Supernatural life needs supernatural nourishment

It is common knowledge that our bodies need food and water to continue their biological processes of regeneration and growth.  Without food and water, our bodies begin to slow down and struggle to function properly.  If we wait long enough, death may occur, at which point no more biological processes are functioning and our bodies begin to decay and break down.

If we can see this natural relationship between physical nourishment and our physical bodies, then why is it hard for many to see the logical connection between our spirits and spiritual nourishment?

Maybe it is precisely that we don’t “see” this connection since the spiritual realm is not visible to our organic eyes. Instead, we intuit the spiritual realm via our perception that we are more than a bunch of organic cells. However, we don’t need to rely only on intuition, for Our Lord has revealed to us that our lives are more than the physical!

Therefore, the need for spiritual nourishment should be a logical progression in our thought. Nevertheless, if this is still not the case for some, then at least the experience of a “dry spirituality” should wake one up to this basic necessity.

By our faith we know that what we are called to is a supernatural reality. Life in Christ is not simply a utopic ideal of natural human life.  Instead, life in Christ is a completely new creation – Man infused with the Divine! Thus, we (in very serious and matter of fact terms) cannot achieve this life by our own nature, nor can we sustain it once given to us.  And herein lies our need for supernatural nourishment.

We are creatures with the capacity for the supernatural when reborn in Baptism and infused with the Holy Spirit. This reality continues to be a lived reality when we allow the Spirit to abide with us and to continually animate our nature in supernatural ways.  However, this abiding of the Spirit can be removed if we turn back to our natural tendencies and reject the ways of God. The weakness of our fallen nature is such that we are content with so little, even when we are offered everything we could imagine and more!

Because our spirits are not subject to decomposition like our bodies are, our spirits’ “decay” is not the same.  The “spiritual decay” of a person is experienced through the internal agitation of bitterness, anxiety, anger, lust, greed, malice, etc.  You know, those unsettling experiences that seem unmanageable and even painful to many in human history.

Well, Our Good and Gracious God did not leave Man (male and female) in his fallen, miserable state! He saved us by providing the Way, the Truth, and the Life that all human persons are called to conform to.  In Christ we don’t just have a pattern of how human life is meant to be lived, we also have the bridge from earth to heaven!  Christ’s very body is the conduit that the Father in heaven desires to infuse supernatural grace into His children on earth. Baptism only opens the door to the supernatural life in Christ; the other Sacraments help nurture, sustain, and increase this supernatural reality!

Thus, the Eucharist is not just bread and wine, but the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Savior (under the appearance of bread and wine) so that our very spirits can be nourished by God Himself!

Once one sees the logical connection between physical natures and their natural necessities for sustenance, I believe it’s easier to see that the spiritual dimension shares this logical dependency as well. The difference is that the nourishment is not of this world, but from God Himself, for the nourishment is God Himself.

It is only God who is (properly speaking) supernatural, for all other created things have natures (i.e., are natural beings). The Eucharist is the supernatural nourishment for the Catholic because the life it sustains is not our own, it’s first and foremost God’s.  Thus, I encourage you to NOT ignore the Eucharist. Prepare well and often to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament at Mass. He truly is the bread that has come down from heaven.

Oratorian Brother Steven Bolton is assigned to Holy Trinity Parish, Bridgewater, and assists as deacon in all parishes under the care of the Raritan Oratory, including the Shrine Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.