Reflection #41
On Detachment from
Creatures
In order to attain to loving God with all our hearts, we must detach ourselves from everything which is not God, or does not tend toward God. He wills to be alone in the possession of our hearts; He admits no companions there, and with reason, because He is our only Lord, who has given us everything. Yet more, He is our only Lover, who loves us, not for His own interest, but solely out of His goodness; and because He loves us exceedingly, He demands that we should love Him with all our hearts: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart." (Matthew 22:37).
To love God with our whole heart implies two things: the first is to banish every affection which is not for God, or according to the will of God. "If I knew," said St. Francis de Sales, "that there was one fiber in my heart which did not belong to God, I would instantly tear it out." The second is prayer, by which divine love is introduced into the heart. But if the heart does not empty itself of all that is of the earth, love cannot enter, for it finds no room for itself. On the contrary, a heart detached from all creatures becomes quickly inflamed and increases in divine love at every breath of grace.
"Pure love," says the holy Bishop of Geneva, "consumes everything which is not God, in order to change it into itself, because everything which is done for God, is love of God." Oh how full of goodness and liberality is God to the soul which seeks nothing but Him and His Will! "The Lord is good . . . to the soul that seeketh Him." (Lamentations 3:25). Happy is he who, still living in the world, can say with truth, as did St. Francis: "My God and my all!" And thus he can hold in contempt all the vanities of the world. "I have despised the kingdom of the world and all worldly honor for the love of Jesus Christ, my Lord."
When, therefore, creatures would enter into our heart and take a share of that love, which we owe entirely to God, we must immediately dismiss them, shutting the door against them and saying: "Begone; go to those who desire you; my heart I have given wholly to Jesus Christ; there is no room for you." And besides this resolution to desire nothing but God, we likewise must hate that which the world loves and love that which the world hates.
Above all, to attain to perfect love, we must deny ourselves, embracing that which is distasteful to self-love and rejecting that which self-love demands. A certain thing is pleasant to us; for that very reason we must refuse it. A certain medicine is disagreeable, because it is bitter; we must take it, just because it is bitter. We do not like to oblige a certain person who has been ungrateful to us; we must by all means do him good, precisely because he has been ungrateful.
St. Francis de Sales says, moreover, that we must love even virtues with detachment; for example, we ought to love meditation and retirement; but when they are forbidden to us through the calls of obedience or of charity, we must leave both the one and the other without being disquieted. And thus it is necessary to embrace with equanimity everything which happens to us through the Will of God. Happy is he who wishes, or does not wish for, whatever happens to him, because God wills or does not will it, without inclining to either side. And therefore, we must beg of God to enable us to find peace in everything which He appoints us.
Let us listen to the Words of Cardinal Petrucci, who in a few lines describes well the folly of the lovers of the world and the happiness of the lovers of God:
To love God with our whole heart implies two things: the first is to banish every affection which is not for God, or according to the will of God. "If I knew," said St. Francis de Sales, "that there was one fiber in my heart which did not belong to God, I would instantly tear it out." The second is prayer, by which divine love is introduced into the heart. But if the heart does not empty itself of all that is of the earth, love cannot enter, for it finds no room for itself. On the contrary, a heart detached from all creatures becomes quickly inflamed and increases in divine love at every breath of grace.
"Pure love," says the holy Bishop of Geneva, "consumes everything which is not God, in order to change it into itself, because everything which is done for God, is love of God." Oh how full of goodness and liberality is God to the soul which seeks nothing but Him and His Will! "The Lord is good . . . to the soul that seeketh Him." (Lamentations 3:25). Happy is he who, still living in the world, can say with truth, as did St. Francis: "My God and my all!" And thus he can hold in contempt all the vanities of the world. "I have despised the kingdom of the world and all worldly honor for the love of Jesus Christ, my Lord."
When, therefore, creatures would enter into our heart and take a share of that love, which we owe entirely to God, we must immediately dismiss them, shutting the door against them and saying: "Begone; go to those who desire you; my heart I have given wholly to Jesus Christ; there is no room for you." And besides this resolution to desire nothing but God, we likewise must hate that which the world loves and love that which the world hates.
Above all, to attain to perfect love, we must deny ourselves, embracing that which is distasteful to self-love and rejecting that which self-love demands. A certain thing is pleasant to us; for that very reason we must refuse it. A certain medicine is disagreeable, because it is bitter; we must take it, just because it is bitter. We do not like to oblige a certain person who has been ungrateful to us; we must by all means do him good, precisely because he has been ungrateful.
St. Francis de Sales says, moreover, that we must love even virtues with detachment; for example, we ought to love meditation and retirement; but when they are forbidden to us through the calls of obedience or of charity, we must leave both the one and the other without being disquieted. And thus it is necessary to embrace with equanimity everything which happens to us through the Will of God. Happy is he who wishes, or does not wish for, whatever happens to him, because God wills or does not will it, without inclining to either side. And therefore, we must beg of God to enable us to find peace in everything which He appoints us.
Let us listen to the Words of Cardinal Petrucci, who in a few lines describes well the folly of the lovers of the world and the happiness of the lovers of God:
"What is this fickle world
So false and vain?
A scene of blasted hopes,
Remorse and pain.
Its sweetest charms, its feasts,
Its gilded toys
Bring tortures, though they seemed
Nought else but joys.
Then bravely follow Christ,
The cross endure:
It seems to torture, yet
Gives joys most pure."
So false and vain?
A scene of blasted hopes,
Remorse and pain.
Its sweetest charms, its feasts,
Its gilded toys
Bring tortures, though they seemed
Nought else but joys.
Then bravely follow Christ,
The cross endure:
It seems to torture, yet
Gives joys most pure."
It is certain that no one lives more happily in the world, than he who despises the things of the world and lives in continual uniformity with the Will of God. Therefore, it is useful frequently during the day, at least at prayer and Communion, to renew at the foot of the crucifix the total renouncement of ourselves and of all we have, saying:
"O my Jesus, I desire to think no more of myself; I give myself wholly to Thee; do with me what Thou pleasest. I see that everything that the world offers me is vanity and deceit. From this day, I resolve to seek nothing but Thee and Thy good pleasure; help me to be faithful to Thee.
"Most Holy Virgin Mary, pray to Jesus for me."
[Excepted from 'Devout Reflections and Meditations' by St. Alphonsus Liguori] (Public domain)
"O my Jesus, I desire to think no more of myself; I give myself wholly to Thee; do with me what Thou pleasest. I see that everything that the world offers me is vanity and deceit. From this day, I resolve to seek nothing but Thee and Thy good pleasure; help me to be faithful to Thee.
"Most Holy Virgin Mary, pray to Jesus for me."
[Excepted from 'Devout Reflections and Meditations' by St. Alphonsus Liguori] (Public domain)
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