To whom or to what are you overly attached? - Daily Reflections January 26,2014

LETTING GO

 

One day, a compassionate king brought home to the palace a beggar whose right leg was amputated. He told the beggar, “I will give you everything you could possibly desire.” The king brought the beggar to the treasury and told him, “Take everything you can carry with your two hands.” Immediately, the beggar filled his hands with gold coins piled everywhere. Then the king told the beggar, “I still have something more to give, but to get it, you have let go of some of your gold coins.”

       The beggar saw that the king was hiding something behind his back. He thought that it must be so small to exchange it for some of his precious gold coins. So he shook his head. The king looked at him and sighed, “I wanted to give you this key to my treasury instead of just a handful of coins. But you would not let go of what you already had.”

       In today’s Gospel, we heard how Jesus called two pairs of brothers to become His first disciples. When He called Simon and Andrew, and then James and John, to become “fishers of men” instead of fishers of fish, “immediately they abandoned their nets” and followed Jesus.

       Those who decided to become disciples of Jesus had to let go of something first. They must have felt uneasy upon leaving behind everything, but they sensed that in giving up something, they would gain more.

       When we let go of things we consider precious and entrust them to God, we always end up as winners. But more often than not, we have difficulty in letting go of our resentments, unforgiveness, negative thoughts, self-pity, false guilt feelings. And the consequences are not compatible with our being followers of Christ. For example, the love of God, which has been poured into our hearts at baptism, remains cold and paralyzed. In order to have deep inner joy, we need to have the thoughts of God and the heart of God. And that means letting go of all that is not godly in our hearts and letting God take its place. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: To whom or to what are you overly attached?

 

Lord, You made me aware that I have difficulties in letting go — of persons, possessions, and, yes, of negative attitudes. Help me to get rid of these attachments so that I will be free to follow You.