If you were stuck on a desert island and you could only take 3 books, what would they be?
If your house caught on fire and you could only grab 1 item to save, what would you save?
If you could only eat 1 dessert for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
If you had to give up 1 of your 5 senses, which one would you give up last?
This may seem like an odd way to start the conversation, but in order for us to understand what a heart looks like that is detachment from sin, we first need to understand what attachment in general looks like. The Church outlines detachment of the heart in several phrases:
“Excluding all attachment to sin, even venial sin,” (N20. §1)
“In a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin.” (Divine Mercy Address)
“A generous disposition of heart, which would exclude all attachment to sin,” (Other Concessions, 5)
Let’s also quickly pull up some definitions. Detachment is defined as: the state of being objective or aloof. Furthermore, to not have Attachment is: [to not have] affection, fondness, or sympathy for someone or something.
So, referring back to our opening questions, my guess is that when you read each of these four questions above you likely had an answer for them right away. Each answer you came up with is something that you have affection, fondness, or sympathy for. In other words you have some form of attachment with each answers, whether it’s a physical attachment or an emotional attachment, or both.
In the same way that we have attachments that are intellectual or physical, we also have spiritual attachments. Granted we may have many attachments to spiritual things that are good, but unfortunate some of these spiritual attachments we have are for things that degrade or corrupt us. Things that harm our relationship with God and others. This attachment is to sin.
From the smallest, most minuscule venial sin to the largest, most overbearing mortal sin, the Church says that if we want to gain a plenary indulgence we have to be detached from all of it! This may sound daunting but it is, in fact, doable.
So how do we go about detaching our hearts in a way that would satisfy a Plenary indulgence. To gain an understanding of what might be necessary to overcoming this attachment, let us first look at a portion of THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION INDULGENTIARUM DOCTRINA OF POPE PAUL VI
(10…) To acquire them [indulgences], it is indeed required on the one hand that prescribed works be performed, and on the other that the faithful have the necessary dispositions, that is to say, that they love God, detest sin, place their trust in the merits of Christ and believe firmly in the great assistance they derive from the Communion of Saints.
Certainly these dispositions could, and should, be seen as basics for a detached heart. Another basic state we should consider is the contrite heart, which is the minimum state our heart should be in if we want to gain even a partial indulgence.
Contrite is defined as such: feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a wrong that one has done. Other Catholic sources mention that contrite hearts ‘recognize their sinfulness and brokenness.’ That they are ‘surrendered’ hearts, ‘humble’ hearts, and ‘teachable’ hearts. If one’s heart does not have a sense of sorrow or remorse, due to the wrongs they has done, then that persons heart is not contrite. Furthermore, if one’s heart is not even contrite, it is very likely that person’s heart is not detached or ready to be detached from sin.
So let’s say we have all of these qualifications so far. We love God, detest sin, place our trust in the merits of Christ, we have a contrite heart and we believe the assistance that is derived from the Communion of Saints. Let’s consider further as to what else goes into a heart that is detached from sin.
Two very important sin-detachers worth mentioning that the Church offers, are Eucharistic Communion and Confession. If these look familiar remember that these two sacraments are included in the conditions required to gain a Plenary indulgence already! Confession is considered a sacrament of healing (CCC 1421), and we know its purpose is geared specifically towards letting go of our sins. Receiving the Eucharist also brings spiritual healing and a measure of cleansing which takes away venial sin: Mentioned in the Catechism as well, (CCC 1394),“As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins”.
These two sacraments certainly lend to some detachment of our hearts from sin. But! if Confession and Communion could detach our hearts from sin completely then there wouldn't be this entirely separate requirement of ‘a detached heart,’ in order for us to gain indulgences. So what more do we need to consider further.
I am reminded of an account given by St. Jerome of an encounter he had with the Child Jesus. The account goes this way: Jerome, while adoring the mystery of the Nativity, held a conversation with Christ in his heart. Jerome wanted to give something to Christ (his wealth and/or some of his pious works) but Christ refused. Finally Jerome writes this after asking what Christ wanted.
“The Child replies: ‘Dear Jerome, since you are so generous of heart, I will tell you what you may give to me. Give me your sins—your bad conscience—and your condemnation!’
“I ask: ‘What will you do with them?’
“The infant Jesus says: ‘I want to take them upon my shoulders. This shall be my glory, and my glorious deed, as Isaiah once said, that I shall take your sins upon myself and carry them away.’
The idea that we need to actively give up our sins to Christ (otherwise they can’t be taken from us and forgiven) is not an unfamiliar concept in the Catholic Church. And, through research on detached hearts, this concept is touched on more in additional sources that say things like: Think in terms of authentically renouncing, in your heart, all attachments to sin that you can possibly think of. Or A person who is detached from all sin recognizes that even a minor venial sin is an offense against the goodness of God and thus is willing to give up even that as well.
