What does detachment from sin mean? Is it the suppression of temptation? True contrition?
To understand detachment, it is helpful to compare its opposite: attachment. A helpful image for understanding spiritual attachments is that of a rubber band connecting us to an object or a person. No matter where we try to go, if the rubber band is strong enough, it will eventually snap us back to the object we are attached to. The strong rubber band restricts our freedom and keep us connected, whether we wanted to be or not.
Spiritually, attachment is affection for a person or thing that is out of proportion. While we are called to love all people and all of the things God has created, we need to make sure that these loves are properly prioritized. Otherwise, these loves can get hold of us, and like a super-strong rubber band, prevent us from doing what we are meant to do.
One of the most common disordered attachments these days is to our screens and media. Almost all of us have experiences where an entertaining show or the chance to connect online with friends begins to have too strong of a pull on our attention. We start to prioritize this minor good over more important goods, like in-person connections with our family or our prayer time with God. This makes it harder for us to do the right thing, as we keep getting “snapped back” to our attachment. But, of course, there are many things that can become attachments. Anything that we love too much or in a way that is different from God’s priorities can become an attachment.
Indeed, one of the major goals of Jesus’ preaching was to help us put these priorities in order and to set aside “disordered attachments.” The first and foremost love in our life should always be God. And as a part of that love of God, we should love God’s children (Luke 10:27).
When we love God first, our love for fellow human beings takes on a different set of priorities. Human nature tells us to prioritize those like us (“my” family, “my” friends, “my” ethnic group, or “my” nation). Jesus teaches us that we should love God first and then love others because of that love of God, and this leads to some counterintuitive priorities, like loving our enemies (Luke 6:27), loving the stranger (Matthew 25:35) and loving the poor and the lame (Luke 14:13).
In this way, Jesus challenges us to rearrange our natural priorities. We will have to “detach” from those things or people we have an overly strong connection to. This is a long journey for most of us, but we set it as a goal that we work toward in Christ. We don’t stop loving people and created things. Rather, we love them in their proper order, and by God’s grace we attain detachment, which keeps us from being yanked around by sinful, disordered affections.
Father Chris Schroeder is parochial administrator of Christ the King Parish in University City and St. Joseph Parish in Clayton.
