Attachment relating to friends

[seanom]

Hello there,
If any of you have read the writings of teresa of avila and st john of the cross and many other saints you will have noticed that they talk about being detached from all created things. I have a few friends whom are very dear to me. I have been avoiding them for a while so I don’t become attached to them. I was wondering how you can still be friends with them but not attached, how do you crucify self love and love them spiritually?

 

[poor_clare]

Hi

You don’t need to physically avoid others to achieve spiritual detachment. “Attachment” is the reliance on someone or something in your life to make you feel secure, better, safe, etc. If I don’t have this person on this thing in my life then I can’t be…

Love everyone and everything while knowing that they are independent of you (your ego). Also understand that we all connected as God’s children and his creation. Learn to love as God loves unconditionally.

I hope this helps.

God bless you,
Clare

 

[Dorothy]

Hi

You don’t need to physically avoid others to achieve spiritual detachment. “Attachment” is the reliance on someone or something in your life to make you feel secure, better, safe, etc. If I don’t have this person on this thing in my life then I can’t be…

Love everyone and everything while knowing that they are independent of you (your ego). Also understand that we all connected as God’s children and his creation. Learn to love as God loves unconditionally.

I hope this helps.

God bless you,
Clare

That sounds right! As I read the OP, I thought of St. Therese of Lisieux who loved her sisters and parents very much. However, she did love them in a way that she was not “attached” to them, but offered up her sufferings when her parents died (her mom died when she was four), and then when her sisters entered the convent, one by one.

 

[Trishie]

I think you may need the guidance of a wise spiritual director to help you iinterpret these things correctly.
Remember that Jesus had friends, including Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.
He had visits and meals with them.
Remember that He wept, cried, when confronted with the sorrow of his friend crying over her brother’s death
John 11:33 “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”

You will find that what is required of you is practical kindness to others even if you don’t feel like it. This is a truer interpretation of detachment.
Jesus backs that up in His summary of the Commandments;
and in His description of the judgement of souls in Matthew 25 verses 31-46.

God bless you