2 Corinthians,
chapter 12, verse 20-21
20 For I fear
that when I come I
may find you not such as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish; that
there may be rivalry, jealousy, fury, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit,
and disorder. 21 I fear
that when I come again my God may
humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned
earlier and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and licentiousness
they practiced.
In the gospel Christ warns us much like Paul. Jesus said,
“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept
greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of
honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite
lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
Although
Paul exhorts the Corinthians but I can hear Christ saying this same warning to
modern man; the same warning has been repeated by Mary at Fatima. Change your
hearts.
We must
live the Shema Yisrael which Christ Himself practiced:
Hear,
O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your
God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and
with all your strength.
Let us listen to the words of
Saint John Vianney:
The World is Everything and God is Nothing![1]
If people would do for god what they do for the world, my dear people, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven! But if you, dear children, had to pass three or four hours praying in a church, as you pass them at a dance or in a cabaret, how heavily the time would press upon you! If you had to go to a great many different places in order to hear a sermon, as you go for your pastimes or to satisfy your avarice and greed, what pretexts there would be, and how many detours would be taken to avoid going at all. But nothing is too much trouble when done for the world. What is more, people are not afraid of losing either God or their souls or Heaven. With what good reason did Jesus Christ, my dear people, say that the children of this world are more zealous in serving their master, the world, than the children of light are in serving theirs, who is God. To our shame, we must admit that people fear neither expense, nor even going into debt, when it is a matter of satisfying their pleasures, but if some poor person asks them for help, they have nothing at all. This is true of so many: they have everything for the world and nothing at all for God because to them, the world is everything and God is nothing.
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