June 19, 2010
Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
By Melanie Rigney
(Zechariah) took his stand above the people and said to them: “God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.’” (2 Chronicles 24:20)
I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will make your dynasty stand forever and establish your throne through all ages. (Psalms 89:4-5)
“So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.” (Matthew 6:31-34)
Piety
Lord, You know I love you. Help me to trust You as well, to follow Your guidance on this winding journey.
Study
In his award-winning book My Life with the Saints, James Martin, SJ, tells a story about traveling in France with his friend Peggy when they were in their twenties. Both had rudimentary knowledge of the language. Martin took a train from Paris to Chartres; Peggy was to follow in the car they had rented, but got lost along the way.
Unfortunately, she confused the verb chercher (to seek) with trouver (to find). She drove around Paris, rolling down her window every few minutes to say: “Je trouve la rue a Chartres”: “I find the road to Chartres. Needless to say, many Parisians greeted this news of Peggy’s discovery with a mild shrug. One man said, ‘Congratulations.’”
Martin goes on to talk about St. Joan of Arc’s life and the way God spoke to her and the road upon which it took her, journeys no one else could understand, and the parallel to his own path to becoming a Jesuit priest after time in the corporate world. He concludes:
… As my friend Peggy discovered, lost on the road to Chartres, the road that we seek is often the road we have already found.
Looking for the road can consume a lot of time and energy. Jesus tells us that in today’s Gospel, when he instructs us to focus on seeking the kingdom instead of our day-to-day concerns. That’s not to say we should expect others to assume responsibility for our temporal lives but rather that if we keep our priorities straight, we will find that “tomorrow will take care of itself” and that we’re already on the road we are seeking.
Action
What are you searching for? Prayerfully consider the ways in which God has already provided it to you, and give thanks.
