The Importance of Doing Spiritual Exercise, Sermon by Fr. Paul Robinson, SSPX

#catholic #sspx #sermon

• Doctors tell us that if we want our bodies to be healthy, we must exercise our bodies regularly. If our bodies are always at a state of rest, not moving, not straining, they will deteriorate over time.
• It is interesting to note that many exercises consist of pushing back against gravity. We have this force of gravity that is always being exercised upon us, which pulls us down. We find that, if we sometimes work against that force of gravity, if we strain our bodies against it, it is helpful for our bodies, rather than just letting gravity always pull us down.
• We can think about the exercises of pull ups, push ups, sit ups, and so on. There is a kettlebell exercise where you simply hold a weight above your head and walk with it.
• God has made our body in such a way that it needs periodic movement and strain in order for them to be in good health.
• Today, I want to speak to you about a spiritual exercise that is like the anti-gravity bodily exercises. It consists in pushing back against the weight of our fallen human nature that is always weighing down upon us.
• Our fallen nature works on our souls like the force of gravity works on our bodies. It is always pulling us down to earthly things. We can think of our souls as naturally being stooped over and always tending to look at ourselves, to want creature comforts, to be consumed with the things of this world.
• If we made a log of what we are always thinking about for one day, we might be surprised. We might find a lot of vanity, selfishness, and pride in our thoughts.
• Just as if we leave our bodies alone and do nothing with them, they fall apart, so too with our souls. If we let them live this way all the time, we will lose them. Our souls will be always consumed with the things of this earth and will end up falling into hell rather than rising up to Heaven.
• At the beginning of this season of Advent, we heard these words of Our Lord: “when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.”
• We have to be continually be lifting our souls up to heavenly things. This is the spiritual exercise I would like to talk about. It consists in lifting our souls up to God throughout the day.
• Sometimes, you will hear this referred to as the “practice of the presence of God”. In other places, you will hear it referred to as the practice of recollection.