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Someone
approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain
eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is
only One who
is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments.” He asked
him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “You shall
not kill; you shall not
commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness;
honor
your father and your mother”; and “you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him, “All of these I have
observed. What do I still
lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell, what you have
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then
come,
follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went
away sad, for
he had many possessions.
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"Every memory of looking out the back door, I
had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor. It’s
hard to say it, time to say
it—goodbye. I miss that town, I miss
the faces, you can’t erase, you can’t replace
it, I miss it now,
I can’t believe it. So hard to stay,
so
hard to leave it.”
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Whether
the subject is
love or life, dwelling on the past is not a way to maturity. The
rich young man of Matthew’s Gospel was a
person whose past had been profitable to the point of “having
many possessions.” When Jesus called him to further growth,
asking him to give up the past he had loved, he was not able to do it.
With his refusal, the young man walked away
from Jesus “sad.” The young man had
missed an opportunity to improve.
It seems that the person in Nickelback's song "Photograph" has almost learned something because twice in the song, he is thinking about what he could learn, and he does not finish the thought. Also the group closes the song with the incomplete sentence: “Look at this photograph, every time I do, it makes me laugh, every time I do it makes me…"--and the song ends, as if to say that maybe there is something further that should be learned. Young and old often miss the opportunity to improve because of their devotion to the past. In general, people do not want to let go of something that makes them comfortable, even when it is obvious that they should be choosing something else, or someone else. Such seems to be the case with Nickelback’s song “Photograph.” But the missed opportunity because of a desired past goes further than personal relationships. As in Matthew’s story in the Gospel, many people cannot understand the promises of real perfection because past material possessions cloud their vision. In life, the pursuit of what is better is often hampered by a glorified past. There are many things that can be learned from the past, both good and bad. If we have made mistakes, we can learn from them. If we experienced something good or beautiful, our lives are so much the richer. But to remain in the past often condemns us to solutions of the past. We must all learn to live in the present and allow the past to be a teacher rather than a dictator. |
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THOUGHT
What are some areas in which the past can harm how we act in
the
present?
PRAYER Good and gracious God, we all have a past, and sometimes some
actions of
the past have not been good for us. Help
us to study our past, and then give us the grace to learn from it so
that we
can live well in the present and future. Be
with us, we pray.
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©2007 Capuchin
Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |