“Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” The really hard part of heeding this word of Jesus does not have to do with the stuff we’ve accumulated in life but in the “possessions” which are part of our make-up. A famous prayer of St. Ignatius goes: “Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, understanding, my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me, now I return it.” But I’ve grown attached to my memory and understanding and will! Jesus wants us to understand that everything is a gift, even our very selves. We should not imagine that there are somethings, even our memory, which we can claim as our own.
