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Sufficient unto the Day

On "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"

Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Matthew 6:34

nolite ergo esse solliciti in crastinum
crastinus enim dies sollicitus edit sibi ipse
sufficit diei malitia sua

Vulgate

I love the phrase from the King James Bible: 'sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' When things look really black and worries pile high it helps to remember that you only have to focus on what is in front of you now.

Two things are also worth noticing about this saying from Jesus.

First, although the King James translation talks about having 'no thought for the morrow' the Vulgate says 'don't be worried about tomorrow' and this seems more realistic. We have to plan - in so far as is reasonable - to avoid any additional evils that the tomorrow may bring. But we don't have to bear the burden of them as worries.

Second, there is no doubt that tomorrow may bring evil - and this is something to worry about - there and then. Jesus is not a stoic; he is not saying that bad things don't matter or that they are only a function of our desires and aspirations. For Christians the world should be good and our best aspirations and their fulfilment are also good. Christianity is not nihilistic and it is not interested in annulling our desires.

But this also means that when evil comes then evil must be resisted and overcome - not wished away.