Poverty and detachment in our daily life

That young man got up from the ground, avoided Jesus' gaze and his invitation to a life of deep love, and left - everyone noticed - with sadness on his face. "Instinct tells us that the refusal of that moment was definitive." The Lord saw with sorrow how he went away; the Holy Spirit reveals to us the reason for that refusal of grace: he had many goods, and he was very attached to them.


After this incident, the retinue sets out on its journey. But before, or perhaps while they were taking the first steps, Jesus, looking around him, said to his disciples: How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! They were impressed by his words. And the Lord repeated with greater force: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. We must carefully consider the teaching of Jesus and apply it to our lives: love for God, following him closely, and attachment to material goods cannot be reconciled: these two loves do not fit in the same heart. Man can orient his life by proposing God as his goal, which is reached, with the help of grace, also through material things, using them as means, which they are; or he can, unfortunately, place in riches the hope of his fullness and happiness: excessive desire for goods, luxury, comfort, ambition, greed....



Today can be a good opportunity for us to examine courageously in the intimacy of our prayer what moves us in our actions, where our heart is set: whether we have a real commitment to walk detached from the goods of the earth, or if, on the contrary, we suffer when we are in need; if we are vigilant to react to a detail that manifests gentrification and comfort, often served by the claims of the consumer society; if we are frugal in our personal needs, if we curb our tendency to spend, if we avoid superfluous expenses, if we do not create false needs that we could do without with a little good will, if we strive not to give in to the whims and fancies that can easily arise, if we take careful care of the things in our home and the goods we use; if we act with the clear conscience of being only stewards who have to give an account to their true Owner, God our Lord; if we bear with joy the discomforts and the lack of means; if we are generous in almsgiving to the most needy and in the support of good works, depriving ourselves of things that we would like to possess. .. Only in this way will we live with the joy and freedom necessary to be disciples of the Lord in the midst of the world.


To follow Christ closely is our supreme ideal; we do not want to leave like that young man, with a soul permeated with deep sadness because he did not know how to detach himself from goods of little value before the immense wealth of Jesus.



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