Gospel 8-7-24. Matt 6:24-33. St Cajetan, Confessor.
24 No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Nemo potest duobus dominis servire : aut enim unum odio habebit, et alterum diliget : aut unum sustinebit, et alterum contemnet. Non potestis Deo servire et mammonae.
25 Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment?
Ideo dico vobis, ne solliciti sitis animae vestrae quid manducetis, neque corpori vestro quid induamini. Nonne anima plus est quam esca, et corpus plus quam vestimentum?
26 Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?
Respicite volatilia caeli, quoniam non serunt, neque metunt, neque congregant in horrea : et Pater vester caelestis pascit illa. Nonne vos magis pluris estis illis?
27 And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit?
Quis autem vestrum cogitans potest adjicere ad staturam suam cubitum unum?
28 And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin.
Et de vestimento quid solliciti estis? Considerate lilia agri quomodo crescunt : non laborant, neque nent.
29 But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.
Dico autem vobis, quoniam nec Salomon in omni gloria sua coopertus est sicut unum ex istis.
30 And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?
Si autem foenum agri, quod hodie est, et cras in clibanum mittitur, Deus sic vestit, quanto magis vos modicae fidei?
31 Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?
Nolite ergo solliciti esse, dicentes : Quid manducabimus, aut quid bibemus, aut quo operiemur?
32 For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.
haec enim omnia gentes inquirunt. Scit enim Pater vester, quia his omnibus indigetis.
33 Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Quaerite ergo primum regnum Dei, et justitiam ejus : et haec omnia adjicientur vobis.
St Cajetan founded the Order of Theatines, who endeavored to imitate the Apostles in absolute poverty, trusting alone in the divine Providence. The "Hunter of souls" as he was called, died A.D. 1547, after a life of extraordinary austerity and mystical experiences.
