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.

151: Soothing Spiritual Fanaticism

In this post I do not claim to offer a full spiritual or psychological analysis of religious fanaticism. I wish I could. I am not an expert on the subject. But in the spiritual realm, there are analytical elements that can be added to the normal elements dealing with fanaticism. It is some of these points, rather, that I would like to share, that require us to pause, ponder and think, for in essence we all in one way or another are very keen on certain things in life, and this for many reasons (i.e. freedom for instance... Remember the May 1968 French saying: 'it is forbidden to forbid').

Here I will be trying to understand and analyse the mechanism behind 'christian fanaticism'. My interest, moreover, is not in what other religions think on this issue as I believe in leaving each to his own.

The little Pharisee in us

First and foremost, some might be tempted to think that they are not fanatical, that they are cool, open minded,... That is all well and good. But one important fact in the Gospel, it must be remembered, is striking: the presence of the Pharisees. They are amongst the most heavily criticised people in the Gospel. This should surprise us. They are, after all, a group of followers within the Jewish faith (and many will become Christians), rather akin to an elite group, of the purest amongst the pure: the word "Pharisee" in fact means "chosen". What is striking is that the Gospel - which is written for us and not for those Jews who remained in the Jewish faith - criticises them quite strongly.

When we read the Gospel, the temptation is to keep our distance from this criticism and say that it is not addressed to us, but rather to the Pharisees, remarking: "look how awful there were". However, in fact the Gospel is inspired by the Holy Spirit and written for us. So why are the Pharisees mentioned? The reason is simple: inside of every human being following Jesus there is a secret little (or bigger) Pharisee, who often escapes from our grasp.

This in fact affects the depths of the human soul and the religious attitude: whenever we are presented with a desirable object engendering possible worship, we have deep inside of us some mysterious mechanism that triggers behaviour quite similar to that of the Pharisee. It is in fact a mode of behaviour common to all human beings, and not just to some Jews living in Jesus' time. One can be perfectly Christian and yet have the attitudes and ways of a Pharisee.

It is worth bearing in mind, therefore, that all criticism (constructive and positive criticism) that we find in the Gospel about the Pharisees is very strong medicine that is being given to all of us, and more precisely to that hidden Pharisee in us.

That the Pharisee is always well-intentioned is important to remember! But this is not enough. Although he wants to defend the purity of faith, at the end of the day, the means he uses are not the right ones. In this light one cannot refrain from thinking of the parable Jesus recounts, which applies most significantly to the Pharisee:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5)

Jesus was not displeased by the zeal of the person he was blaming. Rather He encourages the person to take part in the sanctification of his brothers. Jesus points to the "means" used ('you will see clearly [how] to remove'): in other words, how do I help my brother? This observation, I feel, is rather pertinent, for the result is: "then you will see clearly [how] to remove"... It seems that the overzealous behaviour shown here is rather based on the 'old man' in us than the 'new man'. If the old heart of stone is removed, and a new humble and meek heart is transplanted, then the Spirit of God will be able to move the person to see more clearly and really help his brother.

"Hypocrisy" and "double standards" seem to be the characteristics of this type of mentality. A greater importance is given to external things (the outside of the cup (Matthew 23)) over internal things (the inside of it). But above and beyond this, thank the Lord, is God who sees only the heart of our brothers, and therefore only He can be the Judge because He sees the truth therein and can assess its worth.

I can consequently have great "fun" re-reading the best Bible-thumping chapters ever written, allowing the Light of God to shine in me, trying to fish out and corner that little escaping naughty pharisee: chapter 23 in St Matthew. As a result then when, for example, I am sitting close to a person whose body odour is offensive, the thought can be nourished in me that my sins smell exceedingly more in the eyes (rather in the 'nose') of God than the smell coming from this person. I myself am merely annoyed by this smell, while the truth is that it is God who is hugely offended by my sins. In this way my sins will have a powerful impact on me. This will calm down my hypocrisy and bring me to spiritual realism.

The mechanism of fanaticism

I would like to suggest a possible route to the birth of some types of catholic spiritual fanaticism.

