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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.

What did St. John of the Cross mean when he spoke about the need for detachment from people?

Question:

When St. John of the Cross spoke of the need for detachment from human beings, did he mean we should be detached from our spouses and children?

Answer:

St. John of the Cross was concerned that we love God more than anyone else—not that we love God instead of anyone else. We need to detach ourselves from the times when we love the creature more than the Creator.

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