The only absolute

Today’s Gospel reading, if interpreted in a literal, fundamentalist sense, may picture Jesus as cold and heartless the very opposite of the loving, ever-compassionate Christ. A would-be disciple of Jesus asked to first go and bury his father. Jesus is quoted to have said: “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another eager disciple asked to first go home and make paalam to his family. Jesus’ reply is quoted thus: “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Lk. 9: 59-62).

What Jesus may be saying to that first disciple is this: “By all means, go and attend to your beloved father who passed away. Just be sure you do not get emotionally paralyzed. There is a time for grieving and a time for letting go. Life must go on. So after letting him go, come, follow me and proclaim the kingdom of God to the many who are alive but spiritually hungry.”

And to that other would-be disciple, Jesus may be saying the following: “Your heart cannot but lead you home to say goodbye to your loved ones. By all means, do so and then look ahead and follow the Lord, wherever He will mission you to go.”

The deeper meaning of it all is that God and nothing else is the fundamental and ultimate meaning of human life. As the spiritual guide, P. Divarkar once said: “God is the only absolute. Everything else is relative.” Everything. Our human relationships, our time, talents, and treasures, our very lives. By all means let us give our hearts, minds, and bodies to all of these   but let us not be so attached to them that when everything is said and done, God comes only second in our life priorities.

In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, a major breakthrough in one’s personal conversion precisely comes with spiritual detachment, as opposed to inordinate attachments, which are one of the greatest obstacles to Christian discipleship. In fact, even well-meaning disciples of Christ, including lay apostles, nuns, seminarians, priests, and bishops struggle through this. This is part of human nature, moving from imperfection toward perfection.

Take a political leader on the local, regional, or national level. He/she may become inordinately attached to his/her political position and power, so that even when it is already time to let go, that person may tend to hold on, in the name of service to the community. Or take a male or female religious educator, who is already very old, physically weak, walks and talks very slowly, and could hardly be understood when lecturing. In the name of dedication to the ministry, he/she may insist on continuing to teach at the sacrifice of the students.

What about a well-meaning parent who insists on being the family adviser or decision-maker, even when the children already have families of their own and opinions that are different from the said parent? Or take this wealthy family who lives a very luxurious lifestyle, but shares hardly anything with those who have much less or almost nothing. Many requests for helping the poor are given to them, but they insist that they cannot _ in the name of family.

The answer to those who are stuck with inordinate attachments is the Ignatian principle of spiritual detachment. This does not mean detachment from the spiritual, but spiritual liberation from worldly attachments. A balanced Christian life where the secular is integrated within the sacred. Here again, allow me to quote P. Divarkar: “Everything is precious because it is from God, and yet everything is relative precisely because everything is precious only in relation to God.” Related to this is what M. Eckhart taught us: “Where our clinging to things end is where God begins to be:” And as our contemporary saying goes: Letting go, and letting God.

One’s active prayerlife is crucial in attaining such spiritual liberation and closeness to God. This does not mean prayers of petition, like the multiplication of novenas and other such verbal prayers, where we keep asking God to listen to us. Rather, it is the prayer of discernment regular periods of silence and solitude, where one can intimately experience God’s presence, listen to what He is saying, and follow His will by carrying it out in action.

This is the beginning of real, personal conversion, even with the worst kind of inordinate attachment which we call addiction. Not only addiction to alcohol, drugs, or gambling. It can be addiction to sex, money, power, relationships, or whatever. The Twelve-Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous continues to be a most effective treatment process for different kinds of addiction, and it is precisely centered on one’s surrender to a Higher Power, to God. “We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.” The rest of the program flows from there. Today, so many cured addicts are spreading the kingdom of God.