In today’s Gospel we see how Jesus is aware of the many ways in which we all go around believing ourselves free, and in charge of life, when, in fact, we are very often trapped. We can think that earning more money will free us – that our buying power and future choices will be increased. We believe that this is where happiness lies. And, whilst ambition and earning a good living may not, in themselves, be bad things for us, they can become our “masters.” What Jesus warns is that, when this happens – when all our energies and time are given over to these masters – we are drawn away from serving God. To commit ourselves to living under God’s mastery is actually to live our lives in a radical trust, and so come to know a greater happiness and freedom. The call that Jesus makes to us today – not to worry – is a call, above else, to a relationship of trusting love in His Father and ours. God desires that we should be free from anxieties, so that we can be free for joy, love, service – and rest!
We all have things we have to do each day, to earn a living, to care for others in our families; and, in truth, we all, at some time or another, have properly worrying things in our lives. God, who knows “the secret intentions of our hearts,” knows the realities of our lives. As we live in this world, which is so often dominated by material ambition and anxiety, Jesus reaches out to us with a promise of freedom, peace, and the time, space and energy to get to know Him better, and to love and care for one another more. This is a call we can respond to, even in the real business and pressures of our daily lives. We can each ask, at the start of our day: Is there one thing I feel I must do today, which actually I could let go, without it mattering? Perhaps if we placed that time and energy we would have used, trustingly and peacefully, in the Father’s love, we might each find that we became a little freer for whatever it is God is wanting us to do. And this will make us freer, happier and better stewards of Christ’s mysteries.