Trouble and the lilies of the field

The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the 8th Sunday in ordinary time explore our relationship with security, fault and our choices in life. The response of the prophet Isaiah to the attention of the Divine for humanity is to compare the attention of God to that of a nursing mother. The prophet suggests that if even the mother can forget her child, God cannot forget each of us. We are concerned about how we are remembered and perceived by others. Father Larry Gillick SJ suggests that we dress to impress and project an image. We may be protecting our inner self from ridicule or rejection. Paul addresses the Corinthians to proclaim that he is judged only by the Lord. He anticipates he will receive ‘commendation from God’ at the conclusion of his temporal service. Is this boasting? Is this the boasting of which Paul proclaims to be “boasting in the Lord”? The evidence from the totality of Paul’s writing is that he firmly credits the Lord working through the indwelling Spirit for all of his accomplishments. The Gospel of Matthew brings out Jesus teaching on the choice of his disciples to be slaves of wealth and the passions of the world or to be slave to the will of God as they strive for the experience of the kingdom of God and the intimacy of those living close to the will of the Father. Jesus asks them to consider the ‘lilies of the field’. It is not the 1963 Oscar winning movie to which he refers, but at this time a re-visit to that film may enlighten our understanding of making choices, attending to priorities and acting with the confidence of Providence and our position as delightful and unforgettable as the child at the breast.