8th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Isidore was born to very poor parents in Madrid, about the year 1070. He was in the service of the wealthy Madrid landowner Juan de Vargas on a farm in the vicinity of Madrid. Juan de Vargas would later make him bailiff of his entire estate of Lower Caramanca.
Every morning before going to work, Isidore was accustomed to hearing a Mass at one of the churches in Madrid. One day his fellow-laborers complained to their master that Isidore was always late for work in the morning. Upon investigation, so runs the legend, the master found Isidore at prayer while an angel was doing the plowing for him.
My dear friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. It is either we love one and hate the other. He told us that we have to choose whom to serve best –and it is God. In our story, St. Isidore chose God first. It is God who helped him then in his works.
In our modern world we can say it is now possible to serve two masters without hating or loving the other. We are in the world of multi-tasking so to say. We can do many things at the same time. We can browse through our computer to make our thesis while chatting with a friend in the facebook, and at the same time watching some shows on the television and holding our cellular phone to read the text messages. But this is not what Jesus intends us to answer. He wants us to prioritize God above all else. Although we can do the multi-tasking in our day-to-day activities, Jesus wants us to realize that in spiritual life, we have to fix our gaze on God. There shall be undivided attention to give to God and God shall be the master of our life. We can set aside other things or forget about anything but never about God. And in doing so, God will provide us with everything we need.
Jesus admonishes us His followers to put away anxiety and preoccupation with material things and instead to seek first the things of God – his kingdom and righteousness. Anxiety robs the heart of trust in the mercy and goodness of God and in his loving care for us. God knows our needs even before we ask and he gives generously to those who trust in him. Who is your master – God or mammon?