“…And the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1.2) The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God has inhabited the Earth since the very beginning. Nevertheless, over the centuries, theologians, scholars or philosophers have striven to reconcile the concept of a God living among us but also transcending our world. In the past, some religious and philosophical systems in which the material world we live in was considered corrupted and sinful, worthy only to be despised and rejected, came out and became for some time the prevalent opinions amongst many Christians. The world that God had created became for many only a place to escape and leave behind, despite the fact that “God saw that it was good”.(Gen 1.10) Sometimes I wonder how much of this attitude is still alive among Christians today. This negative outlook wasn’t confined to the environment but become quite normative also in relation to the human body. The long standing dichotomy between the sinful flesh and the heavenly spirit has become the symbol of an inner struggle to accept our own human nature as it is.
It seems to me that we are still swinging among the two extremes of a rejection of human sexuality on one hand and an attempt, sometimes quite successful, to objectify and exploit it on the other.

Once again, I believe Franciscan spirituality has a lot to teach us about that. Not on sexuality especially but on how we regard the world and ourselves in it. We have probably lost a sense of wonder and therefore of respect towards the nature. Science and technology have dramatically improved the human condition (even though not in the same way throughout the world) in the last few centuries and we should be thankful for that. But also we have come to the point of believing that we have now the right to use and abuse everything to our own interest. We seem to have no boundaries whatsoever and we keep wanting more and more. We think to be in control and we can do whatever we like. But the frailty and contradictions of our human nature are still there. We are not invincible and sometimes we have a rude awakening in our life.
I have spent some time at the hospital to assist Br Brian through his post-surgery recovery. Living in a world desperate to erase any trace of illness, old age and death, it was quite a strong experience to get in touch with suffering and pain. I saw in there how really vulnerable we are and how important is to face up the reality of our own human nature. Our society has created new idols to worship instead of God: physical appearance, sex, money, power, success, youth. But when the reality catches up with us all these illusions fall apart and for some people mean really a nose-dive into the most sever desperation and depression. No-one is really helping us to learn how to let go of things, how to cope with our own limitations, how to be real and honest to ourselves. That is when spiritual guidance would be most needed. And this is why spiritual discipline is still so important even in this century. Because it puts things in order and in perspective. We realize that we are not self-sufficient but we are creatures who are born, grow and eventually die. This thought is not meant to depress us but ,on the contrary, to encourage us not to waste time, to look at ourselves and our world with gratitude, to live life to the full, to enjoy everything without attachment and to keep our eyes on Christ, our source of life.
Franciscans try to see this world as a sacred space. We do not run from it, we embrace it. There’s always a degree of risk in it,because we expose our own vulnerability: to touch the world we need to be touched by it. We can also experience disappointment, loss, fear like everyone else. But that is what we pray every day when we say “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done”. Acceptance of what may come. We can express the joy of living by being open to the grace of God, by holding everything in great respect and taking care of what is in this world, which is not, by the way, “ours”. It can be hard for us  to go through our own demons and trials and sometimes we can get lost along the way. We know we can’t get back on track  through our own efforts but we need to follow the light of Christ, who reminds us who we really are,  just like the ships in the open sea used to follow the stars to find their way in the darkness of the night. Illuminated by this grace, it will be possible to us to experience real beauty behind all illusions and deceptions. Through love and compassion, the greatest gifts from the Spirit, we’ll see the matter and spirit are not in opposition but form a unity in God.