Sunday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates the Sunday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time. The assigned readings are Isaiah 49:14-15, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, and Matthew 6:24-34. The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 62 (Psalm 62:2-3, 6-9).

Today’s first reading is as follows:

Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my LORD has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.

Today’s Gospel reading is as follows:

Jesus said to his disciples: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? 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. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

For reflection related to these readings, I offer:

Deacon Greg Kandra: Homily for February 27, 2011: 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Msgr. Charles Pope: Three Aspects of Anxiety And How to Overcome Them - A Meditation on the Gospel for the 8th Sunday of the Year (26 FEB 11)

Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio: God and Mammon?

The Deacon's Bench: This Sunday’s gospel, set to music (26 FEB 11)

The Word Embodied: Only in God