Economy of Grace in the Body of Spiritual Man
Glossary
Economy of Grace in a Human Body With a Spiritual Soul
Why Are the Biological Scientific Mysteries Hidden in Scripture Important
To begin with, to know ourselves, we must understand the Incarnate Son of God. The word “incarnation” points explicitly to Jesus’ Human Body. According to the Catechism, “In reality, it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear.”[1][2] Knowing the biological sciences of His Human Body will teach us a great deal about our humanity!
By doing so, we will acquire an adequate anthropology of the spiritual and biological foundation of the Economy of Grace for all rational human persons. It is an Economy that allows all rational human beings to obtain the grace necessary for eternal life. According to the self-identified Theology of the Body Evangelization Team:
Between 1979 and 1984, Pope St. John Paul II delivered a series of Wednesday audiences that eventually became known as the Theology of the Body (TOB). This profound teaching offered what St. John Paul called an “adequate anthropology” [i.e., scientific explanation of humanity] — an examination of what it means to be human, made in God’s image and likeness, and how that reality is made visible through the human body, giving a Sacramental View of Reality.
Pope St. John Paul II the Great has answered the question posed at the beginning of this article. His Theology of the Body (TOB) teaches us that the body, and it alone, is capable of expressing into visible creation the invisible: the Spiritual and the Divine life of Grace. In other words, through the instrumentality of the physical body, fallen Man is redeemed and made capable of both receiving and expressing Love and Grace. God deliberately designed us with that purpose in mind. The anthropology becomes clear when we understand the meaning of the spiritual soul, which God breathed into each rational human.
Informed by God Himself, St. Hildegard of Bingen writes:
Of all the strengths of God’s creation, Man’s is most profound, made in a wondrous way with great glory from the dust of the earth and so entangled with the strengths of the rest of creation that he can never be separated from them; for the elements of the world, created for Man’s service, wait on him, and Man, enthroned as it were in their midst, by divine disposition presides over them, as David says, inspired by Me [God]:
“Thou hast crowned him with glory and worship, and given him dominion over all the works of Thy hands” [Psalms 8:6–7]. Which is to say: You, O God, Who have marvellously [sic] made all things, have crowned Man with the gold and purple crown of intellect and with the sublime garment [Flesh] of visible beauty, thus placing him like a prince above the height of Your perfect works, which You have distributed justly and rightly among Your creatures. Before all Your other creatures You have conferred on Man great and wonderful dignities.[3]
For man, the scriptural mouth consists of the entire human body. It breathes-in that which can either enlighten (through the grace of the Holy Spirit) or darken (with pride and lust). Pope St. John Paul II’s words bear repeating:
The body, in fact, and it alone is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God.[4]
Our bodies are the means through which we express spiritual love (i.e., the Language of the Spirit) or, on the other hand, artificial/chemical/imitation love. Both options are sent out/expressed accurately in the Language of the Body. Through the biological scientific mysteries discovered in the Bible, a more accurate understanding of distinguishing TRUE spiritual love from artificial/chemical love can be achieved.
The discussions above help us to understand why the thirty-four-plus mysteries of biological sciences hidden in Scripture are so important. The “making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine,” is done through the Language of the Body. The thirty-four mysteries teach us much of the invisible vocabulary of that Language.
Additionally, it is vital to know that the biological language of the body is both visible (i.e., sense-able) and invisible (meta-sense-able).
For twenty-five years, I have researched and written about the relationship between science (mainly the biological sciences) and Scripture. It is my belief the Theology of the Salt (TOS), as taught through “The Science & Theology of Salt in Scripture” (STOSS), can be classified as a significant branch of TOB.
The article revealing the thirty-four mysteries of cutting-edge biological science hidden in Scripture can be found here. So advanced are these biological mysteries, modern-day scientists have only recently begun to discover them. This fact becomes even more astounding when we realize the first book of Scripture was written over three-thousand years ago.
These mysteries are not written in Scripture in a textbook fashion. Instead, they are written and hidden in an Applied Sciences fashion. Why Applied Science? The Bible was not written for scientists alone. It was written so that all could understand its words to the specific degree that each individual can receive it through God’s Grace.
Introduction to the Biological Mysteries Hidden in The Science & Theology of Salt* in Scripture:
*Light, Water, Dust, and Stone too
It is written that we can more thoroughly know ourselves by knowing our prototype, i.e., the Incarnate Son of God: Jesus Christ, True God, and True Man. Therefore, this article will endeavor to help one gain a more profound knowledge of Jesus’ humanity and Adam’s too. In turn, both will lead to a greater understanding of our humanity.
