Lenten Retreat, Day 34: Detachment
We begin with the sign of the cross, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Examine your conscience. (Take a few minutes. In silence, remember and feel sorry for your sins, and think of ways you will amend your life.)
Pray the Act of Contrition.
Catholic spirituality emphasises greatly on detachment, to seek spiritual perfection. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Mt 6:24). To attach to God, we must detach from everything else, otherwise, we cannot have complete union with God. Pray, fasting, and almsgiving helps us get started in the detachment process. However, one needs the grace of God to completely detach from all worldly things, and this grace is available to all who humble themselves before God.
Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone and bids them “renounce all that [they have]” for his sake and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven (CCC 2544).
Detachment from riches is necessary for entering the Kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (CCC 2556).
Love consists not in feeling great things, but in having great detachment and in suffering for God (St John of the Cross).
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
To receive abundance of graces during this retreat, you can choose to do any of the following daily:
Attend the Holy Mass daily.
Pray the Rosary.
Pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.
Pray and meditate on the Way of the Cross.
Pray at least 15 minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Read the bible and mediate on scripture for at least 15 minutes.
Pray the Litany of Humility.
Invite others to join this retreat, as a family or as a group.