Anthony De Mello S.J.
1931 - 1987
Sometimes in life, like now for me, when things pile up: car needs repair; stereo/TV system does not work and needs to go in shop; banned from Marquette and rumors swell as to why; my church community ignores our pleas to use money they inherited form North Central Milwaukee for people in need in same area; basement and office are a total mess, it is time to count one’s blessings and Move On.
One of my blessings today occurred in our Faith In Recovery session after Church when one of our members shared with us how he was the cause of his own suffering many times. He spoke, like Father De Mello S.J. about how we can let things bother us when if we were detached from them they would not. Detachment is a big virtue of Ignatian Spirituality in the Church and was addressed by Jesus many a times in the Gospel. I have been good at being detached, not worry what others think about me or imposing on myself pain and suffering of the mind. I have to admit I have been slipping recently but this reminder was good.
The first part of this type of detachment is gratitude, counting one’s blessings. A friend told me the other day how when she went to a few meetings of Debtors Anonymous they had a saying, you have all that you need to live with peace and happiness within you and did not need more things. Father De Mello S.J. tells the story of how a man condemned to death the next day enjoyed his last meal and had a good night’s sleep. When the chaplain asked him he could enjoy the meal and sleep so well he said it was simply living in the now moment and his pending death was not there.
The second part of detachment is ‘moving on’. I can learn from the past and apply the lesson to the future but I can only live and control the present moment. In the present moment there is no concern about the past or worry about the future.
Perhaps I am making detachment sound too simple. It is not but in this busy and dizzy world it is the only way I can find to keep my balance and any inward peace. Now only if I can practice what I preach about letting the past go and not worry about the future, detachment from both so I can life in fully in the moment, full of gratitude and moving on in the present
Comments
(:commentboxchrono:)