Right Order
February 4, 2025
Opus Dei
Curiosity for the truth, for what is good and what is right is healthy curiosity. We act according to our human nature, that is, as rational, thinking, reflecting, reasoning out things, consulting the right sources, using our common sense more and more for our own good and the good of the others, etc.
Then and only then do we become more responsible and free in our choices and decisions. And then we are happier, more peaceful and content. We are able to say ‘no’ to ourselves; ‘no’ to peer pressure; and go against the current of narcissism, consumerism, relativism, and other isms. We are able to experience the presence of a loving God, Father and Creator. We enjoy His presence around us. We see and experience His love and care for each and every one around us. We appreciate the good that every good child of God is doing all around us. And we are even more able to pray for each and every evildoer to be transformed into a child of God since that is why God created each one of us and He let His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to suffer and die on the Cross for each one of us to be saved.
Simply put, we enjoy a bit of heaven on earth. A bit, because only in the next life will you and I truly enjoy fully and perfectly the Heaven God has planned for each one of us.
The
Root of Our Longing
Because the desire for wellness is so universal and so deeply felt, it might not occur to us to think about where this divine longing for well-being comes from. After all, the state of the post-fallen person is anything but “well.” Suffering, whether because of disease, stress, or conflict, is a much more familiar state of being for most of us than wellness, yet we don’t dismiss the desire for well-being as a fantasy.
Perhaps it is because, as with all the other divine longings, a part of us remembers the wholeness humankind experienced before the Fall. In the chapter on the divine longing for peace, I share St. Augustine’s assertion that peace is the “tranquility that results from right order.” Before the Fall, all the world was at peace with itself and God because the world displayed the right order God intended when he created it. But there can be no peace in the world if there is no peace within our own hearts. Who among us has been able to maintain a peaceful spirit toward others when we have a toothache or are suffering from stress? Outer peace is the fruit of inner peace.
We can think of well-being, then, as the inner peace that results when the five dimensions of the self we defined above work together in balance. As Pope Paul VI wrote in Populorum Progressio (1967), “authentic human development concerns the whole of the person in every single dimension.” We can say that we have achieved well-being to the degree that the whole of our person is well developed and held in balance (Siegel, 2012; Pargament, 2011).
After the Fall, we lost the ability to maintain that perfect balance between all the aspects of our physical, psychological, spiritual, and social self. In fact, I suspect many would say that most of the time these parts of ourselves are at war with one another. We want to pray, but we fall asleep. We want to take care of ourselves, but the people in our lives need to be cared for as well. We want to exercise, but we don’t feel like it. We would like to fill our lives with the company of others, but their petty dramas wear us out. Each of us is a muddle of intentions working at cross-purposes.
How true, how true, how really true! Don’t you agree? I personally experience the above and more especially in the past week. That must be the reason why this post has been over due. And I do not want the thought to bug me even more.
You know the past week I had to battle against my own self as most often I need to do. It seems to me that our Lord has been allowing physical inconveniences and discomforts I could not understand. I tried doing all sorts of activities from planting, watering the plants, stretching, walking, piecing together 500 pieces of jigsaw puzzle already two weeks in the making, resting in our Lord in prayer of course, not a day without conversing with Him throughout the day. Mind you even when I am piecing together the jigsaw puzzle, I hear myself exclaiming saying, “ang galing galing mo talaga, Lord” (You are so smart, Lord). Who would think that one is the piece that would fit into that specific color, shape and place? But surprisingly it fits!
It was not always so. In the beginning, there was unity between God and man and within man himself. Our first parents experienced this well-being, this perfectly balanced life, which resulted from inner and outer harmony. Across the millennia, this dimension of Original Unity calls out to us in the form of our divine longing for well-being, that deep ache we all experience for wholeness and health.
The world has redefined gluttony as the putative “sin” of being overweight. Gluttony is the new promiscuity. In a culture that celebrates lust as the ultimate virtue, the sin of “not being attractive enough” is the only vice worthy of condemnation.
As a sign of respect for God’s creation and because of its spiritual significance, Christianity clearly takes stewardship of the body very seriously, which is why gluttony has always been one of the capital sins. Gluttony undermines the healthy functioning and well-being not only of the body, but of the whole person as well It prevents us from living mindfully by substituting self-indulgence for self-care and by thwarting our call to be truly loving and accepting of our bodies as the gifts they are.
I guess you and I need to come to the realization that God expects that we take care of ourselves well enough to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this life so that in the end we are able to enjoy eternal happiness with Him in Heaven.
Before I say adieu, please allow me to share with you a couple of delightful responses from our group in familyoccasions.blogspot.co?
(From G. Jan 10, 2025) “Hi ----, I
used this blog for my afternoon prayer today. I’m delayed in reading your
blogs. Was able to catch up only
yesterday. Our Lady’s Magnificat is a good reminder to be
humble and grateful to God for and in everything. I took shots of St. John Paul II’s prayer
card (mine is still the original card which I got from …) and his letter to the
elderly, a beautiful prayer for a happy death.
Thanks! Btw, I noticed the word
“Work” when I think you meant “Word”?
Here’s the paragraph (a screenshot).
I love your blogs ---, very inspiring
and formative. I usually use for my afternoon prayer. And I still refer to your book Family
Occasions, Speaking Heart to Heart, for my circles and talks.”
(From N. February 1, 2025) “I’ve
always been a fan of Living Life to the Full.
As a matter of fact it’s one of my mantras. And the one you presented is the most
complete form of it. Love it. Much appreciated. Thank you, ---! Keep well”.
I appreciate
receiving responses as they help me pray more for each and every one and they
confirm your presence and that I am indeed reaching you.
I almost forgot and yet I am certain you and I will talk to
Our Lord in the quiet moments of our prayer about the things we have seen
together in this post. May you and I be
more and more attuned to His inspirations so that you and I may be quick in
heeding them and acting on them as He wills.
Let us take good care of Jesus in our life so that you and I may also
with naturalness help many others around us take even better care of Jesus in
their lives. Life then becomes more meaningful and beautiful.
See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and
laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us
together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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