In an October 2017 interview by Catholic World Report, Fr. Thomas Joseph White tells us:
Thomas Aquinas affirms that we cannot love what we do not know [emphasis SML], and that when we grow in understanding of God, we can also grow in love for Him, precisely because we begin to understand more deeply who God is. There is no opposition between intellectual understanding and our emotions [SML] or intuitions, but we need intellectual analysis to test our initial intuitions, and to give structure to our emotional life. In fact, over time, it is the search for the truth that does the most to steady the internal development of the human person, and this search is most noble in the person. There is a prevalent suspicion in our culture today that having strong truth convictions will make a person unloving or unjust. Seeking the truth in the right way, however, is not only not opposed to being loving or just, but something they presuppose. Growth in spiritual love perfects or completes the human person but it presumes and is aided by truth. As we become more realistic, we are able to love more realistically.[5]
Created in the image and likeness of the Trinity, we cannot know and understand ourselves, why we have been given a body, without gaining a deeper understanding of the Trinity. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that only man’s spiritual soul was created in the image and likeness of God, but not our bodies. The opposite is true. In Genesis, it is written, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27). God the Father is Truth. God the Son is Truth known. God, the Holy Spirit, is Truth penetrated and on fire with Love and to send out Love.
The overflow of the human heart must be expressed (cf. Mt. 23:26). That is an integral part of Love. This overflow is where the biblical mouth comes in. Obviously, God does not have a physical mouth. So, when we read in Scripture of the mouth of God (cf. 1 Kgs 8:15), are we to interpret it as a metaphor that helps us understand who or what is doing the communicating — the expressing/sending out? Let’s apply our understanding of being sent to the Trinity.
Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind.”[6] I would modify Einstein’s expression somewhat. I would say: adherents of Scientism who are willfully ignorant and disdainful of Scripture are doomed to fall far short of the whole truth of creation, especially of man created in the image and likeness of God. Likewise, theologians and Scripture scholars ignorant of true science (as opposed to agenda/imitation science) will also be unable to understand Scripture and the Truth contained therein more fully.
Scripture scholars and theologians describe the Bible as polyvalent, i.e., the words in Scripture contain multiple, maybe even infinite, layers of Truth. Each layer complements the others and deepens our understanding of God and his creation. STOSS is my endeavor to glimpse some of the deeper meanings of God’s words. A comprehensive treatment of this theology could quickly fill several large books. However, STOSS presents a broad overview — perhaps planting a seed that will grow and bear fruit.There were times while writing STOSS that I shed tears. They were not tears of sorrow but great joy combined with awe at how great and mighty is this God we worship (or, in many cases, should worship); the God who allows us to glimpse His glory and majesty by penetrating the depths of his handy work, i.e., creation. I hope you, too, will find yourself shedding tears of joy and awe.
Man Was Made to Communicate Grace
It is a tenet of STOSS that an individual man can communicate to others the grace they have received from God. I base the credibility of this tenet on several factors that will be discussed in greater detail elsewhere in STOSS writings. For now, I will cite four sources that reinforce my belief. They are: 1) the words of Jesus as relayed by St. Faustina; 2) the words of Scripture; 3) the words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen; and 4) JP II. Let’s expand a bit:
1). Jesus tells St. Faustina, “I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.”[7]2). In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart [believer’s heart in this passage would correspond to Jesus saying “approaches with trust” in his conversation with Faustina] shall flow rivers of living water’” (Jn. 7:37-38). This living water is the grace of the Holy Spirit, a river flowing out from the believer’s heart. Additionally, St. Paul writes, “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear.” (Eph. 4:29-30); and,3). St. Paul wrote, “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:6-7). Fulton Sheen so entirely viewed himself as an earthen vessel that he titled his autobiography Treasure in Clay. In Sheen’s book, The Mystical Body of Christ, he wrote, “The graces of God are communicated through ‘frail vessels [SML].’”[7-B]. Its members were small; its organs were in the process of formation.”[8] This communication of grace is why the Church is considered the “Prolongation of the Incarnation through space and time.”[9]
4). According to JPII, just as a sacrament is an outward sign of an inward (and unseen) reality of grace, the body itself enters into the “definition of a sacrament” (loosely speaking). This interpretation is so because it is a visible sign of an invisible reality. Not only is the body a sign of grace received, but it also visibly expresses what it has received (not possible without the body) and does so efficaciously for self and others. Furthermore, the body not only expresses grace but produces it, as we shall see later. Thus, the body contributes to grace becoming part of man. [10]
Summary of the Economy of Grace within Rational/Spiritual Man
1). The Incarnate Jesus: The Incarnate Jesus was completely human in every way except sin. Consequently, everything we discuss in this Section is completely applicable to Jesus. In fact, it is the Church’s Teaching that all grace comes to man through Jesus’ humanity, which is Hypostatically united to the Person of the Son of God.