In short, we must be willing to offer all of our sins to Christ for him to carry away. All of them. We don’t reserve our 3 favorite to keep on a desert island, we don’t go back into a burning building to save that one favored sin, we don’t choose one that we hold onto forever over all the rest, and we recognize that that a ranking our sins catagories of first-to-last to give up doesn't matter because all our sins must go.
It’s important to also recognize that sin is crafty in trying to stick around. We have to be willing to surrender sins of omission (“what I have failed to do” as is professed in the Penitential Act). Also, sins that have come to us through long-standing habits; like through ethnic customs, family tradition, or socially accepted circumstance. And let’s not forget the sins that have us question if they even are sins (If an action/behavior has you questioning if it’s a sin, you could always still offer it up even as you seek spiritual direction and pray for discernment).
Perhaps this still sounds to daunting. Like “How am I ever going to succeed in letting go of all my sins?” Firstly, with Christ, anything is possible. If we offer our sins to Christ (withholding nothing in the confessional, or privately in our souls, or when we approach the Eucharist) then we can have confidence that Christ is able to heal us in a most excellent way (and not merely for the benefit of gaining an indulgence.)
Furthermore, if you’re having troubles letting go of sin, I recommend a prayer that was once presented to me, that I find Christ answers often. It goes as such: God I want to want to [insert desired change]. For example: “God I want to want to [stop gossiping].” When we desire to take up Christ’s invitation to help us, but we can’t seem to let go, we can at least recognize that even if we open our door a crack (like wanting to want) that is enough room for God work wonders in our souls.
Lastly, although we do need to follow those basics that we went over (loving God, trusting the church, sorrowing over our sins, offering them all to Christ, etc.) and although I still highly recommend that we actively provide opportunities for Christ to work in our heart, we do need to further recognize a point that many find to be the most daunting. That is the idea that one must have NO sin at all (and furthermore must not retun to sin). Catholic sources say: "A detachment from sin doesn’t mean one must succeed in changing those things, since the future cannot be known, but that one is willing in that moment [to authentically renounce sin]". And: "[Some theologians] observed that falling into venial sin is not the same as having an affection for venial sin."
This means that even if your heart is not entirely sin free, and even if you haven't experienced any spiritual changes, and even if there is a reasonable chance that you will fall back into the same sins you are renouncing;... even if all of these potentials exist, you may still be able to experience the detachment from sin that the Church requires to gain a plenary indulgence.
An article titled “Indulgence Clarification: Total Detachment From Sin,” written by spiritualdirection.com explains it this way:
Notably, however, the requirement is not freedom from all sin. Rather, it is freedom from attachment to sin; that is, that there is no sin which the soul is unwilling to renounce. A person should be able to tell if he is fulfilling this condition. An attachment involves a refusal to amend a situation, and a person should be able to tell if he has such an attachment. Sometimes, deep down, we really don’t want to let go of certain sins, be it gossiping or overeating or loafing on the job. This differs from the case of normal human weakness or where a person falls into the same sin many times before overcoming it. To souls such as these the Church is ready to open her treasury of aid.
So just to recap everything we’ve gone over: in order to gain a plenary indulgence the Church states that we must be “In a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin.” This is not impossible to do. Some of the things, at minimum, that we must consider so as to know if we are open to such a detachment is if we “love God, detest sin, place [our] trust in the merits of Christ and believe firmly in the great assistance [we] derive from the Communion of Saints.” We also must be comfortable with having at least a contrite heart. That is, we have remorse for ours wrong-doings.
Should we find that we are open to these things, then we can confidently continue on to willing surrenderALL of our sins to Christ, being especially conscious of ‘hidden’ sins or the sins we would rather keep because wear attached to them. We can not withhold a single one of our sins from Christ’s forgiveness if we want to have a ‘detached heart.’
All of this said, it’s important to note that a ‘heart detached from the affection of sin’ is NOT necessarily a heart that has no sin on it (sin which would need to be taken to the confessional). It is also NOT a heart that has learned to perfectly resist sins (even sins that you might find yourself falling back into right away.) A ‘heart detached from the affection of sin’ is simply a heart that does not hold back any sins from being offered to Christ.
And those are all the important points for understanding what a ‘heart detached from the affection of sin’ is. I hope this has been helpful. Indulgences can be a confusing topic so please feel free to leave your thoughts and questions. I hope to address all I can so that we can come to know this hidden gem. (Feel free to also leave your answers to the 4 ice-breaker questions that open this article in the comments. It’s always interesting to know what everyone’s favorite things are.)
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