“Christ
is our Way”
Christ
said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and Life” (John 14:6).
-
He is our “Life”, our “inner breath”, “the way we
connect to the Grace of God”. Saint Paul says it his way: “it
is not me who lives, it is Jesus who [dwells in me and] lives
in me” (Ga 2:20).
-
He is the “Truth”, our Truth, who we are according to God and
who we should be. He has a human nature like us, perfectly man: body,
soul and spirit, like us. He is our truth, the “Son of Man”. We
have to worship God the Father “in Him”, the Truth.
“true
worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in
Truth”
(John 4:23).
-
He is “the Way”: He opens the way for each one of us, He acts
“for us”, he makes all the acts we will have to do during our
life, so we are made ready (by receiving the Grace) to do them.
He
opened this “New Way” for us on the Cross:
“we
have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a
new and living way which He inaugurated for us
through the veil, that is, His flesh […]”.
(He 10:19-20). We can't reach the Father if we don't go through this
Way of transformation: “nobody
can reach the Father without going through Me”
(John 14:6).
Let
us contemplate the “Way” He opened for us, the “Journey of
Transformation” He “ploughed” for us with His Body, His Soul
and Hi Spirit. He opened in himself our Journey so we can grow, climb
Him, until we reach His Heart, or Side. The Side of Jesus is the
exact place of our New Birth: “one
of the soldiers pierced Jesus’
side
with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who
saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that
he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.”
(see John 19:33-37)
The
different moments of Jesus' life are like stages of transformation
for us, transformation in Him. Step by step, our body, our soul, and
our spirit are transformed in His body, His soul and His spirit.
The
“new man”, the “new creature” can then appear.
The
journey shown here in the diagram (see below) could be seen as the
journey of climbing a Mountain (Christ Himself).
This
journey, the Layout of the journey, is our secure “Spiritual Way”,
the journey of our realisation and transformation, the only Adventure
that is worth living here on earth, the meaning and purpose of the
journey of our life on earth, the definition of the core of our life.
Spiritual
Theology: Part I of the Journey
Technically wise, according to “Spiritual Theology”, we cannot invent a different Journey and other Stages than the ones shown by Christ, in the Gospel. Our Journey is fundamentally “christological”: it follows Jesus' path. The transformative action of the Holy Spirit in us aims fundamentally to conform us to Christ, following the trail of His “Ploughing”.
The theological exposition of the “Spiritual Journey” and its “Stages” in “Spiritual Theology” manuals should follow very closely Christ in the Gospel. Otherwise, the risk is to invent steps that are not the Truth, our Truth. Jesus is our Truth, the shape of our Journey.
Technically wise, according to “Spiritual Theology”, we cannot invent a different Journey and other Stages than the ones shown by Christ, in the Gospel. Our Journey is fundamentally “christological”: it follows Jesus' path. The transformative action of the Holy Spirit in us aims fundamentally to conform us to Christ, following the trail of His “Ploughing”.
The theological exposition of the “Spiritual Journey” and its “Stages” in “Spiritual Theology” manuals should follow very closely Christ in the Gospel. Otherwise, the risk is to invent steps that are not the Truth, our Truth. Jesus is our Truth, the shape of our Journey.
We
need to understand and study “Christ the Way”, the reason why
there are stages in our formation and transformation, and deepen this
understanding by doing proper “theological research”. Some people
should dedicate their life to this study and Service in the Church. The need is immense.
The
easiest way to understand this journey is just to put ourselves in
the shoes of Peter, and just follow the curve of the Gospel, of
Jesus' life, and Peter's way of following Him, as presented in the
Gospel.
For
now we have 6 main Stages. Later we will see how the Journey
continues after these 6 stages, because the “Union with Jesus”,
and “being filled with the Holy Spirit” are the end of “Part I”
of the Journey and the beginning of “Part II”. So there is a lot
to come in the next posts.
The
stages of course start with “Jesus' call” for us. This doesn't
mean that there is no life before, no preparation, on the contrary.
When Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him and he leaves everything and
follows Him (see Mt 9:9-13), certainly there are hidden stages of
preparation before.
When
we start to follow Jesus, we can discern the presence of at least
6 stages. The “stages” are the “stages of the work of
purification and transformation pursued by the Holy Spirit in us”.
These stages, as shown on the diagram, are as follow:
1-
Purification of the sense
2-
Purification of the soul
3-
Purification of the spirit
4-
Spiritual Betrothal
5-
Spiritual Marriage (Union with Jesus-God)
6-
Acquisition of the Spirit
As
we repeatedly said, they follow all together 6 stages in Jesus'
public life and 6 stages of Peter and the Apostle's response to
Jesus.
(to
be continued)
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