Nutrition Facts for the Soul
It often takes me quite a long time to get my grocery shopping done. This isn’t because I have an insane number of purchases to make or because I don’t have a plan, but because yes, I am someone who reads nutritional labels before purchasing a new product. This is something I’ve done my whole life, and something that my parents did before me. Over the years the specific ingredients I’ve been trying to avoid have changed, but the practice has remained constant. It’s important to me to make sure the product I’m buying, especially food I will consume, is free from ingredients that are harmful or make me unwell. While the time and attention required to check nutrition labels may seem excessive, I think our dignity as God’s children demands that we spend time to intentionally discern the food we consume. In fact, perhaps I could even be more discerning.
While at Adoration a few weeks ago, the thought struck me that just as I carefully examine nutrition labels before purchasing and consuming food, so too should I give that same level of care and attention, or rather even more care and attention, towards my spiritual life.
As a society we’ve grown to care more and more about making sure our food is healthy, organic, preservative free, gluten free, refined sugar free, and local. But as Catholics, do we practice discernment before listening to music, watching shows, spending time online, participating in conversations, or even just guarding our thoughts? Bodily health is very important, and the dignity that our bodies have as temples of the Holy Spirit demands that we care for them. Yet how much greater is our spiritual health!
What can you do to check the nutritional labels when it comes to feeding and nurturing your soul? The most obvious place to begin, especially when it comes to entertainment, is to do research to make sure it is free from unnecessary additions, be it inappropriate content or hidden agendas. But on an even deeper level, checking nutritional labels in your spiritual life is more about building up the practice of thinking before you speak, becoming intentional with your time usage, guarding your thoughts, and offering up your day to the Lord. Before you purchase a new product it’s good to confirm that it aligns with your nutritional needs and will further, not lessen, your health. But this practice of discerning what is good and bad for you should not stop with dietary health and must stretch forth across all aspects of your day.
So next time you go grocery shopping and find yourself looking at a nutritional label, may it serve as a gentle reminder to pause and reflect upon the much more important “nutritional labels” in your spiritual life.
