My dear friends, through the beautiful readings today, our Lord once again expresses his magnificent love for us by reminding us that we need not worry for our provisions in the same way that non-believers do as if God is not watching over us.
In the first reading we hear the author reciting a wonderful prayer to God in which he hints at this reliance on divine providence: “give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need; Lest, being full, I deny you, saying, "Who is the LORD?"
The idea is that we rely more on God’s providence, then on our own abilities to fend for ourselves, since as the author expresses, being full of our own accomplishments we may think we do not need God, or deny his very existence.
For Saint Francis this detachment from self-reliance was so important that he had ordered his friars to never carry around money on their persons, and that only by special permission from their superiors were they to do so if special needs required it. He took the admonition from scripture to heart that “love of money is the root of all evil” and translated that into the fourth chapter of the rule he left for his friars:
“I strictly forbid the brothers to receive money in any form either directly or through an intermediary. Nevertheless, the ministers and custodians can work through spiritual friends to care for the sick and clothe the brothers, according to place, season and climate, as necessity may seem to demand. This must be done, however, in such a way that they do not receive money.”
The Lord Jesus in today’s gospel lays down the groundwork for this concept which we described just now. In fact, all of religious life and teaching is based on what the Lord himself taught us and instituted through his chosen twelve and the Church he founded. Our Lord too, many times, tried to teach the concept of reliance on divine providence to the Apostles.
“Lord we have two first and five loaves, but what are they among so many?”.. and he provides food for the multitudes. In today’s gospel, he once again tells them to go out without the normal necessities which would accompany a journey. Why would he do that, if not to reinforce the fact that God will be with us, and accompany us and provide for all our needs when we respond to the mission he sends us out into the world with?
So too, we all need to learn the lesson of dependence on God, and trust in his goodness and grace. We need to let go of our fears, that somehow our lives will be incomplete if we don’t amass a great amount of wealth and secure for ourselves a wonderful future. The future is in God’s hands. He alone knows whether or not we will see the light of tomorrow’s day. He alone knows what our needs are, and our Lord reminded us that even in prayer, we should always remember that our Heavenly Father knows what our needs are. Our prayer therefore becomes more a prayer of thanksgiving than petition, because knowing what we need, our Lord provides, and when he does, it is our duty to thank and glorify him.
May the Lord continue to help us to assess our lives, our standing with him, and illuminate our conscience to know what is within our power to change in our lives and to know how to trust in him always for everything else. Mary, Queen of Divine Providence, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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