“Be not solicitous therefore, saying, ‘What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.”
Jesus does not lightly repeat Himself. His words have great gravity, so when He says something twice, it is to emphasize its importance. The reason for this is that when you are seeking satisfaction for needs, thinking about things or following temporal desires, or worrying about how much or little is appropriate, you are not seeking love. Jesus is trying to lift your head from the earth to His loving face: “But thou, O Lord, art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head” (Psalm 3:4), looking to alter your mindset. Worry about temporal matters, thinking that you have to do everything or it will fall apart, or that chance dictates the world, this is not the way of thinking the Lord desires for you. He desires a deep, loving trust in His love and power, that you may be a child in the hands of your Abba. When you or fate are in charge, you have no guide, there is only darkness, nothing holds you and cares for you. When you trust in God’s love, you recline on the Heart of Jesus in the midst of the storm: “And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep. And they came to him, and awaked him, saying: ‘Lord, save us, we parish.’ And Jesus saith to them: ‘Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?’” (Matthew 8:24-26). Jesus mentions that your Father knows you need these things, not an ambient God-concept, but a loving Father that desires your good and happiness, which you will find in His love. There is something about talking about “God” that keeps Him at a distance, but “Abba,” or “Jesus,” makes them yours. Your Abba will not keep necessities of natural or spiritual nature from you, but in seeking the kingdom and to spread His infinite love, He will tend to you as His dear child: “Israel is my son, my firstborn” (Exodus 4:22). What is unnecessary He may very well not give, but this is to take milk from you that you may feast on the meat of divine love: “I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able; for you are carnal” (1 Corinthians 3:2). Seek, then, the kingdom of God and His way of loving, which He details throughout His words: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not heavy” (1 John 5:3), for when you carry them with love instead of fear, rigor, or self-seeking, the burden becomes beautifully light: “For in [wisdom] is the beauty of life, and her bands are a healthful binding” (Ecclesiasticus 6:31). The pursuit of bad love leads to barrenness and difficulty in reaping necessities: “Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth” (Genesis 3:17-18), whereas these have been promised to the one that loves well and ardently. Love is your true good, your true necessity, and when God’s love takes a second place to other things, your soul will scream out under being stifled by these desires: “And the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19). When even necessities are absent, this is not your Abba going back on His promises, but to make you all the stronger, building a mighty spirit within you that needs only love and to love: “Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power” (Ephesians 6:10). Now, there is nothing that chokes the spirit quite like anxieties about the future, thus Jesus even exhorts you to trust the future into His hands. You cannot enjoy the wonderfulness of the eternally present love when your mind is fixed outside of the present moment. An infinite wellspring of love is available to you every passing moment, if you turn your mind to Him: “Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God” (Ecclesiastes 9:7), that is, to eat the necessary sustenance of love and be inebriated with its sweetness: “be thou delighted continually with her love” (Proverbs 5:19); “drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved” (Song 5:1). This could also mean not to worry about the morrow of your eternal life, for those who love do not go to purgatory, let alone hell; heaven is meant for lovers and the Trinity of Love desires nothing more than to bring you there at the moment of your death. When you put thought and worry into your afterlife, be it worry about hell or purgatory, or weighing your merits and heavenly glory, you pull your mind away from love and your Beloved: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be” (John 14:2-3). Therefore, focus on loving your Abba, your Jesus, and your Holy Spirit with every fiber of your being, letting this same love become a magnificent love towards all around you, “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14), and worries about this life or the next will fade like stars behind the sun of eternal love.