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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