Detachment Again

Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

Bishop Robert Barron

Spirituality, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality:christianity

4.8 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2006

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

The familiar theme of detachment runs right through all three of our readings for this week. Paul tells the Corinthians who are married to carry on as though they were not married and those who buy and sell as though they were not buying and selling. The point is that one should orient one's life totally to the absolute good who is God. When that orientation takes place, everything else—from spouses to material goods—can be let go, can be seen in proper spiritual perspective. This detachment is, I argue, the conversion that Jesus speaks of in his inaugural address, which is our Gospel for today.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Word on Fire is brought to you by Catholic cemeteries, serving the Chicago area since 1837.
0:06.5	This is Cardinal Francis George, and I invite you to join me for the next few minutes to reflect with Father Robert Baron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire.
0:17.0	Father Baron will challenge us to open our hearts to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us.
0:24.0	If our hearts are open, the Lord can change and transform us, who we might speak with love about the one who is love.
0:32.0	The Archdiocese of Chicago, through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish and Winetka, now presents the Word on Fire.
0:40.0	Peace be with you. Friends, there's a thread that runs through all three of our readings for today.
0:45.0	It's a theme that stands as I've argued for years at the very heart of the Christian thing.
0:52.0	It's the great theme of detachment. Listen, there is a shift in consciousness that is essential to Christianity.
1:03.0	Conversion, if you will, a change of heart was involved. It's a shift from a world-centered perspective to a God-centered perspective.
1:16.0	It involves, at a very fundamental level, a letting go of any and all the things in this world as decisive to one's happiness,
1:27.0	and a resolute clinging to God alone.
1:32.0	I know I've quoted before, St. Augustine's great line, Lord, you've made us for yourself.
1:39.0	Therefore, our hearts are restless until they rest in thee. The deepest hunger of our hearts corresponds to the good which is God alone.
1:48.0	When we hook that desire onto anything less than God, we set ourselves up for terrible spiritual frustration.
1:58.0	How about this from St. John of the Cross?
2:02.0	An attachment that's anything in this world, including your own life, that you're convinced you cannot live without.
2:11.0	Let that one Christian sink into your souls a bit. An attachment is anything in this world, sex, money, pleasure, power, fame, including your own life, that you're convinced you cannot live without.
2:26.0	The saint is someone who's able to let go of any and all of these things, clinging to God alone.
2:34.0	Now, listen to how this theme is played out in the readings.
2:38.0	We have a passage from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. It's breathtaking. Listen to it.
2:45.0	From now on, those with wives should live as though they had none.
2:51.0	Those who weep should live as though they're not weeping. Those who rejoice as though they're not rejoicing.
	...

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