Episode Transcript  

One

The Three Powers of the Soul

Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction... For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.”

Jesus places before us two ways. One leads to Heaven, the other to Hell. But how could anyone choose Hell? To understand that, we need to understand how God designed us.

We have a soul with three powers: the Intellect, the Feelings, and the Will. The intellect perceives reality through our five senses, imagination, and memory, and makes a judgment: This is right and good for me, or, This is wrong and bad for me. Our feelings respond: I like this. I don't like that. Then the feelings prompt the will, and the will chooses. Very simply we are supposed to think, feel, choose. Thinking should inform our feelings, and our feelings should help prompt us to choose what is truly good. Feelings are meant to be good servants. But when we put them in charge, they become very bad masters. This is how we begin traveling the wide road, the highway to Hell. And I never did like AC/DC.

Two

What Original Sin Did to Us

So we see how God designed us. The problem is that Original Sin wounded all three powers of the soul. Our intellect has been darkened. We suffer from ignorance, confusion, and intellectual laziness. Thinking takes work. It's much easier simply to feel. So instead of stopping and asking, “What is really true? What is really good? What does God want?” we let the intellect go to sleep and allow our feelings dictate our behavior: I like it, so I'll do it. I don't like it, so I won't.

But our feelings have become disordered. Because of Original Sin, we often like what is bad for us and dislike what is good for us. Finally, our will has been weakened. Even when we know perfectly well what we should do, we find it difficult simply to do it.

So here's our problem: The intellect is darkened. The feelings are disordered. The will is weakened. If we simply let our feelings rule, they will often lead us down the broad and easy way.

So how do we get our feelings back in order? We exercise the intellect and the will through mental prayer and a resolution.

Three

We Change Our Feelings by Thinking

First, we can change the way we feel by changing the way we think. Suppose you want to gossip. Stop and think. Think about the image St. James uses in Scripture: a tiny flame can set an entire forest on fire. Think about how one piece of gossip can damage a friendship, a reputation, or the unity of a family. Picture how painful it would be if what you're saying got back to the person. Stay with that thought, and suddenly gossip doesn't look so attractive anymore.

Here's the principle: If we think about the goodness of what is right, we will desire it more; if we think about the ugliness and harm of sin, we will desire it less. And this is why thinking in mental prayer is necessary for our transformation.

In meditation we don't merely hear the Word of God. We stop and think about it. We try to understand it. We apply it to our life. We allow God's truth to correct the way we see things. God begins to change what we feel by changing the way we think.

Four

We Change Our Feelings by Acting

But thinking isn't enough. We can also change the way we feel by the way we act. Most people don't begin exercising because they love exercise. At first they may dislike it. But they make the commitment and do it anyway. They keep doing it, and eventually something changes: they begin to like it and may even look forward to it. Acting changed feeling.

The same principle applies to the spiritual life. Maybe I don't feel like forgiving. Forgive anyway. Maybe I don't feel like praying. Pray anyway. Maybe I'm angry and feel like lashing out. Hold my tongue and choose the charitable response anyway. If we repeatedly resist the wrong desire and choose the right action, the bad desire begins to weaken and the good desire begins to grow. Eventually, what once required enormous effort becomes easier and even pleasing.

That's how a good habit, a virtue, begins to form. And that's why the resolution flowing from mental prayer is essential if we're going to change. Meditation exercises the intellect. The resolution exercises the will.

In meditation we learn to think according to the truth. In the resolution we choose to act according to the truth. And by thinking rightly and acting rightly, over time our feelings themselves begin to come into order.

Five

The Two Ways

Now we can understand the two ways more practically. The broad and easy way says: Let your feelings rule, “I'm angry, so I'll lash out. I don't feel like forgiving, so I won't. I want to gossip, so I will. I don't feel like praying, so I won't.” The narrow way says, “Stop. Think. What is true? What is good? What does Jesus want me to do?”

Then choose it, even when you don't feel like it. Do that repeatedly and something begins to change. Our thinking changes. Our choices change. Our habits change. Eventually even our feelings change. We begin to like what is good and dislike what is evil. Little by little, with God's grace, our whole person begins to come back into order. That's transformation. And this is why daily meditation and a resolution are so important.

But that raises an important question: We've been listening to homilies and Catholic content, reading Scripture, and even praying for years, so why haven't we been transformed? Because hearing the truth isn't enough. We have to think about it, make a concrete resolution, and practice it until it changes us.

Jesus Himself tells us exactly how, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” Then He gives us the method, “Come to Me. Listen to My words. Act on them.”

That's what we'll meditate on tomorrow.

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