EMBODIED SPIRIT THAT WE ARE

It was summer this year when my Parish Priest told me that we will spend our summer vacation visiting the Barangays for catechesis. I was so excited because of the given opportunity to visit all the Barangays of our parish. Atleast, I will get acquainted with the people and places of our parish. More importantly, I will have the opportunity to share the little knowledge I gained in my studying in the seminary. As I get myself busy with the preparation for the talks - mastering the topics (the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, the Precepts of the Church, the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and other basic Prayers), reviewing related documents of the Church (CFC, CCC, etc.), and practicing my gestures, one question struck my mind: “How will I make these people believe that they have to master and put into practice these basic Catholic teachings to strengthen and deepen their Catholic faith?” Although Philippines is still considered a Catholic nation, we cannot deny the fact that only a very little portion lives up the Catholic faith. Nowadays, Sunday mass goers are even pegged at 5 to 8 percentage only of the Catholic population. It appears that most of the Catholics have embraced the human notion of God of mythological element – a protagonist in a magical story. This was the same problem encountered by the old fathers in the ancient time in bringing Christianity to the pagans. But, as they broadened their view to include universal principles to let the Christianity penetrate in, they wanted to provide a rational foundation for their belief in the divinity and so with the universality of the soul. I realized by then to use the ‘soul’ as my platform to launch the catechesis. ‘Soul’ which oftentimes are doubted by many; worse, it is ignored and forgotten by many. People nowadays are observed living as if they do not have souls and that soul is not immortal, if they so believe.

            In the book, History of Ancient Philosophy, Yarza narrated that the death of Socrates deepened Plato’s conviction of the immortality of the soul. He reasons out that since soul has the capacity to know immutable and eternal realities, the soul must be immortal, then. In the same way, Yarza mentioned that St. Thomas Aquinas argues immortality of the soul on the basis of the proportion that must exist between the subject with its object: since the universals are the object of human knowledge, the knowing subject must also be incorruptible.[1] We may say then that even before Jesus was made flesh, soul is already believed in both ends of the world. Further, reading the Holy Bible would even affirm the reality of the soul through its passages which deals with the soul. For one, Matthew10:28 reads: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Even today, the Catholic Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.”[2] Indeed, soul do exist and the spiritual reality is for real.

            During our Barangay visits this summer, before I start with my catechesis, I always start with the question: “Are we spiritual being (kaluluwang may katawang lupa) or are we human being spirits (katawang lupa na may espiritu)?” People will always answer: “We are human being with  spirits” (Tayo ay tao na may espiritu). And this is the reality we have right now. Most of us dwell too much on our bodies that we neglect our spirituality. People dress beautifully but do not pray intently at masses. People show so much devotion but lacks in life transformation. People spends thousand in extravagant leisure but meagre in giving alms to the poor. Peter Kreeft says in his book, Catholic Christianity, that man is neither merely a body (that is materialism) nor merely a soul (that is spiritualism) nor he is two beings, like ghost in a machine (that is dualism); he is one being n two dimensions, bodily and spiritual. He further explains that the human soul is expressed in the human body and the body is fulfilled by the soul. Human soul, according to Kreeft, is who we are; it is our personality given by God to us at our conception and we shape it through all of life’s choices.[3] Unfortunately, most of us, Catholics, choose the betterment of the body more than the soul. The biase has engulfed us. We do not care enough for the welfare of our soul. As if we will just die and turn into dust after through it all. We are so into the world that we forget our identity as living spirits. Soul is no longer our concern. Genesis 2:7 states clearly: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This is a clear testament that we have souls. Sadly, this is something given less emphasis now even by the chosen few ministers of the church, and seminarians, alike, who enjoy and indulge into the carnal pleasure who are supposed to be the first to detach from worldly satisfaction.

            Yarza explicated that Plato also delves into the question of the soul’s destiny in the afterlife. He gives several descriptions of it, always in reference to a judgement that the soul will have to undergo when a man dies, and the corresponding reward or punishment that the soul receives for the good or evil it did while still on earth.[4] Francis Covey, in his book 7 Habits of Effective People, stresses the importance of “beginning with an END in mind”. We too, in doing our ministry as seminarians, can utilize the same idea to let our faithful begin their journey anew with an END in their mind – with salvation of soul as their ultimate END. And so, Socrates seem to be right when he supposed that the soul must be the center of moral life. [5] For it is in following Jesus that we all live a moral life. And only through Him that we can be reunited with our heavenly Father.

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[1] Yarza, I. (1983). History of Ancient Philosophy. Sinag-Tala Publishers.

[2] cf. CCC 666

[3] Kreeft, P. J. (2001). Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism Beliefs based on the Catechesim of the Catholic Church. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

[4] Yarza, I. (1983). History of Ancient Philosophy. Sinag-Tala Publishers.

[5] Yarza, I. (1983). History of Ancient Philosophy. Sinag-Tala Publishers.