Do you enjoy goods of creation with a holy detachment? - Daily Reflections March 5,2014

Ash Wednesday

 

FULLY ALIVE!

 

King Mousaka is well-known for his legendary cooking talent. Royalties from neighboring tribes travel far and wide to taste his delicious creations, especially his grilled lamb. Two ministers went to the king’s palace with excitement to sample his cooking. To prepare their palate, he served them a small portion of salad with greens freshly picked from his garden. Minister 1 finished it with delight as he anticipated better things to come. Minister 2 threw it away saying, “I don’t want this. I came here for the real thing, not this measly appetizer!” Shocked and insulted, King Mousaka ordered Minister 2 thrown out, saying, “My appetizer is just as much my creation as is my grilled lamb. To reject it is to reject me as well.”

       It’s Ash Wednesday once more. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, 40 days marked by self-denial and renunciation as preparation for Holy Week, where we commemorate the passion and death of the Lord. Self-denial and renunciation of the world is a legitimate path to holiness.

       Just a word of caution here. The season of Lent calls us to self-denial and renunciation not because the self and the world are bad. They are good, but we are cautioned that they are so good we treat them as God. Genuine self-denial and renunciation should never be done out of an attitude of contempt and disdain for the natural goodness of things. This spirituality creates stoics out of God’s children. That is not God’s joy. The saints know this. St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

       Genuine self-denial and renunciation is practiced in an attitude of holy detachment, which says, “This world is beautiful. I will rejoice in it, but I will not be possessed by it because more is to come. If creation is good, how much better is the One who created it?” That is the key. Minister 1 enjoyed the appetizer with an awareness that the better part is coming. He rejoiced in it but he knows it is not the be all and end all of his visit to the palace. That is why the King was delighted to give him more. Fr. Joel Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you enjoy goods of creation with a holy detachment?

 

Father, I embrace Your plan to make me fully alive, not only in Your kingdom but even now while in this beautiful world You have created for me. Help me to grow in holy detachment, that the goods of creation may always lead me to You. Amen.