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8th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A - 2/3/2014 - Gospel: Mt 6: 24-34
Being transformed
It is a hard task to balance both material and the spiritual needs. People often make imbalance between the two and life becomes a heavy burden. Whatever power you choose your life will be changed accordingly. Some people believe that material power is necessary for improving the social status and their voice would be heard so they try hard to acquire it. Other people believe that spiritual power is important for gaining peace of mind and joy of our heart and follow that path.

Whatever choice you make it will influence your life.  When you choose to follow the material path it will transform you. If you are fortunate and successful in accumulating material things, likewise you then want to transform the world by having something momentum for your name. When you choose to follow the spiritual path, the teaching and the love of Jesus will transform your life. You will be like him, being the agent of God's love for the world. You are being sent to change the world, not for your own name, but for the poor and the oppressed and make their pain and joy to be of your own.

In order to enjoy life to the full we need both material and spiritual needs. Life would be a heavy burden when one of them is absent in our lives. Getting the balance between materials and spiritual needs is an art. Using one's own effort to work out the balance between the two is a risky business because there are no set rules or guidelines to follow. The best solution is getting involved in the faith community. Regular attending Sunday worships and being active in the faith community will deepen your spirituality and then you will gain the art of living. The art of living helps you to know: enough is enough. It helps you to know when to receive and when to give and then opens your treasure to help those who are less fortunate.

There is a constant opposition between the material and spiritual worlds. Voice of the material world is loud and strong while voice of the spiritual world is quiet and gentle buried deep in our hearts. Material world uses plenty of material things and popularity to attract disciples while the spiritual world is using love, service and peace of mind to call and to follow. Material attraction often wins the hearts of those who want to have a quick fix, and yearn to have instant results while spiritual attraction often wins the hearts of those who would like to ponder on things in a calm and quiet manner and the joy of providing service. 

When expectation for materialistic things is high it is hard to full fill it and often it places enormous weight on one's shoulder and that opens for stress and pressure to enter our lives. Stress and pressure destroys peace of mind and joy of heart. Regaining the peace of mind and the joy of heart is not hard it just requires a person to proportion the expectation, and that is hard. It helps a person free from materials and popularity and be a master of these things, not its slave.

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