On March 21, 2020, he passed away priest Piotr Pawlukiewicz – author of religious books and popular sermons. On the fourth anniversary of the death of a popular priest, we are publishing a preview of a fragment of his book “The Road to Freedom. Tips for Every Day”. It will be published by Znak Publishing House.
We cannot avoid the moment when we have to choose
Discussing the issue of freedom, I would like to draw your attention today to the words that you can find in the First Letter of Saint. Paul to the Corinthians: “Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is beneficial.” That’s it! It happens that someone says: “Hola, hola! Before I start implementing the concept of freedom, I would like to be sure that I am making the right choice. After all, it is about all my life”. This attitude is very reasonable. Man has a mind to use it.
This is why, when I talk about freedom, I try to provide arguments referring to God’s Revelation. It was presented in the pages of the Bible, but we also discover God’s truth in the stream of everyday events. I must strongly emphasize here that the choice of the path leading to happiness and freedom is made not only in the sphere of tangible evidence, but above all in the sphere of faith and trust. We consider all the pros and cons, we look for answers to questions, but we still cannot avoid the moment when we have to choose: trust or not?
‘The road to freedom. Tips for every day’. press materials
I once saw a young man playing in the yard with his several-year-old son. The father sat the boy on the branch of a short tree and said: – Jump to daddy!
The boy asked with concern: – Will you catch me?
– Of course I’ll catch you. Come on, jump!
God’s madmen jump into the Father’s arms
The boy slowly, very slowly the first time, began to slide down the branch until he finally jumped straight into his father’s arms. He liked the game so much that they repeated it many times. As I looked at them, I thought that a similar dialogue was going on between us and our Father who is in heaven. God says to us: “Do you want to be free and happy? Then jump! In the Church, in Christianity, in my commandments. Jump down from the branch of sin, unbelief and lack of trust.” We ask with fear: “But will You catch me, Lord God? These commandments are so difficult. How will I cope without this pleasure that has stuck to me so much? How will I live without cigarettes, theft, swearing, spicy conversations, books and movies? God repeats the invitation: “Jump, I will catch you. You will be a hundred times happier than you are now, with your cheap treasures of sin!” People react differently to this invitation. God’s madmen jump into the Father’s arms, others sit on their branch, clinging to sin and mumbling under their breath: “I won’t give up, I won’t let go.” . They complain mercilessly about their lives, but they will not give up on this form of life because they cannot believe and trust. […] How many people have I met who sighed and complained:
How hard this life is. Half a day of hard work at work, and then you still have to run for something. I’m finishing building a gazebo on the plot, taking a computer course, and cleaning the office after hours to earn some extra money. How to reconcile all this, how to endure it?!
Hearing such lamentations, I had the courage to remark several times: – Maybe it’s worth giving up one or two of these things?
– How so?! – My interlocutor was actually outraged. – I absolutely need all this!
There are many such people. They say they miss peace, a walk, reading a book, but when they are asked to give up something for their dreams, they get angry. They sit on a branch, complain, but will not jump down. They don’t trust that Father will catch them…
Father Piotr Pawlukiewicz wikimedia commons
In fact, all people are believers
We generally divide people into believers and non-believers, but I think we all agree that this is a very imprecise division. In fact, all people are believers. The only question is: who do they believe? There are those who believe in God, others believe in the stars, others believe in television, for example. There are many variants, but every person must believe in someone or something, you cannot live without it.
Try to imagine that you don’t believe or trust anyone. You come to the doctor and at the door you say: “Please show me your medical diploma!” Do you do that? Probably not, because you believe that the man in the white coat is a doctor. Or another situation. Someone stuck a note in the stairwell: ” There will be no water from eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Do you call the water company to check this? I don’t think so. You believe that this is true information and carefully fill the bathtub with water. Dozens of such examples can be given. We believe someone every day. It is impossible to live without faith. The problem begins when we ask ourselves who to believe.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
