Going beyond the material and temporal

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE have to be most careful with our tendency to be too attached to the material and temporal dimensions of our life such that we may consider them to be our end-all and be-all. We have to learn to go beyond them, always affirming our faith that we are meant for a supernatural life with God for all eternity. (cfr. Lk 12,13-21)

In this regard, we have to know how to make use of the material and temporal dimensions of our life to pursue and attain our definitive state of life which is spiritual, supernatural and eternal—a life in perfect communion with God who created us in his image and likeness.

We therefore have to be more aware of our need to develop and sharpen our sense of transcendence. It is to help us cope with the fullness of the reality that governs us. It is the reality that includes the spiritual which we cannot see and touch because it is not accessible to the senses, and the supernatural which we cannot reach with our own natural powers alone but only with God’s grace, through faith, hope and charity that work on our natural powers.

We have to realize that the sense of transcendence does not mean that we ignore or have no need or simply give little importance to the here and now, to the material and natural dimensions of our life. Rather, we have to realize that our sense of transcendence can only be exercised through these natural dimensions of our life, but we need to go beyond them, not trapped in them.

A sense of transcendence that belittles or disregards the role of the here and now, the material and the natural dimensions of our life, will not be an authentic sense of transcendence. It would not be able to go the distance. The here and now and the material and the natural dimensions of our life are, in fact, the launching pad from which we can enter into the world of the spiritual and supernatural.

This power to transcend has something to do with what Christ once said: “Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and stead, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” (Mt 6,19-20)

The spiritual operations and powers involved in developing the power to transcend are crucial for us to get in touch with the ultimate dimensions and causes of what we consider to be reality, and of course, in the last analysis, to get in touch with God. We need to train our mind and heart in the art of going beyond the material and temporal.

Our problem is that we fail to go deep and wide enough in our consideration of things. We get stuck in some shallow levels—the sensible, material or physical, or at best, the social and cultural, etc.

I am afraid that the younger generations today have practically lost these capacities to abstract and to transcend. Many people are mainly guided only by their senses, their feelings and primitive instincts. They do not seem to have been weaned from that level.

That is why we can observe many irregularities in their thinking, judging and reasoning. If it’s not rash judgments and all kinds of fallacies that they fall into, it’s biases and prejudices that shape their thoughts and desires.

It’s a big challenge to parents and teachers and to any authority, including the Church people, to recover these crucial human powers. I would say that nothing less than a miracle is needed here. Thus, we need to do a lot of prayer and sacrifices for this intention, begging God to intervene in a more dramatic way.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com