I. There are two substances of which all creation consists, matter and spirit. They form two diverse and apparently incompatible worlds; but in man they are united. The human body is of the earth, but is the most perfect of earthly productions. It stands upright, as if facing God and asserting its dominion over the rest of creation. The brain and nervous system are far more perfect than in other animals. The hand is a marvel of adaptability, and has been the instrument of human progress; the horse’s hoof, the fish’s fin, the end of the bird’s wing are similar in structure, but how different in their capacity for use. The bones, the veins, the internal mechanism of heart and lungs, everything in fact is of the highest degree of elaboration. Much more beautiful than the bodily frame is the countenance, when it is the index of a pure and benevolent mind. Matter is glorified by being made part of the substance of those who are images of God. Above all, the human body was glorified by being united to the Divinity, when the Son of God took our nature from the most blessed of the daughters of Adam. Thus even your body is worthy of admiration and reverence. Remember its dignity, and never let it be the abode of sin and Satan. Maintain it in the divine likeness, and as the Apostle says: “Glorify and bear God in your body” (1 Cor. vi. 20).
II. Much more noble and splendid is the soul. It is not of the earth, for God “breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Gen. ii. 7). The soul partakes of the qualities of the angels, and even of the eternal God; it has powers that do not belong to matter; it is a spirit, it is immortal, it is intelligent, it is free and master of itself. What God is in the world, that the soul is in the body; it is in every part at once and entirely; it gives life and action to the body, and maintains unity in its parts and harmony in its functions. It directs the physical powers and senses of the body, and gives them their efficiency. It is the rational soul which imparts to the features their expressiveness, dignity and beauty. Without the soul and life, the body is a repulsive object; more repulsive still are those animals which are nearest to man in structure. They have life but no soul; most repulsive of all is the man who possesses both life and soul, and whose soul is disordered by mania or sinful excesses. Your soul is more than your body, your spiritual life more than earthly life. Your perfection as man, and well-being in time and eternity depend on the dominance of virtue over pleasure, faith over worldliness, grace over nature.
III. These two elements, matter and spirit, have been brought by God into a wonderful union in man. It would have seemed impossible (had God not done it) to combine the material and the intellectual into one being, and to raise brute matter into union with the infinite, unconditioned, divine Spirit. But man becomes the link which joins the two halves of the chain of being. The dust of the earth becomes organic in the substance of a plant; thence it becomes the food of man, is changed into blood and brain, and becomes associated with his thought. Man in turn is incorporated with God in the Incarnation, in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and by his transformation in glory. Thus through Him “the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. viii. 21). In man the unconscious material universe returns upon God, its first source, and renders Him a “reasonable service.” “Honour the Lord with thy substance” (Prov. iii. 9). Render Him a double service according to the double element in your nature; not externally only nor internally only; but a service of faith and works, of inward adoration and outward profession, of prayer, fasting and almsdeeds.
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