Spiritual Food

   “You will not see anyone who is truly striving after his spiritual advancement who is not given to spiritual reading.”  (St. Athanasius of Alexandria)

   There is an adage that says you are what you eat.  As with many of these old sayings there is some truth in this one.  If we eat healthy foods and avoid those which are not so good for us, we are more likely to be healthy ourselves.  A well-balanced sensible diet can do much to help us maintain our health.

   The same principal applies to our spiritual health.  If we fill our minds and heart with the wrong things it can harm our spiritual health just as the wrong foods harm the physical.  Proper nourishment is needed if we are to develop and maintain a proper relationship with our Lord.

   Is your bookshelf filled with fiction, glorifying sex and violence?  Do the television shows you watch present a spiritually healthy message or one of misplaced values and mores?  Is there a Bible on your nightstand or beside your favorite chair?  Do you read it?  What of the writings of the saints; are they part of your reading material?  Do you pray?  The things with which we fill our spirit determines the health of our relationship with God.

   We will go to most any length in our efforts to keep our body healthy.  We need to put the same or more effort into our spiritual well-being.  Our earthly bodies, regardless of their health, will pass away.  Our soul lives forever.  By properly feeding the spirit we can all be saints.

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of the one who sent me.”  (John 4: 34)

Father give me the food that feeds my spirit.

Let me look to Your word for nourishment.

Fill me with the desire to know you better.

Let me feed my soul with food from heaven.

Amen