Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice and all these things shall be added unto you.
The teaching of Christ came at the beginning of his ministry.
First sermon on the mount.
The whole gospel relates to the kingdom of heaven.
It is found in the first part of the lords prayer which he taught us to pray:
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. "
the first and foremost admonition from Christ:
"seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
So what is this kingdom of God?
There can be three different meanings to the kingdom of God
The first is that it can mean the kingdom of nature;
this does not only signify that the power of God possesses over all men and over the entire universe but also the providence which rules all things like when King David prays in the psalm "in your hands are all the ends of the earth" this is because it is God who sustains all life and creation in their states of being.
Secondly kingdom of God can refer to the kingdom of Grace. This is that special and singular providence by which God protects and watches over humble men, this should be all of us.
Christ our Lord reigns in us by the interior virtue of Faith, Hope and Charity. The kingdom of Grace is also called justice because it has for its basis the Justice of the Lord. Christ reigns by faith in all who are within the bosom of the Church.
Thirdly it can also mean the kingdom of Glory, this is heaven when God himself will reign in our souls and also in our bodies after the resurrection of the flesh.
These last two; the kingdom of Grace and the kingdom of Glory are what Christ is talking about
We cannnot have the kingdom of glory without the kingdom of grace, for Gods glory cannot reign in any one in whom his grace does not already reign.
This gospel then is a warning and a terrible warning it is.
In a sermon published by a saint of the church, it says
"for what could be more fearful what Christ now teaches us that through the love of money we are in danger by being banished from the service of Christ, banished from the kingdom of heaven
but whats more desirable than that therough contempt of it we shall come to receive his love and goodwill.
We have been warned we cannot serve two masters God and Mammon.
Mammon is a Syrian word that means riches, we cannot serve two masters because we only have one heart. We will otherwise love the one God and hate the other devil, OR, we will sustain the one devil and despise the other, God.
The danger is always the same and we have been warned many times by Christ. If we have riches the danger is that it will drive us from the service of God and will make us slaves to it, while we should be masters of it.
Paul in his epistle tells us exactly this ; “you have the spirit and you have the lusts of the flesh and these are contrary to one another, the works of the flesh are manifest he says “fornication , uncleanness, in modesty, luxury, idolatry , witchcraft , enmities and so on. They that do these things shall not obtain the kingdom of God”
But riches or at least temporal goods are important to us, they are necessary ever since the fall, ever since our first parents fell from the state of Grace. We have since then been condemned to work for our bread. Cursed is the earth in thy work with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which that was taken.
In order to support and maintain life we are in need of external things, this is why we pray for these things. When we say “gives us our daily bread” and this is good to do, not only are we asking for spiritual food but also for physical necessities. We do not need to pray for luxuries of the world but only for what is necessary and simple.
Like Paul the apostle says “having food and wherewith to be covered”, with these we are content.
So yes we must pray for these goods but we must never be anxious for them. Like our Lord tells us do not be solicitous once we have honestly done all that we can do to procure them after we have done all the work that is requested of us , well then we should leave the issue to God and submit our wish to his will. For he shall not suffer the just to want forever because God will give us what is asked, but if something is to harm us in our progression towards the kingdom of God then he will not grant it because what we are asking is not conducive to the interest of our salvation.
“To whom we have holy and trusted ourselves knows when to give and when to withhold, as he judges what is expedient for us, for if at times we lack things which God will often permit to exercise us, let this not weaken our purpose but rather now test it , let it confirm us may ”
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