The sense of transcendence

WE have to be more aware of our need to develop and

sharpen our sense of transcendence. It is to help us cope with the

fullness of the reality that governs us. It is the reality that

includes the spiritual which we cannot see and touch because it is not

accessible to the senses, and the supernatural which we cannot reach

with our own natural powers alone but only with God’s grace, through

faith, hope and charity that work on our natural powers.

            We have to realize that the sense of transcendence does

not mean that we ignore or have no need or simply give little

importance to the here and now, to the material and natural dimensions

of our life. Rather, we have to realize that our sense of

transcendence can only be exercised through these natural dimensions

of our life, but we need to go beyond them, not trapped in them.

            A sense of transcendence that belittles or disregards the

role of the here and now, the material and the natural dimensions of

our life, will not be an authentic sense of transcendence. It would

not be able to go the distance. The here and now and the material and

the natural dimensions of our life are, in fact, the launching pad

from which we can enter into the world of the spiritual and

supernatural.

            We have to be wary of the tendency to exaggerate the

importance of the spiritual and the supernatural to the extent that it

would lead us to look down on the material and the natural. This

phenomenon can be described as the disorder of spiritualism and

pietism that considers the spiritual and supernatural as the only

reality.

            Of course, we have to wary of the other disorder called

materialism that regards material universe as the only reality,

completely oblivious of the spiritual and the supernatural world. We

have to avoid both extremes, and try to find a way to see the unity,

the blend between the material and the spiritual, the natural and the

supernatural, the temporal and the eternal.

            We have to realize more deeply that the reality created by

God for us includes both the material and spiritual, the natural and

the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal in one organic whole.

We cannot have one without the other, though the spiritual and the

supernatural have priority over the material and the natural. As

Christ said, we are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are

in the world but we are not worldly. (cfr. Jn 17,16)

            In this regard, we have to learn the art of how to be both

active in the middle of the world while being contemplative as well.

We have to learn how to put our hands and feet on the ground while

setting our heart on heaven, “on the things above,” as St. Paul

recommended. (cfr. Col 3,2)

            We need to help one another in developing and sharpening

this sense of the transcendence, trying to inculcate it as early as

possible in the children, first in the setting of the home, then in

the other settings as the children grow and get into the other levels

of society. Everything in society should reinforce this basic human

need of ours.

            We have to help everyone learn the art of prayer, of

discerning the presence of God and reading his will in every moment.

We all have to be aware that our earthly life is God’s time in his

eternity to create and redeem us. He is actually intervening in our

lives always, and we are supposed to correspond to those

interventions.

            We also have to convince ourselves that by developing this

sense of transcendence, we would be approaching the fullness of our

humanity. Contrary to what some people think, this sense of

transcendence does not undermine our humanity, but rather perfects it.