AS to what the strongest passion
should be, we have to
refer ourselves to the greatest commandment God has for us. After all,
God is our creator, the designer of our nature, the lawgiver, the
beginning and end of our life. He should know what it is.
And this greatest commandment was told to us quite clearly
by Christ, the Son of God who became man precisely to reveal what God
wants of us. In the gospel of St. Matthew, we read the following:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,
and with the whole soul, and with whole mind.” (22,37) The reference
to the “whole heart,” which is the seat of our feelings and passions,
already clarifies the matter. We have to see to it that our heart is
burning with love for God. That should be our strongest passion.
We, however have to add that the heart should be united
with the soul and the mind. Our heart, which should be burning with
love for God, should be vitally united to the soul and the mind that
equally should be ardent with love for God as well.
This is again a task that we have to be more conscious of,
since that ideal unity among the heart, soul and mind does not come
quite spontaneously. Given our weakened nature, wounded by sin, that
unity cannot be presumed.
While we individually continue to be one whole person, we
are made of different parts. That natural state of ours alone would
already require of us a certain effort to build and keep that unity.
But with the effects of sin, that effort even has to be intensified,
since these parts would be warring among each other.
St. Paul expresses this predicament very well: “I do not
do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…For I am delighted with
the law of God, according to the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in
the law of sin, that is in my members.” (7,15ff)
This is going to be our lifelong lot, our fate in life,
which we have to be ready to face and tackle. We should not be afraid
of this reality, since the means are actually abundantly available.
God’s grace, for one, is never lacking. With the proper disposition,
we can always receive and take advantage of them.
Obviously, we have to do our part. We need to pray, make
sacrifices, avail of the sacraments, develop the virtues, master the
doctrine of our faith, fulfill our daily duties, wage a continuing
interior struggle.
We should avoid idleness and laziness, keep distance from
occasions that can lead to sin, learn to fight against temptations
effectively. We have to fill our mind with good things, ever quick to
see Christ in every person, and the hand of God in every situation.
As regards our passions, they obviously need to be
properly regulated by our reason and controlled and directed by our
will that in their turn should also be vitally connected with God
through faith, hope and charity.
That is why in every thought, desire, word and deed that
we do, we should strive to have purity of intention, i.e., motivated
only by love of God. We have to develop the appropriate skill to do
this, since very often we just get too spontaneous without giving due
attention to this need to purify our intentions.
The passions just cannot be left on their own, much less
be led by the mere impulses of the flesh and worldly values. They are
like little children, always immediately charming, very active, if not
restless, but needing guidance and direction. We have to teach and
train them.
Sometimes, we have to correct and scold them also, since
they tend to follow their own dangerous ways. We have to discipline
them, otherwise they can lead us to all forms of obsessions,
addictions and bondage.
But we should never think that the ideal life for us is
when we repress our emotions and passions. Stoicism is not for us.
That would be unnatural to us, fraught with many potential dangers
that can even cause grave damage to our mind and soul. We should
rather see to it that we make full use of our emotions and passions
that are properly grounded and oriented.
When our passions are fully and properly used, then we can
truly say that we have attained a good level of integrity and
wholeness of our being.
refer ourselves to the greatest commandment God has for us. After all,
God is our creator, the designer of our nature, the lawgiver, the
beginning and end of our life. He should know what it is.
And this greatest commandment was told to us quite clearly
by Christ, the Son of God who became man precisely to reveal what God
wants of us. In the gospel of St. Matthew, we read the following:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,
and with the whole soul, and with whole mind.” (22,37) The reference
to the “whole heart,” which is the seat of our feelings and passions,
already clarifies the matter. We have to see to it that our heart is
burning with love for God. That should be our strongest passion.
We, however have to add that the heart should be united
with the soul and the mind. Our heart, which should be burning with
love for God, should be vitally united to the soul and the mind that
equally should be ardent with love for God as well.
This is again a task that we have to be more conscious of,
since that ideal unity among the heart, soul and mind does not come
quite spontaneously. Given our weakened nature, wounded by sin, that
unity cannot be presumed.
While we individually continue to be one whole person, we
are made of different parts. That natural state of ours alone would
already require of us a certain effort to build and keep that unity.
But with the effects of sin, that effort even has to be intensified,
since these parts would be warring among each other.
St. Paul expresses this predicament very well: “I do not
do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…For I am delighted with
the law of God, according to the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in
the law of sin, that is in my members.” (7,15ff)
This is going to be our lifelong lot, our fate in life,
which we have to be ready to face and tackle. We should not be afraid
of this reality, since the means are actually abundantly available.
God’s grace, for one, is never lacking. With the proper disposition,
we can always receive and take advantage of them.
Obviously, we have to do our part. We need to pray, make
sacrifices, avail of the sacraments, develop the virtues, master the
doctrine of our faith, fulfill our daily duties, wage a continuing
interior struggle.
We should avoid idleness and laziness, keep distance from
occasions that can lead to sin, learn to fight against temptations
effectively. We have to fill our mind with good things, ever quick to
see Christ in every person, and the hand of God in every situation.
As regards our passions, they obviously need to be
properly regulated by our reason and controlled and directed by our
will that in their turn should also be vitally connected with God
through faith, hope and charity.
That is why in every thought, desire, word and deed that
we do, we should strive to have purity of intention, i.e., motivated
only by love of God. We have to develop the appropriate skill to do
this, since very often we just get too spontaneous without giving due
attention to this need to purify our intentions.
The passions just cannot be left on their own, much less
be led by the mere impulses of the flesh and worldly values. They are
like little children, always immediately charming, very active, if not
restless, but needing guidance and direction. We have to teach and
train them.
Sometimes, we have to correct and scold them also, since
they tend to follow their own dangerous ways. We have to discipline
them, otherwise they can lead us to all forms of obsessions,
addictions and bondage.
But we should never think that the ideal life for us is
when we repress our emotions and passions. Stoicism is not for us.
That would be unnatural to us, fraught with many potential dangers
that can even cause grave damage to our mind and soul. We should
rather see to it that we make full use of our emotions and passions
that are properly grounded and oriented.
When our passions are fully and properly used, then we can
truly say that we have attained a good level of integrity and
wholeness of our being.
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