You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

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Showing posts with label Detachment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detachment. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Detachment in the life of a disciple






By Fr. Roy Cimagala *


          TO be sure, a certain detachment from the things of this

world and even from people is required of us if we want to be a true

and effective disciple of Christ. He himself said it quite clearly:

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and

children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my

disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me

cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26-17)


          We obviously have to understand these words properly. We are

men and women with material and emotional needs. We cannot let go of

our loved ones if we want to retain our humanity, and of course, of

our Christianity. But we have to realize that meeting these human

needs should be animated by the proper spirit of love that Christ is

showing and giving us. It should not displace such spirit.


          Again, let’s be reassured of what Christ promised us if we

observe the proper priorities in our life. “But seek ye first the

kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be

added unto you." (Mt 6,33) And, “Everyone who has left houses or

brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields

for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit

eternal life.” (Mt 19,29)


          We need to have a certain detachment from persons and things

to be able to give our heart entirely to God, and with him, we

actually have everything else we need. As St. Teresa of Avila put it

graphically, with God we have enough—“solo Dios basta.”


          So the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does not

mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things of

this world. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have

rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of

God.


          To be a disciple of Christ, we have to give everything of

ourselves to him and to the tasks such discipleship entails. This will

allow the very power of Christ to work on us. So instead of hindering

our apostolic work, that detachment that Christ requires of his

disciples would only enhance that work.


          Detachment does not remove our involvement and engagement in

our human, earthly and temporal affairs. It simply puts them in the

right context and the right direction. It frees us from unnecessary

baggage. It improves our vision and understanding of things, and

predisposes our heart to the real love which can only be a sharing in

God’s love.


          We should not be afraid to go through the required

sacrifices and self-denial that this proper sense of detachment would

involve, since these can only lead us to the joy and peace meant for

us. We need to do better than have a shallow and narrow view of our

earthly life, giving knee-jerk reactions to things.


          We need to give due attention to this duty of rectifying and

purifying our intention, filling it with love, and expressing it with

generosity and heroism even. We should do away with any ulterior

motive we would be tempted to have. Our problem is precisely our

tendency to take this duty for granted, and so we open ourselves to

the subtle forces of pride, greed, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth,

etc. Christian detachment protects and liberates us from these

dangers.


* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com