Reflection on today’s gospel Mat. 6:24-34 – “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Written by: Bro. Jubernson I. Alabastro CFD Davao

This reading is an echo of the preceding passage on our Lord’s prayer: YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE. The relevance of this passage brilliantly shines with the rise of darkness and secularism in our age; where religion is irrelevant and reduced to a mere aesthetic display for cultural preservation and an emotional and social homage to an UNKNOWN GOD (Acts 17:23.) If we reflect on the Lord’s Prayer, it started with OUR FATHER, revealing to us the existence and character of our true God. He is not an abstraction, nor a psychological manifestation created by our own weak image and likeness; nor is He just a CREATOR, as the feminists and deists like to address Him, for He does not leave His children orphaned and bastards after making them (John 14:18.) He continues to feed us NOT BY BREAD ALONE, but by every word that comes forth from His mouth (Mat. 4:4.) It is for this reason that His KINGDOM COME that His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. The King established His Kingdom on earth that His precepts will be implemented and followed. This KINGDOM by which we must seek in today’s Gospel is His Church and God’s righteousness is Her DOCTRINES, DOGMAS, and MORALS, all decrees of the King.

In today’s pluralistic, relativistic, information driven, and “anything goes” society, it is arrogant to profess that God established only one Church, as it is in claiming that there is only one true God. But this impression on arrogance is rooted in ignorance. In OUR FATHER, after GOD was introduced, RELIGION came next, that is, HIS KINGDOM COME. After which, DOCTRINE immediately and logically followed: YOUR WILL BE DONE.

DOCTRINES, DOGMAS, AND MORALS, the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, these belong to the “THOU SHALL NOT SAY” commandments in modern(ist) theology. They are not so “fitting” in today’s age. They are not so “ECUMENICALLY CORRECT” as they offend others and cause divisions (exactly as what Christ’s said in Mat. 10:34.) These are medievalistic and antiquated collections which properly belong to antique stores or museums and sold to the stagnant Traditionalists! “

“You cannot teach TRINITY to a HUNGRY STOMACH,” says the Liberation Theologian. “Go ahead, TURN THE FOUNDATION STONES OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES (EPH. 2:20) INTO THE LIVING BREAD OF MARX (Luke 4:3!) My friend Ryan Mejillano brilliantly retorted this argument and said, “it is equally true that you cannot teach the gospel to a FULL STOMACH as relayed by our Lord in the story of the rich young man (Mat. 19:21-23.)” As I always say, using the poor as an excuse is such a poor excuse!

The Good News for this Sunday’s gospel goes against the so-called flows of the time: SEEK GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS FIRST AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU. Christ encourages us to have faith and trust in Him and be faithful to His teachings. This element of faith is what modernists eliminated in Philosophy, Theology, ministry and in almost every aspect of the Church’s life. No wonder why this is the synthesis of all heresies! Modernists Philosophers dismissed the fact that there are knowledge which cannot be known thoroughly by reason alone; Liberation Theologians, on the other hand, forgot that every conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 3:6,) the product of prayers and faith, and not by WORKS ALONE. Modernist exegetes and Dogmatic Theologians approach doctrines only in an anthropocentric or Human-centered level, disregarding the INCARNATED APPROACH to Divine Revelation which considers both the human, as well as the divine elements of the faith. The problem of these modernists approach to theology, the excessive reliance and emphasis on the social-political-economical-cultural, not to mention heretical methodology, is that “it does not invite God to His Own dinner table,” as Pope Benedict XVI insightfully noticed. As a result, theologians are becoming anybody (i.e. athletes, sociologists, psychologists, political analysts, politicians and negotiators,) but themselves. If only THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD is first properly taught, firmly established, and religiously practiced, THEN ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED. These methodologies are secondary. Let us not give so much emphasis on the shells as forgetting the value of the pearls. It is not surprising then that Traditionalists are very rich, as they know the great value of these pearls. They sold everything they got to buy them (Mat. 13:45-46) from the antique store. In contrast, a modernist swine is contented with the shells because he does not know the value of the pearls and he tramples them underfoot (Mat. 7:6) or get rid of it.

I fear for some priests and theologians who have no firm background in apologetics, and worse, show disgust and contempt over it! How will they present God’s Word to the people? How will they preserve these treasures from thieves? The same goes with those in the same predicament and engaged in further heretical studies under the guise of answering the call for interreligious dialogue, how could they possibly detect and reject what is false if they turned off their apologetics sensors, or IF THEY HAVE NO APOLOGETICS SENSORS AT ALL??? If the Church is the Bride of Christ, isn’t that tantamount to flirting with a whore? With all those lovely chats with the whore, are you telling your bride that your purpose is to refute her seductive lips? With all those sweet, sparkled eyes testimonies you made about her, do you really want to convert her or make love with her? Wasn’t the gospel clear? YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS… HOW ARE YOU GOING TO KNOW THE VALUE OF THE PEARLS WHEN YOU ARE NO LONGER ACQUIANTED WITH THEM?

How did this error in theology happen? It happened because the order which God intended for our salvation was not faithfully followed. We have to put things back to order if we ought to arrive at the promise land. The Lord’s prayer started with OUR FATHER, God therefore should be the center of everything we do instead of man. Second, in order not to be intoxicated by the various notions of God, one must drink from the pure spiritual milk so that through it we may grow into salvation (1Pet. 2:2.) The milk could only come from Our Mother Church, from her two paps of love of God and love of neighbor. We must therefore seek God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS in His KINGDOM, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. AMEN.