Religious or Spiritual?

Religious or Spiritual?     

Do people even understand what being “religious” actually means in our present culture? Anyone who frequents social media, forums, and on-line comment threads, will be quick to agree that they are rapidly turning into a cesspool of polemic vitriol. There is an inherent fever, a disease in the hearts of humans. One, that they cannot understand by their own reasoning. Emotions deceive and corrupt, but yet they are used along with reasoning to determine whether or not behaviour is right or wrong, good or evil. Blaise Pascal wrote it best: “Just as we harm the understanding, we harm the feelings also. The understanding and the feelings are moulded by intercourse; the understanding and feelings are corrupted by intercourse.” Pascal, was not only a great scientist, he was also a great philosophical thinker. What then, has Pascal’s thoughts uncovered? Is it possible for humans to have any clear understanding of what is truly right, or truly wrong, without recourse to a “Transcendental Third”? What Aristotle or Aquinas, would have called the First Cause?

A 2018 survey of 1300 people by Pew Research, asked three different groups of respondents who identify as non-religious the cause for their choice. What was the number one, net response across the groups? (77% of atheists, 71% of agnostics, and 51% of “nothing in particular”) “I question a lot of religious teachings” What is it then, about what we teach as Catholics that beguiles and scandalizes people away from listening to what we have to say? People generally speaking would tend to agree that self-improvement is a good thing. A 2014 poll conducted by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair reveal that 66% of women and 54% of men surveyed responded that the best way to do good in the world is by improving themselves. How then, is this any different from Saint Augustine’s famous quote: “Everything Good comes by the grace of God, everything else if my fault?” Ergo, there is clearly a misconception at work in broader society as to what religion is actually trying to teach.

Catholicism does not impose, it proposes. It is a guiding light, illuminating a path towards an inward journey of renovation and renewal. It is not a system of met obligations, crossed off lists, and checked boxes. It is rather a spiritual introspective study into the nature of the human soul. Paragraph 152 of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church states: “One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in His spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals to men (and women) who Jesus is.” There is nothing evil or criminal in seeking the Holy Spirit. The basis of this spiritual quest, for daily Catholic life are prayer, fasting, and alms giving. These are the weapons of spiritual warfare. They are ascetic in nature, that is to say sacrifice of oneself. There is nothing about the business, practice, or teachings of Catholicism that impose or propose aggrandizement or egotism. It is without question a radical proposition of self-improving growth in virtue, by God’s grace. Again the Catechism states in paragraph 1811: “Christ’s gift of salvation offers us the necessary grace to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues.” The call is then to humble ourselves to accept the gift from The Transcendental Third in Christ, by the action of His Spirit.

In closing, after the above citation, Pascal goes on to mention in fragment 6 of Pensées: “Thus good or bad society improves or corrupts them (understanding and feelings). It is, then, all-important to know how to choose in order to improve and not to corrupt them; and we cannot make this choice, if they be not already improved and not corrupted. Thus a circle is formed, and those are fortunate who escape it.” It is absolutely unequivocally important that we, in the present modern era understand (and feel) what Pascal is telling us. We cannot rely on our intelligence and faculties for any form of honest, good, and true self improvement unless we seek God first. This is the first and foremost of Catholic teaching. Since humans agree that self-improvement is good for the world, then why are they reluctant to adhere to the True source of self-improvement if it means yielding to something greater then themselves? It is time for mankind to ask the question: What is there to gain in cultivating a relationship with God? God, who offers His free grace, to grow in virtue. Is there truly anything to lose in such a relationship?