Reflection on the Gospel – Saturday, June 21, 2025

June 21, 2025

At first glance, today’s Gospel might seem a bit disrespectful toward the poor.
It’s true that in our world—both in the past and today—there are many people whose only concern each day is survival: finding enough food, shelter, or safety to stay alive until tomorrow.
Telling them not to worry about any of that might sound like a cruel joke.
Telling them that God will take care of everything can feel like ignoring the harsh reality of injustice and abandonment they live in.

And this reality is still very present in our world—maybe even closer to us than we think.
We should never forget that.
But I don’t believe Jesus was talking about those people when He said the words in today’s Gospel.

To understand what Jesus means, we should go almost to the end of the passage, where He says:

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His justice.”

That’s the heart of His message—the main idea He wants to share with His disciples and, by extension, with us.

For a disciple, there is only one main focus in life: the Kingdom of God.
Working for the Kingdom is a full-time commitment—not just something we do now and then.
Living for the Kingdom means keeping fraternity and justice at the center of our lives.
It means that whatever we do, we always carry in us the values of forgiveness, mercy, reconciliation, and love.

To live for the Kingdom is to see the world—and the people around us—with God’s eyes.
And we do this while working, resting, spending time with family, or interacting with others in our daily lives.
We could say, using today’s language from the world of education, that seeking the Kingdom of God and His justice is a “cross-cutting theme”—something that runs through everything we do.

That’s the only real worry a disciple of Jesus should have.
In other words, being Christian isn’t just about going to church.
It’s about how we live every moment.

Fernando Torres, cmf