29 July 2017

"When the spirit expresses itself through the body, it is strengthened."

1 comment

taiji heartwork said...

"It is not that being spiritual means escaping from or being detached from the body but rather involves dwelling in it fully. The body brings us into contact with the reality around us and is our primary medium of communication. Dwelling in the body obliges us to have a healthy realism that is essential to the spiritual life. It is also a precondition for living in the present moment. The body has its own poverty, difficulties, and constraints, but it has the great advantage of being firmly rooted in reality, in the present. It enables us as it were to “anchor” the spirit and insist that it live in the present. There is a humble wisdom in the human body to which the spirit should submit. We can meet God in prayer only by situating ourselves in the present, and the fact that we are bodily beings is a valuable help toward this. To pray we need to dwell in our hearts, and to dwell in our hearts, we need to dwell in our bodies."
Father Jacques Philippe, Thirsting For Prayer, 2014