Human and supernatural means

Fr. Roy Cimagala .

IN any endeavor that we undertake, we have to make sure that while we should make full use of all the natural and human means we can lay our hands on, we should not forget that we need to use the spiritual and supernatural means also. In fact, between the two, the spiritual and supernatural means hold priority over the other.

And that’s because our tasks and endeavors do not only have a natural and human character, but given who we are, they also have a highly spiritual and supernatural dimension.

Our work is not just a technical thing. As long as it is not a sinful, our work is always also a work of God. It is not simply ours. It’s in our work and in our ordinary duties that God engages us, and where we should have an encounter with him.

We have to realize more deeply and abidingly that whatever task or work we have just do not have a natural and human goal. Again, given who we truly are, i.e., that we are image and likeness of God and children of his, our work, no matter how small, always has a spiritual and supernatural purpose.

In fact, we should always be aware that whatever we do is done for God and with God also. We should not just be interested in the technical aspects of our work. We have to be wary of falling into what is called as technicalism or technologism. These isms, sad to say, appear to be getting common these days.

That is why whatever we are doing should be prepared for, pursued and developed with a spirit of prayer and sacrifice, availing of the sacraments which are the usual channels of God’s grace, the habit of being always in the presence of God, putting ourselves in some mode of devotion and piety, etc.

A work that is done sans the spiritual and supernatural sense and means is a work not proper to us. It can undermine our dignity as persons and as children of God. It can open the way for temptations and other dangers to come in.

We need to purify and correct our work ethic so as to include this very important requirement. At home and in schools, and even in our offices, both private and public, let us instill in everyone the proper attitude toward our work, and the sense that our work needs to be offered to God and to be carried out with spiritual and supernatural means and not just natural and human means.

We should see to it that we avoid putting into conflict the natural and human means, on the one hand, and the spiritual and supernatural means, on the other. They have to be together in an organic fashion, with the latter giving the inspiration and energy to the latter.

The spiritual and supernatural means are not meant to hinder the natural and human means. On the contrary, they are supposed to drive the human means to their fullest potentials. We have to be wary of a secularist influence, now becoming mainstream, that puts the human means and the supernatural means in conflict.

In the end, we should somehow realize that even in our most technical and mundane activities we are still in touch with God, and that we somehow are still praying though not in the way we usually do in churches or in solitude.

Let’s remember that nothing in our life is an obstacle in our relation with God and others. Everything can be a material and an occasion to pray and to express some signs of love to everyone. Even our sins and mistakes, handled properly through faith and repentance, can be a good material and motive for prayer.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com