Detachment!

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Phil 2:12-18; Lk 14:25-33

Today’s Gospel highlights the importance of detachment for a disciple of Christ. 

If discipleship is a full-hearted response, how can we actuate it?

Though Jesus demands an absolute response, he wants his disciples to make a conscious decision about following him. 

This is why Jesus insists on the necessity of reflection before action. 

The examples of a ruined builder and a conquered king help us realize that our decision to follow Jesus must have gone through a process of discernment, even to see through to completion. 

It is for the reason of total commitment that Jesus also insists on the virtue of detachment. 

But how can we understand the detachment, which sounds quite radical?

I have heard: ‘Detachment does not mean that you own nothing, but nothing owns you.’

Hence, it is both wrong and false to say that the disciples of Jesus own nothing. 

We own Jesus. Above all, Jesus owns us. 

Let us pray that we may be truthful to our discipleship through the spirit of our detachment. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar