Anxiety And Tomorrow

Nolite ergo solliciti esse de crastino. Crastinus enim dies sollicitus erit sibi ipse. Sufficit diei malitia sua.   Commune judicium est, diem esse labentium temporum cursum luce solis illuminatum, quem nox interjecta discriminat, et interventu suo diei diem subrogat: furturi autem temporis significantia continetur in crastino. Ergo de futuro sollicitos nos esse Deus vetuit. Incuria autem sollicitudinis relaxatae, non negligentiae, sed fidei est. Cur enim solliciti simus in crastino; cum crastinus dies sibi ipse sollicitus sit? Ergo anxietatem nostram ipsa pro nobis dies sollicita depellit. Sed sollicitudo, ut arbitror, proprius est hominis affectus: hanc enim excitat aut curae, aut metus, aut doloris anxietas. Dies vero cursus est temporis: et sola providentiam consecuta sollicitudinis recipiunt affectum. Constituetur ergo dies esse animal, quod et caveat, et prospiciat, et curet; cui et malitia propria sufficiat, neque extrinsecus accidenti sit cumulanda peccato. Sed natura rei non cupit diei deputare mentis affectum: ergo et quod sibi ipsa sollicitia est, et quod ei malitia sua sufficit, et quod inhibemur solliciti esse de crastino; totum sub dictis coelestis significantiae continetur. Jubemur igitur non ambigere de futuris; satis enim vitae nostra malitia, et dierum quibus vivmus peccata sufficiunt, ut circa haec purganda et promerenda omnis vitae nostrae meditatio laborque versetur, ne etiam de futurorum diffidentia inexpiabilis irreligiositas contrahatur. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, In Evangelium Matthaei Commentarius, Cap V

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow. For tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Sufficient for the day are its own evils. 1 It is the common judgement that a day is a lapse of time the course of which is illuminated by the light of the sun, into which the coming of night divides it from and replaces it with another day; the significance of the future is contained in tomorrow. God forbids us to be anxious about the future. Release by indifference to worries is not negligence, but faith. Why should we be anxious for tomorrow when tomorrow is anxious for itself? Therefore, our anxieties the anxious day dispels for us. But worry, so I judge, is a sentiment unique to human beings, for it provokes this feeling on account of concern, fear or sorrow. A day's course is in time, and only those who have  foreknowledge are moved by anxiety. Let a day, then, be understood as an animal that is wary, and keeps watch, and frets, and its own evil is sufficient for itself without the addition of sin heaped up from elsewhere. But the nature of the thing does not wish that the state of our mind should be determined by a day. For what has its own worries, its own evils suffice for it, and we are prohibited for being anxious about tomorrow with everything contained by the significance of the heavenly words. We are instructed, therefore, not to doubt concerning the future. There is enough wickedness in our life and the sins in which we live daily are sufficient that all our thoughts and labour should be engaged with the purging and expiation of them, lest exhibiting indifference for the future we should be drawn into unforgivable irreligiosity. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, from the Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 5 1 Mt 6.34