CATHOLICS HAVE TWO CITIZENSHIPS: Earthly and Spiritual.

Note: This is not a short blog but a conversation with you about the meaning of Love.

I always look for two meanings when thinking about the word ”Love” in my Lectio Divina. The first meaning is what the world thinks of Love. For this, I reference what Erich Fromm says in The Art of Loving about the meaning of Love. The second dimension is that of the Spirit. For this, I use The Christ Principle and the Cistercian practices and charisms to examine “love” from the perspective of Christ’s teachings in Scripture. To take this idea a bit further, human language (English) has one meaning for those limited to the physical and mental universes (The World or the Flesh, as in Galatians 5), and yet, with Christ, the same word in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth more often has the opposite meaning. For example, to be the greatest, you must become the servant of all around you. I call this the “Rule of Opposites” in my book, The Three Rules of the Spiritual Universe. With adoption by the Father at Baptism, and my initial commitment to use God as my boundaries of what it means to be fully human as nature intended, evolution to that higher step demands individual commitment and choice to abandon my false self to find out how to “come to believe” that Jesus is the Messiah, and that in believing, I have eternal life with Him forever. (John 20:30-31)

St. Paul of Tarsis addresses the duality of citizenship in Galatians 5, ironic, because he, himself, was a citizen of Rome, to explain how a follower of Christ must live in two worlds until we come face to face with the one we love above all. We are pilgrims in a foreign land just waiting to claim our inheritance to be in the presence of Christ in Heaven, as we have struggled to do while we still hold on to this wounded flesh of our body.

Because of the dual dimensions of human nature, some of us are allowed to move to that highest dimension, that of living in the physical and mental universes alone (the world or the “flesh”) while others are oblivious to evolutions intricate requirements to move as individuals, accessed only by total abandonment of the first citizenship to receive adoption into the second citizenship that has no matter or mass. In this second citizenship, again, accessed with the energy of the Holy Spirit, we choose (believe) to live in that next level of human evolution, the physical and mental universes, so that we can be sustained with this same energy (grace) as baptized are adopted sons and daughters of the Father, in this highest evolution of humanity. Yet, while still aware of the kingdom of Heaven on earth, we use our humanity (physical and mental universes) as a finite shell to house the spiritual one. This splitting of reality is not noticeable to those who live only in the physical and mental universe (humanism at its highest and noblest expression). Jesus told us, “seeing you do not see, and hearing you do not hear.”

Because we are pilgrims tied to earthly conditions of time, matter, and human mental capabilities, we have access to a higher nature, one not our own human nature, but one where the Father has loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to buy back that which Adam and Eve pawned away. Christ is the second Adam, the ransom for many, whose mission is to enable all humans to learn how to make the leap from mere humanism (spiritual ape) to a human now chosen by God to dwell in the next dimension of human evolution, without corruption, death, or original sin.

For this and many other reasons, human languages now have one voice but contain two dimensions of meaning: one is the language we know is true and use it to navigate the detours of being human; the other is this kingdom of Heaven while we live and later on, after our life is changed but not ended. Jesus alluded to this many times, telling us, for example, in John 14:15 that:

The Advocate. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.^j16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate^* to be with you always, 17 the Spirit of truth,* which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.l18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.*19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.m20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.n21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father. I will love him and reveal myself to him.” 22 Judas, not the Iscariot,* said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”p23 Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.^q24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

25 “I have told you this while I am with you.26 The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you. 27 Peace* I leave with you; the Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. 28*You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you. ’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.u30 I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world* is coming. He has no power over me, 31 but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us for it.^v”(usccb.org)

Read this whole passage three times. The first time, listen to what your heart tells you about the dual languages you now speak. The second time, listen to it from the viewpoint of Jesus and what He is trying to share with you about living as an adopted son or daughter of the Father. The third time, read it and wait for 15 minutes, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal what you need to know. Then, Do What He Tells You.

REALIZE THAT YOU NOW SPEAK ONE LANGUAGE WITH TWO MEANINGS

I offer my own meditations on the word “LOVE” from these two viewpoints. As an adopted son of the Father, I use what Christ teaches about Love. My approach comes from the totality of my personal experiences and lessons learned about LOVE. I call it “fierce” or “profound” Love to distinguish this key purpose of life from its secular counterpart.

