207- Does God Love Us Always?

Question: If God creates a “new man” in me and the old man has to go completely, what is it that God loves in me then? If I am "made in his image and likeness" and "he has called me by my name", what is it in me that He loves? Does He only love the capacity to be like Him? Does He love us as far as we do His will, are transformed into Him and live His life and therefore our Ego has to go? Do you see the question, psychologically? If we need to be transformed into Him does the fact that "I am" mean anything?

Answer:

Is the Old Man Different from Our Self?

The real meaning of the expression "Old Man" encompasses a way of acting and its deep roots in us. "Purification" and trans-formation into God does not imply the cancellation of our being.

It seems that to “go completely” from one state to the other means throwing out the baby with the dirty water. We must avoid this, please. We need to properly understand what the expression “Old Man” alludes to. The “old man” concerns behaviour rather than being - certainly not all of our being. It most certainly does not impinge on the self, but on our way of acting. We, therefore, should distinguish between on one hand our behaviour, acts, choices and, on the other hand, our being, our soul, spirit, the faculties of our soul, and our self.

There is a definite difference between a faculty in our soul (mind, will) and the use we make of this faculty. Hence, while it is true to say God loves each one of us, we can all agree that He doesn't love our sins! But, still, after sinning He still loves us - for who we are, not for this or that act. He hopes also that we can change. He wants us close to Him. He enjoys our presence. He desires even more - He wants to be united to us.

When we say that the Old Man has to go, it doesn't mean that this happens in a mechanical way, like pressing "delete" and saying: "let us re-create from scratch". No. God doesn’t re-create us from scratch. He needs us, from the first day, He needs our full collaboration, given freely… willingly. This is why St. Augustine says: God created us without our consent, but He won’t save us without our consent. Our own salvation, realised on God’s side, by Jesus on the Cross, cannot be fully received, enacted, to transform us, without our consent being given, at each step! It is not accomplished by one act but through a multitude of acts, coming from our free will.

In this sense, He cannot realise his salvation in us (realised first on the Cross), without us. God needs us!!

So, returning to the question, it is fair to say that “sin” and “grace” don't cancel out our being. They are the result, the fruits of our being, they give a colour and a shape to our being, but still they are not our being. We are something different, bigger, exceedingly bigger. The biggest sin is infinitely smaller than each one of us is in His eyes.

Spiritual authors often take the following verse from St. John out of context and apply it to the “Old Man” and the “New Man”: "He must increase, I must decrease" (John 3:30). This verse is normally said by St. John the Baptist when talking about his mission. We can accept with tolerance the deviation in meaning. However, in order to understand better the meaning of Old Man vs New Man, it is better to re-read what St. Paul says in the following texts: Romans 13:12ss, Eph 4:13-27. See also: Rm 7:7-23); 2 Cor 4:16-17 ; Eph 3, 14-18. Newness of life, old man : Rm 6, 2-11 ; Col 3, 9-10.

Fundamentally we need to understand that the Old Man and New Man consist of essentially two different uses (and acts produced) by our faculties (eg. mind and will). The same faculties can collaborate or not with God’s Grace. One way of acting if repeated will essentially produce, by the grace of God, a virtue, a good supernatural habit. This makes our “new man” grow. We can act in “neutral” ways, in the sense that our acts are not bad acts, but they are not activated by the Theological acts of Faith, Hope and Love. It is true that the main driving engine of spiritual growth includes these three acts. They allow the New Man in us to grow, to learn how God sees things (Faith), to see what goal we are pursuing (Hope) and how to act in general, that is, to see whether we love God and our brothers in Him. Any act, in fact, goes either in the direction of feeding the growth of the New Man, or the growth of the Old Man.

It is true that the soul itself is the mother of its spiritual life. We ourselves are the mother of our own new being. Self stays but it grows in depth and finds new roots.

As a consequence, however, the disappearance of the Old Creature is not the disappearance of ourselves!!

God Loves Us Always

We often hear: “God loves us but not our sin”, or, “God love the sinner but not his sin”. Consider this, however: He loves our choices even the sinful ones for two reasons, not of course because of their sinfulness but because of on the one hand his respect for us, and on the other hand his capacity to offer us a further solution that will make us greater in his eyes.

In us we have “good” and “evil” as well as a “higher good”. Our choice is always between good and evil. This is fine. But in case (God forbid) we choose evil, God is capable afterwards of helping us reach a higher good! It is as if evil has opened a new potential in us for something greater. In a way God can always have the “final word”. But this depends on us. However, this never means that the door is open for sin! Knowing this and still sinning would be a real offence to his mercy and tempting Him: it is like throwing yourself from a high building and still expecting the angels to rescue you.

It is because of this understanding that not everything is lost after sin that we sing at Easter Vigil, while thinking of Adam’s fault: "O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer."

In conclusion it would be fair to say that we can't mix the “old creature” and “the person”. The “Old creature” is a way of acting, thinking seeing and is not the very self of this person, not the actual person itself.

When you take a shower after swimming in filthy water it is still you that emerges after the shower. This is a little like what occurs with the Old Man in us after purification. But it penetrates more deeply, in the sense that one has to introduce the notion of “purification” and “trans-formation” into the process.

Added to this, the act of sin adds new bad roots to the person, rooting the person in something else other than God. If your son or daughter does something bad do you love what they did? No. Do you love their act and the consequences of this act in them and outside of them? No. But you still love they themselves. The act of sin has just added a perished patch of cloth and bad roots to them, which only the experience of the Holy Spirit can show them from within, and which only He can remove; in fact we can refrain from sin, but the habits and bad roots which sin has created can only be removed by the Holy Spirit! Confession reconciles us with God, reopens the stream of the Grace of God, but it is the penance that we receive in confession that helps the Holy Spirit purify our being more deeply! This is why the penance has to be proportionate to the real gravity of the sin in order to help the grace of God enter deeply and change the person! The grace of confession is given but often not totally received and integrated. Therefore, the roots of our being can still hinder our future behaviour.

Transformed in God

Do we know what it is to be transformed in God? It is advisable here to pause and consider what is needed for God to instruct us. Let us take the example of clay. We are created in God’s Image and Likeness. The “image” of God that we are is the clay. The “likeness” is the form that the clay takes as a result of our acts. Because of sin, we lose only “the form”. The “clay” is still there, but, is half-dead (see the parable of the Good Samaritan and the state in which the man was left on the side of the road).

Only the Holy Spirit can show us what is left after total purification.

God’s Bowels of Mercy

Let us enter into the bowels of God, the bowels of his being, of Him being Love. He loves us when we are sinners. Not for our sin, but for our sake. If we remove our sins, there stands our being, whole and entire. But be in no doubt: at any stage of our growth we are loved. Either at the beginning of the journey i.e. where the Old Man is in great evidence, or in the middle, or towards the end where the New Man predominates in the main.

Is God’s love for us conditioned by His desire to have us Holy in front of Him? Would He continue to love us if we are sinning? Would He continue to love us even if we are far from Him and decided firmly to stay far away from Him? What is the “size” of his love for each one of us? Of course, He wants us to be with Him, but with our full collaboration. Does He know anything else other than “to love”? If we are far from Him, if his love can’t reach us, He still loves us, waits for us. Of course, He cannot consent to any act we make that leads us further from Him. But despite our choice and our act, He continues to love us and considers that we need Him more than others need Him! However, He cannot and will never move our will or act for us. He cannot and will not ever impose his love on us!

He leaves us free if we want to abandon Him and go off! He will continue to love us and wait for us. But He will not force us. Never. His respect for our will and choices is absolute. This, ironically, even constitutes a handicap, a difficulty for Him! He can only send messages, warn, try to convince us, but He will never force us. This is our being made in his image! We were created as his partners, but He will not force us to be his!

On an even more positive note we can say that, our sins, and what they generate in us (the Old Man) are still, in a way, like a thin crust, ugly, but we are still there, underneath it. Like being in a prison, but it is still us! He loves us, He wants us free, out of this prison. Our sins are like an illness! Our illness cannot kill our soul! We are still there, loved as if we were without any illness.

