JUST as we have to feed our body, take utmost care of it,
develop it to its optimum maturity, we also need, and even more so, to
feed our spirit, our soul, giving it our best shot in developing it to
the fullest.
After all, if we have to go by what Christ himself said,
it is the spirit that gives us life—in fact, what leads us to eternal
life, to the “forever.” “The Spirit gives life,” he said. “The flesh
counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of
the Spirit and life.” (Jn 6,63)
These words should give us a clear idea of where true life
for us is to be found. It’s in the Spirit with whom our spiritual
soul, in the state of grace that is freely corresponded to by our
efforts, can get engaged.
It’s not just some genetic and biological laws that give
us life. Neither is our life sustained mainly through our legal
systems nor some laws of the natural and social sciences, nor through
our increasingly powerful technologies. These are important, of
course, but only in a subsidiary manner. They need to be vitally
linked to the real source of life.
St. Paul seems to allude to this in a loose sense when he
said: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor 3,6) We
need to link up with the Spirit, the Spirit of God who is actually
with us, who is given to us abundantly, for us to have the life proper
to us.
This is a truth of our faith that we need to be more aware
of and more attentive to its requirements. We have to act on this
fundamental truth about ourselves if only to conform ourselves to
God’s will for us.
But given the way the mainstream world culture is, and
even just our very own national culture that can already be considered
as Christian, this effort to conform to this truth is going to be
gargantuan, since we are still wide of the mark.
We have to acquire the skills to feed our spirit by
learning how to pray, how to exercise the theological virtues of
faith, hope and charity, appreciate the need for sacrifice, have
recourse to the sacraments, continually cultivate the virtues, and
wage constant ascetical struggle, etc.
We have to learn to view things and to react to them
mainly in terms of our faith, rather than just assessing them mainly
from the point of view of our human sciences, laws, arts and
technologies. No matter how legitimate and necessary the latter
viewpoints are, they can never be enough. They don’t have the last
word. They cannot bring us to our ultimate end.
We have to understand that faith, hope and charity are
always necessary for us. They are not optional, to be used and applied
only to certain things. They have to be applied all the time, in
things both sacred and mundane.
In this regard, it would be helpful if we do everything
needed to make St. Paul’s words our own: “We have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might
understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in
words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, combining
spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (1 Cor 2,12-13)
In short, we have to feed our spiritual soul with the
Spirit of God who, as St. Paul said, “searches everything, even the
depths of God.” He further said, “no one comprehends the thoughts of
God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2,10-11) The idea is to echo St.
Paul’s words: “We have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2,16)
We should not consider this possibility as fantastic or
unreachable. After what Christ has done for us, offering his life on
the cross, we can safely presume that he has given himself to us
completely, without sparing anything. We just have to leave behind our
own estimation of things, and embrace the full inputs of our faith.
We have to understand that unless our human knowledge is
linked to the Spirit of God, it cannot give us the truth that really
matters. Yes, it can give us some aspects of truth, but not the one
that would bring us to our eternal life.
Yes, we need to study and thoroughly meditate on God’s
word, making full use of the allied sciences until we make God’s word
our own, and God’s mind our mind!
develop it to its optimum maturity, we also need, and even more so, to
feed our spirit, our soul, giving it our best shot in developing it to
the fullest.
After all, if we have to go by what Christ himself said,
it is the spirit that gives us life—in fact, what leads us to eternal
life, to the “forever.” “The Spirit gives life,” he said. “The flesh
counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of
the Spirit and life.” (Jn 6,63)
These words should give us a clear idea of where true life
for us is to be found. It’s in the Spirit with whom our spiritual
soul, in the state of grace that is freely corresponded to by our
efforts, can get engaged.
It’s not just some genetic and biological laws that give
us life. Neither is our life sustained mainly through our legal
systems nor some laws of the natural and social sciences, nor through
our increasingly powerful technologies. These are important, of
course, but only in a subsidiary manner. They need to be vitally
linked to the real source of life.
St. Paul seems to allude to this in a loose sense when he
said: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor 3,6) We
need to link up with the Spirit, the Spirit of God who is actually
with us, who is given to us abundantly, for us to have the life proper
to us.
This is a truth of our faith that we need to be more aware
of and more attentive to its requirements. We have to act on this
fundamental truth about ourselves if only to conform ourselves to
God’s will for us.
But given the way the mainstream world culture is, and
even just our very own national culture that can already be considered
as Christian, this effort to conform to this truth is going to be
gargantuan, since we are still wide of the mark.
We have to acquire the skills to feed our spirit by
learning how to pray, how to exercise the theological virtues of
faith, hope and charity, appreciate the need for sacrifice, have
recourse to the sacraments, continually cultivate the virtues, and
wage constant ascetical struggle, etc.
We have to learn to view things and to react to them
mainly in terms of our faith, rather than just assessing them mainly
from the point of view of our human sciences, laws, arts and
technologies. No matter how legitimate and necessary the latter
viewpoints are, they can never be enough. They don’t have the last
word. They cannot bring us to our ultimate end.
We have to understand that faith, hope and charity are
always necessary for us. They are not optional, to be used and applied
only to certain things. They have to be applied all the time, in
things both sacred and mundane.
In this regard, it would be helpful if we do everything
needed to make St. Paul’s words our own: “We have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might
understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in
words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, combining
spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (1 Cor 2,12-13)
In short, we have to feed our spiritual soul with the
Spirit of God who, as St. Paul said, “searches everything, even the
depths of God.” He further said, “no one comprehends the thoughts of
God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2,10-11) The idea is to echo St.
Paul’s words: “We have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2,16)
We should not consider this possibility as fantastic or
unreachable. After what Christ has done for us, offering his life on
the cross, we can safely presume that he has given himself to us
completely, without sparing anything. We just have to leave behind our
own estimation of things, and embrace the full inputs of our faith.
We have to understand that unless our human knowledge is
linked to the Spirit of God, it cannot give us the truth that really
matters. Yes, it can give us some aspects of truth, but not the one
that would bring us to our eternal life.
Yes, we need to study and thoroughly meditate on God’s
word, making full use of the allied sciences until we make God’s word
our own, and God’s mind our mind!
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