Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 05, 2024

God destined man in original holiness to be fully “divinized” in glory. (CCC 398) God places the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” in the Garden of Paradise. The tree is His first covenant, honoring man’s freedom. The Tree of Life sustains the bliss of our First Parents. After the self-destructive fall of Adam and Eve, everlasting life would include unspeakable pain and horror. God’s withdrawal of the Tree of Life mercifully permits death (but only by the hand of God) to limit suffering. We continue to seek the Tree of Life on our terms.

Jesus restores the Tree of Life on His terms: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst … For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn. 6:35-40)

After we hallow His name in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask: “Thy will be done.” We continue expressing our desire for the fruits of the Tree of Life: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Our daily bread broadly includes many worthy and holy consolations: The comfort that descends upon us after a good meal with friends and family. Job security. Honest work and accomplishment. The desire for nourishment, friendship, and security is natural and good.

We pray for our “daily bread.” We don’t ask for more than we can handle in a day. Our restraint acknowledges our duty for justice and generosity with surplus wealth. We implicitly pray to share God’s gifts with those in need.

After the Lord's Prayer at Mass, we pray: “Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress.” We resolve to abide in His holy will.

King Solomon, in his wisdom, recognized the danger of debilitating poverty and excessive riches: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, and deny thee.” (Prov. 30:8-9) St. Paul is logical and realistic: “There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” (1 Tim. 6:6-8)

Preceding the miraculous multiplication of the loaves, Jesus preaches to the people who are hungry to hear His words. They are like sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus—although weary, teaches them. As evening drew near, they also hungered for food. Jesus responds with compassion. The great multiplication of the loaves and fishes anticipates the superabundance of the Blessed Eucharist, the Incarnate Word.

Jesus departs and crosses the Sea of Galilee, and the people seek Him. Once hungry for the word of God, they now yearn for materialistic comforts—like the hungry Israelites in the desert pining to return to the fleshpots of Egyptian slavery. Their hunger for a Bread King who would satisfy their every material need eclipses their spiritual hunger for God’s liberating word.

We also have materialistic expectations of life sustenance that threaten our salvation. When we neglect God’s word and His law (“thy will be done”), our desire for nourishment, friendship, peace, and unity becomes misdirected and even politicized. Disconnected from God’s will, good relationships and possessions become disproportionate obstacles to salvation. We are no longer sheep of His flock. We are the lost sheep of a secular culture.

A top-down view of the culture helps us grasp the magnitude of our attachments. The immense national debt of entitlement freebies threatens our national life sustenance. We find false unity in sinful ideological associations. Television commercials reflect our futile search for the Tree of Life. TV commercials advertise emergency food supplies that last for 25 years. (Do the food kits include hypertension pharmaceuticals?) Many have become pack rats. We have forgotten the meaning of: “Give us this day our daily bread.” “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Mt. 4:4)

Priests commissioned to preach God’s word share the same anxieties and dilemmas. Priests must also consider the practicalities of their twilight years. Diocesan priests receive a salary. Upon retirement, they usually receive a monthly stipend from the Church, government benefits, and retirement savings until their lights go out.

Here is an amusing success story about a good and pious priest. When circumstances required his retirement from active ministry, he told the bishop he didn’t want to burden the diocesan Church during his sunset years. So he saved for his retirement and denied himself perfectly reasonable comforts during his priestly ministry. Proud of his savings nest egg, he promised the bishop his executor would deliver residual funds to the Church coffers upon his death.

The priest entered a retirement home, then assisted care, nursing care, and, finally, hospice. Upon his death, the executor of his will knocked on the bishop’s door with the residual of the priest’s savings. He presented the bishop with a check for a mere $3,000! The priest lived a picture-perfect retirement without an undue financial burden on the Church. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Of course, individual circumstances always vary. We seek God’s will. We pray for the daily bread of the Tree of Life. We need the graces of the Blessed Eucharist. We are generous with our surpluses. We trust in God’s providence: “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ …your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Mt. 6:31-33)