WITH GOD THE SPIRITUAL ALWAYS WINS OVER THE PHYSICAL!
Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Jesus never missed a chance to point out the preeminence of the spiritual over the physical. A woman from the crowd that was gathered around him praised his mother for possessing the physical qualities that gave him birth and nourished him. Jesus praised everyone who had the spiritual quality to do the will of God. On both counts was his mother being praised.
Mary not only had the physical ability to bring the Son of God made man into the world and nurse him, she also had the spiritual ability, and used it, to carry out the will of God. The Holy Spirit could have planted the seed of Jesus in Mary’s womb without her permission; that would not have made her blessed. It was her permission and active cooperation with God’s will that made her holy.
God is in the lives of all of use, He is near us, by us, he is even in us. But that does not make us blessed or holy. It is our awareness of him, our listening to him, and our efforts at carrying out his will that open us to holiness. None of our physical characteristics, no matter how handsome and beautiful they may be, none of our physical or mental abilities, no matter how outstanding and developed they may be, are what make us saints. It is our willingness and our efforts to live according to the standards and principles of Christ that open us to the workings of the Holy Spirit who then raises us to the heights of heaven.
“Blest is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” shouted the woman. “Rather,” said Jesus, “blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it.” With God the spiritual always wins out over the physical. Pray that our guardian angels help us to keep that in mind.
