dependence upon God, we not only find this righteousness and this Kingdom for ourselves, we also find a healthy gratitude, an understanding of life that places in our laps the means by which we find values and priorities for all that we do.  Gratitude is so often the alternative, and therapy, for the times one feels depression or meaninglessness, so let us shape our lives by this understanding of dependence upon God.  Even the sad parts of life, the things we experience as loss, pain, or suffering, gain meaning through God's righteousness, and relationship to Creator, including insights on how we go forward through difficulties.  So let us depend upon Christ and free ourselves from the anxieties that make us unbalanced and unreceptive to the righteousness and communion we can find.  Today's passage contains some of the most beautiful imagery found in all of Scripture.  It's not for nothing that Jesus reminds us of the stunning beauty of nature ("even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"), of the things created by God, the dependency even of the birds of the air for God's care ("Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?"), and most especially how futile our worry and anxiety are ("Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?").  In this context, faith becomes the way of life that is not simply preferable, but needful, and for all of us as human beings.  In the modern world, we feel that we are constantly bombarded with things to worry about; we are constantly fed information guaranteed to stoke anxiety.  Jesus acknowledges that we have needs, and we also have troubles, but He puts them into context for us.  Perhaps it was always like this, but nonetheless even in our present age it remains true, that "tomorrow will worry about its own things -- and sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Let us take Jesus at His word, for unlike some who preach all kinds of systems or philosophies or even faiths, He doesn't scare us with fear, but quite the opposite.  He teaches us that a focus on worry and anxiety avail us nothing; only faith changes everything and is the place we should take our stand and root ourselves in life.  Let us remember the beauty and wisdom He teaches to us. We are called to a particular Kingdom, and a particular righteousness.  The whole world may urgently chase the material life ("For after all these things the Gentiles seek"), but we are called to a different way.  In a world increasingly obsessed with security, let us consider how we may seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness.

 

 

 

 

But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  

 

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

 

- Luke 12:13-31 

 

Yesterday we read that as Jesus was speaking to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.  In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.  And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has  killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.   Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." 

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  My study Bible comments that it was a custom for respected rabbis to arbitrate personal disputes.  But a dispute over an inheritance can be detrimental to salvation.  This greed is pure idolatry, my study Bible comments (Colossians 3:5) and unfitting for those who know God.  Notice how incompatible this question is with what Christ has just finished saying, in yesterday's reading, above. 

 

 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."  My study Bible says that the question, "Whose will those things be which you hae provided?" is the key to understanding the saving up of material goods.  St. John Chrysostom writes that the only barns we need we already have:  "the stomachs of the poor."  St. Basil the Great taught that the bread in our cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging unused belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in our closet belong to the one who has no shoes; and the money we hoard belongs to the poor.  St. Ambrose teaches, "The things which we cannot take with us are not ours.  Only virtue will be our companion when we die."  My study Bible says that even when Joseph stored up grain in Egypt (Genesis 41) it was for the benefit of the whole nation.  These teachings apply to parishes as well as to each person. 

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."  Here my study Bible comments that Christ is warning against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, it says, and only indirectly on food and clothing.  Anxiety over earthly things can demonstrate a lack of faith in God's care.  The nations of the world is a reference to the Gentiles, who served pagan idols, and remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  My study Bible says that those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.   The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching.  As we are freed from excess anxiety about earthly things, Christ guides us to look to how we please God (seek the kingdom of God) and be secure in the faith that God will provide our needed earthly blessings. 

What does it mean to seek the kingdom of God?  Christ has given us prescriptions, so to speak, in all of His teachings, about how to do that.  We are to pray, we are to seek God's righteousness.  We are to love God with all our hearts and minds and soul and strength -- and to love neighbor as oneself, extended that love through practice.  To dispute over an inheritance does not seem to indicate that one is seeking a righteous judgment but rather contesting something legitimately given out of greed and covetousness.  Let us think for a moment about what such disputes entail, the expense and effort and time, not to mention the family dynamics of such a circumstance.  This indicates that one has not sought God's will in such a dispute but rather values material wealth first over the kingdom of God.  We make such choices all the time; we are presented with such choices all the time -- and in today's passage, Jesus is clearly coming down firmly on the answer for us all.  We're to seek first the kingdom of God, in all things, and at all times.  This may seem difficult, if not impossible to do in a world obsessed with material goods and consumption.  It's exacerbated through modern conditions of comparison to others and being offered all kinds of goods through images, advertising, social media.  Social media often offers to us what we supposedly "should" be seeking in life, because everyone else does it, because all our friends do, or even family members.  But this is not where the Christian heart must be focusing.  These are all great distractions to seek something else and take our mind and our focus off of God, and Christ's teaching for us and for our lives.  There really is no compromise on this; Jesus teaches that we cannot serve both God and mammon.  We have to make a choice.  Note that Jesus does not say that we must live without blessings of a material kind -- what He does say is that we need to seek the kingdom of God.  He tells us that "your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."    Seeking the kingdom of God, therefore, applies to all times and circumstances.  We seek God's will through prayerful life, putting all things -- our troubles, concerns, worries, needs, and choices -- before God and seeking the discernment to find God's way.  Sometimes I have found that an important practice in life is seeking to give control up to God, to accept what comes with gratitude.  Regardless of circumstances, I find that letting go to God helps me with clarity and also with charity; sometimes those in need are brought to me with what God thinks I can offer, even if that's just a kind word or smile.  So often, we forget what blessings we really have to share; a focus on the purely material blinds us to the other things people need and desire for their hearts as well.  Let us seek that Kingdom and God's blessings, and we will find that we have so much more than we know.

