Reflections on PS 24 (Br Alphonsus Dominic)

A Call from “Attachment” to “God-tachment”

In this era of globalisation, society is very much absorbed into consumerism. Utilising electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, PSB, surfing the web, television, radio, etc are means by which we get caught in the web of attachment and hence get distracted. I am not saying that these electronic devises are bad but if we get attached to them then it becomes a problem for we loose our focus and get hooked or addicted to these gadgets to the extent that sometimes we can even neglect our responsibilities such as our work and family life.

Two weeks ago in the parish, I met a mother who shared with me how her son is addicted to playing computer games. All he does after coming back from school is to lock his room door and play computer games all day long. He doesn’t listen to anyone. The only time he comes out of the room is have his meals and to go to school the next day. Another parent shared with me, how her daughter is hooked to serving the web and hardly spends any time communicating with the family. Hence, in both families this creates problems in the family. I believe there are many such families facing similar situations.

Upon reflecting on what both these parents shared with me, on the spiritual dimension, the first aspect that one who is trapped would loose would be ones prayer life because other things would take precedence. Slowly the person would begin to loose his or her focus on others responsibilities as well and all focus would be on their attachment. The person would lose focus on the first call that of loving and being connected to God and to depend on Him and Him alone. In the process, the person would also lose the relationship of loving others as well.

You will be probably wondering, how is the spiritual dimension connected to detaching from ones attachments? Well, a couple of years ago, I met a middle aged man who shared with me on how he overcame his problems of being addicted to smoking and the attachment of watching television. The spiritual dimension in his life is what helped him overcome his problems.

One day, he came across Psalm 24 by accident and reading it came to the stanza that read,

“Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in His Holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart
Who desires not worthless things,

He shall receive blessings from the Lord
And reward from the God who saves Him”.

These two stanzas touched and affected him deeply. He took some time and started reflecting on his relationship with God which was affected because of his desires and attachments to worthless things. Slowly, being enlightened and aware of the neglect of his spiritual life, he prayed to God seeking for help to overcome his addiction and attachment. The grace of God worked marvellously in his life without even him realising it.

The next day after he prayed, he went to work as usual and when his friend offered him a cigarette to smoke and upon lighting it, he could not stand the smell of the smoke and he threw the newly lighted cigarette away. Only, when his friend asked him, “Why he threw the cigarette?” did he realise that not only did he no longer have the urge to smoke but he despised the smell of cigarette smoke altogether. At that moment onwards, he stopped smoking. Going back home, he realised that he also no longer was interested in watching television. He shared with me that it has already been six years and he has still not touched a cigarette and he is no longer into watching television since then too. His time used in watching television has been allotted to quality time spent with his family and for ministry.

In praying psalm 24, if we are in one way or another also struggling with some form of attachment, let us praise God and depend on Him for the necessary graces to have a pure heart in seeking God so that with faith and trust in Him, we will not seek worthless things that distract us.


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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Benedict Chng on 23rd Apr 2010.