20191026
BEING
A SPIRITUAL PERSON
26 OCTOBER,
2019, Saturday, 29th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
|
First reading
|
The reason why those who are in Christ
Jesus are not condemned is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law,
because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. God dealt with sin by
sending his own Son in a body as physical as any sinful body, and in that body
God condemned sin. He did this in order that the Law’s just demands might be
satisfied in us, who behave not as our unspiritual nature but as the spirit
dictates.
The
unspiritual are interested only in what is unspiritual, but the spiritual are
interested in spiritual things. It is death to limit oneself to what is
unspiritual; life and peace can only come with concern for the spiritual. That
is because to limit oneself to what is unspiritual is to be at enmity with God:
such a limitation never could and never does submit to God’s law. People who
are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests,
however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of
God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of
Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because
of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you
have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is
living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your
own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
Such are the men who
seek your face, O Lord.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.
Such are the men who
seek your face, O Lord.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy
place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless
things.
Such are the men who
seek your face, O Lord.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who
saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of
Jacob.
Such are the men who
seek your face, O Lord.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Ps144:13
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
|
Ezk33:11
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
I take pleasure, not in the death of a
wicked man,
says the Lord,
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Some people arrived and told Jesus about
the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At
this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that
were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No;
but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on
whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were
more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I
tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’
He
told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came
looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the
vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit
on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the
ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig
round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut
it down.”’
BEING A
SPIRITUAL PERSON
What does it mean to be
a spiritual person? Very
often, we think that a spiritual person is one who lives his life in such a way
that he is cut off from the material world. He lives, eats and wears very
simply. He spends his time praying and meditating. He is alone and
cut off not just from the world but from people. He is always fasting and
doing penance. He lives as a hermit, communicating only with God.
If that is what it takes to be a spiritual person, few of us want to be
spiritual because it means to take the spirit out of our lives! Our life
on this earth will be without joy and fun. It will be a life-long
mortification. Such a life can hardly be called a life of the Spirit.
So, right from the
outset when St Paul wrote, “People who are interested only in unspiritual
things can never be pleasing to God”, he is not contrasting “spiritual” with
“material” life. The material world is good. When God created the earth, at the
end of each day, the author repeatedly remarked, “God saw that it was
good.” (cf Gn 1:4,10,12,18, 21, 25) And after creating man from the
dust of the earth, the author concluded, “God saw everything that he had made,
and indeed, it was very good.” (Gn 1:31) And when Peter had a vision of all
kinds of creatures, birds and reptiles, the Lord asked him to kill and eat for
“What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” (Acts 10:15) Indeed, it is for this reason that “the
Word became flesh and lived among us.” (Jn 1:14) Jesus said, “”For God so loved
the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may
not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the
world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
him.” (Jn 3:16f)
The unspiritual world
refers to what is carnal, sensual and worldly, not earthly. It refers not so much to the flesh
but to the attitudes that drive us to live a worldly life when one reduces
oneself to an animal, merely eating, drinking, enjoying life, focused on
oneself and satisfying one’s sensual, sexual and bodily pleasures and egoistic
needs. An unspiritual person is one who is not in touch with his true
humanity, as body and spirit, living a life that is selfish, self-centered and
only for this world and for himself alone. His attachment to the worldly
pleasures of life often lead him to envy, jealousy, stealing, manipulating,
unjust practices, destroying and killing others so that he could have
everything he wants.
This means that one can
be a believer in God and yet live an unspiritual life. Indeed, this is the case for many
so-called believers of Christ. Although they received the Spirit of God
at baptism and at Confirmation, they do not live according to the life of the
Spirit but that of the world. Even apparently pious and holy people live
unspiritual lives when they use their piety to attract attention, seeking
honour, glory and praise from the world. Or when they despise others who
sin, look down on them, condemn them harshly like those in the social
media. Unspiritual people therefore need not be people who are without
faith but even more insidiously, among those who claim to have faith.
Conversely, there are
humanists, agnostics, secularists and even atheists who are living spiritual
lives even though they deny the reality of God or have an explicit faith in the
Transcendent. There are many
people without faith living spiritual lives in that they live the life of the
Spirit by following their conscience and live a life of charity. Vatican
II says, “Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own
do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and
moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them
through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps
necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet
arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a
good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the
Church as a preparation for the Gospel.” (Lumen Gentium, 16)
Yet, this is still not
what St Paul is telling us about living a spiritual life. Living a good
life according to our conscience and in obedience to the laws whilst not living
an unspiritual life is not yet living a life of the Spirit. The truth is that mere obedience to the
laws, whether written or unwritten in our hearts, cannot bring us life because
we will always fail in observance of the laws due to our wounded nature, the
sin that dwells in us. And even if we do, we are tempted to self-righteousness
and pride. Even then, those of us who do not believe in the spiritual
being of humanity and the greater Spiritual Being, God who is the source of all
creation, short-change themselves into believing that there is only this life
on earth. As such, the temptation to live for oneself is even greater
because the motivation to do good and to live for humanity is weak, since this
life ultimately ends in nothingness. All the good we do will die with us
and perhaps not even continue after us.
It is for this reason
that Christ has come to save us from the condemnation of the law by offering
His own body as an atonement of our sins to satisfy the justice of God or the
justice of creation since we all demand justice be done. St Paul wrote, “The reason why
those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned, is that the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
God has done what the Law, because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to
do. God dealt with sin by sending his own Son in a body as physical as
any sinful body, and in that body God condemned sin. He did this in order
that the Law’s just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our
unspiritual nature but as the spirit dictates.”
To live a spiritual life
therefore simply means to live a life of the Spirit. It does not mean that we need to be
cut off from material things. Possessions and the things of the earth are
God’s gifts and therefore meant to be enjoyed and shared. A spiritual
person lives a life that is committed to the building of creation, as good
stewards of God’s grace, making this world a better place to live in, more
comfortable, peaceful and loving for all. It is a life of freedom lived
in faith and trust in God. Like St Francis of Assisi and St Ignatius of
Loyola, he sees everything in perspective in relation to God and the
ultimate. All of creation comes from God and is good. A spiritual
person sees God in all things but there is no particular thing that can be adored
or possessed as if it were God. That would be idolatry. We will
make use of the things we have for our good, our enjoyment and for others as
well. In other words, the spiritual man is one who bears the fruits
of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Indeed, when we live a
spiritual life, a life that is guided by the Spirit, we will not “become
conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.” An unspiritual man is one who lives
by the works of the flesh, “fornication, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger,
quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and
things like these.” (Gal 5:19-21) Such a person “will not inherit
the kingdom of God.” This is the same warning of our Lord in today’s
gospel. “Unless you repent you will all perish as they did.” We do
not know the circumstances when the Lord will call us back to account for our
lives and all that He has given us for the service of His kingdom. We
must therefore not be unprepared because we can die unexpectedly because of an
accident, injustices, natural tragedy or unforeseen events. Whilst we
still have time to live the life of the Spirit, we should not delay.
Indeed, God is compassionate and patient with us like the farmer in the parable,
but we cannot postpone indefinitely the time of judgement. Indeed, “Who
shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The
man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things. He shall
receive blessings from the Lord and reward from the God who saves him. Such are
the men who seek him, seek the face of the God of Jacob.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment