Gospel: Matthew 6: 24-34
How much of our worry and anxiety is self-generated? In the mind of Jesus, all of it, and it is centered on our attachments to material things. We human beings have invented all sorts of false necessities that are in reality non-essential. We toil and work to acquire and keep these things; the mere threat of their loss causes us endless consternation. When we acquire more money, we spend it on ourselves, creating ever new sources of worry over the new things we have that we do not need. We amass storage units of things we neither need nor use.
The same is true in faith communities. How many buildings are owned or rented by churches for large sums of money that are only used for one hour a week - and yet we spend all our time raising money for that sole purpose and none on actual care for others! The care of buildings and bank accounts replaces the care for souls and the works of mercy. We now serve mammon and not God as our desire to occupy space and seem important supersedes the mission of love and mercy in the world.
To commit to a life of simplicity frees us from these worldly desires and places us in a spirit of humility before God and others. To live simplicity is to commit to the common good of humanity that when we get more we should share more, not acquire more for ourselves. To adopt a simple lifestyle is to care for the soul - one's own soul and that of others. The simple life is the way of Jesus himself, the one utterly dependent on God for all he had.
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