I would say that a person who is far from God is, in a way, loved by God even more! Why? Because of his understanding of the person, his compassion. If we humans see a person in pain, thirsty, hungry, we feel compassion for this person! Why wouldn’t God feel the same? But infinitely more!

It is true that we often hear this statement nowadays: “God loves us as we are”. On the other hand, we hear also, the statement found above in the question: “he loves me as long as I am doing his will”.

Both statements are correct. When He loves me, his gaze is capable of piercing the outer shell of my sin (the Old Man) to find me inside of this prison and darkness. Why would I deny this? Why would this be underestimated? He loves me, here, despite my condition, despite my illness. He even loves me more.

Does He love my condition? My illness? My sin? We cannot ask or expect God to do so!

But paradoxically He has the utmost respect and understanding of my choices! First, because they come from me, who is created in his image! “Created in his image” is really a big mystery, because this enables me to stand in front of God and allows me to say to Him and his love: “yes” or “no”! What dignity we have been given! What power we have over God, over God’s destiny!

We are as great as God, even if we are created by Him, in the sense that because of how we are created we have free will toward God himself…and He still loves us!

We can speak forever about the fact that God loves us, whichever the state in which we are in. Look at the behaviour of the father of the prodigal son. He still went to the top of the road of the road every day and waited for his son to return! Was he a happy person? No! Did he stay at home partying with this other son? No! He was “outside of himself”, in pain, part of Him was missing from him. His son, “flesh of his flesh”, “bone of his bones”, had gone away… he couldn’t force him to stay… but the father’s state, God’s state, is really bad! He is in huge pain! His son is away… “lost” … It wasn’t the Dad’s choice! It was the son’s choice! The father respected it! He waited… in pain, as if part of his body were missing, sad, sad, very sad. Crying! Waiting!

So yes, God loves us… we need to experience His love…

He is in a very bad state… He is out of himself… dead alive… part of Him is missing - his son - flesh of his flesh… He is in deep distress… He doesn’t know what to do! He can’t do that much! He respects his son’s decision… He certainly sent messages… inquired… but He feels empty, infinitely sad…, He waits….

So, yes, God loves you… Jesus loves you….

We do not know what it means. It is unconditional though! Totally unconditional, because this is God’s being and He cannot change his being!

197- Old & New Man Functioning

The video below shows us something not far from what we just saw. The neural and hormonal difference between pleasure and  happiness. Very interesting.

157: Deeper Contemplation: Turning Points after the Second Conversion

If a person is already Christian, traditionally Christian baptised from a very young age, and hears Jesus' Call to follow Him closely, this turning point is called "second conversion". It is called "second" because the person is already Christian. It is about having a living relationship with Jesus and growing in His love. The second conversion starts a new journey of growth until one achieves total union with Jesus. To reach that goal one goes through various levels of purification, transformation and liberation. For a variety of reasons the majority of Christians do not reach that goal. This is a pity.

Is it the only turning point in our life? No. There are others. Every junction between the different stages of purification is also a turning point. The purification of the senses - the inferior part of our being - senses, body, instincts, addictions is the first purification we face right after our second conversion. This can last for a while - a year or two, or sometimes an entire life. Here, our initial sensory attachments are purified and we start to taste the spiritual “milk” that the Lord gives us. So prayer has a taste, doing things for the Lord give us consolations. Our life changes, we start to have new habits, our daily schedule changes allowing us space for prayer and for serving the Lord and our brothers.

If the person is fervent and with good spiritual steady growth, he or she will reach a point of a first great liberation, where he or she will experience greater control from the superior part of our being (more rational/spiritual) over the inferior part. One can experience an exhilarating liberation from an addiction as well.

Sometime after that newly experienced freedom and possession of self, if the person remain fervent and if some external helps/means are available (books, spiritual directors who know about the coming phase) God might then consider that the person moves from the spiritual “milk” to the “solid food”. Instead of lowering himself to our level, the Lord wants now to lift us up to Him and to his ways of being and doing things. The New Man should develop drastically, and automatically drops the Old Man.

