In exhorting us, not to worry about what we are to eat or what we are to wear Jesus assured us that if we seek first the kingdom, all these other things will be added to us as well. This seeking first the kingdom is reflected in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. The first half of the Our Father addresses precisely this seeking of the Lord and his kingdom—a kingdom where God’s name is hallowed and where his will is done just as it is in heaven. The second half addresses those things that will be added if we seek first the kingdom. As Cistercians this should serve as a recurring reminder that seeking first the kingdom entails, among other things, keeping our worship and prayer at the very center of our daily lives and allowing everything else to revolve around and interact with that worship and prayer. In our present-day struggle with diminished numbers and work, chores, and duties that threaten to overwhelm us, it is all too easy to have work assume the center in our lives with worship and prayer being forced to yield priority to the needs of work. Of course, there will always be exceptional situations where this is unavoidable, but it is crucially important that this not become the norm, because then we are no longer seeking first the kingdom, and are largely on our own—no longer able to count on the Lord to support and provide for our every need.