Day 35: Living His New Creation

By Adam Pane

DSM Creative Content Manager

Editor’s Note: TOB is the abbreviation for Pope St. John Paul II’s book “Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body” Pauline Press

'Your real, new self will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.' – C.S. Lewis

Born into a broken world, I recognize the disintegrated parts of myself: physically, mentally, and spiritually. Physically, I possess a degenerative disease rated as one of the rarest cases medical experts have ever seen. Their diagnosis has taken a toll on how I see myself and have had a negative impact on my mental and spiritual health.

My physical distress distorted my lens; I began to believe I wasn’t worthy of close relationships. It tempted me to feel alone on this journey.

Isolated, I would wake up in the mornings and compile a mental list of to-do's as to better my health (go to the gym, take supplements, etc.). I became self-obsessed. My relationship with ‘health’ was not healthy. It was overwhelming as I introspected on my next healthy task.

I obsessed on my plan of ‘healing’ and couldn’t see the Father’s. He peacefully invited me to surrender and to invite Him in, deeper.

He met me in my need and raised up the new creation. Having an earthly father that was absent for most of my life, the Father summoned me into sonship. Quiet times in the mornings and brothers who loved me by holding me accountable and pointing out blind spots continues to refine me. I am becoming the man that the Father is calling me to be.

Now I allow His Spirit to encourage me; I practice His Presence more than my fears and doubts. Through the Father, I have found healing in the integration of my body and spirit. His Spirit of resurrection is raising me to offer new life to others. As I bring life to others, I receive life. I now expect healing as I extend healing to others.

Healing can be defined as the process of becoming sound again. ‘We worship you, Lord, with our thoughts, our words, and our bodies; we trust in Your plan of redeeming our bodies.’

'Spiritualization means not only that the spirit will dominate the body, but, I would say, that it will fully permeate the body... The resurrection will consist in the perfect participation of all that is physical in man in what is spiritual in him.' (TOB 67:2)

‘Jesus, rouse the gift we are. Help us to attend to the treasure you summon from the trash. Free us from our constant faultfinding and free us for vestiges of paradise in our memories and in our lives today. We refuse the liar who tries to rewrite Eden out of our histories. Unite us to the home of our original dignity.’

‘Jesus, have mercy on us as Your Church. We have abused weaker members, including children, and protected ourselves. We have violated the most vulnerable. In Your mercy, free us to superabound with justice. Grant us Kingdom discernment and courage to reform ourselves. May our repentance grant us Kingdom authority to strengthen the weak, discipline violators, and restore the violated.’