It’s become evident that todays level of consumption and materialism are things which are unsustainable not only in preserving the gifts God has endowed to us on Earth, but in matters of the soul. The ‘love of the world’ mentioned in the passage is not a love and respect for God himself and his creation, but rather its opposite, that of a superficial love sanctioned only by a fear of departing with worldly pleasures. In today’s society, it is much easier to sink away from God in distraction, into things that grant but the most fleeting sensations. As Jesus remarked many times, we may see that Love of the Lord is the only true route to salvation, that the true measure of man is not what he may accumulate or have, his pride or possessions, but what he may be able to do without.
And we pray:
Lord God, My Father, strengthen this bond of Love between us. Deliver me from temptations, and help me see that Your Love, Your light, is the only source for my salvation and my soul forever depends on it, Amen. Release me from worldly sins and wicked possessions, from the sea of lust, pride and distraction, to purify my soul Lord, which I wish only to bring up closer to Your Essence and Your infinite embrace. Amen.