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(September
15– September 21, 2008) EDITORIAL Our spiritual life needs care (The following is an article
written by Fr. Roy Cimagala—Ed) WE
have to be more aware of our spiritual life, and even more so with respect to
our abiding responsibilities toward it. Our problem is that we tend to take it for granted,
attending to it only on certain special occasions. And this latter we do more
for show than for truly living and developing it. We need to improve our
grade in this area. Though many are now questioning it, the existence of
our spiritual life cannot be doubted. Our Lord himself told his sleepy
disciples during his agony in the garden: “The spirit indeed is willing, but
the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26,41) And even without getting very scholarly, we all know
that there’s something spiritual in us because we can do spiritual
operations. We think, we choose and love, we reason, discover things and an
endless etcetera of acts that can be abstracted from our material dimension. A philosophical principle, formulated more through
common sense than through labored thinking, tells us that “Operare sequitur
esse” (operation follows being). A thing acts according to what and how it
is. Applied to this case, if we can do spiritual operations, it’s because
there’s something spiritual in us. To repeat, we have to be more aware of our spiritual
life. We need to go past the awareness of only our physical, psychological,
intellectual, social conditions, etc. If we need to take care of these
aspects, we need much more to take care of our spiritual life. This is because our spirit is actually our principle
of life, unity and direction. It’s not food, air, water, etc. that give us
life and sustain us in it. These too are necessary, but only insofar as our
physical organism and natural life are concerned. The body without the soul
cannot live, is helpless and clueless. It is our spirit that brings us to look endlessly
for the truth and for happiness. Our body simply enjoys them, but does not
look for them. It’s our spirit, through its faculties, the intelligence and
will, that looks for them. Pertinent to this point, the Compendium of Social
Doctrine teaches: “Through his spirituality man moves beyond the realm of
mere things and plunges into the innermost structure of reality.” (128) Our spirit has the natural tropism for this. Thus,
this tendency has to be reinforced always, seeing to it that it does not get
frustrated by getting entangled with merely material things and external
impressions, nor even earthly truths and goods. Samples of the merely material things are when we
allow ourselves to be dominated by our senses, by our feelings and emotions.
Sad to say, many do not anymore distinguish between what is emotion and what
is intelligence. Samples of earthly truths and goods are the worldly
elemental forces involved in “feng shui”, geomancy, divination and horoscope.
Or the sophisticated, esoteric knowledge derived from the human sciences and
arts. Our spirit goes beyond these. Ergo, while it can be assisted by our senses and
faculties, our spirit should not be allowed to be dominated by them. It has
to soar toward its infinite possibilities, toward the purely spiritual world. We should try not to interrupt this process or
course. Rather we should foster it. Thus, we need to adapt the appropriate
attitudes and acquire the relevant skills. We need to learn the art of
praying, of meditating and contemplating. These are the best acts of our
spirit. Ultimately, it is our spirit, with the help of
grace, that allows us to be elevated to the supernatural order, to a sharing
in the life of God. This is our spirit’s proper and ultimate object. In this respect, the spirit has to be freed from the
clutches of the flesh. With our praying, meditating and contemplating, we
hope to deepen our faith, hope and charity, our wisdom, understanding and
knowledge, that will enable us to achieve communion with God while on earth,
and with everybody else. This is the beauty of taking care of our spiritual
life. Ilocos Times copyright 2008 |
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