Tuesday 24 July 2012

35: The Spiritual Journey 9/11


The complete shape of our Spiritual Journey

Recapitulation

We are continuing the discovery of the shape of our Spiritual Journey, of our spiritual growth, the new goal and the new stages. The last diagram (8/11) showed us a new part in our spiritual journey. It showed us that the goal of Christian life is not just to reach the “union with God-Jesus” (reaching the top of the mountain). It showed us that, after reaching the Union with Jesus-God, we still have a lot to do, like the Son of God himself when He took flesh. He didn't jut incarnate, he went much further, He realised a mystical union with each one of us, and the final step in this “mystical union” was our Redemption realised during his Passion, especially during the Crucifixion, bringing us from “darkness” to “Light”. We know how much this cost Him.

This is then for us a “turning point”. Our Journey doesn't aim only toward “candies” it aims as well (at the image of Christ's journey) toward Redemption, trial, real love. Instead of aiming to a higher point (God, the very Nature of God, a final Union with the immensity of God, the Beatitude, the Eternal Happiness), we change the angle, and start to look down, and start to “study” the descent... a descent toward a more intense, grounded, serious love to our brothers. We will learn it from Christ, and He will come in us to live it! Pursuing His mission through us.

There is no greater love than to lay our soul, our life, for our brothers and sisters, says Jesus. My new Commandment is to do as I did: to love as I did. You can't do it just by yourself, you can do it only if you are transformed in Me and Me in you. Otherwise you can't bare it, its too heavy! When the disciple will be totally formed, he'll be like his Master (and not “greater than Him”: just seeking Beatitude, not wanting to follow his footsteps). Saint Paul says it: “I am offered like a libation” (2 Tm 4:6), and “I complete in my flesh what lacks in Jesus' Passion “for his Body””. All the Apostles went through martyrdom (even John who didn't die from it, went through it). The perseverance in the imitation of Jesus should reach its full realisation, reaching its end goal.

So, when we reach the Union with Him, we are like brought to the point of His Incarnation (when the Son of God takes flesh). We are ready to start the journey of collaborating with Him in the work of Redemption, or more precisely: we are ready to take our share in the application of the Redemption He acquired for each one of us on the Cross, in its application to the rest of the human beings, our brothers and sisters.
The work of “acquiring” Redemption depends totally on Him (because He is the only being who is in the same time God and man, therefore the only Redeemer), but the work of “application” depends on His Mystical Body, us. This is His choice and His will, out the of the mystery of His love for us. He wants us to work with him, to take our share in the work of salvation of our brothers and sisters (its application).

It is already a great love for us, His love that makes us be united with Him (reaching the top of the mountain). But there is even a greater love : to make us share His work of Redemption, so we can work on applying it to our brothers and sisters, and be part of the their salvation.


The full shape of our Journey

The full shape of our Journey is to complete both parts of the Journey: ascending, and descending. With this diagram, we can start from now to see the full shape of the journey: we start our ascent from the bottom of the mountain, we climb the Mountain (Christ himself), being purified by the Holy Spirit, step by step, until we reach the Union with Jesus, and then after a while we start our descent, attracted by the weight of Charity, heading toward a greater love of our brothers and sisters.
Again, going up we are following Jesus' journey in the Gospel, receiving the purification from Him, and going down, we are following Jesus' journey in the Gospel, but this time, He is in us and us in Him, giving Him to our brothers and sisters, participating in their growth, purification, reception of the Redemption realised by Christ.

The full shape of our Journey

Both ways we meet Jesus, His Mission and His Passion; we follow the same journey of His. The first part by receiving Jesus, and the second by rather giving Jesus to our brothers.

We are all invited to reach this great love:  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

(To be continued...)

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