Freedom born of detachment

The ten-point program of newly-inaugurated president of the Republic of the Philippines is anti-poverty. She said, "The strong vision which will define out unity as a people will be built on the common values of hard work, shared sacrifice and love of country." And this point about sacrifice is significant for attaining inner freedom.

The issue of poverty in the Philippines has been a lost cause. Why do we never succeed? We don’t go out to find what really is the reason which makes us unable to reach them. Or we have been told by lessons from the Gospel, but we pretend not to hear or we simply shrug our shoulders, because they are so contrary to our orientations of making sure we have our cash on hand for ourselves and everything that spells security and comfortable living for us.

The Gospel of today gives the bottomline where we find the very solution to the problem of poverty. It is not as if those who read this Gospel or hear it proclaimed do not understand. It is because it is the Word of the Lord and His Word is often paradoxical; not readily acceptable. Like the seven-two He invited to go on His mission, we are also asked if we want to be followers of Christ, to "Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, say: "‘Peace to this household’" (Lk 10:3-5). This is by way of saying, "Have nothing which for you spells a comfortable Christianity. Instead, trust in God who will not fail to sustain you.

The whole trouble with us is our selfishness (kamkam). Bishop Antonio Tagle in his sharing at the launching of the project for the poor called Panday ng Pinoy said, "Tayo’y kamkam nang kamkam" (We are snatchers). We snatch most everything – we snatch bags, we snatch money, we snatch lands, we snatch businesses, we snatch positions, we snatch houses, we snatch children, we snatch even husbands and wives of others. That is the reason why we fail in responding to the Lord’s invitation that we should always have the poor with us; and that is the reason why we do not really succeed in lifting the condition of the poor.

Selfishness imprisons us or the greatest slavery is our attachment to the perishable things of this world. To be detached from all this is to make ourselves free. That is the reason why one of the greatest beautitudes proclaimed by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount is privacy of spirit which gives us the freedom of the sons of God.

Here, we come to the motive of self-giving. The passion and death of Christ on the Cross is continuous with His life and mission. It is the signal climax by which His work completes itself. This work is the overcoming of enslavements to which man falls victims so that we become capable by grace of self-giving love. In other words, the affirming activity operative in the providential work of God, especially in the providential work of the Cross sustains Christ’s followers who with poverty of spirit are free detached as they are from all earthly good sand even with nothing can trust fully that God will fill up their emptiness.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 10:1-12.