THE BOUNDARIES OF MY HUMANITY: God tells us THE WAY.

In the up and down experience of this life (so far), four overarching themes pop out at me, some of which I have commented about in past blogs. But some are still challenges to my thinking. These giant swaths of meaning are like huge, galactic clouds of the unknowing and are there awaiting my seeking to understand how they connect together. I know they do, but I am running out of time to try to connect them. This blog is my turning on the flashlight of a single beam into the dark cave of what I don’t know to grasp a stand of knowledge, Christ bestows on me in my Lectio Divina.

FOUR OVERARCHING THEMES ABOUT THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE

1. Marks of the Church-– the four quantum filaments of energy emanating from God through Christ and distributed in each moment to its members as they can receive it by the Holy Spirit. (capacitas dei)
2. A Tale of Two Universes-– Actually, there are three universes (physical, mental, and spiritual). These three universes are the realities each one of us shares with our humanity. The physical universe is the basis for all that is. The Mental Universe is humanity’s movement, within each one of us, from animality through meaning as a human being to that of the spiritual universe, a voluntary ‘yes’ from each individual who wants to fulfill the deepest part of what secular meaning has to offer to make the leap from rationality to spirituality. Two citizenships must be present in each Catholic and hopefully in each human: the kingdom of the Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven. It takes an act of the will to place yourself in the presence of God (Grace) and wait (Belief). .^v
3. Knowledge, Love, Truth: We are made in the image and likeness of the one who put their fingerprints on each molecule and atom. The seeming randomness of our physical existence in the physical is only the first step, three levels of growth (conversio morae).
4. The Need for Boundaries for our Animal and Human Natures.

Using the Teilhard map of reality (unattributed) as one of my principal markers, two attributes are presented (consciousness and complexity) with the understanding that all reality moves forward, not just in time (distance) but in the very intrinsic make up of all three universes (physical, mental, and spiritual). It is in this context of making all things new that I view spirituality as the natural consequence of our rational human nature. Animal life evolved naturally within its prescribed order (growth in consciousness and complexity) to produce rationality (free will of the individual and the ability to choose). All of this leads to the human race having a reason for being. I submit it was to be able to choose that deeper level of fulfilling what it means to be human, to use humanity to move to that next level of human maturation, but one requiring each person to say YES before entrance. In my Catholic Way of being, it is Baptism (God chooses me and not vice versa).

Like taking any medicine or multiple cocktails of pills, there are side effects to this dimension of spirituality. God created life to offer it a way of truth to mature into what is destined to be the next iteration of complexity and consciousness. Simply being human does not possess the energy to move to the next level of evolution, spirituality. Being a Catholic Universal of the Roman Rite, the concept of Church becomes one of practicing a way of thinking and believing that never takes Baptism for granted. In fact, once Jesus is my center and I move to that next level of my humanity (two citizenships), I spend the rest of my life in prayer and contemplation for the energy to keep myself centered. Spirituality needs humanity to grow in energy and awareness of the dynamic played out in cosmic time (Kronos).

In order to keep centered, God sent Jesus to tell us and show us how to keep ourselves centered on what is true. I call them boundaries for lack of a better word. Jesus gave us boundaries within which we discover what humanity’s new spirituality is. These are the new wineskins that I must make each day to store the new wine of Christ’s energy within me to withstand the battering and bruising it takes to stay within those boundaries.

Here is a reading for your consideration, one that puts forth what we must do to preserve the boundaries or force field around us to foil the intrusion of the Devil.

Vigilance.

1 Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. ^a

2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.^b

3 When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief.^c

5 For all of you are children of the light^* and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness.

6Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.^d

7Those who sleep go to sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.

8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.^e

9 For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him.^*

11Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.^f

Church Order.

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who are laboring among you and who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you,

13 and to show esteem for them with special love on account of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

14 We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, cheer the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient with all.

15 See that no one returns evil for evil; rather, they should always seek what is good for each other and for all.^g

16 Rejoice always.

17Pray without ceasing.

18 In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.^h

19^* Do not quench the Spirit.

20 Do not despise prophetic utterances.

21 Test everything; retain what is good.

22 Refrain from every kind of evil.

Concluding Prayer.

23^* May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.ⁱ

24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.

25 Brothers, pray for us [too].

IV. Final Greeting

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.^*

27 I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

* [5:5] Children of the light: that is, belonging to the daylight of God’s personal revelation and expected to achieve it (an analogous development of imagery that appears in Jn 12:36).

* [5:10] Characteristically, Paul plays on words suggesting ultimate and anticipated death and life. Union with the crucified and risen Lord at his parousia is anticipated in some measure in contrasted states of our temporal life. The essential element he urges is our indestructible personal union in Christ’s own life (see Rom 5:1–10).

* [5:19–21] Paul’s buoyant encouragement of charismatic freedom sometimes occasioned excesses that he or others had to remedy (see 1 Cor 14; 2 Thes 2:1–15; 2 Pt 3:1–16).

* [5:23] Another possible translation is, “May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and sanctify your spirit fully, and may both soul and body be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In either case, Paul is not offering an anthropological or philosophical analysis of human nature. Rather, he looks to the wholeness of what may be called the supernatural and natural aspects of a person’s service of God.

* [5:26] Kiss: the holy embrace (see Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Pt 5:14) was a greeting of respect and affection, perhaps given during a liturgy at which Paul’s letter would have been read.

a. [5:1] Mt 24:36–45.

b. [5:2] 2 Pt 3:10.

c. [5:4] Eph 5:8–9.

d. [5:6] Mt 24:42; Rom 13:12–13; 1 Pt 5:8.

e. [5:8] Is 59:17; Rom 13:11–14; Eph 6:11, 14–17.

f. [5:11] Rom 15:2; 1 Cor 8:1; 14:12, 26; Eph 4:29.

g. [5:15] Prv 20:22; Mt 5:38–42; Rom 12:17.

h. [5:18] Eph 5:20.

i. [5:23] 2 Thes 3:16.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1thessalonians/5

Being a Catholic Universalist means I build my unique Church based on the four marks or fundamentals from God through Christ through me. It is no coincidence that the mark of the cross is our key to salvation. These boundaries that are cultivated by the Church Universal are in constant siege of being toppled or eroded, unless I do something to sustain it. For me, it is my Lay Cistercian pattern of looking at reality, which includes silence, solitude, prayer, work, in the context of community. This is the good work that is the product of my doing the will of Christ (and so the will of the Father).

In the next series of blogs, I will tease out some nuances I gained from my Lectio Divina sessions with the Holy Spirit.

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