our senses...

Tonight I went to the Arizona State Fair with my Mother.  We had a good time.

As we walked through the Fair, I realized somethig:

All of our senses were engaged.  There were many bright, flashing and gaudy lights; there were many sounds, many types of music, many performers speaking to the crowds using microphones; there were many different smells, coming from the rows of food concession stands; there were a variety of foods that appealed to our taste.

I realized, too, that this is quite normal for us.  As human persons, God created us this way.  We are sensual persons "to our depths".  An early Christian writer named Turtellian - who lived during the first century - wrote somewhat extensively on the nature of Christ, the nature of the Church, and other supernatural developments within Christian theology.  He is known for noting how Satan "is the great plagiarizer".  Satan is good - very good - as twisting and distorting God's good creation, forcing it to communicate something other than what God originally intended for things to communicate.

According to Turtellian, it is also characteristic of satan to plagiarize the Sacraments; he distorts and twists them, so that they no longer communicate God's life, but rather communicate a sort of "road to perdition" for a soul.  Satan does this, because it is all he can do.  He does not have any ability to create anything - he himself being a creature created by God (he is a created spirit).  All he can do is twist and distort what God has already created.

God wishes for our senses to be "filled with him", for us to engage all our senses in worship.  This is how we were created; this is part of God's design.  It seems to me, however, that satan would rather "fill our senses" with things that can become distractions for us - distractions and blocks that keep us from coming into contact with God.  He will distort the Sacrament of marriage, the participation and the sign of God's love exchange with his Bride, his Church, with all humanity.  How often do we see our sexuality trivialized in society?  Satan may also distort the Sacrament of the Eucharist, our Communion with the Lord.  The Scriptures tell us that we are called to be inebriated with the New Wine of the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit; but how often do we see people abusing alcohol in our society?  If we wish to know what is most sacred in all of God's creation, we should probably look to those things that are most degraded, most cheapened, most distorted - thanks to satan.

I would say that if we wish to engage our senses in worship of God, they need to be filled with God's Truth.  How else are we to ever taste and see the Lord, as the Psalmist proclaims (see Psalm 34:8)?  If our senses do not become filled with God, we can guarantee they will become filled with other things.  We can also guarantee that if God does not have his place in our life, someone else will seek to take his place.