The world we live in is quite chaotic, confusing and psychologically impoverishing. Instead of elevating us, giving us a sense of security, unifying our life around God's Presence amongst us, it offers us few values and references, and all that we find is unpredictability and random behaviour. This reality pushes us to go on a Quest for the Truth, a search for things more stable and long lasting and for a sense of security and peace. We search for our 'Messiah'.

As we journey on this quest, we might come across a more alive Christianity, a renewed discovery of Catholicism, and be overwhelmed by some graces that God gives us. The initial lack of order in our life, psychological instability, sense of loss, fear and weakness will then start to diminish because of the action of the Grace of God.

The initial Graces we receive give us the peace we were earnestly longing for. But what happens is that since we are still beginners, these graces fall into the hands of the ' old man'. Thus we receive them and understand them in a very base human way that prevents us from treating God, the Truth, for who He is. There is an unconscious deviation that occurs in us. Good intentions are always present. But they are not enough!! One can inflict a lot of damage with good intentions, starting with oneself!

When Peter says to the Lord, when was announcing that He will suffer, die and rise: "no never"... who was talking here? The Old Man in Peter. When Peter says that he will follow Jesus despite Jesus warning that he cannot do so, who is speaking here? When Peter cuts the ear of the guard, who is acting here? The Old Man in Peter!

It is not enough to have the New Wine, i.e. Jesus in our life. We also need the Old Wineskin to be transformed, purified, changed, into the New Wineskin!

When Jesus performed miracles, fed the crowds, stopped the wind, healed all illnesses, what was people's reaction? He greatly resembled a Political Messiah, with all the necessary solutions : food, clothes, shelter, and peace! They wanted to make him a King! The Messiah King! But who is reacting in them here? The Old Man. How does he react? According to the base human way.

The 'Pearl', the 'New wine' is being given to swine: the old skin. This will not work, it will not bear fruit.

It is worth stressing once more that Jesus is not questioning people's zeal. Yet, it is not because we have zeal that validates the use of baser human means. Emphatically not! When God's Graces fall into soiled hands, old hearts of stone, old skins, they become Idols - i.e. they are unconsciously worshipped like God! Our attachment to them is true spiritual idolatry, where importance is given to what we have understood, what we have felt, and not to God himself, the Giver.

The Old Heart tends to accelerate, rushing to conclusions, to interpret according to human values, hopes and desire. One light, one grace, is now given prominence according to the desire of the moment, the part becomes the whole. One light is transformed into an entire doctrine or conviction. We start to focus on things that matter to the Old Man in us... but in fact they are only a part rather than the whole of theTruth. We rush on, not wanting to wait until all the Truth is revealed to us, until the entire picture is painted before our inner eye. The attachment to such things is already the seed of fanaticism.

In essence, it becomes evident that Graces which have been undermined by selfish/subjective needs, can generate fanaticism, and lead us astray from God's ways.

Strangely, after having been 'poor', for a long time, in the spiritual sense, as we search for the Truth, any crumb of light that enters into our perception becomes the object of our new born fanaticism. If any person comes and challenges us, or touches this newly received part of the Truth, we become very confrontational, aggressive and insistent. Our approach becomes radical and fundamentalist. We build up in our mind the convictions we want, with the little we have, and totally disregard the different thinking or behaviour of anyone else.

Ironically, deep inside of us, we are unaware that our thinking and emotions are dominated by fear: the fear of losing our grip on the little crumb of light which has fallen into our hands, and which has become our "god". There is a subtle but vibrant idolatry at work here. A crumb of the Truth now becomes all the Truth. Now, into the bargain, we became very zealous about it.

Total blindness, total lack of humility! Who can save us? Nobody. Why? Spiritual pride has already taken root in us and it is impossible to convince a person who has spiritual pride.

A person with common human earthly pride is open to redemption, because an appeal can be entertained when it emanates from a higher point of view or perspective: an established spiritual life, God. But if you are dealing with a spiritually proud person, this is simply a dead-end! In fact this person actually claims to spiritual knowledge!

