Must have? Not really.

The way advertisers tell it, there are things that you simply MUST HAVE.

The way movies, songs, advice-givers, and stories tell it, there are pleasures and people that you simply MUST HAVE.

But deep down in our hearts, we know that none of that is true.

Deep down in our hearts we already know what Saint John says in today’s first reading (1 John 2:12-17):

For all that is in the world,
sensual lust,
enticement for the eyes,
and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father
but is from the world.

Yet the world and its enticement
are passing away.

But whoever does the will of God
remains forever.