Fully Alive!

Happy feast day of St. Irenaeus!

Who's that, you say? He's the second century French bishop who penned our school motto: The glory of God is man fully alive!

Here's the deal: God made you in his image. The secret of who you are is hidden in Christ. Hang out with Him - take a break and savor a moment with Him. He will reveal all.

You were made for communion with God and neighbor. You were made with a purpose. Your life - all of it - highs and lows - even your suffering - has meaning and significance. You are loved.

St. Irenaeus wrote about being fully alive when he was battling against Gnostic heretics. The Gnostics didn't get it. They despaired about life. Gnostics believed that creation was a mistake, that the earth is a wasteland, that our bodies are prisons. Maybe that sounds familiar - some of the problems in our society today involve modern variations on gnosticism. Gnostics - then and now - needed to hear about the glory of being alive, about the glory of being created with a human body, male or female, called to tend God's garden.

For Gnostics, "religion" was all about escaping this world. For Gnostics, "spirituality" is all inside your head. They were/are kind of the opposite of Catholics. We Catholics believe in the sacraments - we believe God comes to us in creation. We believe in the corporal works of mercy - that God meets us in the least of these, in the faces of our needy brothers and sisters. We believe that we are our bodies - the real you is not a ghostly soul inside a fleshy prison, but really and truly, each one of us is a beautiful male or female body.

I was on vacation last week in Colorado. I wore my Martin Saints "Fully Alive" shirt hiking in the mountains. I hope you're also having a good summer. I hope you're getting to spend some time outdoors, aka "God's classroom." I hope you're getting some rest, some play, catching your breath, a little laughter, time to pray, a chance to inhale clean air.

We've started planning our September canoe camping trip. Getting ready. Can't wait. See you then!