Fear, lack of full growth, a degree of ignorance, generate fanaticism and the dogmatic self-righteous insistence that comes with it. A zeal that does not emanate from God, for God is humble and meek.

Fear of losing what was gained when the light was experienced is enough to give him or her grounds for "certainty".

All this shows a lack of growth. A fragmented and reduced approach to the real God, the real Jesus, the real Gospel. It illustrates a very superficial understanding of Christianity, and quite a serious degree of spiritual blindness. "...you said, you see, therefore your sins remain" said Jesus to the Pharisees toward the end of Chapter 9 in St John's Gospel.

More significant even than this is to know that all fanaticism bears a degree of heresy in it, because one choses part of the Truth and not all of it. The challenge of doing the latter - choosing all the Truth - is infinitely harder, because grasping the whole Truth engenders quite a different way of behaving, and is necessary. It is a humble and meek way, and is founded on gratitude for the generosity and mercy shown by the Lord.

NB If you want to read about Spiritual Sins, read the First book of “The Dark Night of the Spirit" of St John of the Cross (Chapters 1-7), where the author addresses the seven spiritual capital sins: a reflection of the usual seven capital sins transposed onto the Spiritual Realm: spiritual greed, spiritual gluttony, spiritual lust, spiritual pride, spiritual laziness, spiritual jealousy,... All momentous sins!

The healing process

The needed purity

If a fanatic has a little seed of humility and repentance, he or she can find a way to heal and grow spiritually.

As a first step it is important to trust God and entrust ourselves to Him. This attitude is essential. It comprises a sincere wide and deep act of Faith in God. We are not the managers of our Spiritual Life, we did not call God, we do not deserve even one of His innumerable Graces. Everything flows from His immense Mercy, calling us to follow him. He Called us, it is not we who called Him.

It is God who knows that the greatest part of our being still needs to be purified and changed; that the Old Man is still very alive in us; that a big part of our make-up is still raw material. The work is one of transformation, of daily effort, of daily steps to take, of daily growth. Therefore it is extremely advisable, everyday, to place into the hands of God one end of a figurative woollen ball by concentrating on doing Lectio Divina as well as possible. If, everyday, we repeatedly ask Him to hold one end of the thread, if, everyday, we put it back into His Hands, He will finally possess the entire ball in his hands, but more importantly, the thread will be absorbed by Him to subsequently become the means of transforming us.

It is important to realise that spiritual life is like human growth: it takes years to become an adult. It takes years for a small seed to become a big tree! This means that we should not cease trying to achieve our first victories, but consider that everyday there will be a battle, and that we need to win it. We should not be satisfied with a few crumbs but aim for the abundant Table of Food God has ready and waiting for us. This means that patience, resilience and perseverance are the unavoidable keys to success in this situation.

It must also be kept to the forefront of our thinking that rushing, jumping to conclusions, taking short cuts over important steps, forgetting the daily spiritual realism, make us go astray.

Every day entails its own effort, pain, and growth. Spiritual realism dictates that 'today' is what matters the most. It is not beneficial at all to discard the necessary steps. Neither is it beneficial to look behind, or be attached to the "old edifice". Let it fall if it has to - and unavoidably it has to!

It is important as well not to mix and confuse one light with the Uncreated Light, Jesus himself, and to forget also the thousands of other lights the Lord wants to send us. As mentioned before, it is important to avoid transforming a grace we have received into an idol... into a "god". Only God is God, and anything created that falls into the narrow space of our mind cannot be idolised. God is infinitely wider that our little brain and understanding. One truth calls for another truth until the Truth is formed, until the whole picture of the Truth is formed. And remember, the Truth is not a theory, it is a person: Jesus.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

It is also useful to remember that fanaticism is fiercely insistent. On the other hand Jesus was meek and humble. He said to the Samaritan Lady (St John chapter 4): 'I am thirsty.' He did not start by saying: 'you have the wrong religion, you are an adulteress,...' Conquering others for Christ requires a lot of delicacy and forethought as well as patience, both of which constitute a purer form of Love.

