Attachments & Their Consequences

However, many of us have some form of attachment or bad habits that cause us to lose sight of God in our daily life and makes us dependent on certain attachments because they provide immediate pleasures, comfort, or joy. In doing so, we replace Gods goodness for a lesser good that may be connected to the flesh, the world, or the devil. In this present time, there is an abundance of these attachments. These attachments come in the form of food, smart phones, social media, YouTube, gossip, news, etc. We can also be attached to certain beliefs such as "I am not smart enough," "I do not have time to do_______," "there is no greater purpose in my life and so I will settle down," or "I will never find true joy, love, or meaning in life." These attachments are like the tentacle of an octopus that slaps us on the face, covers our vision, and pulls our attention away from God. Depending on how many attachments we have, our vision can be completely or partially removed from God.  

As a result, our relationship with God begins to weaken and we begin to lose our love for Him and fall into conformity. Worse yet is that they can become attached to us with relative ease because of the immediate gratification they offer. They become a sort of junk food that never truly satisfies us, and so we become slaves to these attachments. Some attachments can be regarded as works of the flesh such as carousing (excessive indulgence), jealousy, impurity, and things like that. St. Paul reminds us that the works of the flesh are "opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want." (Gal 5:16-21) 

Removing these attachments may require an extraordinary effort but this is worth the struggle because the return is much greater than living with them or the resistance we will experience from our efforts to change. We all are called to a life of holiness and to become saints, but to do so we must surrender our will, our desires, our mind, and heart in exchange God's will.