THURSDAY, SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Feast of Apostle James
2 Cor 4: 7-15 Ps 126: 1-6 Mt 20: 20-28
THE PRIMACY OF THE SPIRITUAL
Aristotle called the human person a “rational animal.” He speaks about the dual nature of man. One: animalistic, belonging to the realm of creatures or the lower nature of man. Second: rational, spiritual, popularly called the transcendental nature in man. Belonging to the nature of creatures means being guided by what is creative or fascinates here below. Belonging to the realm of the spiritual means being guided by the universal, or by the realm of the divine. It is in this realm, that the human person comes to live where he/she actually belongs; the realm of God, our real home on earth.
Both the readings today remind us that while we live as citizens of two worlds, the empirical and the spiritual, we are created to belong to the spiritual or eternal world. As we live in this empirical world, it is normal for us to be pulled down by the urges of the empirical world. The mother of the sons of Zebedee asked nothing extraordinary but what is normal that any mother would desire to ask for her children while living in this world. However, the uniqueness of Christian life is that we don’t belong to this empirical world alone, but we are called upon to transcend and live in the spiritual world by being guided by the spirit.
In Baptism, we die to this world and we are raised to the newness of life. Therefore, St. Paul tells us that, however, conflicting may be our situation while we live in this world because we belong to the spirit we will not be lost but rise up glorious and ever victorious in life. Therefore our sight should be focused on the spiritual while living in the temporal. That is what the mother of the sons of Zebedee failed to understand. Our intimacy with God, by drinking the Chalice of Christ is the only way to spiritual growth. Only through this spiritual intimacy will the success of our spiritual life ever be attained.
Response: Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.
Copyright ©2024 ©Springs of Living Water http://springs.carmelmedia.in