LOVE IN THE MENTAL UNIVERSE ALONE (FLESH)	LOVE IN THE MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL UNIVERSES
Love is at the core of what makes humans different from other living things.	Love is the purpose of life: Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:38.
Exists in the Physical and Mental Universes only.	Exists in the Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Universes.
Humans who are atheists, agnostics, or indifferent about God, those with a good heart, and who are sincere about doing good.	Those who are Baptized and Confirmed, anyone who accepts Jesus as Lord, and those who struggle with carrying their cross daily, but do it anyway.
Citizens of the secular world.	Citizens of the kingdom of Heaven and adopted sons or daughters of the Father.
Love can be authentic or inauthentic, depending on the choices people make.	Authentic Love is to die to self and accept the Christ Principle as the Center of their lives.
Use the Divine Equation, but get their questions and answers from themselves or society. What is the purpose of life? What is your purpose in the purpose of life? What does reality look like? How does it all fit together? How do you love fiercely? You know you are going to die: now what?	Use the Divine Equation, but get their questions and answers from the Holy Spirit through Scriptures and Tradition. What is the purpose of life?What is your purpose in the purpose of life?What does reality look like?How does it all fit together?How do you love fiercely?You know you are going to die: now what?
Love is a learned behavior and depends upon the disposition of those who love.	Love is a person, and we learn about what Love is because Christ loved us first.
Love changes many times, influenced by the situations and lessons learned throughout a lifetime of choosing what is good or evil for me.	God is Love.
Human nature is good but tainted by original sin. The default is to seek what is good for me. I seek to satisfy my needs through choices that make me happy.	Human nature is good but wounded by original sin. The default is to choose what I think is good for me or to go outside myself to use what God says will help my human nature to fulfill its destiny as an adopted son or daughter.
Original sin clouds the benefits of being good or the consequences of destructive behavior.	A clear choice for the knowledge of good or evil.
What is real can be reached by reason alone with logic. Invisible reality ranks lower on the scale than matter and mass.	Faith informed by reason allows humans to live in the visible, secular world and to traverse the invisible world of Love.
What makes Love authentic or inauthentic is the choice of what makes us more human or less than human and more animal.	The Divine Equation is not about solving who God is, but about using who God is to solve what it means to be fully human.
Each human must learn what it means to love with the totality of their life experiences and their choices. Choices have consequences. Wrong questions give wrong answers.	Each person who is baptized is given the map Scripture gives for walking the minefields of life without destroying themselves. Christ has the right questions and the corresponding authentic answers to Love.
Reconciliation with our enemies or friends means that humans can be noble in accordance with purpose. Or, we can ignore them because they have offended us.	Love those that hate you; do good to those who falsely accuse you. Forgive them, but be watchful and vigilant. Tell the truth and don’t tell a falsehood.
We communicate with others through language and personal encounters.	We communicate with Jesus in silence and solitude in the upper room of our inner selves, enabling authentic personal encounters.
Humans determine the meaning of Love based on their experiences and their Center.	Humans determine the meaning of Love based on the boundaries set by God (creation), Christ (redemption), and the Holy Spirit (truth as passed down through the Catholic Church).
Unauthentic Love is the set of human vices we choose as good when they are evil.	Authentic Love is the resonance between the physical, mental, and spiritual universes in union with who God is.
Humans live in a condition of Alpha and Omega (everything, from matter to mind, has a beginning and an end).	Humans live in a condition of Alpha and Omega (everything has a beginning but no ending in the Spiritual Universe).
DYSFUNCTIONAL PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH	DYSFUNCTIONAL SPIRITUAL HEALTH
Clinical Depression, Anger Mood Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, Polar Mood swings, Paranoia, Borderline Personality Disorders. Inability to overcome behaviors that impede moving to the next level of evolution. Weak will inhibited by physical and mental deficiency beyond the treatment of those who have these aberrations.	Spiritual Depression, Inability to Replace Hatred with Love, Actively Resisting the move to the next level of our human evolution, Dark Night of the Soul. Inability to use spiritual energy to reach the next level of evolution. Price and stubbornness for your Center—inability to replace an inauthentic Center of Love with what The Christ Principle offers as human fulfillment.
Dark or grey Love that is inauthentic (Erick Fromm) to human movement towards its evolutionary destiny.	Dark or grey Love that is redeemed and transformed by being present to an energy that transcends the body or mind.
Dark or grey Love is Love that has moved from mutual respect and happiness to struggle and hardship. There is no energy to heal this Love (not treating the physical health) but a spiritual depression that lingers without healing.	Dark or grey Love is Love that has moved from mutual respect and happiness to struggle and hardship for both people. Legally married but mentally and spiritually divorced. The energy of Christ may or may not cure the body and mind of spiritual depression, but it situates the human to receive healing of the Spirit.
Treats spiritual depression with modern psychological and psychiatric methods and medications.	Treats spiritual depression with modern psychological and psychiatric methods with the addition of being open to the healing power of the Holy Spirit.
Love has human power alone and can transform humans into merely humanistic beings (good but not the final expression of human nature).	Love has the power to transform us and lead us to the highest level of our nature, only with the help of a higher love, one accessible only through Christ.

MY LEARNING POINTS

Love becomes, as Erich Fromm so accurately described it, a learned virtue.

My whole life is dedicated to discovering what it means to love fiercely.

False self or false Love means I have at my Center those virtues that do not lead to me being an adopted son or daughter. Still, instead, the Devil seduces me, just like Adam and Eve, to place the Seven Deadly Sins at my Center, and, if there is no significant emotional event to stop it, I continue unaware that I am on a track that has no eternal finality nor energy.

If you are a Catholic and don’t get your hands dirty by daily receiving the grit and grime of ordinary living and the challenge to convert self daily to having the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5), you may want to look to see if you are not only carrying your own cross, but also helping Christ carry the Cross of All That Is.

Mercy and a mindset of being a Penitential Catholic, with the constant passion to seek mercy for yourself plus others who may not have had your good fortune. Much is expected when much is given, and to waste it by not using it is not only a shame but may impact your final accounting before the Throne of the Lamb of God.

DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.