After firmly biting the bait, the fish is now about to be lifted outside of its waters in order to be put on the fire, grilled, and eaten by the Lord (Union with Him).

Before entering in this deeper stage (see area 3 in the drawing), the Lord makes us go through an intermediate phase (area 2). This phase has at least three types of trials, described by St John of the Cross in chapter 14 of The Dark Night, Book 1. It is the turn of the imagination and the inner senses. The Lord allows the person to be put under a trial, in order for him or her to strengthen the new "muscles" of the New Man: the act of faith (learning to focus beyond what is felt, seen, experienced, on Jesus himself). The person learns not to surrender to indecent images, or immoral feelings or blasphemies or some form of scruple.

Any trial or temptation is like a test, a training that God provides for us. They might come from some types of bad spirits (the devil), but all is happening under the command and governance of God. "Everything contributes to the good of the persons who love God" (Romans 8:28). If somebody loves God this means that he or she is totally committed to Jesus and faithful to him on a daily basis. This means that anything that happens in his or her life, including what interests us here: his or her life of prayer, happens either because God wants it or because God allows it for our own good.

These trials are not negative. They just offer some strong medicine to give us resistance so we start to train the muscles of the New Man in order to counter the negative impulses and therefore grow and draw closer to Jesus.

St John of the Cross, in that same chapter 14 of The Dark Night Book 1, mentions three different spirits who tempt the person and put him or her under a trial: a spirit of fornication (with all the filthy and unbearable imagery that comes with it), the spirit of blasphemy (with all the sufferings that one can feel because of the desire not to offend God) and the spirit of vertigo... a sort of hesitation, spiritual unsettlement which I would call a form of scruple.

In the drawings below we have the following:

In dark red (a dot): God himself at the centre of our being.

In clear red (area 4): the area of the Union with Jesus, what St Teresa of Avila calls as well the Seven Mansions.

In grey (area 3): the rational part of our Soul: conscious mind, will and memory.

In clear orange (area 2): the imagination and the inner senses, and as well somehow our emotions.

In clear green (area 1): the sense (lower part of our being/body).

The first drawing illustrates (with the white path marked in area 1) the first phase of purification.

When the time is right, the person is introduced to the second phase: circles in red. The white trace of the journey of the person grows into area 2 (see the following diagram).

When the three horrible temptations happen, one has to stay still...in Faith, focusing on Jesus, beyond what is felt and experienced. It is very important not to be shaken by any of these three temptations. They are like watching a horrible movie in the cinema. The movie is projected on a wide white screen, just some light hitting a piece of white fabric. So if anything happens in the movie, even if it seems to impress us, it is not coming from us, so, there is no sin. We need to remain still, knowing that God is here... and sees that we are not part of that, that we don't want it. We focus on Jesus, and not on what we feel or sense.

These trials says Saint John of the Cross prepare us for the next phase, humbling us.

Of course good spiritual direction is much needed here, but hopefully the Spiritual Director knows about the spirit, has discernment and know about the development that follows so he can explain and reassure the person. The Catechism of the Catholic Church warns us about the choice of a Spiritual Director, quoting St John of the Cross:

"According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should "take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son." And further: "In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced. . . . If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them." (C.C.C.2690)

So, when a spiritual person experiences such things he or she will need to be reassured and helped. Otherwise the sufferings are unbearable because of the clearly evil character of what is happening inside of the person.

God want us to stay still, remain stable and rooted in him, and above all to allow our faith to grow stronger, by renewing the acts of faith, focusing not on what we feel or experience internally, but on Jesus who is beyond our inner senses and imagination.

Here is the text of St John of the Cross:

CHAPTER XIV

Expounds this last line of the first stanza.

