“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24)

God gives us His Word. It is the lamp for our life paths. The light of God’s Word must be the norm for us. Here it says to us that we cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and mammon. What is mammon? We suppose it to be money but it is not just money. There are a lot of things which can become mammon. Mammon is all that we prefer to God whom we should love with all our heart. In other words, it is all that our heart clings to and we then serve it. We unite to it in our spirit, open ourselves to it and then we are no longer able to serve God. Mammon can be our bondage, as was the case of Mary Magdalene. Jesus delivered her from her bondage, from unclean spirits. She was a slave; her bondage was her mammon. She was unable to serve God. But Jesus delivered her. In celebration of Sunday, when we reflect on the Bible verses about Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus, each of us can personally experience this truth: Jesus, You delivered me from the bondage of sin.

What is bondage? One can live in bondage to fear, alcohol, drugs, computers, or one is inclined to lying, stealing – a kleptomaniac, someone suffers from hypochondria – is always “sick”, someone lives in constant fear of being humiliated or offended, someone is unable to forgive… This all is an obstacle, and God cannot work through such people. What to do? Repent! Jesus delivers us from our bondage but we must come to Him. He says: “Come to Me!” If we seek help from fortune-tellers, psychoanalysts or Freudian psychologists, it is all to nothing, or to put it better, your situation will even go from bad to worse. Let us come to Jesus! He alone can deliver us. He gives us the strength. He will give us the Holy Spirit to become His witnesses. The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit who descended on them from heaven like tongues of fire. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit even today. He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit so that we may prophecy like the Apostle Peter who immediately preached the Word of God on the day of Pentecost.

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