Here we are: new Eve and Adami. Again we find ourselves faced with our tree of good and evil. Again we have to choose.
How many times in our lives have we found ourselves at a crossroads? Maybe some. Maybe too many. Maybe every day, or even several times a day. On each of these occasions we make a choice. We exercise our free will. The most beautiful and greatest gift that God could give us, after life. Because the love that God feels for us is so great that it grants us the greatest freedom. Even the freedom to make mistakes.
Thus, around us, there are people who have chosen the light. And others who prefer to live in darkness. We ourselves, with every choice, go one way or the other. Sometimes decisions are a reconfirmation of our beliefs. Then, if there is light within us, we will get even closer to the source of this light: to God. If, however, our heart is immersed in darkness, probably at the crossroads we will choose the path that takes us where there is even more darkness .
And then there are the intermediate situations: it may be that even a person who is holy in his heart can sometimes choose a path that distances him a little from God. Just as there can be a swindler, such as Zacchaeus for example, who at some point he changes direction and climbs a tree, rather than occupying his time in some other unclean action that could have increased his wealth.
It’s all about choices: the darkness, or the light. The world, or the spirit. Idleness or industriousness. Hate or love. Envy or admiration. Resentment or forgiveness… a thousand and a thousand choices can take us further (or back) along our path.
And, at a certain point in our journey, Jesus arrives and chooses us. Then it can happen that a disreputable person, like Levi the tax collector, becomes Matthew the Saint and evangelist. Because Jesus chose us and enlightened us with his gaze and nourished our hearts with his presence. And it may even happen that Saul, the worst of the persecutors, is struck by lightning on the road to Damascus and becomes Saint Paul, the most prolific of the apostles.
Our Damascus can hide behind every corner. At any moment we can choose to become an apostle, or a persecutor. At every step we can prefer the path that keeps us well anchored to the world, to business, to money at all costs, to the wildest fashion… or the one that elevates us to heaven, to simplicity, to love.
God chooses us. And we choose. In a crossroads of choices that can make our life the best of masterpieces, or the worst of nightmares. It is up to us to decide: we can listen to the call of Jesus, or that of the serpent. Here is our tree of knowledge of good and evil. Here is the eternal struggle, between light and darkness. But be careful, because the most comfortable path is not always the best! The world deceives us and can make its darkness shimmer, like bait for a fish. Be careful not to bite!
Today Jesus chooses you. He chooses you who are reading these words. It’s up to you to decide which world to live in: whether in that of appearing at any cost, or whether in that of being. Of being good. Of being meek. Of being forgiving. Of being love. Of being a gift. Gift for God and gift for others.
Source: La Buona Parola, Alessandro Ginotta’s blog https://www.labuonaparola.it
YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/AlessandroGinotta
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Tags: Alessandro Ginotta Comment Gospel day April
