On being risen with Christ

Second Part What St. Paul is saying in our passage is that we live in two realms:

the realm of the physical world and realm of the spiritual. When he says that we are risen with Christ, he means that while we are in this physical world, we are at the same time in the realm of the Spirit.

The Russian cosmonauts who went up into outer space came back to earth less believing in God than they had ever before. Why? Because they said they had not seen God up there. But they were dead wrong because their minds were too hopelessly literal.

Our discussion sets the stage for the ethical teaching of St. Paul. He says: "Set your minds on things above." J.B. Phillips' translation makes it more plain: "Give your heart to heavenly things, not to passing things on earth."

Paul wishes to say to us, not that we are to be whisked away from the physical world, and we become "other-wordly" spirit-beings, what he means is that while our feet are still planted on the ground, he bids us to set our desires on the spiritual world. For he means that our lives must cease being structured by the world's design. Listen to St. Paul's admonition which is an outgrowth of his thought that our minds be set on things above:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immortality, impunity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. We notice that St. Paul has listed ethical principles by which the Christian lives his normal life. To set one's heart on heavenly things is to dare to live in the world without becoming merely one with it. The Christian will not manage his life as if only his world mattered. Take one thing St. Paul mentions in his list-greed. This has to do with an essential commodity called money. Whether we are poor or rich, when we set our hearts on heavenly things, we will not aim at money as if it were life's greatest good. It is not that money is inherently evil. The Bible does not say that it is.

But when we are risen with Christ, we don't aim for money as if it were the end in itself. For everyone knows that when money becomes an end-all and be-all of our existence, it definitely swallows us up. Someone in the ancient world said, "When reason rules, money is surely a blessing." One of you visited me and you said: "If only more of the haves were willing to put their money where their mouth is, we would have a more livable world." TO BE CONTINUED*

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