OUR DAILY BREAD

A MESSAGE FOR THE 14th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

We all know the expression that “many hands make light work.”  And we’re also familiar with the other saying that conveys the opposite meaning, that “too many cooks spoil the broth.”  The two proverbs have conflicting meanings, and yet they are both true, depending on the circumstances.

In the words of our Lord, we sometimes come across similar paradoxes, where he says two things that seem to contradict each other, but actually are just meant to be applied to different situations.  In today’s Gospel, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, he tells his disciples to “take no thought.. what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink..”  And yet, earlier in the same Sermon on the Mount he had instructed them on the best way to pray, including these words: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  So why does our Lord tell us to pray for our daily bread, and then almost immediately tell us that our “heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things”?

God wants us to pray to him. Sure, he knows what we need already. He knows everything.  But he still likes to be asked.  We should ask for our daily bread, not with anxiety as to whether we are fed or not, but with the simple confidence that a child has in his father to provide what is needed whatever the circumstances. 

Our Blessed Lord is telling us not to worry about the material things of life.  In our modern American lifestyle, the idea of real “hunger” is almost non-existent.  We simply go to the local supermarket and do our shopping – our biggest worries there are choosing between the cocoa puffs and the Count Chocula. But even if global wars or epidemics or financial ruin wipe out our complacent reliance on luxury, we should still place our trust in God, knowing that he hears our prayers and will either give us what we need, or give us the grace to endure our privations.