detachment

“I don’t need to go to a building to find God.” But in a climate which often is wet and cold, a community needs somewhere they can call their own.

These are words from the Irish Jesuits’ prayer website, Sacred Space. The climate being referred to is Dublin's. But the spiritual climate of Silicon Valley is wet and cold, too. So we, too, need a church building because buildings both house and represent the gatherings that give us warmth and encouragement.

In a mobile society we have a tension about attaching ourselves too much to a place that may no longer be ours in a short time. We develop an air of detachment that keeps us from finding warmth and encouragement. The problem is that we are also detaching ourselves from relationships in the same way that we detach ourselves from buildings.

No matter how connected modern technology is supposed to make us feel, there is no substitute for being in someone’s physical presence, for conversation over a warm cup of coffee (or tea), being granted the honor of looking into the windows of their soul, detecting in the notes of their voice the themes of their inner song.

How many times have I missed a chance for a connection because of distance, either physical or self-imposed? In our distant and detached society, connection and encouragement have been replaced by irony and cynicism. May God grant me the grace to overcome the detachment I’ve developed, to be truly present to those that he has brought into my life.