+Shallow-mindedness
The problem of this generation in many aspects of life is the superficiality in matters that are related to thoughts and thus behavior, ethics and ways of dealing with others and oneself at the same time, and this is reflected in dealing with the spiritual and physiological dimensions of the human being. And perhaps this problem is a result of the high-tech, fast-paced methods of delivering everything in an easy and accessible way. The tools and devices of social media race time, making people essentially linking their daily lives with this enormous electronic system, readily accessing any information with the tip of their fingers, uniting the whole world in a hand held device, and making news and knowledge available without the need of mind work to reach them, or in other words all of our matters became working for us at the level of fast food.
This system of life reflected negatively on our personalities and our behavior, deteriorating our ability to think deeply, compare, analyze and get to the bottom of things, turning us to recipients at the level of viewing and hearing without entering into a live conversation between us, and this led to the drop of the level of language all over the world. We can hardly hear of a writer like Shakespeare, Taha Hussein, Al Akkad or Gibran Khalil Gibran. Even university graduates have become less linguistic, civilized and humane.
Unfortunately, this problem has reached us as the children of God in this world. Instead of being the light to the world through our deep knowledge of God, the people and ourselves and even to the thoughts of satan ” lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” ( 2 Corinthians 2:11). Yet we have sufficed by what reaches us from here and there through the tools of social media, sometimes we believe myths, or are attracted to ideas that are far from right, or becoming enslaved to sin through hearing and looking, finding ourselves outside of the circle of divine light and eternal life which we have been called to. Saint Paul warns us saying” This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” ( Ephesians 4:17-18).
+The depth:
Beloved of the Lord, this superficiality will only lead us to poverty, destitution and lack of satiety. Saint Peter summed it up when he spent the whole night with his partners near the shore, which refers to shallowness in its spiritual meaning. But when the Lord told Simon to “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking” ( Luke 5:4-6).
The time has come for us to enter into the depth of prayer to connect with the Lord, not merely performing statutes but from the heart and mind we pray our psalms and present our requests, uniting with God’s heart in true prayers. Finding ourselves praying for the whole world. And during masses we come to Church to be sanctified by repentance, prayer and the sacrifice of the Lord, which is on the altar in the sacrament of communion. Leaving in exaltation and joyfulness of His salvation. Proclaiming His death and resurrection and calling everyone. Come and taste the sweetness of the Lord. As for the Word of Life in the Bible, we not only read it to silence our conscience or as a blessing, but we eat the Word and rejoice. Here, we recommend reading the bible with side references, having our pens in our hands, writing down our reflections and question marks for what we need help understanding, researching and knowing to live and grow. Our offerings should be for the Lord at all levels, for, the poor, church, service and for the needy, in secret as much as we can, and if revealed unwittingly, let our heart and tongue say ” For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You” .
Also, never delay repentance if we fall into temptations, immediately confessing our sins to the Lord, asking for His mercy and forgiveness. Presenting this confession in front of our father of confession at the earliest opportunity to find a solution with appropriate advice for our spiritual journey towards the happy eternal homeland.
Our fasting is no greater than the word of the Lord about it, to be offered as a sacrifice of love to God the Father through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, Whom we have worn in Baptism. Being from the header not from the outside to show that we are fasting. Also, there is nothing better than the reading of ( Isaiah 58).
Finally, let your love be pure and strong towards God and all people. Love never fails.