Integration = Holyistic Life

St. Thomas Aquinas outlined a schematic on a hierarchy of creation. Human beings fall in the middle of this hierarchy in that they are neither pure spirits ("angels") nor are they pure material/matter (creatures/animals). Rather, man is BOTH spirit and matter intertwined and rolled into one. In short human beings are comprised to two distinct parts yet when put together becomes indistinguishable.
This duality is what we want to address today. Thsi duality is not to be confused with that of the early philosophers, rather it is to be seen as two primary colors coming together to create another unique color. (More on that later).
Having looked at Sacred Scripture (the Bible) it is comprised of two distinct sections (the Old Testament and the New Testament) yet it is One book. It would be unfair to try to under each Testament on its own rather they must be addressed within the context of one another. The Bible must be read Holyisticly (Wholistically, or Completely). More interesting is the fact that each Testament can correspond with each aspect of human beings. The Old Testament focuses on the physical and the New Testament focuses on the spiritual. So is the Bible a reflectin of man or is man a reflection of the Bible? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that God promotes wholeness, holyness, or "holiness" for all you grammar geeks. I find it fascinating that God would make the Bible so similar to us.
One fascinating aspect is that the Bible talks addresses both physical and spiritual death. In other words, what happens to the body, happens to the soul. If our body can get sick, our soul can be sick, if our body dies, our soul has the ability to "die" (read: live in hell apart from God, for all you hardcore Catholics). So if we are goin to be Holyistic we need to take care of BOTH body and soul. We need to keep our bodies clean, and healthy and vibrant. We need to exercise our bodies to make them stronger. We also need to keep our soul's clean (read: Sacrament of Reconciliation) and we also need to exercise and strengthen or soul (read: praying and doing good works). So I challenge you to ponder this beautiful notion of both body and soul and knowing that we need to keep both clean and healthy to live a holyistic life.