DAILY MASS REFLECTIONS ELEVENTH SATURDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

DAILY MASS REFLECTIONS ELEVENTH SATURDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Greeting brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel, the Lord's words do not invite us to live a carefree, complacent life like the "birds of the sky." The birds of the sky are, in fact, extremely diligent workers. The wildflowers are constantly seeking the sun and growing deeper roots.

Rather, the Lord is encouraging us to place our trust in His Kingdom. Jesus is teaching us to put God's Kingdom ahead of our material possessions. We learn to trust God's will, grace, and timing when we submit to His timetable for the establishment of His Kingdom. Dissatisfaction with our own plans can lead to a stronger faith in God. Our failures can help us spiritually grow.

St. Paul, for example, mentions someone (possibly himself) who had a mystical experience, a profound encounter with God through prayer, in today's first reading. That experience exemplifies the transforming power of God's grace. But, if St. Paul was given such an intense prayer experience, he was also given a "thorn in the flesh" to remind him of his own frailty and reliance on God.

A "thorn in the flesh" is almost always present in those who have an active spiritual life. That thorn could be a particular vice, a weakness, an illness, a situation, or a person in our lives who brings out the worst in us. That "thorn in the flesh" prevents us from becoming complacent, from declaring that our spiritual journey is finished and that all we have to do is sit, fold our hands, and wait for the Kingdom.

"I realize my strength comes from Christ," St. Paul says when he is weak. It is all too easy to lose sight of God when we have a string of successes in our lives. Our human failings, in fact, have a redemptive, clarifying, and cleansing power. They make us realize that we are creatures. We recognize that our lives are not entirely our own. We will never have the ability to "have it all."

In this Gospel reading, the Lord does not encourage us to be complacent. The Lord exhorts us to seek His Kingdom above all else and to believe that it will come when and how He chooses. We are the servants of the Kingdom, not its masters.