Reflections | EVOLUTION OF A SPIRITUAL LIFE

Watch as Msgr. Don reflects on the transition of becoming what God truly intended for us to be.

Good morning. I want to talk about our human nature for a moment. And one of the things I love about growing and getting more and more aware of the essence of what it means to be human, and that comes with age, and certainly I have a lot of age, but the point I'd like to make is there's something about human nature is that it's never, ever static. 

It constantly has to change, evolve and grow. And I call that the growth of human consciousness. Meaning consciousness means I'm aware of who I am and what this life is all about. I see it for what it is. I want to participate in that process as fully as possible. And the process is a transition from a self-centered, separate, isolated individual into something that is communal, that is not only there because of the work that they have to do for themselves, but they shift from self-centeredness to this other centeredness as if there's a moment in that whole process of going from a self-centered creature to other center creature that is a moment that I would say spirituality begins to really take root.

Because if your spirituality is all about yourself and fixing yourself and making yourself better, you're not yet into the real spiritual work. The spiritual work is when you realize, okay, I am who I am, but there's a gift that I've been given and the gifts that I've been given I need to develop. And the reason I develop is not because it does something for me, but because I have that gift, because my primary spiritual work is to be there for other people. That shift is major, major and I might call it the moment when you move from one world into a completely new world. When you leave the old world, you look back on it, and you sort of shake your head, and you look into this new world, and it's exciting because you have this sense of satisfaction that the old world cannot create. You can work on yourself all the time and look and say, “Wow, look at how great I am,” and that's not a bad feeling. But it's nothing compared to the feeling you get when you've done something for someone else. 

That's why the way it works is because that's what we're made for, we're made to evolve into a creature that is totally other centered. And when you're other centered, every need and longing you have for a sense of well-being comes a hundredfold because that's what we are made to be.

Have a good day.

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Kyle Cross