2). The Spiritual Soul of Man: Man alone is created with a Spiritual Soul. In the Catechism, it reads:
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly”, with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming [1 Thess. 5:23]. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality [SML] into the soul [cf. Council of Constantinople IV (870): DS 657]. ‘Spirit’ signifies that from creation, man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God [cf. Vatican Council I, Dei Filius: DS 3005; Gaudium et Spes 22 § 5; Humani Generis: DS 3891].[11]
The upper powers of the spiritual soul, often identified as the human spirit, are intellect (not to be confused with the biological brain); free will (i.e., the root of Love and Charity); memory (i.e., the whole spiritual soul can never forget any knowledge it acquires), and; understanding (i.e., the ability — through the gift of grace — to penetrate and comprehend the thoughts of God). The lower powers are referred to as the soul. The lower power (the soul) controls and directs all the actions of our physical body.
We must not believe that the different powers of the spiritual soul (upper and lower powers) represent a duality. No distinct and segregated locations exist between the upper and lower powers of the spiritual soul. The spirit is not in a compartment separated from the soul and vice versa.
3). Where the Holy Spirit Dwells: Before the Fall and after the Redemption/Ascension — after Baptism and while still in a state free from mortal sin — the Holy Spirit dwells in the spirit/inner heart of the Spiritual Soul. Through this indwelling, we received Sanctifying Grace, i.e., Living Water. This Grace (Living Water in the uppercase) is a direct communication of the Holy Spirit with man’s Spiritual Soul.
4). Overflow of the Spirit’s dwelling within the human spirit: This is where the Theology of the Body comes into play. Let us recall what St. John Paul II taught us:
The body, in fact, and it alone is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God.[12]
It is important to note that the Language of the Body through which this spiritual and divine is made visible in creation is sense-able and meta-sense-able.
5). The Soul’s (the Lower Power of the Spiritual Soul) Overflow Language is what we call living water (lowercase): To understand the depth of the Language of the Body, we must understand the scope of the science behind that language. As Saint John Paul II wrote:
The body speaks not merely with the whole external expression of masculinity and femininity, but also with the internal structures of the organism, of the somatic [the entire body and its aggregate parts] and psychosomatic [relating to mind/mental] reaction.[13]
Some of the moving biological components which fall under the category of bio-living water are:
— The visible movements of the body that others can experience through the five senses;The meta-sense-able elements of the human voice;
— The various energetic, communicative properties of the living human heart;
— Sound-waves;
— Structured Biological Water;
— The biological movement of electrons and protons within and around the body; and,
— The energy of light
ENDNOTES:
[1] Gaudium et Spes, 22 § 1.
[2] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), 92 (#359).
[3] Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias, ed. Bernard McGinn, trans. Columba Hart and Jane Bishop, The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), 98.
[4] St. John Paul II, “Man Enters the World as a Subject of Truth and Love,” n. 4.
[5] Carl E. Olson, “We cannot love what do not know”: An interview with Fr. Thomas Joseph White O.P., The Catholic World Report, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/10/03/we-cannot-love-what-do-not-know-an-interview-with-fr-thomas-joseph-white-o-p/, October 3, 2017 (accessed 06/01/2022).
[6] Albert Einstein. BrainyQuote.com, Xplore Inc, 2017. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins161289.html, accessed May 20, 2017.
[7] Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, n. 1074. Used with permission of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.
[7-B] Sheen, Fulton J., The Mystical Body of Christ (Kindle Locations 215-218), Ave Maria Press, Kindle Edition. This reference is found in the “Introduction of the New Edition” by Brandon Vogt. Excerpted from The Mystical Body of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen. Copyright 2015 by The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Used with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press, P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556. www.avemariapress.com.
[8] Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska,, Kindle Locations 2935-2939.
[9] Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska,, Kindle Locations 94.
[10] John Paul II, “Marital Love Reflects God’s Love for His People,” The Theology of the Body, Daughters of St. Paul, General audience of July 28, 1982, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, (Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media, 1997), p. 304-306.
[11] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), n. 367, pp. 93–94.
[12] St. John Paul II, “Man Enters the World as a Subject of Truth and Love,” n. 4.
[13] John Paul II, in his general audience of Sept. 5, 1984, “Responsible Parenthood Linked to Moral Maturity,” Theology of the Body, ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana (Third Millennium Media L.L.C., The Faith Database L.L.C., 2008), n. 1.