Beware of our earthly attachments

That parable of the rich young man (cfr. Mt 19,16-22) clearly warns us that we have to be wary of our strong tendency to get attached and entrapped in our worldly things to the extent that we would be willing to unfollow Christ in order to follow our mundane attachments.

It’s actually a crazy thing to choose the things of the world over Christ, and yet we seem helpless to choose otherwise. This only means that we should really intensify our relation with Christ, unafraid to go through the requirements of detachment and the cross that Christ himself also commanded us to live if we truly want to follow him. (cfr. Mt 16,24)

We really need to learn how to be properly detached from earthly things especially nowadays when we are easily drawn by the glut of attractive material and temporal things. The Christian virtue of poverty and detachment has as its primary purpose that of emptying our mind and heart of anything that can compete or, worse, replace the love for God and for others which is proper to all of us.

It’s not about running away from worldly things, much less, of hating the goods of the earth and our temporal affairs, but of knowing how to handle them, so as not to compromise the fundamental law of love that should rule us.

To repeat, it is not just a matter of emptying ourselves but rather of filling ourselves with what is proper to us. In short, we practice detachment to acquire and enhance the attachment right for us as God’s image and likeness and as God’s children.

Christ told us very clearly that we should “seek first the kingdom of God and his justice.” And he assured us that all the things we need in our life here on earth shall be added. (Mt 6,33) This should always be the trajectory of our attitude towards life, our work and the use of material things. Any other direction would be fatal to our spiritual and moral life.

So, the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does not mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things of this world. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of God!

St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians said as much: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (10,31)

We should not be afraid to go through the required sacrifices and self-denial, since these can only lead us to the joy and peace meant for us. We need to do better than have a shallow and narrow view of our earthly life, a knee-jerk reaction to things.

In this regard, we really need to learn how to deal with the many distractions we have to contend with these days. These distractions take us away from our real destination who is God. While these distractions can also have their legitimate value, we have to realize that unless they are related to God, that value can become false and dangerous.

We have to be guarded against our tendency to be easily taken by them. For this, we need to discipline our feelings and passions. We have to give directions to our thoughts. But most importantly, we have to ground our heart on the rich, fertile soil of faith, hope, and charity!