The Evil of Attachment

10-10-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

The first reading from the book of Wisdom reflects on how the prayer for the gift of wisdom was granted “I prayed and prudence was given to me, I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me”. Wisdom is personified as female and a value to sort after because she is at the center of every other gift. The reading exalts all to seek for wisdom and the best place to get this gift is in prayer. When Solomon was asked by God to make only a single request he prayed for wisdom of God because with the gift of wisdom we understand how to do God’s will. In the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews, the word of God is described as sharper than any double-edged sword. The metaphor of the double-edged sword used in describing the word of God exemplifies the effect and power the word of God has. Its power rests on how it accomplishes tasks beyond imagination. The Word of God accomplishes such because it is Jesus Himself who is the word of God.

The Gospel presents us with the encounter between Jesus and a young rich man who approached Jesus with a question on what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus takes him through the commandments and the young man was very faithful in his observance of them. Having manifested a good obedience to the commandments, Jesus demanded of him to go a step further to sell all he has and give to the poor. That was when the man left Jesus with sadness in his face. At the first reading one would think Jesus was condemning wealth and riches, but that is not the message Jesus conveys to His audience. The central message Jesus gives, is the evil nature of strong attachment to things. The young man’s face fell as we read in the Gospel not because he was rich, but because he was so attached to his possessions that he could not let go. Attachments block our mind, heart and Spirit so that there is no space for God or our fellow human beings in our lives. It can be attachment to ambition, power, positions, or relationships, wealth and possessions. It is hard to listen to God’s call once there is a strong attachment of any sort. Undue attachment displaces the place of God in our lives and takes up the position God would have taken making what we are attached to a little God in us. Jesus calls for a thorough examination of what has displaced Him in our lives.

Jesus wants us to stand bare and disposed before the God who is good, with the radical trust in God’s gifts is the way to eternal life for which this the man and all of us desire at the end of our lives. However, it is only through the gift of wisdom that one may realize that nothing lasts forever except a relationship with God. Wisdom as was presented in the first reading helps us to seek for the things of heaven where there is lasting happiness. Without the insight of wisdom, it is possible to feel that life consists only of power, possessions, unruly ambitions, relationships one has or wealth. The demand of Jesus is that we rid ourselves of any attachments that take the place of God in our lives.

Jesus assures all, who detached for the sake of the Gospel, reward here on earth and the world to come.

Let us seek for the wisdom of God that would guide and direct our lives towards God.