The Maturity of the Inner Man

The relationship between body and soul within man, between the physical and the spiritual, has been a point of contemplation, discussion, and at times rejection from the very beginnings of human thought.  That he is capable of rational thought and yet is somehow tied in with a physical body has confounded generations of thinkers who have sought to come up with an adequate explanation of exactly where the person resides.  This distinction between person as seen in the maturing of the body and the parallel, distinct, and sometimes offset maturity of the rational or human elements of the person has long been recognized and accompanied by various social efforts to either uphold the standard of inner maturity as designated by the growth of the physical body or to effectively force community members to mature inwardly to meet the level of their bodies.  This itself is strange, since it seems to imply that the physical body grows (a sign of life) and matures prior to the growth and maturity of the interior man, and yet Pope Saint John Paul II cites the Scriptures that “although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness (Dominum et Vivificantem, paragraph 58)”.  This seeming contradiction can only be overcome by understanding the role of the Holy Spirit as He who grows the inner man.

The body itself has received inordinate power over the rational faculties of man as a result of the fall.  We no longer act with our bodies as a perfect reflection of what our intellects deem to be good as a response to the conscience which recognizes God in the physical world, choosing rather lesser goods and thereby perpetuating our lack of physical or spiritual maturity: the physical body becomes more inclined to desire lesser goods, and the intellect as a result learns to most readily recognize and direct the will towards these lesser goods instead of recognizing and acting towards God.  In addition, man’s ability to seek God far and wide begins to atrophy, causing him to frequent a smaller and smaller realm of reality as he seeks earnestly for those lesser goods.

“Under the influence of the Holy Spirit”, however, as a recipient of the Mercy and unlooked for intervention from God upon his soul, “this inner, "spiritual," man matures and grows strong. Thanks to the divine self- communication, the human spirit which "knows the secrets of man" meets the "Spirit who searches everything, even the depths of God." (Dominum et Vivificantem, paragraph 58)”.  The Holy Spirit does not leave His children to atrophy but remains present within man’s conscience, guiding (or in some cases dragging him) towards maturity of spirit in recognition of the true good.  In this, “the hidden breath of the divine Spirit enables the human spirit to open in its turn before the saving and sanctifying self-opening of God. Through the gift of grace, which comes from the Holy Spirit, man enters a "new life," is brought into the supernatural reality of the divine life itself and becomes a "dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit," a living temple of God”.  This itself in turn creates an ever bigger world for man, who becomes more and more aware of God as present in every aspect of creation and causes man to turn his gaze towards the Heavens, so that finally “through the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son come to him and take up their abode with him.  In the communion of grace with the Trinity, man's "living area" is broadened and raised up to the supernatural level of divine life. Man lives in God and by God: he lives "according to the Spirit," and "sets his mind on the things of the Spirit"”.  

The inner or spiritual man’s maturity precedes the maturity and growth of the physical, but it is only through the working of the Holy Spirit that the inner man can remain in a state capable of growth and maturity as a characteristic of a living being.  Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are in a state of righteousness as a species; we remain dead as long as our physical bodies remain unguided by the rational powers, drawing us ever deeper into our own sin and away from God.