The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to live in love that brings us fulfillment through Ignatius like detachment from possessing people and things.
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| Attachment to possessions |
The passage from the Letter to the Romans expresses Paul’s conviction that Love for one another fulfills the Law.
* [13:8–10] When love directs the Christian’s moral decisions, the interest of law in basic concerns, such as familial relationships, sanctity of life, and security of property, is safeguarded (Rom 13:9). Indeed, says Paul, the same applies to any other commandment (Rom 13:9), whether one in the Mosaic code or one drawn up by local magistrates under imperial authority. Love anticipates the purpose of public legislation, namely, to secure the best interests of the citizenry. Since Caesar’s obligation is to punish the wrongdoer (Rom 13:4), the Christian who acts in love is free from all legitimate indictment.1
The blessings of the righteous declared in Psalm 112 are received by those who remain close to God by obedience to the commandments.
* [Psalm 112] An acrostic poem detailing the blessings received by those who remain close to God by obedience to the commandments. Among their blessings are children (Ps 112:2), wealth that enables them to be magnanimous (Ps 112:3, 5, 9), and virtue by which they encourage others (Ps 112:4). The just person is an affront to the wicked, whose hopes remain unfulfilled (Ps 112:10). The logic resembles Ps 1; 111.2
Jesus uses a Jewish technique to underline the cost of discipleship that calls us not to hold relationships as possessions in the Gospel of Luke.
* [14:25–33] This collection of sayings, most of which are peculiar to Luke, focuses on the total dedication necessary for the disciple of Jesus. No attachment to family (Lk 14:26) or possessions (Lk 14:33) can stand in the way of the total commitment demanded of the disciple. Also, acceptance of the call to be a disciple demands readiness to accept persecution and suffering (Lk 14:27) and a realistic assessment of the hardships and costs (Lk 14:28–32).3
Kyle Lierk observes that we hold on for dear life to the addictions and attractions that rampant consumerism breeds only to be taken for a ride, spun around, and thrown to the ground after which we find ourselves jumping back on for another “ride”. Can we surrender all we have and possess in order to choose the cross for and with Jesus?
St. Ignatius of Loyola described the means to this end through the concepts of indifference and detachment. This is not the type of indifference I express when my wife asks what I think we should have for dinner (“I don’t care.” -- *cue my stomach growling) or I fein when my dentist says I have a cavity (“No big deal.” -- *cue my anxiety rising). This is a much deeper indifference that requires regular prayer imploring God’s guidance beyond my clinging to desired objects or outcomes. As he writes in the First Principle and Foundation of his Spiritual Exercises:
It is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things as much as we are able, so that we do not necessarily want health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long rather than a short life, and so in all the rest, so that we ultimately desire and choose only what is most conducive for us to the end for which God created us.4
Marina McCoy, an associate professor of philosophy at Boston College, explores Ignatian indifference.
Often, we think about freedom as freedom from interference from others, but St. Ignatius understood freedom differently. For him, human freedom is a freedom to grow in relationship with God and share in God’s redemptive work. This requires internal freedom or what Ignatius called “indifference.” Indifference means being detached enough from things, people, or experiences to be able either to take them up or to leave them aside, depending on whether they help us to “to praise, reverence, and serve God” (Spiritual Exercises 23). In other words, it’s the capacity to let go of what doesn’t help me to love God or love others—while staying engaged with what does.5
Don Schwager asks why does the Lord Jesus say we must 'hate' our families and even ourselves (Luke 14:26)? He quotes “Jesus permits us to love family but not more than God,” by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D. as a response.
"He says, 'He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37). By adding 'more than me,' it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 105).6
In Biblical times the expression 'to hate' often meant to 'prefer less'. Jesus used strong language to make clear that nothing should take precedence or first place over God.
The Word Among Us Meditation on Romans 13:8-10 comments that every ordinary day presents opportunities for us to show sympathy or thoughtfulness to someone else or to refuse to entertain resentful or egotistical thoughts. Every ordinary day we can grow in the love that is the fulfillment of the law, because God will help us.
Love is not simple, and it’s definitely not always easy. As St. Paul famously wrote, it requires patience and kindness. It requires that we not be jealous, quick-tempered, boastful, or proud. We can’t brood over injuries or rejoice in wrongdoing (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
The Greek word for this type of love, agape, conveys the sense of giving without expecting anything in return. Loving someone like that is hard, and for most of us, it doesn’t come naturally. For all of us, it’s work, the labor of a lifetime. Even more to the point, we can’t do it on our own. It requires extravagant amounts of divine grace.7
Friar Jude Winkler cites a rabbinic understanding of the entire Law as Love. Jesus speaks in a very Jewish way about relationships that may be more important than our Love of God. Friar Jude expresses the cost of discipleship as “giving as much as we can today and more tomorrow.”
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, believes we have squandered our inheritance, which is the earth itself, the majesties and mysteries it holds. We’ve taken it for granted, using it too freely for our own selfish purposes while ignoring the deeply divine messages communicated in everything from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest black holes. Surely it is time for us to bring science and religion together. Increasingly, the generations alive today (the devout included) relate to scientific, historic, and cross-cultural evidence as more authoritative than the dictates of an all-male, ecclesiastical body or a literalist reading of Scripture. In the practice of Ignatian indifference we are open to contemplate changes to bring us closer to freedom and more receptive to seeing Creation as essential to our emerging wholeness.
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