“It is easy to want things from the Lord and yet not want the Lord Himself, as though the gift could ever be preferable to the Giver.”

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” ― St Augustine of Hippo: (354 –430: was an philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy

Scripture Text: (1 JN 2:12-17)

I am writing to you, children,
because your sins have been forgiven for his name's sake.

I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the Evil One.

I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,
because you are strong and the word of God remains in you,
and you have conquered the Evil One.

Do not love the world or the things of the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father but is from the world.
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away.
But whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Today’s first reading from Mass St. John is speaking simply and bluntly about priorities, and in the midst of his teaching he warns them about “the world”. If St. John speaks simply about God, he also speaks simply—if not as often—about “the world” as the alternative to God. We as children of God can live for God, or for the world, but not for both. In our modern world where we tell ourselves that it’s possible to “have it all”, we need St. John’s message of simplicity: we cannot have both God and the world.