Sobriety

LA PAROLA FORSE PUÒ APPARIRE POCO GRADITA, non ben interpretata oppure bypassata con nonchalance, ma ha una sua forza, e non da poco. Si tratta della “sobrietà”, che ha poco da spartire con le preoccupazioni dimagranti, per la linea da perseguire. Viceversa è una dimensione importante, essenziale, anche esigente della vita.
Per non perdere la bussola, per non smarrirsi dietro le cose che intasano le giornate. Abbuffarsi senza freni, lasciarsi attirare da ciò che luccica per svariate ragioni, sottostare al fascino di quanto solletica appetiti di vario tenore... sono prassi da non snobbare. Per questioni di giustizia, rispetto appunto alle cose che si buttano o che non aiutano la salute, senza scordare chi non ce la fa per svariati motivi. Insomma balza evidente una questione etica che dovrebbe pesare entro le logiche quotidiane.

THE WORD MAY PERHAPS APPEAR UNPLEASANT, misinterpreted, or casually ignored, but it has its own strength, and not a small one. It's "sobriety," which has little to do with concerns about weight loss or the way we want to achieve our goals. On the contrary, it's an important, essential, and even demanding aspect of life.
To avoid losing our bearings, to avoid getting lost in the things that clog up our days. Bingeing without restraint, allowing ourselves to be drawn to the glittering for various reasons, succumbing to the allure of whatever whets our appetites... these are practices that shouldn't be ignored. For reasons of justice, precisely with respect to the things we throw away or that don't promote our health, without forgetting those who can't cope for various reasons. In short, an ethical question is clearly evident and should be considered within our daily thinking.

SOBRIETY IS THEN DEFINED WITH SOLIDARITY, with sharing, with taking responsibility, within the inequalities of the present time, with too many struggling, lacking the necessities. Just think of the data on the creeping and progressive impoverishment of various social groups.
Remembering that we cannot sit idly by, that something (even in a small way) can change things, that everyday gestures are not banal or indifferent. Indeed, they make a difference, indeed, if taken and experienced seriously.

THIS IS SOBRIETY, URGING US TO RETHINK OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THINGS, starting with the superfluous. Asking ourselves whether we are still capable of managing our intentions, our actions, our habits.
But sobriety is also a value (perhaps arduous, perhaps not) that shapes the Christian journey, with reminders reiterated in "important times" like Lent, which marks the rhythm of this month of March, to also be agile in ideally keeping pace with Jesus of Nazareth as he moved among the needs of the people, moving toward Easter.

A CHOICE OF FREEDOM THAT "LIBERATES" FROM THE SUPERFLUOUS to give value to the essential and to others. It is a lifestyle reflected in prayer and language, devoid of frills, centered on tenderness, closeness to the poor, and concrete hope: this was the view of Don Tonino Bello, Bishop of Molfetta, a figure of great evangelical caliber, indicating an existential attitude in which to make gestures that change life and some segment of history.
In which we can leave our mark... positively, beyond things.

Corrado Avagnina
NP March 2026