Somewhere
along my journey I heard this old Christian fable: This parishioner is walking
down the road that leads into Rome hoping to visit all the churches in the Holy
City. In the distance he sees an angel leaving Rome at a very fast pace. The
angel rushes past him carrying a burning torch in one hand and a bucket of
water in the other. The parishioner calls out to the angel, “Angel, where are
you going in such a hurry?” The angel stops, turns to the parishioner and says,
“I’m off to burn down all the mansions in heaven and put out all the fires in
hell, and then we’ll see who really loves God!”
*
Lots
of us are religious. But how many of
us are spiritual? Religion by itself is a tool, a vehicle, very much like a
language. It helps us to communicate our understanding of God, of life and
death and of our own mortality. Using the structure of religion, we communicate
our understanding of these mysteries both horizontally to others in our own
time and vertically to future generations of history.
Spirituality,
on the other hand, blossoms out of and transcends religion. It is the
non-verbal essence of that unique and intimate relationship between each one of
us and God. Spirituality is being in love with God.
The
difference between being just religious and being religious and
spiritual is like the difference between being a married couple that just live
together for a lifetime and being a married couple that live together and
remain passionately in love with each other for a lifetime. A couple can live
together in marriage for decades without passion, without being in love. And
that would be very sad. That marriage would be like a body without a heart.
Likewise, a person can be very religious; can practice every devotion known to
the Church; can spend the day talking only about God. But if this devotion is
done without feeling the presence of God as an intimate and personal friend, it
is like a marriage without passion.
Psalm
16 is a beautiful expression of spirituality, of the soul in love with God:
I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I
have no good besides You . . .
You
will make known to me the path of life;
In
Your presence is fullness of joy;
In
Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
Psalm
16: 2, 11
We
are spiritual when our heart is totally open to God’s love; when we feel God so
present in our life that we want to love him back in the same unconditional
way. And we try to love all his other children as he loves us.
Spirituality
doesn’t know from mansions in heaven or fires in hell. Spirituality isn’t a
quid pro quo. It’s not about leading a good life so that we make it into
heaven. It’s about leading a good life because we are so filled with God’s love
for us that there is no other way we could possibly live.
Spirituality
is being in love with God. When we are in love with God, we are already in
heaven. When we turn ourselves away from God, we are in hell. Either way, the
choice is ours and the time is now. There is only this moment, the reality of
God’s love and his invitation to each of us to return that love.
So
if you see an angel carrying a torch and a bucket of water, smile and be
assured that after those mansions are all burnt down and those fires quenched,
your soul will remain with abounding joy basking in the glow of God’s love
forever.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just
to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life
Synchronicity
as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and
Pastoral Ministry
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