But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." 

 

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

 

- Luke 12:13-31 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus criticized them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.  In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.  And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." 

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." My study Bible notes that it was a custom for respected rabbis to arbitrate personal disputes.  But a dispute over an inheritance, my study Bible says, is detrimental to salvation.  This greed is pure idolatry (Colossians 3:5) and unfitting for one who knows God.  My study Bible asks us to notice how incompatible this question is with what Christ has just finished saying (see yesterday's reading, above).  Note Christ's important words, giving us the emphasis on what is truly life-giving; if we think our life consists in the abundance of things we possess, we are on the wrong track.

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."  My study Bible says that the question, Whose will those things be which you have provided? is the key to understanding the saving up of material goods.   It notes that St. John Chrysostom writes that the only barns we need we already have; that is, "the stomachs of the poor."  St. Basil the Great, my study Bible adds, taught that the bread in our cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging unused belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in our closet belong to the one who has no shoes; and the money we hoard belongs to the poor.  Moreover, it says, St. Ambrose teaches, "The things which we cannot take with us are not ours.  Only virtue will be our companion when we die."  Even when Joseph stored up grain in Egypt (Genesis 41), it was for the benefit of the whole nation.  Such teachings, my study Bible notes, apply to parishes as well as to each person.  

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."   My study Bible comments that here Jesus warns against anxiety, and not against thoughtful planning.  It says that our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  Anxiety over earthly things, it notes, demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  The nations of the world:  my study Bible explains that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.    To seek the kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, the true gospel message.  Christ calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and look to heaven as the center of life and its Source, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

In today's reading, there is a subtle shift toward the Cross that we might miss if we believe that a reference needs to be explicit.  But the shift toward the Cross is there in the sense that Jesus begins to shift the attention of His disciples from the purely material to the transcendent.  That is, He is taking them toward a sense that life does not come from purely material accumulation "for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  In this context, we must consider their expectations of what His kingdom will be and when it will appear.  As Jesus is now on the journey toward His Passion, this shift in the attention of His disciples is important.  In order to understand and experience the events that are coming, it will be necessary to have a perspective capable of taking in and accepting the deeper values of the Kingdom which will sustain them on their future apostolic journeys.  As St. Paul will write, "And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now" (1 Corinthians 4:12-14).  In the parable Christ teaches, the subject touches upon death, making us think about our relationship with God and the things we take with us when we leave this world -- and again, there is the beginning of the journey toward the Cross.  The man in the parable who has made his storehouses has failed to consider even what will happen with his material goods at his death, and has not nurtured his soul -- although that would be possible with acts of  mercy toward those in need.  Jesus says, "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."  In selfishness, we lose out on our life, we take away a richness that is not possible to gain through material consideration alone.  Our wealth must have a meaning, and we must consider ourselves stewards, for "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" James 1:17).  Our goods are a means toward expressing the things that the Cross will teach us, our management of things under our care reflects our beliefs and values.   When He teaches, "For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things,"  Jesus conveys two things.  First, the nations of the world are those who have neither Jewish spiritual history nor Christ Himself at the time these words were spoken.  (Of course we could make an argument today about what bearing Christ's teachings have on the nations of the world today).  Second, the Father knows that we have material needs for our lives.  Jesus' true emphasis here is on what we put first:  "But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."  In our understanding of the Cross, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for His friends because He put the Kingdom first, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Luke 11:2).  But in Christ's so doing, the gruesome instrument of Roman capital punishment became for us the life-giving Cross of Resurrection.  Jesus is not preaching a sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice or deprivation, and neither is He preaching a life absent an abundance of good things.  But He is preaching in the light of the Cross and the transcendent reality that feeds all things, adding redemption to our lives as it transfigures.  A focus on the purely material will not gain us those things, will not give meaning to what we have, will not teach us good stewardship nor planning.  For it is in the light of Christ that we learn what beauty and compassion mean, what our true needs are most deeply in the soul, and how to beautify life with what is nurturing when we need it.  Christ's compassion waters us with His love (John 6:51), giving us life in abundance.  The beauteous images He suggests here -- the lilies clothed in more splendor than Solomon in all his glory, and the ravens for whom God cares -- teach us that an appreciation for the beauty and goodness of the world is always present with Him, and in the sight of God.  Let us look to the light of the Cross to show us how to plant and nurture our gardens, so that whatever we have is simply added to the beauty of the Kingdom He offers, which our anxiety and worry cannot give to us.