Why the Catholic Faith Is Not an Escape From the Real World
What spirituality means in relation to our physical body
The Catholic faith is not a religion that is detached from the physical world.
It is not something that only exists beyond our physical reality.
When you become a Catholic, you do not suddenly retreat from the world, close your eyes and pray that your spirit may quickly get to heaven.
You do not seek to escape from your body just so you could save your soul.
Even the Apostle’s Creed reminds us of this:
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.”
The spirituality you have in Catholicism is one that unites body and soul, the physical and the material world.
And so you do not shut yourself off from the world. You open yourself to God. Being open to Him, you let Him make you a channel of His grace for the world.
You carry your cross each day, facing all the burdens and pains you may feel with your whole being.
Struggling and yet hoping, your gaze towards heaven, but your feet planted firmly upon the ground.
When you receive the Eucharist, your faith reaches it’s culmination.
You receive Christ not only with your mind. Not only with your heart. But with your whole being. You receive Him in faith, but you touch Him physically. He resides within you as the Bread that feeds your body and soul.
“For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will also live because of me.”- John 6:55–57, WEBBE
Other questions or doubts about the Catholic faith? You may want to take a look at my book “Defending My Catholic Faith” — click here.
You may also want to read:
Of Waves and Butterflies: Poems on Grief
Get my books from other digital stores — click here
Jocelyn Soriano is a Catholic devotional writer and poet. Aside from Medium, she also writes at I Take Off the Mask and Single Catholic Writer.