As married people living in the world, we have the principal role to help one another — especially our spouses and children — to learn to love the material world correctly. This is part of our call to holiness as described by the documents of Vatican II Council.
The faithful, therefore, must learn the deepest meaning and the value of all creation, as well as its role in the harmonious praise of God. They must assist each other to live holier lives even in their daily occupations. In this way the world may be permeated by the spirit of Christ and it may more effectively fulfill its purpose in justice, charity and peace. The laity have the principal role in the overall fulfillment of this duty. (Lumen Gentium, #36.)
Finally all Christ’s faithful, whatever be the conditions, duties and circumstances of their lives-and indeed through all these, will daily increase in holiness, if they receive all things with faith from the hand of their heavenly Father and if they cooperate with the divine will. In this temporal service, they will manifest to all men the love with which God loved the world. (Lumen Gentium, #41)
The Church asks us to permeate our world by the spirit of Christ and we can begin by fostering an ordered attachment to create things. If we do this, then the material world will become a source of inspiration for us and a means of expressing our love for God. This attachment can be lived out in three ways: prophetically, priestly, and heroically. We’ll talk about these three ways in future posts.
For now it might be good to spend a few minutes here and there throughout the day examining the attachments that we have to the created things around us. What do they look like? Do they draw us closer or farther from God?
0 Comments