Human and supernatural means

IN any endeavor that we undertake, we have to make sure

that while we should make full use of all the natural and human means

we can lay our hands on, we should not forget that we need to use the

spiritual and supernatural means also. In fact, between the two, the

spiritual and supernatural means hold priority over the other.

  

            And that’s because our tasks and endeavors do not only

have a natural and human character, but given who we are, they also

have a highly spiritual and supernatural dimension.

  

            Our work is not just a technical thing. As long as it is

not a sinful, our work is always also a work of God. It is not simply

ours. It’s in our work and in our ordinary duties that God engages us,

and where we should have an encounter with him.

  

            We have to realize more deeply and abidingly that whatever

task or work we have just do not have a natural and human goal. Again,

given who we truly are, i.e., that we are image and likeness of God

and children of his, our work, no matter how small, always has a

spiritual and supernatural purpose.

  

            In fact, we should always be aware that whatever we do is

done for God and with God also. We should not just be interested in

the technical aspects of our work. We have to be wary of falling into

what is called as technicalism or technologism. These isms, sad to

say, appear to be getting common these days.

  

            That is why whatever we are doing should be prepared for,

pursued and developed with a spirit of prayer and sacrifice, availing

of the sacraments which are the usual channels of God’s grace, the

habit of being always in the presence of God, putting ourselves in

some mode of devotion and piety, etc.

  

            A work that is done sans the spiritual and supernatural

sense and means is a work not proper to us. It can undermine our

dignity as persons and as children of God. It can open the way for

temptations and other dangers to come in.

  

            We need to purify and correct our work ethic so as to

include this very important requirement. At home and in schools, and

even in our offices, both private and public, let us instill in

everyone the proper attitude toward our work, and the sense that our

work needs to be offered to God and to be carried out with spiritual

and supernatural means and not just natural and human means.

   

            We should see to it that we avoid putting into conflict

the natural and human means, on the one hand, and the spiritual and

supernatural means, on the other. They have to be together in an

organic fashion, with the latter giving the inspiration and energy to

the latter.

  

            The spiritual and supernatural means are not meant to

hinder the natural and human means. On the contrary, they are supposed

to drive the human means to their fullest potentials. We have to be

wary of a secularist influence, now becoming mainstream, that puts the

human means and the supernatural means in conflict.

   

            In the end, we should somehow realize that even in our

most technical and mundane activities we are still in touch with God,

and that we somehow are still praying though not in the way we usually

do in churches or in solitude.

            Let’s remember that nothing in our life is an obstacle in

our relation with God and others. Everything can be a material and an

occasion to pray and to express some signs of love to everyone. Even

our sins and mistakes, handled properly through faith and repentance,

can be a good material and motive for prayer.