Detachment is letting go of the individualist emotional ties that keep us trapped. It’s the ability to release the negativity of the circumstances we find ourselves. It’s not about giving up or not caring. Instead, it’s about accepting what is, appreciating all we have, and creating the life of our dreams
We are about to begin Lent, a time of preparation for Holy Week, which reminds us of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. Through His fasting and His experience of temptation, our Lord shows us that God is all we need. The Lenten practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer help us to penetrate more deeply into this truth. By fasting we seek to identify ourselves with Christ through the path of poverty. “Fasting, as we know is a form of self-denial which helps those who undertake it in the simplicity of heart to rediscover God’s gift and to recognize that, created in his image and likeness, we find our fulfillment in him” (Francis, in one of his Message for Lent).
As we already know, poverty does not lie mainly in the rejection of created goods, but rather in the rejection of the disorder a person experiences when these goods are separated from God. Poverty proclaims and recalls the original goodness of creation and material goods while fostering detachment from them as “a sign that the heart is not satisfied with created things and aspires to the Creator” (Conversations, no. 110).
This Lent can be a good time to be inspired once again with the challenge of examining our hearts to discover how our material goods are helping us carry out the mission God has entrusted to us. Then we can detach ourselves more easily from those who are not helping. Like our Lord, who had “nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58), we will go forward without excess baggage.
When we live a life of poverty, we will learn to appreciate the world’s goods by seeing in them their value as a path for union with God and service to others, and we will reject with joy those goods that, here and now, are not leading us to God. Attachment to things, people, or a particular way of being invites drama into our lives. Why? Because when we attach to something and change occurs, which is a constant, then there is a fear that we will lose that which we are guaranteed. However, on the other hand, detachment allows for change to occur even, if we aren’t tied to a specific outcome. This unbiasedness will enable us to accept what is with ease and allow peace to flow into our lives.
Let us, therefore, release and detach from every person, every circumstance, every condition, and every situation that does not serve a divine purpose in our lives particularly, during the lent. All things have a season, and all seasons must end. We need to choose a new season filled with purposeful thoughts and activities that will help us carry out our obligations during Lent. Just think about it, when we are attached to the outcome or result of a particular exercise, we become anxious and stressed. We become worried and wonder if we will succeed or not. This anxiety can burn us out, it can make us doubt our competence and it can also make to lack focus.
Detachment, on the other hand, allows us to stay focused on the task at hand without being distracted or wondering about the outcome. So, in a way, detachment helps us to be resilient, knowing that we are doing our best regardless of the outcome. Detachment may sound counterintuitive, especially in a culture that values achievement and results. But in reality, detachment is key to success and happiness in all areas of life. So, let us cultivate detachment in our lives and be mindful of what we do.
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