The Eleventh Station Reflection: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

 FISH ON WATER

Have you ever wondered why the saints spend so much time on silence, meditation and contemplation? There must be some reason why they spend so much time on such exercises. These exercises are so important to them that these become second nature to them, indeed they become their very lives.

A spiritual man/woman does things in a spiritual way. Like Midas who turns everything and everyone he touches into gold, a spiritual person transforms what is mundane into something that is significantly spiritual.

He knows that our body, the physical world is not sufficient and there is more that meets the eyes. He is not content with superficial explanation of things, but goes deep and probes the meaning of things... in a higher plane and from a more complete yet simple perspective. He is a sign of the world that is to come.

A spiritual man starts with what can be seen with the physical eyes and does not stop there. He cannot deny that to be spiritual is not to refuse what is physical and mundane. On the contrary, he places everything in their right position and perspective. He does not make unnecessary and unreasonable demands on the material for they can only provide as much.

Inasmuch as you do not expect a child to teach philosophy and higher studies, in the same way one cannot put all our trust in matter, for matter is not the mother of all. Indeed, matter is dead without the spirit and the spirit cannot be known and be properly understood without matter at least for us embodied spirits a.k.a. Humans.    

It is therefore clear that both matter and spirit complement each other. In our world, we cannot totally separate them. Separating them would mean doing injustice to both.

This is the wisdom of God who became incarnate to give matter its rightful place in the realm of the spirit. Reflecting on the reality of complementarity, I cannot but notice how Divine Providence arranges things. He gives us not one hand, but two. Obviously, two hands are better than one. We are equipped with both feet to walk properly, a pair of lungs to breathe with ease and the left and right brains to think intelligently.

This is the present state of affairs and how good it is to glorify the origin of all of this wisdom and grace bestowed upon all of God's creatures.

God's providence is teaching us to balance things in life. Virtus in medio stat. Virtue always stands at the middle. It does not swing to the extreme ends of mediocrity and obsession. Virtues makes a man truly human. Hence, to live a Christian life is to follow The Philosophers dictum: an unexamined life is not worth living. To live a balanced and examined life is the goal of a genuine moral life. Fish on water... Like fish on water, a morally upright person is on his right place. He sees, acts and thinks what for him is becoming. Fish lives on water so an upright person lives on the waters of humility and purity.

Water always seeks the lowliest place. It also cleanses all that is filthy. Living on these waters means the two most shining examples of a virtuous persons are humility and purity. And again he practices these virtues both externally and internally.

One of the marks of an authentic spirit is its consistency. Hardly does a double life attract. I am emphasizing that these virtues are to be practiced both externally and internally for this is the gauge of a true and meaningful life in the spirit. Imagine a person who acts differently when he/she is in company with others and when he is all alone in his room. We truly become ourselves when we are left to our own faculties. One sees the real attitude of person in times of difficulty (crisis) or prosperity.

IN ORBIT

From fish being submerged in water let us look up above to search for another model of a virtuous person. In the vastness of space, we see heavenly bodies circling around a bigger heavenly body. These bodies have a fixed orbit to follow so as not to get carried away or get lost in perfectly timed movements or put oneself in harm ways in the ever-meandering space junks. A virtuous person may be compared to a satellite in orbit. He has found his true home in a greater and higher ground of being.

A virtuous person is not among the lost. He takes a balanced and an examined stance on issues that truly matters. And once, he had made his position, he makes it the fundamental option for his life. Now, it could happen that even with an examined view, because of human limitation errors of judgement may creep in. In this instance, a virtuous person is willing again to swim on the waters of humility, acknowledging the lapse of judgement on his part.

This is again another mark of a virtuous person - imperfection or to be more precise - an acknowledgement of one's limitations and weaknesses. Imperfection comes out because we simply are not omniscient and humility cleanses us time and again of our imperfections. It takes a mature person to do this. Perfection is the goal even while we trod on the road of imperfection.

And so, let this reflection end with a succinct expression once said by Leon Bloy: There is only one sorrow, not to be a saint. For, I would like to add, the lives they lead are worth-living and imitating. This consist all the perfection that we long for namely the perfection of joy.