4 February 2013 Detachment to follow Christ If we are to follow Christ, our soul must be free -- first, from love of self and an excessive concern for our health or the future ... from riches and material goods. The heart set on earthly goods leaves out God. ‘Christian poverty and detachment’ does not mean disdain for material goods if they are acquired and used in accord with God’s will. Our Lord’s counsel is thus realized in our lives: “Seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well.” (Mt 6:33) The more we detach ourselves totally from things, the greater will be our capacity to love others and to appreciate the beauty of creation. If we become lukewarm and share our love of God with objects or seek self-satisfaction, we shall have dislodged Christ from our heart. Material things will imprison and harm us. Sheer possession of material goods will never bring happiness. The human heart will find the fulness for which it was created, only in God. If we do not act with the fortitude to live this detachment, “The heart is left sad and unsatisfied. ... follows paths which lead to everlasting unhappiness and ends up, a slave, victim of the very same goods which had perhaps been acquired at great effort and countless renunciations”. (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 118) Christian poverty and detachment share nothing in common with squalor and slovenliness, with neglect and bad manners. Jesus dressed well. His cloak, probably woven by his Mother, had dice thrown for it because “it was without seam, woven from top to bottom” (Jn 19:23); and it had a “fringe” (Mt 9:20; 14:36). The Holy Family’s house would have been modest, clean, simple, tidy, cheerful, well maintained. There would often probably be some flowers tastefully placed before a memento or decoration. Effective detachment from things demands sacrifice. Christian life calls for a radical change in attitude towards earthly goods. The Christian lives to love Christ more and more through his work and family; but not to accumulate more and more material goods. If we wish to draw others to the practice of virtue, we must preach by example and precept. For observation is stronger than conversation. Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 1990, 3:105, 107-110 Detachment and the Christian life St Mark (5:1-20) in today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus came to the region of the Gerasenes, a country of the Gentiles, on the other side of the Lake of Genesareth. As soon as He had disembarked, a man possessed by the devil ran up to him; throwing himself down in front of him, cried out: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For Jesus had said to him: “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.” Jesus asked him his name and he replied: ‘My name is Legion; for we are many’. And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country. A great herd of swine was feeding nearby. ... This Gospel passage teaches us that we must be detached from all our belongings. Thus we will be able to use everything on earth in the way that accords best with the Will of God. Our heart must be for him only and for the good things of God that never fail. Detachent makes of life a delightful way of austerity and effectiveness. A Christian should frequently ask himself a series of questions: Does he remain ever-vigilant so as not to fall into a spirit of comfort, into a sort of self-satisfaction, which is in no way compatible with being a disciple of Chist? Does he try not to create superfluous needs? Do the things of earth bring him closer to, or take him further away from, God? We always can and should be temperate in our personal needs, tightening up on superfluous expenditure, not giving in to mere whims, overcoming the tendency to create false needs; and being generous in almsgiving. ... Today, we can consider in our prayer whether we are prepared to cast away from us anything that prevents us from coming closer to Christ ... We should not allow to happen to us what happened to the Gerasenes -- “all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their neighborhood.” (Mt 8:34) On the contrary, we must say to him, in the words of St Benedict’s prayer for use after Holy Communion: “Be thou ever ... my heritage of wealth, my very own. Let my heart and soul be set on thee for ever.” (“Roman Missal, Act of Thanksgiving after Mass”) Lord to whom would I go without you? Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, :3: 179, 184-185 We need Christ the Liberator The spirit of penitence and its practice stimulates us to detach ourselves sincerely from anything superfluous that we have. Sometimes even what is necessary to us, and hinders us from being truly what God wishes us to be: “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” (Mt 6:21) Are our hearts holding on to material riches? To power over others? To egoistically subtle ways of domineering? Then we have need of Christ the Liberator. If we wish, He can free us from these sinful links which are tripping us up. Let us prepare to let ourselves be enriched by the grace of the Resurrection by ridding ourselves of every false treasure. Those material goods which often we do not need, are for millions of persons essential conditions for survival. Hundreds of millions of people, in need of the minimum necessary for their subsistence, look to us for help, to find the indispensable means for integral human promotion as well as for economic and cultural development of their countries. But declarations of good intention to make a simple gift are not enough to alter man’s heart. There is need ‘for conversion of spirit’, which can push us to a meeting of hearts and sharing of our lives with the least-favored members of society, with those deprived of everything, sometimes even their dignity as men and women, as boys or girls. It is there that we meet and more intimately live the mystery of the suffering and redemptive death of the Lord. Real sharing is going out to meet the others; that is what helps us to free ourselves from bonds enslaving us. Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp122-3 Selection -- “Turn constantly to the most Holy Virgin, the Mother of God and Mother of the human race; and she, with a Mother’s gentleness, will draw down the love of God on the souls you deal with, so that they may make up their minds to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, in their profession, in their ordinary work.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 911) • Our Lady of Fire (Forli, Italy) (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.divine will.org/feastofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (http://mariedenazareth.com) • Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)