Calling us to trust that God knows all our needs and will not leave us without care, the Lord Jesus Christ opens to us a new, almost unknown dimension of our life. We are so afraid of being left without necessities, of losing the means of existence, that this fear takes possession of the whole heart, and the poor are in no better position here than the rich. Yet the Lord speaks of a life that is not enclosed only within the material world and not limited only to the short span of earthly life. Christ's astonishing words about how the heavenly Father feeds the birds and clothes the flowers of the field reveal the meaningfulness and beauty of the world in which God has placed us.

And these words of Christ set before us a choice: what exactly constitutes the goal of our life. It is important that, by choosing God and His Kingdom, we lose nothing, because "all these things will be added to you"; but by choosing momentary well-being, we risk losing something infinitely precious and irreplaceable.

"If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?" the Lord says to us today. How can this be - how can light be darkness? Here is one possible interpretation: the question is what serves as light for us, what we choose in that capacity. If we consider a cozy half-light, or even darkness, to be light, then what is darkness? If we do not step out into the light of Christ's commandments, but prefer to be satisfied with the local lighting of selected rules, what are our chances of seeing anything beyond our own nose? What, then, is light for us? The light of Christ, which enlightens all people and all things, or something else?

The apostle Paul's words are addressed to all who, having believed in Christ and begun a new life, have discovered in themselves their former inclination to sin and fall into despondency. Paul assures us that salvation is brought to us not by our sinlessness, but by God's love. God does everything necessary for our reconciliation with Him: He does not "pay for" our righteousness, but frees us from slavery to sin.

Having received faith, if we do sin, it is no longer because of hostility toward God, but because our "peaceful" relationship with Him is incomplete. But the essence of Christian life consists precisely in developing these relationships through Christ, in the "acquisition of the Holy Spirit"; therefore "there is no way for us to give in to despondency."