“My beloved…Everyone wants to cling to his ways, refusing to give up any of his attachments. As a result such people feel neither God’s presence nor their own enjoyment; but they give no thought to this and turn their attention again to their beloved possessions…
It is questionable indeed whether they will be saved at the Day of Judgement, for their spirit is habitually chained to created things and willfully entangled in them. You may be sure that such people are not aware of their state. Of course they find numerous excuses: “I must have such and such a thing,” they will say. “Surely, it will do me no harm.” And thus they offer these obstacles a seat within themselves…
These are strong and powerful obstacles, veritable fortresses erected against God’s work, and yet such people are not even aware of them. For in the measure in which man is possessed by created things, God and His graces must turn away.”
Johannes Tauler (1300-1361) in Johannes Tauler Sermons as part of The Classics of Western Spirituality excerpt from Sermon 33 (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1985) 112.
As Christ followers we are called to let go, detach, from everything on the path to discipleship. Tauler echoes texts like Matthew 16:25 and Luke 9:23 in which those who don’t give up their attachment to things may miss the kingdom altogether. What do you think? I am learning that cultural habits are hard to recognize, but once identified, they are breakable with God’s help, and that obedience is not the pathway to poverty or destitution but rather the road to true enjoyment where we experience the matchless wonder of God’s grace.