1. WHEN this house of sensuality was now at rest—that is, was mortified—its passions being quenched and its desires put to rest and lulled to sleep by means of this blessed night of the purgation of sense, the soul went forth, to set out upon the road and way of the spirit, which is that of progressives and proficients, and which, by another name, is called the way of illumination or of infused contemplation, wherein God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul, without meditation, or the soul's active help. Such, as we have said, is the night and purgation of sense in the soul. In those who have afterwards to enter the other and more formidable night of the spirit, in order to pass to the Divine union of love of God (for not all pass habitually thereto, but only the smallest number), it is wont to be accompanied by formidable trials and temptations of sense, which last for a long time, albeit longer in some than in others. For to some the angel of Satan presents himself—namely, the spirit of fornication—that he may buffet their senses with abominable and violent temptations, and trouble their spirits with vile considerations and representations which are most visible to the imagination, which things at times are a greater affliction to them than death.

2. At other times in this night there is added to these things the spirit of blasphemy, which roams abroad, setting in the path of all the conceptions and thoughts of the soul intolerable blasphemies. These it sometimes suggests to the imagination with such violence that the soul almost utters them, which is a grave torment to it.

3. At other times another abominable spirit, which Isaias calls Spiritus vertiginis [The 'spirit of giddiness' of D.V., and 'perverse spirit' of A.V., Isaias 19:14.], is allowed to molest them, not in order that they may fall, but that it may try them. This spirit darkens their senses in such a way that it fills them with numerous scruples and perplexities, so confusing that, as they judge, they can never, by any means, be satisfied concerning them, neither can they find any help for their judgment in counsel or thought. This is one of the severest goads and horrors of this night, very closely akin to that which passes in the night of the spirit.

4. As a rule these storms and trials are sent by God in this night and purgation of sense to those whom afterwards He purposes to lead into the other night (though not all reach it), to the end that, when they have been chastened and buffeted, they may in this way continually exercise and prepare themselves, and continually accustom their senses and faculties to the union of wisdom which is to be bestowed upon them in that other night. For, if the soul be not tempted, exercised and proved with trials and temptations, it cannot quicken its sense of Wisdom. For this reason it is said in Ecclesiasticus: 'He that has not been tempted, what does he know? And he that has not been proved, what are the things that he recognizes?' [Ecclesiasticus 34:9-10] To this truth Jeremiah bears good witness, saying: 'Thou didst chastise me, Lord, and I was instructed.' [Jeremiah 31:18.] And the most proper form of this chastisement, for one who will enter into Wisdom, is that of the interior trials which we are here describing, inasmuch as it is these which most effectively purge sense of all favours and consolations to which it was affected, with natural weakness, and by which the soul is truly humiliated in preparation for the exaltation which it is to experience.

5. For how long a time the soul will be held in this fasting and penance of sense, cannot be said with any certainty; for all do not experience it after one manner, neither do all encounter the same temptations. For this is meted out by the will of God, in conformity with the greater or the smaller degree of imperfection which each soul has to purge away. In conformity, likewise, with the degree of love of union to which God is pleased to raise it, He will humble it with greater or less intensity or in greater or less time. Those who have the disposition and greater strength to suffer, He purges with greater intensity and more quickly. But those who are very weak are kept for a long time in this night, and these He purges very gently and with slight temptations. Habitually, too, He gives them refreshments of sense so that they may not fall away, and only after a long time do they attain to purity of perfection in this life, some of them never attaining to it at all. Such are neither properly in the night nor properly out of it; for, although they make no progress, yet, in order that they may continue in humility and self-knowledge, God exercises them for certain periods and at certain times [Lit., 'for certain days.'] in those temptations and aridities; and at other times and seasons He assists them with consolations, lest they should grow faint and return to seek the consolations of the world. Other souls, which are weaker, God Himself accompanies, now appearing to them, now moving farther away, that He may exercise them in His love; for without such turnings away they would not learn to reach God.

6. But the souls which are to pass on to that happy and high estate, the union of love, are wont as a rule to remain for a long time in these aridities and temptations, however quickly God may lead them, as has been seen by experience. It is time, then, to begin to treat of the second night." (Dark Night, Book I, chapter 14)

33: The Spiritual Journey 7/11

“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.

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)