“The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). True spirituality is about letting go. Once we see what keeps us trapped, the consequent rejoinder is letting it go. However, in our consumer society, we are not trained in that direction. True liberation is letting go of our false self, our cultural biases, and our fear of loss and death. It is letting go of wanting more and better things. It is even letting go of our need to know and our need to be right. We become free as we let go of our three primary energy centers: our need for power and control, our need for safety and security, and our need for affection and esteem. If each one of us practiced Gospel simplicity, voluntary poverty, and downward mobility, we would share the world’s resources with one another, have nothing to fear from others, and live in peace with everyone. Well, we always knew that following Jesus is “a narrow gate,” (Matthew 7:13-14) In the end, however, we realize that a way to peace and holiness is achieved when we pursue matters of true value and importance as we let go of the perishable matters of this world. 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
