In the world not of it
Fr. Paul Barwikowski
Each of us has a desire for knowledge, truth, and love. Nothing in the world will make a man full of truth and love. And that is why St. Thomas Aquinas says that in man there is a rational soul, in which there is a reflection of the Son, who is logos and truth. And there is a reflection of the Holy Spirit, which is love. And these two reflections of this inner life of God Himself are in every man.
Whether a person believes or does not believe. A man is placed on the border of two worlds. On one hand, we are very much a part of this nature, our bodies are made up of various compounds and matter, and still, each one of us has something that is completely out of this world. This is our rational soul, which can find fulfillment only in its source. God sees himself in man and dreams of man.
When man was created, he found himself in paradise, then it is also said that man was in a state of original perfection, and justice and he/she lived in grace. This grace enabled man to look calmly at God and to accept the beauty of God within himself. He shone with the light of God himself, he had a brightness that happened through grace. Thanks to grace, man could look at God, be close to Him, and be in touch with Him, while maintaining God’s freedom and human freedom.
A man is placed on
the border of two worlds
What This Means For Us
One must realize that this is a great gift that man has received. God imprinted in us his own image of his inner Trinitarian life. At the same time, man will never find his perfection in this world, because he is not of this world. Therefore, in each one of us, as we are here on earth, this great desire will remain unfulfilled. And that’s what sets us apart.
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