Passing Events

A quote From Catherine:

Try to view passing events as you will view them a year hence,
or as if they happened a year ago.

Have you even gotten bent out of shape over some triffling thing? I know I have.
I seems we put so much store on one opinion, one event, one remark, one mistake, instead of looking at a bigger picture. Catherine was a wise woman in suggesting we look at events as if they were a year ago or a year to come. Somehow the episode won't seem to matter much with that viewpoint.

In a way, it's a lesson in detachment, a virtue that we as religious need to cultivate even more today. In days gone by, we had a lot experience with the virtue of detachment. I think we may have forgotten about it in the busyness of our work and ministry.

A friend of mine lost her job. She worked in a parish and had a good evaluaton by the pastor. A couple of month later she was told she would be eliminated from the position. She was devastated. It took some hard praying, some super-positive thinking and sheer determination to go on from there. That's detachment. She was able to let go of the injustice and turn it into something positive, a new ministry in the same area, but not within the parish.

What are the triffling things in your life that get blown out of proportion? Is it a way someone eats? Leaves a messy room? Doesn't do her/his share of the house work? Is it someone who is pushy? Negative? Insists on her/his way?
How can you practice detachment? If you could imagine what it would be a year from now, would that help you to put it into perspective?

For me, it is sometimes hard to let go and go on. I'm sure it is for you as well. Let us recall Catherine's wise advice.

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