College Chaplain 

Man Fully Alive.

As we near the end of the Year 2022, I thought it reasonable to reflect on the topic “Man Fully alive or Living Man”. (N.B, whenever I use the word “man”, I mean the whole of humanity, man and woman).

Without reading further, tell me what was the first thing that jumped out of your mind as you saw the topic ‘Man Fully Alive”?

I might be correct to say that your thoughts may border around a fully healthy man, mainly referring to the body or a man who is consciously aware of himself and his environment. And so, it should be because "fully alive" indicates sanity and complete positive awareness of what healthy living entails. 

But man is a mixture of the physical and the spiritual. As he cares for his body, so he cares for his soul. As marvellous as the body may be, man has a non-physical aspect that consists of a different kind of materiality – spirit. It is this part of man that is eternal. This part (the soul) is also far more critical than the care for the body because of its eternal nature.

Man is described as a living soul (Genesis 2:7 KJV), which came into being at first by the breath of God (spirit) being breathed into a creation of the dust of the earth. The words of Ash Wednesday ring as a reminder, "Remember man that you are dust, and unto dusty, you shall return". Man is an intricate unity as well as being three parts. For this reason, whatever happens in one part of a man's being has repercussions in other areas. For example, it is well known that a healthy, fit body is conducive to an upbeat attitude in the soul. The Book of Proverbs states that "a man's spirit will sustain him in sickness". "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine". Psalm 32 describes how unconfessed sin caused David's "bones to grow old" and his "vitality to be turned into the summer drought".

Man is also an exciting project of God, primarily because of God’s gift of freedom to man. God created man with reason and free will, enabling him to deliberate and choose his course of action. This power gives man freedom and presents him as master of himself, a king of himself. As Psalm 8 says, “You made him little less than a god.” God’s will and the ultimate end of our freedom are to apprehend and embrace Him, who is the Truth, the Way, and the Life, but because man is free, he can and does use that freedom for other ends. Thus, human history is fraught with profound drama. It is a story of good and evil, and in every man's life stands the question of how he will use his freedom – to attain the truth or to follow his designs. This question urges itself on us and demands some correspondence with our physical and spiritual dimensions of us.

St. Irenaeus was the one who said, “The glory of God is man fully alive, but the life of man is the vision of God.” Man’s action takes on an even greater significance when we consider this statement, for if God's glory is man fully alive, man's life must be a noble thing. Every man's life is a manifestation of God's goodness, an insight into His generosity, and a sign of His wisdom. When we see a man living well (spiritually attuned to God), acting generously, mercifully, or courageously, we witness the nobility of human nature. This, in turn, is but a slight intimation of the nobility of the divine nature. Man is designed to grow in his good action, which enriches his soul, but he decreases in his bad actions, which impoverishes his soul. 

But enough of my philosophical pondering!! But my main point that I would want us to consider as the year ends is, how alive are we? Remember, our being "FULLY ALIVE" involves our physical and spiritual cohesion. No one is left out. 

We still have a month to go; it is never too late to look back and decide that we will seek to be consciously FULLY ALIVE in God, who is the way, the Truth and the Life.

Fr Cyprian