Attachment versus Detachment

February 28, Monday, 8th Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Readings 1 Peter 1:3-9, Gospel: Mark 10:17-27    
 
Some years ago, I learned about the youngest son's collection of toys on one of my visits to a family with three young boys. Aged seven at that time, he had hundreds of toys of all kinds. According to his mother, his father usually buys toys every month for the youngest son.

Since the boy had so many toys he was no longer using, I asked him to donate some. The boy’s face fell, and he cried aloud in front of the mother. In short, he was unwilling to part with any toy, although I was kidding. Toys were his prized possessions, and he was reluctant to detach from any of them.

The incident may remind us that we, human beings, have personal or common material things, belongings, or possessions, some of which we may not be willing to give up for one reason or another.

Likewise, Jesus challenges the man to give up his possessions as he aspires to have eternal life. The man was righteous enough to follow all the commandments, but he was reluctant to part with his possessions for the sake of the poor or eternal life that he longed for, as directed by Jesus.

There is no doubt that Jesus is not against material possessions per se. What Jesus wants in all of us is to look for imperishable possessions.

The main takeaway from our reflection on the readings is that we all learn to detach from anything that hinders us from connecting and sustaining our relationship with Jesus. In other words, it is learning to value what is truly essential in life. In short, it is to remind ourselves how to detach from earthly attachments and seek to attach to Jesus.