Attachment & Detachment

MARCH 2011

"Not to oppose error is to approve it, and not to defend the truth is to suppress it" - Pope St. Felix III

Note: In this report I may occasionally use bold print, Italics, or word underlining for emphasis. This will be my personal emphasis and not that of the source that I am quoting.

Q:

Please define attachment and detachment and show us how the Lord wants these terms applied in our lives. Jim Davidson

A:

When we speak of attachment or detachment (in a Christian sense) we are talking about giving too much importance to things or people or about placing more importance on how you use things for self in place of using them for God. At times some place so much emphasis on things that the things become more important to them than God. At this point we are committing the grave sin of idolatry. "Idolatry - Giving to another person or object the worship, respect and veneration due to God alone. Idolatry is a most serious sin because it implicitly degrades God to the rank of a creature and denies His status as Creator and Master of the universe. Idolatry is a most serious sin, for it implicitly denies the role of grace and the self-communication of God. It violates not only the love of God which we owe Him, but also the duties we have to God to pay Him the honor and reverence He deserves as creator. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God."[1]

"Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons, power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "'You cannot serve God and mammon.' Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God."[2]

"According to the First Commandment, only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are entitled to and deserve worship and adoration. Worshipping or adoring anyone or anything else is idolatry and forbidden."[3]

"Attachment: the state of being personally attached."[4]

"Detachment: indifference to worldly concerns."[5]

"Detachment - The virtue which frees man from any inordinate or excessive attachment to another person, thing or state of mind. Detachment should rightly be seen within the overall context of the universal call to holiness. In the classical spiritual tradition, detachment is sometimes referred to as the perfection of indifference. True detachment is not any pervasive lack of care but a correct ordering of what can and cannot bring us to God. As far as the interior life is concerned, the Christian ought to seek a detachment from any and all desires, passions and false securities which prevent him from being genuinely dependent on God. As far as material goods are concerned, the Christian should detach himself from any objects that can serve as idols or substitutes for his heart’s true contentment. A spirit of detachment has characterized the lives of all the canonized saints of the Church. Detachment is a virtue to be exercised in the midst of the world because it bears strong witness here and now to the ultimate aim of our existence: attachment to God alone in eternity."[6]

"Stewardship - A biblically – based concept which implores Christians to use what they have – money, time, talent and service – in such a way that it honors God as the Creator of all things visible and invisible and contributes in a conscience way to the building of God’s kingdom on earth.

In imitation of the wise steward of the Gospel Christians ought to exercise a responsible administration over resources, personal and corporate, because these resources are ultimately not theirs but the Lord’s. The practice of stewardship, then, means that Christians forsake a self-aggrandizement and prefer instead a glorification of the One Who is over all, and an ardent attention to the common good."[7]

I am going to use a very personal example of what I believe to be good stewardship here. Please do not criticize me for speaking about this, as there is no desire to draw attention to myself. We must remember that our witnessing can be used by the Lord to teach and encourage others.

Today, a lady that works with me was quite distraught. She is not even a Christian and I have been evangelizing her for two years in small ways. Her ex-husband is very evil, does not pay child support and refused to return their daughter to her after a visit and will not take the child to school. The lady filed a court order that orders her ex to return the child. She does not have the filing fee. The judge notified her and her ex that if the fee was not paid within three days she (the judge) would dismiss the case ordering the child’s return. I had $100 in my wallet earmarked for our fuel oil bill. I prayed and knew I was to give this money to her as a gift as she could not afford any more payments to anyone. She was overjoyed and sped off to court to pay the fee to get her child back. I honestly do not know any people, including those proclaiming to be good Catholics, that would give away $100 like this. But, I accept in my heart that everything I have belongs to God; I am just a steward waiting for instructions. Most of you reading this have probably consecrated yourselves, your families and homes to Our Lady and Lord. Please re-think your consecrations. If you hold anything back you did not really make a total consecration. If you are really consecrated to God you can no longer live by worldly standards and rules. You have to change your priorities and way of thinking. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be."[8]

"Jesus said to him (the young man), 'If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.’ When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God'."[9]

"Someone in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.' He replied to him, 'Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator.' Then he said to the crowd, 'Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions'."[10]

"No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."[11]

This report prepared on January 19, 2007 by Ronald Smith, 11701 Maplewood Road, Chardon, Ohio 44024-8482, E-mail: . Readers may copy and distribute this report as desired to anyone as long as the content is not altered and it is copied in its entirety. In this little ministry I do free Catholic and occult related research and answer your questions. Questions are answered in this format with detailed footnotes on all quotes. If you have a question(s), please submit it to this landmail or e-mail address. Answers are usually forthcoming within one week.

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2

[1] Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia, ISBN: 0-87973-669-0, (1998), Rev. Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas Ph.D., S.T.D. – Editor, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. Huntington, IN., P. P. 517-518

[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, ISBN: 0-932406-23-8, (1994), Apostolate for Family Consecration, Bloomingdale, OH., Paragfaph 2113, P. 513

[3] Catholicism for Dummies, ISBN: 0-7645-5391-7, (2003), By Rev. Fr. John Trigilio Jr., Ph.D, Th.D and Rev. Fr. Kenneth Brighenti, Ph.D, Wiley Publishing, Inc., New York, N.Y., P. 185

[4] Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, (1965), G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, MA., P. 56

[5] Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, (1965), G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, MA., P. 225

[6] Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia, ISBN: 0-87973-669-0, (1998), Rev. Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas Ph.D., S.T.D. – Editor, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. Huntington, IN., P. 322

[7] Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia, ISBN: 0-87973-669-0, (1998), Rev. Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas Ph.D., S.T.D. – Editor, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. Huntington, IN., P. P. 937-938

[8] The New American Bible – St. Joseph Edition, (1970), Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., Mt. 6:19-21, P.P. 19-20

[9] The New American Bible – St. Joseph Edition, (1970), Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., Mt. 19:21-25, P. 44

[10] The New American Bible – St. Joseph Edition, (1970), Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., Lk. 12:13-15, P. 122

[11] The New American Bible – St. Joseph Edition, (1970), Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., Mt. 6:24, P. 20