The Church, in the final analysis, provides a better and more balanced judgement. Why try to out run the Church? Why run in a different direction to the Church? Why claim that the Church makes various assertions when it is you who make them, and do so in your own way? After all, who gave you permission to do so? What are your credentials?

It is of the utmost importance to believe in the Church. "To Believe" is not to stop at what we see. It is to go deeper, with pure intentions, to find Jesus and the Holy Spirit instead of seeking out trouble! St Francis of Assisi confessed to a known adulterous Priest. Why? To show us how his faith was stronger than appearances, that he saw and believed in the sacred Priesthood of this Priest! Do we have such faith?

It is important, also, to have recourse to the deposit of God's Wisdom which the Church holds in trust. Submitting to the Holy Spirit who is alive in the Church, who speaks through the Church and in the Church is a true wise choice. Thus it is beneficial to have recourse to the Church for solid doctrine in order to find in her, God. Likewise it is always very good to humbly consult God through his Priests, such behaviour, in fact, being endorsed by St John of the Cross who says that God loves this way of acting.

As a final reminder, let us remember that the Lord did not blame us for wanting to remove the speck from the eyes of our brothers, but He stressed the fact that we need to learn how do it: by removing first the beam in our own eye! The Lords wants us to really learn what is true love, true Mercy, true compassion, so we are more qualified to remove the speck from our brothers' eyes, not with aggressive fanaticism, but with peaceful, meek, compassionate Mercy.

85: The forgotten theological act: Hope

As you know, I prefer to speak about the "act" of hope than the "virtue". Because the "repetition of good acts" generates a "good habit", a "Virtue". Remember the muscle of the body-builder we have muscles in us (the faculties of the soul: mind, will, memory) that need to be activated in a correct way and direction: the Divine Blood (the Grace of God) is offered to our faculties and is waiting to be used through activating the muscle (the faculty).

Strengthening the virtue's "muscle"

The muscle of hope is the mind (some say it is the "memory"). But I prefer to take an example in order to understand it better: hope is like hands (or arms) extended, waiting to receive something (the object of a promise). It is a desire, a motivation, a drive that moves us ahead.

"Hope" and "hopes"

"Hopes" are "normal hopes", even the good ones, the good causes, the spiritual causes. "Hope" is the theological Act, never to be mixed with others, or worse: exchanged by others. "Hope" is vertical, it connects us directly with Jesus-God – this is why it is called: theological (Theos: God). "Hopes" connect us with something created. The difference is huge!

This is why we need to pass the comb, in order to see if the hairs of our desire are well orientated (toward the object of our hope) and in order (gathering properly all our energy).

Mind you, without hope/hopes we would never do anything. They are the driving force in our life. What makes us wake up in the morning and wanting to go through the day. We all have "hopes", but do we have a "Hope"? We often put our heart in the hopes, but is all our heart in the only Hope?

How to do an act of Hope?

"Hope" is all related to a "Promise". It is our reaction (what we will do) in front of the obtaining the object of the promise. We extend our hands, our arms, in order to receive the promised Gift.

Our hands could be already filled with other things instead; this is why it is important to check, regularly, our desire, our Hope, how we perform the act of desire (how we "aspire"). We all have semi-conscious hopes that motivate us, that constitute the drive, that make us move, try, do, start, create, realise (work, mission, family, money, career,…). Our heart gets filled by these semi-conscious hopes. But if we prepare ourselves to do an act of hope, through checking the state of our heart, his longing, his desires, his possessions, we become aware of these semi-conscious hopes.

We then focus our mind on "studying" (staring at length, deepening,…) the real Hope, the Real and only Promise made to us, the solid indestructible promise, the Anchor of our Life.

Then, gathering all the energies of our heart, we orientate it toward the real Hope, the vertical one.

The direct realistic consequence of the vertical Hope is for us: to do what we are supposed to do today, without thinking of tomorrow. Focusing on today as if today is the only day we have to live, and live it to the fullness. If we are still capable of thinking of tomorrow, it probably means that part of our energy is going horizontal and is not connecting us to the real and only Hope. We need to focus on today: what to do today, according to Jesus will, because this will bring us closer to Him, to the realisation of our Hope.

