Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. (Mt 6:25)
Did the Christ meet and talk with travelers on the Silk Road that linked China and India through Persia to Egypt and Greece? Alexander the Great traveled this road many centuries before Jesus was born. Along with a wealth of material for the rich who were worried about their appearance and the privileges of power, there traveled a wealth of knowledge and experience, of ideas and people on those camel trains.
Speculation. History. Who knows. But as i read today's mass reading i am reminded of mindfulness. Nothing new under the sun, we say. A common wealth of knowledge shared by God to all nations is also possible: common sense. Live now, not in things past, not in the dreams of tomorrow. Live in awareness. Choices are made in the present. When we choose to love God and behave in a way that honour Him and us, this choice is the now.
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? (Mt. 6:27)
Anxiety occurs in the present but the mind creates this tension by dwelling in the past or speculating on the future. The mind keeps us busy, keeps us in chains, keeps us from standing in the moment and choosing for Love or loving-kindness: why would we share our food and wealth if tomorrow we might loose it? screams the insecure mind! Keep it! Hord it! This is who we become, an identity based on material things that the anxitious mind craves.
Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them (Mt 6:28-29)
I have to smile. Jesus sounds like a hippy. But then, people have been repeating this wisdom for millenia. Nothing new under the sun, we say. Yet we don't hear it. People are starving and their neighbours are more concerned about their outward appearance, the food on their table and what other's think of them.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself (Mt 6:34)
We reap what we sow. We sow now, in every thought and word and deed. Our attention can better be on now, Jesus says, and not let our mind make us slaves to fear. I am still smiling because Buddha teaches those who listen the same advice. The moment 'now' is important. 'Now' is the only time that matters. East meets West. Seek first the Kingdom of God (that which transcends the material world, that which is known through the senses, but beyond, the source of All there is, Love perfected, for example) and be correct in ones behaviour, be aware of all the moments in ones daily life, and the sun and the rain and the food of life shall be provided. Grow to the sun in happiness and why worry about anything else? God, please let me share every moment with you, in your name, in your honour, that i might share your light and peace and love and be that which i truly am. Amen.
Deo gratias.
Did the Christ meet and talk with travelers on the Silk Road that linked China and India through Persia to Egypt and Greece? Alexander the Great traveled this road many centuries before Jesus was born. Along with a wealth of material for the rich who were worried about their appearance and the privileges of power, there traveled a wealth of knowledge and experience, of ideas and people on those camel trains.
Speculation. History. Who knows. But as i read today's mass reading i am reminded of mindfulness. Nothing new under the sun, we say. A common wealth of knowledge shared by God to all nations is also possible: common sense. Live now, not in things past, not in the dreams of tomorrow. Live in awareness. Choices are made in the present. When we choose to love God and behave in a way that honour Him and us, this choice is the now.
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? (Mt. 6:27)
Anxiety occurs in the present but the mind creates this tension by dwelling in the past or speculating on the future. The mind keeps us busy, keeps us in chains, keeps us from standing in the moment and choosing for Love or loving-kindness: why would we share our food and wealth if tomorrow we might loose it? screams the insecure mind! Keep it! Hord it! This is who we become, an identity based on material things that the anxitious mind craves.
Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them (Mt 6:28-29)
I have to smile. Jesus sounds like a hippy. But then, people have been repeating this wisdom for millenia. Nothing new under the sun, we say. Yet we don't hear it. People are starving and their neighbours are more concerned about their outward appearance, the food on their table and what other's think of them.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself (Mt 6:34)
We reap what we sow. We sow now, in every thought and word and deed. Our attention can better be on now, Jesus says, and not let our mind make us slaves to fear. I am still smiling because Buddha teaches those who listen the same advice. The moment 'now' is important. 'Now' is the only time that matters. East meets West. Seek first the Kingdom of God (that which transcends the material world, that which is known through the senses, but beyond, the source of All there is, Love perfected, for example) and be correct in ones behaviour, be aware of all the moments in ones daily life, and the sun and the rain and the food of life shall be provided. Grow to the sun in happiness and why worry about anything else? God, please let me share every moment with you, in your name, in your honour, that i might share your light and peace and love and be that which i truly am. Amen.
Deo gratias.
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