Avoiding the Excesses of Materialism and Spiritualism

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky | Aug 19, 2024

We sometimes hear that a particular person is not religious but is “deeply spiritual.” But spirituality detached from God’s good creation is out of touch with reality and can be harmful. Authentic Catholic spirituality engages body and soul, spirit and creation, divine faith and human reason—and avoids the excesses of materialism and spiritualism.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in union with God. They enjoyed creation as God’s handiwork and His gift. The mysterious Tree of Life provided their sustenance. Their work in the Garden was not arduous. It was natural to them and expressed their human dignity. The unseen God and His creative handiwork were in perfect harmony.

Original sin separated God and man and husband and wife. The excesses of materialism and spiritualism are the result of sin. Materialism is the excessive or disproportionate reliance on the things of this world. In the Desert, the Devil tempts Jesus with a materialistic appeal: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Mt. 4:3) The response of Jesus integrates body and soul: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

The Devil also tempts Jesus with irrational spiritualism: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you.” (Mt. 4:6) The grand finale temptation: “All [the kingdoms of the world] I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” (Mt. 4:9) Devil-worshippers are deeply spiritual people.

When Jesus attended the wedding feast at Cana, His presence sanctified the human love between a man and a woman. His first miracle affirms that wine—the work of human hands—brings natural joy. His association with His disciples was an interplay of human relationships, including friendship, resolving misunderstandings, and love. Jesus is the Word made flesh. His humanity reveals His divinity.

The miraculous multiplication of the loaves affirms the dignity of hunger and sustenance. Jesus uses the multiplication of the loaves to prepare His disciples for His greatest gift to humanity: the gift of Himself in Holy Communion. Jesus is “the living bread which came down from heaven.” He promises, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn. 6:50-51)

Jesus establishes His Church on the rock of St. Peter, with the Apostles forming the foundation. Tradition and Sacred Scriptures deliver the faith to us through the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, the guardian—not master—of the faith. The sacraments transform our broken nature and heal us throughout a lifetime of encounters. Virtue—our response to God’s grace and our free execution of His law—perfects our wounded humanity. For those who die in the state of grace, purgatory is the finishing school of virtue, preparing us to meet God face to face with perfect innocence.

At the end of time, the Resurrection of the Dead fulfills the promise of our participation in the Resurrection of Jesus. The elect will live in eternity with glorified bodies—the perfect union of body and soul with original innocence restored.

During our few years on earth, Catholic spirituality helps us to resist the extremes of materialism and spiritualism. We seek integrity—body and soul—in the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. The Mass overcomes the excesses of materialism and spiritualism. At Mass, the Word becomes flesh. The proclamation of the Word of God during the Liturgy of the Word comes to completion with the reception of Jesus in Holy Communion.

Among the many religious allies of Catholics are traditional evangelical Protestants. Their preachers are among the most accomplished and persuasive in Christianity. Indeed, many Catholic clergy could use some of the power (and even orthodoxy) of their preaching. But the Protestant proclamation of the Word does not come to completion in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the sacred vessel of the Incarnation.

The errors of classic Protestantism help us understand the dangerous dichotomy between matter and spirit. In the classic Protestant tradition, the sin of Adam did not merely wound man’s nature; Original Sin obliterated it. We have become—using Martin Luther’s terms—a dung heap. We need God’s grace to cover the useless waste of our obliterated nature. A powerful emotional experience accompanies the declaration of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and we are “born-again.” We are “saved” and gain the certainty of salvation—provided the born-again experience is not imaginary. The assertion “I know I am saved!” may temporarily help extinguish gnawing uncertainties.

Evangelicals resist speaking of virtue (although so many are virtuous) because virtue implies the perfectibility of human nature. They teach God does not perfect—He overpowers—an obliterated human nature. God’s grace covers the fallen dung heap like snow. The Word remains apart from the flesh. The Protestant version of the Liturgy of the Word never takes flesh in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Catholic spirituality acknowledges that the realities of His sacraments express the words of Jesus. We need bread for sustenance. But we also need the Bread of Life. The spiritual life opens the door to the meaning of God’s material gifts, human relationships, marriage, love, and family. Jesus affirms these essential relationships and inclinations, directs them with His law, and elevates them with the grace of His sacraments. Jesus is realistic—and the Eucharist confected by a validly ordained Catholic priest with the intention of the Church is tangible.

The sacraments do not form a superstructure of our existence, as if our daily lives stand apart from our spiritual lives. The sacraments restore and elevate human nature. The spiritual life seeks a heart in harmony with Jesus, our neighbors, and God’s good creation.

Jesus describes the integrity of His sacred mission: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10)