"teenager" hope

Like spiritual "adolescents", we need everything (all of it), and now (today)... We would like to reach the top of the Mountain (Jesus' Promise) today. This is "Dreamy Hope". Not bad, we need to have big Hopes, real ones. But the energy we put in it should be as well converted into something solid, concrete: a real step ahead, today. Only the theological acts (the acts that connect us directly to God, to Jesus-God) are realistic, incarnate and real. The rest doesn't break the surface of the Divine Seed, Life doesn't come out of it to blossom. It remains imprisoned in it. Theological Hope, Holy Hope, points on our feet, showing the step to do today. If we want to climb the Mountain and be at the top of it, we need to start putting a foot in front of the other. Hope is practical! It looks paradoxical to say so because it seems that Hope puts our head high up above the Clouds. Yes, indeed it does that. But real Hope never forgets the earth and knows that in order to walk one has to keep his/her heart beyond the clouds (the veil), anchored in the Promise, and in the same time one has to keep his/her feet on earth, well grounded: by doing what we are supposed to do today.

Often we want to know what we will be doing tomorrow, or in 5 years, or 10. We want to know our vocation, our mission. But this literally sucks our sacred energy, the energy of our Heart, created only for God, for Jesus, and deprives it from the drive to do what we are supposed to do right now, regardless of what will happen tomorrow or in 10 years. This is why it is important to walk with our back upright, straight, connecting heaven and earth.

Hope vs Faith-Love

We can have Faith, we can have a little Love, but the forgotten little act, Hope, is the engine, the drive that pushes us ahead. Without hope the "car" of our spiritual life will be at halt. Very dangerous.

Hope is related to growth, climbing, transformation, sanctification.

If I don't know my goal, how will I ever reach it?

Clarify your hope, your HOPE, the Holy Hope… not any hope, like the "hopes", the cheap ones and the "expensive" ones. We have only one Theological Hope.

So negligent!

Do we know what tomorrow is made of? Do we know if our heart will continue to beat within three minutes? Can we change a hair from black to white? No. So why putting our energy in uncertainty.

The one who promised is faithful and trustworthy and realises His Promises.

The Promise

Now, what is the Promise to which Hope is attached to? What is the Promise that constitutes our Hope? Where do we find that Promise in the Gospel?

We need the help of the Holy Spirit in order to become able to see deep in Jesus on the Cross, and find out that, deeply, He is embracing me on the Cross, He united me to Himself on the Cross. This is His plan, this is what He wants to realise on earth. This is His Promise. "heaven" is not a state, it is not a place, it is a degree of transformation in Jesus. Sanctification, divinisation.

Jesus holding each one of us

On the Cross He realises from His part that transformation, and He is offering it to me, as the Project of my life. This is His Solid Promise to me. Do I see that?

This is the goal of my life, this is what I am waiting for, here on earth. It is not a Promise for "after-death", no, it is here on earth. The Saints shout it very loudly. Will I bank all my life on that? Hummm, this is the real theological challenge.

We live our lives with no theological dimension, it is flat. Full of good intentions, beautiful things, but where is Jesus Promise on the Cross? "And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD." (Hosea 2:19-20) This text, should be heard this way: said by Jesus on the Cross, in the present tense! This is the object of our hope.

hopes, joys, fears

Hopes generate in us false joy and false fear. Joy of possessing or about to posses horizontal things, and fear of not possessing goods or possessing bad things. Vertical Hope, offers a pure hope, and fills our heart with it, protecting our heart from being harmed by false joys or fears. Detached, free, belonging to Jesus.

When we look at the Cross, by the Grace of God, we should be able to see Jesus embracing us tightly; this is our Anchor. We already see it. We then can walk toward it, closer and closer until we reach with St Paul this Song: "it is not me who live, it is Jesus who lives in me".

Reading about Hope

In the third book of the Ascent of Mount Carmel, first part of it, saint John of the Cross explains how to do a pure act of Hope.

