Letting Go, Hanging On: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey

In twelve chapters John Graden explores the experience of living in the world: a world of consumer spending and of accumulating stuff-even nonmaterial stuff, a world of many values and brain attachments different from the gospel of Jesus Christ. He looks at how things are attached; what stuff is; egocentricity; our self-concept; the God concept we’re hanging onto; success, failure, and the need to be right; our relationships and the forgiveness of injuries; the gift of sexuality and its problems; prayer and our attachment to God; why we need to hang onto the cross of Jesus; living in the present moment; and the ultimate abandonment that is called holy indifference. To better reflect on what we’ve read and to integrate it into our daily life, each chapter offers questions for individual and/or a group to discuss and an easy spiritual exercise. Included at the book’s end are brief sketches about Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal; a summary of Salesian spirituality; a list of what to let go of and what to hang on to; and references for further reading.