"Detachment is often understood as letting loose of what is attractive. But it sometimes also requires letting go of what is repulsive. You can indeed become attached to dark forces such as resentment and hatred. As long as you seek retaliation, you cling to your own past. Sometimes it seems as though you might lose yourself along with your revenge and hate—so you stand there with balled-up fists, closed to the other who wants to heal you." (Henri Nouwen)

How attached are we to those things which are not of God, the things that keep us in the bondage of sin? We hear the words of Jesus--to live is to die. And yet, we are afraid of letting go these learned behaviors. I have heard people say to me, "if I let these things go, what will be left of me?" Jesus gives the answer: new life. Still, we hold on to the known and the familiar, even though it is destructive. Fortunately, Jesus does not give up on us. He continues to invite us to trust him and to learn the mystery "to dies to self is to live a new life." It seems like a huge leap, but it begins with the first step of trust.