Adviento fuera de la preocupación

Armodoxy for Today: Advent – Worry

La preocupación no es un tema que exploraremos una sola vez, ni durante la temporada de Adviento, ni durante el resto del año. La preocupación es un tema tan recurrente como lo es una amenaza para la buena salud. La preocupación contribuye al estrés, una causa de enfermedades de la mente y del cuerpo. No era diferente en los tiempos de Cristo y, por supuesto, incluso antes. Desde el principio de los tiempos, cuando el hombre contemplaba su propia mortalidad, sucumbía a la preocupación. Ya fuera esquivando el ataque de un animal salvaje o evitando un diagnóstico de cáncer, la preocupación ha sido parte de la condición humana.

Comenzamos a analizar la preocupación en el contexto de nuestro camino de Adviento leyendo las palabras de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, según lo registrado por San Lucas (12):

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Striving for his kingdom is the first step toward ridding ourselves of worry. Nice words, and it sounds simple enough, but what does it exactly mean to strive for his kingdom? And how do we do it? The Armenian Church has sung hymns of praise for the kingdom during times when world governments and principalities have imposed their will on the people. The hymn of victory has been pronounced within the walls of the Church while the sounds of hatred and intolerance were spit upon its exterior. The simplicity of seeking the Kingdom is held inside Armodoxy and the Advent Journey leads us there.

We pray, Lord, set my heart on Your Kingdom. While worries and fears abound, I look to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and know that You hold us all in your hand. Let me feel the certainty of our Love. Amen.