We are meant for immortality

WE are meant for immortality simply because we have a

spiritual soul. Our principle of life is not matter-based that

deteriorates and dies in time. Ours can outlast our material and

temporal condition.

            More than that, with God’s grace on which it actually

depends, our soul can animate and spiritualize our material dimension

such that our body can partake of immortality also.

  

            The corollary to this is that our human acts which are

done knowingly and freely should be such that can aim at immortality.

That is why we talk about morality of our acts.

              This is, of course, a truth of faith that goes beyond

human reckoning that depends on sensible facts and data. But it’s a

truth that somehow can be validated by the fact that Christ, our way,

truth and life, resurrected after death, giving us an idea that with

him too, we can resurrect but at the end of time.

              Just the same, we always have in us a natural inner

longing for a life without end, that somehow indicates that we are

indeed meant for immortality. Of course, such longing may also be

taken for granted or ignored or even rejected. But that we always

prepare somehow for the future already shows traces of such natural

longing for immortality.

            The ideal is that we look forward to that state of

immortality. And that means that we have to be ready to die in this

world so we can be released from the limitations of time and space,

and enter into the eternal life of God and all the saints in heaven,

where we actually come from and where we belong.

   

            Let’s remember that we just did not come from our parents

through some biological processes. We come from God who is in heaven.

God is our creator. Our parents are only procreators.

  

            Our parents can only give us our body with its plant and

animal soul at best. It is this soul that enables us to move, grow,

feel, think, behave, etc., in a particular way. It is a soul that goes

together with our bodily and physical condition. It lives and dies

with it.

   

            But our spiritual soul is not transmissible through human

reproduction. Our spiritual soul comes from God directly. It is the

soul that enables us to unite with God. It is the soul that actually

animates all the parts and components of our being—the physical,

biological, emotional, intellectual, etc.

  

            It is what enables us to think and long for immortality,

and the one that links us directly and permanently with God our

Creator. Thus, it is of utmost importance that of all the parts and

components of our humanity, it is the spiritual soul that we have take

care of the most. And that is precisely meant by what is termed as our

spiritual life.

  

            If we take care of our spiritual life, our longing for

immortality as well as the effort to fulfill the requirements for it

would be sharpened. We would be vigilant and expectant, knowing that

our earthly life is just a pilgrimage to our definitive home in

heaven. That is why, in the liturgy we are always reminded of this

need.

  

            After the consecration at Mass, for example, the priest

prays: “Deliver us, Lord, we pray from every evil, graciously grant

peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always

free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope

and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

   

            It echoes what St. Paul said in his Letter to the

Philippians: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we

eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (3,20)

   

            We need to heighten our longing for immortality daily

without neglecting our duties of the moment that precisely serve as

our pathway to that immortal state of life.