There will be no applause

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Excerpt from the TV interview with the actress:

– What would you like to hear at the gates of paradise?

– The stage is ready, spectators are waiting.

From myself I will add: Then applause, applause, applause … After all, it is for them that you go on stage, often overcoming your own weaknesses, working for years on developing your talent, struggling with competition, fighting the inevitability of passing away, giving up other life satisfaction. All this to show yourself again and again to the public who will pay for this heroism with a moment of applause. It is a little piece of heaven for the actors. No wonder some people would like it to be like this.

But which of us doesn’t really work the same in different areas of life? We try to work, devote and improve. Still more and more. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, in the name of humanistic principles, for art, science, freedom, democracy, family, etc. – to choose from depending on the worldview, values in our environment or simply the situation in which we find ourselves. And behind all of this there is a need for recognition from other people, some form of praise, reward. It is not always the dominant motive, but it definitely shapes our life choices. Even if we do not count on praise or even the word “thank you”, no one would like to be ridiculed, despised, excluded in various ways from their community.

Meanwhile, Jesus, who brings his countrymen the good news, teaching them the truth about God and showing them how to deal with people, is called possessed and hardly avoids stoning. Viewers and listeners did not want to clap. This was not what Jesus meant, because he did not come to flatter their expectations or to confirm their complacency. On the contrary – it forced people to throw off various life masks, destroyed illusions, and exposed falsehood. And he didn’t really care about pleasing oneself. The bond with the Father and the awareness of his own mission gave him a certainty that did not need support in fleeting human approval.

A similar attitude can be seen in the case of the hero of today’s first reading, Abraham. The covenant that God makes with him gives him the strength to change his own life, to accept great responsibility not only for himself and his loved ones, but also for God’s chosen people. We know that Abraham was up to the task entrusted to him, not opposing God even when he was to sacrifice the most precious treasure – his own son. Although it must have been very difficult for him as a human being, although he was alone with his dilemmas, he did not doubt God’s promises. He followed God’s path and remained faithful.

Do I want to be like Abraham, like Jesus?

In the context of this retreat, you have to ask yourself difficult questions: What do I expect from my conversion?

Why, who do I want it to happen for?

Do I care more about the stage and the audience, about the entire spectacular envelope of my transformation, or about my relationship with God, inaccessible to others, and in no way telling about my relationship with God?

Is the attitude of the converted / converted another life role that I will gladly change as soon as they offer me a better contract in another theater?

Do I remember God for specific benefits and positive life changes, or do I want a covenant in which I will try to endure regardless of external circumstances?

Conversion always takes place in silence and solitude, which seems to be something completely incomprehensible to our contemporary culture of the spectacle. It is a personal matter between man and God. The viewers can only see the fruits of conversion. How will they react to it? A hint may be the poem “Przesłanie Pana Cogito” by Zbigniew Herbert. This work, despite the passage of time and the change in the historical conditions in which it was written, has not lost its relevance at all. There are guidelines for those who wish to move towards Good, Truth and Beauty, that is, as a Christian will say, constantly approach God. But there is also a cautionary tale:

will reward you for what they have on hand

a whipping of laughter with a murder in a garbage can

Do I really want it, or do you really want it, thinking about your conversion? Do I have the courage, do you have the courage to take up your cross… be faithful… go?