Last week, we experienced Facebook’s crash. Many people felt lost not being able to run through the post of friends or celebrities. Others were disappointed not to be able to send any message. For the people who spend a lot of time on social media, that situation could be an excellent opportunity to see how one reacts to losing this means of entertainment.
I suppose that the number of people attached (or maybe sometimes addicted) to social media, especially among younger people, is quite high. It is just one example. Everyone can imagine their favourite attachments – a thing, reality or program that seems to be essential to living happily.
The primary meaning of Jesus’ request to sell everything the young man owned is not necessarily to sell everything and be poor as a norm. Instead, Jesus picked the young man’s weak spot, the reality to which he was attached so much that it troubled his life of holiness here on earth. In his case, giving up his richness was a way of changing perspective and being closer to God. Jesus does not expect us to do the works of the law only, even though it is essential. He wants us to be free, change ways of life and be more available to follow the command of love of God and neighbour.
Let us begin with small steps. Do I pray daily? If not, let us answer the question: what do I usually spend my time on? Facebook? Movies? Maybe even books? Do some of these things not occupy my time that I could spend on prayer? My suggestion for this week is to take Christ’s recommendation personally and try to do something that can enrich the spiritual life. It can be a simple 5 minutes of prayers instead of 5 minutes spent with some particular entertaining attachment.
Our salvation is possible for God and does not come just by our merits. In this context, is it not beneficial to sacrifice our time spent usually for our attachments in order to build relationship with the Saviour?
Łukasz Gołąb – Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Sydney, Australia
Fot. Camilo Jimenez/Unsplash.com