Detachment

Be attached only to Jesus Christ, your duties, and your salvation.

"Detachment is an overwhelming attachment to God." 

- Mother Angelica

"When the soul is wholly given to the senses, agitated by the passions, and entirely taken up with exterior things, it is itself incapable and unworthy of the operations of God. We should, therefore, resolve to think and to speak but little to creatures, and to love silence, to nourish our minds with God’s presence, and our hearts with His love, and to do all for Him and in His sight, if we would become men living in and for God."

The only thing I have to fear is what is contrary in any way at all to my union with God.  I don't need to fear temptations, trials, contradictions, loss of material goods or loss of health.  The only thing that is contrary to my union with God is sin.  Sin in the only thing that can sever my union with God.  Therefore, sin is to be feared and avoided above all else.

He that seeks anything other than God and the salvation of his soul will find nothing but sorrow and trouble.

Love of God will tend to full conformity with the Divine Will.

Detach from the will and desire for things of the world.

"Nothing in life is so wearisome as to burn with earthly desires."

Do not permit love of temporal goods to be an obstacle between you and God.

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Destroy every attachment which hinders you from following God and becoming like God.

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"Attachment to even one habitual, voluntary imperfection suffices to impede the soul from divine union and progress in perfection." - St. John of the Cross

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How can I conform to God's will when I desire and love things that God does not desire and love?

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"True love is found only in complete self-forgetfulness, and it is only after we have detached ourselves from every creature that we find Jesus." - St. Therese of Lisieux

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God permits us to enjoy gifts to the extent that they are good for us, but if He removes His gifts, we can prove our love by being faithful to Him, trusting Him, to persevere in our resolutions and to give all to Him.  God is our all and He alone suffices.

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"You only do I love, my God.  You only do I wish to seek and follow; I am ready to follow you alone." - St. Augustine

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Do not let your heart be chained to creatures who have no claim to it.

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Love creatures only in reference to God; they are His and belong to Him.

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Give yourself wholly to God; God will not have a divided heart.  Offer God a pure heart free from human affection.  By giving all to God, you are only returning what is already His.

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"Take no heed of creatures if thou wilt keep the image of God clearly and simply in thy soul, but empty thy spirit of them and withdraw far from them..." - St. John of the Cross

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Take heed to heavenly riches and you will see that all temporal ones are nothing.  

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Man's happiness is not in having material goods in abundance, a moderate portion is sufficient.

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"He who covets possessions will never become a saint." - St. Philip Neri

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The more spiritual a person is, the more distasteful life becomes to him.  It is a misery for a devout man to be subject to the necessities of nature: food, drink, sleep, rest, work.  He longs to be released and be done with sin!

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Woe to them that make this wretched life the object of their love.  Woe to them who cling closely to this perishable life and care nothing for the kingdom of God. Do not look to what pleases the flesh nor what flourishes in this life for a time.  Put all hopes and aims in the good things of eternity.

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"Exterior things, fame, earthly glory have no longer any attraction for me; is it not all vanity, a simple succession of circumstances which will soon cease to be?  The only life which attracts me and which will last forever, beyond all earthly contingencies, is that of intimate union with You."

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Love things only in-so-far as they help you to do God's will.

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Do not offend God for worldly comforts.  Choose God in all things instead of seeking earthly satisfaction.

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Union with God is our ideal; it is the goal of all of our efforts.  The great secret to union with God is complete detachment to creatures.  

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Do not think much of this world.  Do not let earthly life take all of your attention.  Think often of God and God's will.  Rise above the distractions of the world to the presence of God.

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Let not your heart be enslaved by any mere earthly affection.  Lift up your heart to heaven: there alone is an object truly worthy of your love.

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I should not live for myself, leading a selfish life concerned only with earthly pleasures, cares, and interests. I should live for Jesus, for His interests and His glory.

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All my strength and abilities should be employed to Jesus' service.  I have to clean our all pride, egoism, and attachment to creatures in order to be suitable to produce works worthy of Jesus and agreeable to Him.

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"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with they whole soul, and with they whole mind, and with thy whole strength"  I must be ready to renounce my own will and desire when it is contrary to His.  Jesus seeks faithful souls who never prefer their own desires to His.

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“The soul that has tried to drink at the spring of earthly delights has found that they do not serve to quench its thirst, instead if they have given the soul a tiny drop of truth, justice, peace, joy, they have left it more thirsty than before. Only then does the soul understand that God alone is the fountain which can quench its thirst.” - Fr. Gabriel, Divine Intimacy

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“When love of God and desire for Him have taken full possession of a soul, there is no longer room in it for other loves, other desires, other preoccupations. All its movements are directed to God, and through all things the soul does nothing but seek God alone.” - Fr. Gabriel, Divine Intimacy

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“If ever you have a fit of sadness or trouble, remember that it is because you are still attached to life, or health, or some comfort, or person, or thing that you ought to forget and despise that you may desire Jesus Christ only.”

-St. Claude de la Colombiere

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Grant that my mind may not seek to know anything but You, that my heart may have no longing or desire but to love You.

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I want to be detached from all things and uninfluenced by the allurements of self-love, so that I may breathe only Your love and be engaged with You alone, and attentive only to You, and neither seek nor love anything but You alone.

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A soul which is separated from all the amusements of the senses, seeks and finds in God that pure satisfaction which it can never meet with in creatures. A respectful and frequent remembrance of the presence of God occupies the mind, and an ardent desire of pleasing Him and of becoming worthy of His love engages the heart. It is absorbed in Him alone, all things else dwindle into nothing. It buries itself in its dear solitude, and dies to itself and all things in God. It breathes only His love, it forgets all to remember only Him; it renounces all desire of finding any satisfaction than that of pleasing Him.

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Man's happiness is not the having of temporal goods in abundance; but a moderate portion is sufficient for him. But take heed to heavenly riches, and thou wilt see that all these temporal ones are nothing. Woe to them that make this perishable life the object of their love. The saints and devoted friends of Christ looked not to what pleases the flesh, nor to what flourished for the time of this life: but all their hopes and aims aspired after the good things that are eternal.