Examining our hope

It is so important to pass the comb, to check if our hands are full of possessions, and get rid of them, by simply gathering all our attention to the Cross, seeing His Promise, and gathering all the Energy of our heart, in order to desire this Promise, be attached to it, hooked to it, and then searching His Will today, in order to know were to put our foot, in order to do today's step.

A Parable on the conditions of Hope

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' […] 33 So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:28-33)

Now this parable has various aspects. First it speaks about the object of Hope: the Tower to build. But it takes it's existence and the knowledge of it for granted, which is not the object of this post. In this post, I do consider that the majority do not know the Vertical Tower…

But, having crossed that bridge, you see the Lord's advice: take time, ponder, in order to do the act of Hope correctly. Imagine you say: "yes, the goal of my life is to become holy", or "my aim is to reach the Union with Jesus", do you think that we really take the means of our hope? Do you really build correctly our hope? Do we really do one step at a time everyday, in the journey of transformation? Are we re-adjusting everyday ourselves to Jesus' Will? Is our Heart really totally attached to this hope? Is all our energy there?

The condition of "Hope" is "renouncing all" as Jesus states it. Would this mean that we all have to leave this life, and take the cloth and hide in the Desert? Or course not, "renouncing" is first and foremost the matter of the will and the desire. Many are in the Desert and their will is still holding on to possessions… of all sorts… possessing them really, or hoping to possess them.

Even health is a possession. See how St Theresa of Avila (in the Way of Perfection) says that one has to be fiercely detached from worries for his own health in order to put the Lord first and serve Him, and drop these silly fears about health. Of course, many persons wouldn't have that courage!

Hope is serious

Do you think that wanting the Holy Hope to be fulfilled is a light decision/enterprise? No. This is why Jesus' advice is, before pretending to embark in the Christian Journey to: "first sit down and count the cost".

Hope is the engine in your Christian Car. This is what makes it move…

Hope is about receiving something here on earth, and not only after death. Jesus said it: "I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:27). For some people this verse speaks a lot… " "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 8: 8)… the Call…

My hope, and the others

Every time I do an act of hope, every time I reconnect with Jesus the Groom, who promised He will unite to me during this life, every time I search for His Will for today, and put it into practise, and do receive a share of that big Hope, by doing one step ahead, in the climbing of the Mountain of the Lord, every time I do that all humanity does one step ahead. The act of Hope is not an egoistical selfish behaviour. We all belong to one same Body, we are all connected, deeply, so if I do progress, all humanity progresses with me, and this is what matters. Each act of Hope you do, sends waves of Living Waters (or Living Blood) across the whole Body…

The Mother of our Hope

Mary is the mother of Our Hope, she is the one that keeps it and preserves it pure for us. We can say about her what is said about Abraham, and much more: "No distrust made him waver concerning the Promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had Promised." (Romans 4:20-21) She is the one who hoped for the Messiah, the only one who was able to believe the words said by the Angel (Zachariah didn't) and receive Him. She is the only one who believed in the Jesus' Promise that He will rise again and waited for the Lord to Rise.

Mary, obtain for us the Grace of the correct and pure attitude for Vertical Hope… Pray for us… and teach us how to put it into practice everyday in order to get, day after day, closer to the Realisation of the Promise.

Important remark

Of course this topic (Hope) goes with the "Spiritual Journey" topic because the latter shows not only the goal but the way as well: the full length of the journey, it's shape. So please, in order to strengthen your Hope, do not hesitate to read the explanation of the 11 diagrams of the spiritual journey. They start here (please click here). Spiritual journey and Goal (the Promise) are not separable.

Hoping, Praying

Take time, every day to revise your "hopes", the mechanisms of your hopes, you semi-conscious acts. Take time to put all your energy in one Hope.. the one that is sure, solid, Eternal. This time is called as we: Prayer. Meet Jesus who Promised and won't fail to fulfil His Promise. Take time to See Him holding you already on the Cross, take time to entrust your energy and Hope in the Hands of Mary.