Dear Friends,
Poverty is the love of God above all things. It is a disposition of the
will that inclines us to detach our hearts from all affections to the
temporal goods.
Poverty requires perfect detachment. This means being satisfied with
what is necessary, removing all superfluous and inordinate attachment to
things. Poverty also means choosing what is least attractive and valuable
while foregoing what is luxurious and extravagant. It means rejoicing even
when in need because when in want, dependence on grace and goodness of God
is strengthened.
To destroy our spirit of poverty, the devil goads us to be attached to
earthly things; to be anxious over the deprivation of material goods and to
be obsessed with wanting to have them at all cost. Satan incites feelings of
discontentment when we are deprived of certain wants and necessities. Using
hedonism and materialism, satan succeeds in causing the spiritual death of
countless souls.
The whole of Matthew 6:25-34 invites us to abandon ourselves to Divine
Providence that we may be free from the anxieties of tomorrow.
In many homes, anxiety over lack of material things has replaced the
more important consideration of parents: the moral and spiritual values of
their children. Materialism is a major reason for the compromise of family
values.
The time we spend with our loved ones is the first to be compromised in
the home. The second is security, trust and happiness. Unfortunately these
are the more important things essential in maintaining a home, which no
material comfort can ever replace.
Nowadays many young people are work for living. They are employed in
offices, banks, malls, entertainment centers, schools, and factories, almost
everywhere. Many of them work to be financially independent from their
parents or guardians. The result is self-centeredness materialism and
individualism because money gives them the license to do whatever they
please. It is sad to think that many youth do not realize the shortness of
time and that everything in this world passes. Trapped within themselves,
many young people are oblivious of what spiritual life is. They are trapped
in pursuit of what is momentary and fleeting.
Today our television sets, radio, and newspapers openly promote
glorification of wealth, power, fame, beauty and fashion. Film actors and
actresses are the best examples. They are being idolized and imitated as
pseudo gods and goddesses by many. Their fans follow everything they do
even the illicit and immoral. Abortion, premarital and extramarital
relationships, contraception, drugs, violence are endorsed with such glamour
that media has turned sin into an exciting spice of life.
If world conversion is to be hoped for, the media must be renewed and
converted. If the media is used in conformity with the providential design
of God and with proper respect for the dignity of man, it can contribute to
the development of true culture, also to a more widespread knowledge of the
Gospel (Fr. Edgardo)
Bensilal Chacko , DE, USA
_
Catch the Oscar fever. See winners losers.
http://server1.msn.co.in/MSNSpecials/oscar2003/index.asp Right here
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