The animal in us

WE are supposed to be rational animals, rationality being

the quality that distinguishes us from the other animals. But let’s

never forget that we are and will always be an animal also that is

governed by natural, physical, biological, chemical, social, economic

laws, etc.

            And these latter laws have impulses that often go against

the dictates of rationality. That’s why, especially in our vulnerable

moments, when we are tired, sleepy, intoxicated by drinks, or when we

are not yet in our full senses, etc., we are usually assailed by these

impulses. And so, we really have to be most careful. We have to be

properly guarded and protected from these eventualities.

            What we have to do is to undertake a lifelong process of

integrating all these aspects together with rationality as the guiding

and directing principle. It is rationality that indicates that we too

are spiritual beings meant to have a supernatural goal that we can

achieve through God’s grace and our all-out effort. Yes, it’s our

rational nature that tells us that we are meant beyond, but not

against, the physical and natural aspects of our life.

            The challenge therefore is how to carry out this very

tricky and demanding task of integrating all these aspects. And for

this, we should first of all rely on the grace of God, always asking

for it even if it is readily given to us. That’s because we often take

God’s grace for granted, and thus make ourselves the improper ground

unable to take advantage of the grace that is sown on it.

            Yes, we should never forget our animality no matter how

high a level we think we have achieved in terms of our rationality and

spirituality. We will always be hounded by the erratic impulses of our

animality.

            Remember St. Paul lamenting about this lifelong

predicament of ours. “I see another law at work in my body,” he said,

“warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law

of sin that dwells within me.” (Rom 7,23)

            We need to discipline and purify the animality of our

humanity. That’s why Christ, the pattern of our humanity and savior of

our damaged humanity, told us clearly that we need to deny ourselves,

carry the cross and follow him. (cfr. Lk 9,23) We should be careful

with pampering our body too much. It’s is not a matter of repressing

our bodily impulses. It is rather a matter of directing them properly.

            So, with respect to our passions, those strong emotions

that often overpower the indications of reason and faith, we need to

mortify them so as to purify them of their tendencies toward evil.

            St. Paul said: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have

crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal 5,24) We can

never over-emphasize the need to ‘crucify’ our passions and desires

the way Christ was crucified and by so doing rendered death to all

kinds of evil in man and in the world.

            The ideal to pursue is that our passions and desires would

be those of Christ. We have to convert our passions and desires into

those of love, a love that is not afraid of anything, a love that can

conquer anything. It is a love that, while involving struggle and some

kind of warfare, will give us peace and joy that the world cannot

give. (cfr. Jn 14,27)

            In other words, we have to strive to be a spiritual man

instead of a carnal man as described by St. Paul: “The person without

the Spirit (carnal man) does not accept the things that come from the

Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand

them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

            “The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all

things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,

for ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we

have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2,14-16)