Creating The Kingdom Of God Means Honing Your Spiritual Weapons
As humans, we create cognitive structures, or thought patterns, that help us to learn, grow and deal with the world around us. Think of the diagram of a family tree or an organization chart as the way beliefs and memories are created and stored in our brains. The stronger, or more emotional the event or the memory, the stronger the connection becomes. This explains why I can remember my wedding day and the day my father passed away very clearly but cannot remember many details about even one percent of all of the times I have filled up my vehicles with gas.
This also explains one of the reasons why stereotyping and “racial profiling,” or any other type of profiling, exists. They come from the same root. Our brains immediately connect actions with the actors. This is why after September 11 occurred, many folks were leery of middle-eastern men in their 30s.
The same can be said for hundreds of other areas in our lives. We attach emotion and reason to occurrences and experiences. How do you feel about Easter morning? What about snow on Christmas? What about snow in March? What about “foreign” cars? What about “domestic” cars? All of these things bring about a certain reaction from us based on our experiences with the subject in the past.
Now, here is an interesting twist. Even if we hate snow in March because of a past, negative experience with this type of weather event, our views can be modified or even changed by another experience or simply by hearing of a positive experience from someone who we respect or share some type of bond or relationship.
What implications does this rambling psycho-babble have for us as Catholics? Quite simply it means that our family, friends, neighbors and the world will not only judge us, but also Catholicism as a whole, by our actions and words. If we profess in a conversation that we are indeed followers of Jesus Christ, that we proudly worship at (insert name of parish here) and then lead into a dirty joke or make a comment about someone’s wife, husband or children, then we create a negative experience, connection or attachment in the minds of those around us to ourselves, our faith, our parish and ultimately Jesus Christ. By those around us, I mean not only those who we are speaking directly to but also those who are within earshot of our words or actions. This can have drastic consequences to Christ’s wish of spreading his Word throughout the land.
Now, lest I fall into my traditionally pessimistic ways and focus only on the negative, let me assure you, kind reader, that the same holds true for those times when we create positive experiences, connections or attachments in the minds of others. For example, if people know that we are Catholic and they see us perform Christ-like actions in our daily lives, they will attach Catholicism and Christ to good deeds and upright living and may choose to begin modeling that behavior themselves.
The real kicker in all of this is that this occurs all of the time. So, if we focus on being Christ-like in traffic or at work (noble aspirations, I assure you) but like to throw our golf clubs in the lake after cursing them with a thousand poxes, then we have some work to do.
This life of the Christian is a complicated matter. I once heard a public figure state that Christianity was for the weak. Quite the opposite. Christianity requires focusing of the mind, body and spirit into a laser-like dedication to adherence of our Christian principles. When we let our guard down or become dull in our awareness of our actions, we begin to slip into the abyss of moral relativism.
However, when our spiritual weapons are honed and sharpened, we can create in this world nothing less than the kingdom of God. This will bring us times of great joy and moments of difficulty but would we have it any other way?
Who of us would trade the spiritual battle we endure in this life with all of its twists, for the shackles of spiritual mediocrity. I, for one, choose to be free in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
