Monday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Scripture Readings: 1 Cor 2:1-5; Lk 22:24-30

“Don’t Worry; be happy!” No, that’s not our recent Visitation card.That was a popular song several years ago in the late ‘80’s. I remember listening to it on the car radio on my way to work. I enjoyed the song, but I knew I couldn’t do what it urged. I couldn’t do it because my heart was set on something other than what today’s readings point to.

Our readings point to “GIFT”. The first gift or favor pointed to is the gift of God’s breath that gave us life. The second gift is dependent on the first: it is that of His presence to us. “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” Seeking this, and being given it, we will naturally want to live in reciprocity, to give back in proportion to what we have received. This reciprocity is impossible, yet it is what our lives are all about. It is what we set our hearts upon. Forming ourselves into a community of the Church, the impossibility does not discourage us, though, and so we can sing what the song urges: “Don’t worry; be happy!”