By: Sister Dominic
Can you remember back to Saturday morning cartoons featuring, among many others, Popeye the Sailor Man? Perhaps the tune comes racing to the forefront of your memory as you envision our hero reaching for a can of spinach and ingesting its entirety through his pipe. We witnessed the immediate effect of amazingly strong biceps which enabled Popeye to deliver the saving punch on his opponent. The discerning eye can find spiritual wisdom in this once-popular, animated figure. Popeye understands how his body works. He often finds himself in need of a kind of strength beyond his normal human abilities, and he knows that he has the capacity for this kind of super-human strength. He merely needs to reach out for the can of spinach and to eat it, and his capacity will be filled; he will become stronger in a time of need for super-human physical strength. Popeye does not strike me as a medical doctor or a nutrition researcher. I have my doubts as to whether he understands, on the molecular level, how it is that this leafy, green vegetable is the source of such power and strength. He trusts the design of his body, and he just knows enough to eat it to get the strength that he lacks of himself.
This is true also in the spiritual life, but we need to replace spinach with the Eucharist. If we know how our bodies/spirits work, we know that we also often find ourselves in need of spiritual strength that is beyond our normal human ability. And yet, we have the capacity for this super-human spiritual strength. This spiritual strength is built up in us by worthily receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, who is the source of all spiritual and moral strength. Like spinach, but infinitely greater and stronger than spinach, Jesus nourishes our spirits, releasing His own strength into our lives and building up our spiritual strength. Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist every Sunday builds up a spiritual reservoir to give us the strength we need to face spiritual situations: real battles in the spiritual world that are waged against our families, difficult times in relationships in our homes or at work, losses that cut into the depths of our hearts, forgiving an “unforgivable” wrong against me, needing to be able to give wise counsel to our children or to a beloved friend, persevering with integrity through general human seasons of loneliness and emptiness, finding strength to give long-term care to a family member or friend, persevering in the promises and the vows we have made. We each face a number of these situations in our lives, along with daily, smaller spiritual battles; and to navigate them and grow through them, requires being connected to a continual source of spiritual strength, which is only found in Jesus Christ. Like Popeye, we don’t need to fully understand, on the spiritually molecular level, how it is that the Eucharist truly strengthens our spirits (although, for those who have time and interest in this study, they will find it in the writings of the saints). We need only to understand that our bodies/spirits are designed with a capacity for super-human spiritual strength, and that it is bestowed by worthy participation in the Eucharist.
If our personal or family life is not currently in harmony with this weekly reception of the Eucharist, it will take some reflection and conviction to re-imagine our priorities that take up our Saturday evenings or Sundays. Let’s face it, with so many options and opportunities today, we need to be picky about how we spend our personal and family time. We need to say “no” to many good things in order to have a healthy personal and family life. What would convince you or me to make time to build our spiritual strength. Do we really need it? Do I need to make decisions in my personal life/family life to build up spiritual strength through the Eucharist?
I would propose that we have the dubious distinction of living in one of the most spiritually and morally impoverished eras in the history of civilization. We may not be convicted that our own spiritual weakness should be a concern, since we are swimming in cultural spiritual weakness. When we compare ourselves to other spiritually weak people, we probably come out looking OK – after all, my kids go to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School. This is why we need constantly to be using the Gospels as a mirror for our lives. The Gospel tells me whether I am spiritually weak or strong or somewhere in between.
St. Irenaeus is the author of one of my favorite quotes of all time: the glory of God is man fully alive. God is glorified when all of our capacities are FULL and healthy: our physical capacity, our social-emotional capacity, our intellectual capacity, and our spiritual capacity. Who of us would say that, on the physical level, we are fully alive if we eat just enough nutrients to keep us from passing out or keeling over at the end of the day? No! We want to eat plenty of good nutrients and give our bodies exercise and rest in order to build good internal health and bodily strength – more strength than just being able to survive the day. Good health is its own reward, not to mention being able to fight off the common cold or resisting the flu in its season. Who of us, on the social-emotional level, would say that one friend is enough to satisfy all of our heart’s desires? No! We believe in a community to help bring out the best in us; to give us a place to love and to be loved. Who of us, on the intellectual level, would say we are fully alive if we just learn how to survive the elements on earth – enough knowledge to build a hut, to hunt/gather food, to sew a garment for our bodies? No! We believe deeply in education at the highest levels, both for professional service in the world and for our own human development. This physical, social-emotional, and intellectual strength we do not have of ourselves. We have the capacity for it and we need to choose in harmony with what we know brings human flourishing to build these up strengths in our lives – to make us fully alive.
And if we ask what brings about our physical, social-emotional, intellectual flourishing, don’t we also have to ask: who of us, on the spiritual level, is fully alive, when we look to the needs of our souls only in desperate times when we have run out of our own resources; when we use God as a vending machine for when we are thwarted in getting what we want? Deep-rooted spiritual strength allows someone to be at peace in all circumstances, to see with spiritual eyes the wisdom with which God is ruling the world and each of our lives. It gives us insight into God’s plan for our children and our families and enables us to cooperate, with joy, in His perfect plan for our lives. Developing spiritual strength brings with it the kind of joy that the world can neither give nor take away. All of this divine wisdom and strength which makes us fully alive is offered to us in the Eucharist.
At back to school nights this year, Father Andrew encouraged our families to be faithful to Sunday Eucharist. I invite and encourage you, with your families, to spend one dinner conversation this week talking about how/why Mass can be a priority for your family. Ask and share with your families what battles you faced this week, with yourself or with others, where you needed strength, encouragement, and consolation, and how deepening your relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist could give you / your children what they need on these daily occasions. And with Popeye and with St. Irenaeus, let us choose in harmony with those things that give glory to God by helping us to be fully alive.
