Sharpening our prudence and detachment

WITH all the explosion of the many attractive, tempting

and riveting things we have today, we cannot deny that we really need

to sharpen our virtues of prudence and detachment, otherwise there is

no other way but to be swallowed by them and to get lost.

            Christ already warned us about this difficulty to resist

the allure of worldly things in a very graphic way when he said: “It

is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a

rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mk 10,25)

            A rich man is precisely anyone whose heart is full of

worldly things, be it money, power, etc., while practically empty in

terms of love for God and for others. The duty to sharpen our prudence

and detachment in the midst of so many worldly allurements is now

becoming very serious and urgent.

            We just have to have clear guiding ideas of how to be

prudent and detached in the context of the rapid developments of the

world today. For sure, the most fundamental principle that we should

always remember and follow is that everything should be referred to

God before, during and after the use of these worldly things.

            Let’s never forget St. Paul’s clear advice as to what

motive we should have in our all our activities and affairs. “Whether

you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

(1 Cor 10,31)

            We should check ourselves often to see if indeed that is

the motive of all our thoughts, words and deeds. If we notice that we

are moved to do something, like using the internet, for example, just

to satisfy our curiosity, or just to acquire knowledge or anything

that can only show self-interest, then we need to rectify our

intentions.

            We should only be driven by the motive of giving glory to

God, which in concrete terms is translated into loving God and loving

everybody else, by knowing them better and serving them

wholeheartedly.

            To be sure, this is what is proper to us, and would lead

us to our human maturity and Christian perfection. Of course, to be

realistic, we cannot deny that we are often hounded by our weaknesses

and the many temptations around. And so it should be no surprise to us

that we need to do some struggling, some fighting.

            When we notice that there is no struggle involved, we

should have good reason to suspect that we are going the wrong way,

that we are clearly succumbing to our own weakness and the many

temptations around, and that we are actually harming if not destroying

ourselves.

            We should have constant awareness of the presence of God,

of his continuing interventions in our life, of his will and ways.

That’s the only way we can sharpen the virtues of prudence and

detachment. The ideal situation is that the use of the modern

technologies, for example, would make our knowledge and love for God

and others grow. If not, then they become nothing other than dangers.

            When we take God for granted, there is no other way but

for us to be at the mercy of our blind instincts and other bodily

impulses, and of the worldly trends that are insensitive to the

spiritual and supernatural character of our life.

            These days, it’s imperative that we teach everyone as

early as possible to refer everything to God. It would be good that

right in the family environment, the children are already taught how

to refer things to God.

            That would not comprise as an act of brain-washing, but

rather as a way of providing them with what everyone of us most

need—that is, to be with God.