The Journey Of Transformation

1. The Journey Of Transformation

2. The Covenant Love We Share With God • For God’s Part: • - He adopts us as His own—He makes a place • in His home for us • - He dies so that we might live • - He gives His Holy Spirit to us • - He provides for us, teaches us, transforms us • For Our Part: • - He alone is our God—we identify ourselves • with Him • - Jesus is Lord • - We adhere to His commandments • We receive the Holy Spirit and cooperate with • His work of transformation

3. Jesus turned around, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi, where do you live?’ He replied, ‘Come and see;’ so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him that day. (John 1:35-39) • What John and Andrew were asking: • - Why did John the Baptist point to you? • Who are you? • Why are we drawn toward you?

4. In truth, the only real meaning we have in life comes from our identification with Jesus ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God’ (John 6:68-69)

5. In learning who Jesus is, We learn who God is, And this revelation opens our eyes to see who we are. This is a proper subject for an extensive Bible Study, but that is not the subject for this weekend.

6. This weekend focuses on the experiential realization of these same truths—the fruit of God’s Covenant Love with us—our transformation “This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you” (Luke 22:20) “I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth…May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us…” (John 17:19-21)

7. We believe that God has called us together… With Fr. Gerhard Lohfink, we have studied how God forms a people, the concepts of: Scattered…Gathered…Exodus…People Scattered… Our beginning condition, we are scattered—physically, emotionally, spiritually —we are distracted Gathered…The mystery of God’s calling us together under His Lordship—this is not of our own doing

8. Exodus…God draws His people out of their former circumstances to form them anew People… I am God Almighty, walk before me and be single hearted (Genesis 17:1) Single hearted = tamim(Hebrew) = blameless, irreproachable, wholeheartedly loyal, perfect,undivided surrender to God

9. We believe that what we are doing together is not simply a matter of our own desires, but of God’s call to a covenant relationship with Him. He is offering to be our God and He is asking that we people set apart for Him and for His purposes in the world. This is true of the Church as a whole, but in a special way in our covenant community.

10. How do we go from Scattered & Distracted to Tamim —Undivided? This is God’s initiative and labor He gathers a people to Himself and makes Covenant with them He takes them from ‘the fleshpots of Egypt,’ where they are fed but enslaved, out into the desert. There He speaks to their hearts, teaches them, woos them, disciplines them, and re-creates them God makesexodus with them—He takes them on journey of transformation—there are hardships, but also a destination, the place of His promise He does this with the whole people, and with each person individually

11. We believe that God wishes to form in us the life of heaven…We recognize that this endeavor will require the offering of our whole selves to God, that the way we live should not continue to be shaped by this world, but be transformed by the renewal of our minds in God’s truth.

12. God makes exodus with us, as Church, as a community, and each one of us individually. This is the pattern He used with Israel, with His disciples, with His Church and His Saints through the ages. This is how He manifests Covenant Love with us—He converts our hearts Exodus is a process, it is our transformation in the Holy Spirit.

13. Jesus has already paid the price for our salvation, so why is this so hard? Unfortunately, our covenant relationship with God is tangled, our faith & good intentions & efforts are mixed in with weakness & failures & sin. Our feet are in two camps, in the Kingdom and in the world—we are scattered.

14. We’ve already made our choice for God—we’ve gathered ourselves to Him. Why doesn’t He just give us the grace of a quick transformation? There is a mystery to this; I believe it has something to do with free will.

15. “God Wants Mature Adult Children” (Weeds Among the Wheat, Fr. Thomas Green) Mature adult children—which God wants us to become—freely make good choices whether or not they experience a reward. Goodness is part of their nature—their eyes are upon the Lord—this is what conversion of the heart is about.

16. Freely choosing for God and goodness is not a one time event, it must be a habit of our personality. It is not motivated by reward but by a sincere desire to do what is right, even though it may cost us. Emotional rewards come and go; character persists. ‘He learned obedience, Son though he was, through suffering’(Hebrews 5:8) God’s training is aimed to make us like Jesus.

17. Maturing in Christ The Exodus journey comprises the joy of deliverance, the fear of privation and the unknown, the glad surprise of God’s provision, the emptiness of the desert, springs of refreshment, testing in the wilderness, the Jordan and the green lands beyond.

18. We fear what lies in the desert, we fear we may lose ourselves or perish there. Fortunately we have Saints who have traveled the path. They tell us what to expect, and how to endure the stretches of purifying dry dark valleys we must tread in order to reach maturity and the promised Kingdom. Major references used in what follows: The Impact of God by Fr. Iain Matthew Spiritual Passages by Fr. Benedict J Groeschel

19. Stages of Deepening Spiritual Maturity (1) Each person’s journey will be unique, and each of us is at a different place in the process, but it helps to see a general map of the path. • * Awakening • The Grace of Initial Conversion • 1 Purgative Stage • Overcoming Sin & Moral Integration • Trials & Maturing Faith • The First Experiences of Darkness and the • Need to Trust & Depend on God Adapted from Spiritual Passages, B. Groeschel

20. Stages of Deepening Spiritual Maturity (2) • Illuminative Stage • Enlightenment, Zeal, Light & Joy; • Peace & Abiding in the Presence of God • Unitive Stage • Simple Contemplation • Dark Night of the Soul • Quiet Ecstasy & Loss of All Defenses • Dark Night of the Spirit • Transforming Union & Infused Contemplation Adapted from Spiritual Passages, B. Groeschel

21. Spiritual Passages—Fr. Groeschel ‘We are in some way at all stages of the journey at any particular time.’ ‘The most important phase of spiritual development is the initial step in the purgative way (i.e. understanding sin & moral integration).’ ‘Any trying circumstance offering the opportunity to trust and confide in God is properly called a “darkness”—a psychological state of great discomfortcaused by a painful loss, trauma or by inner conflicts leading to depression.’

22. Spiritual Passages ‘Crisis is ultimately a crossroad… it is a time of pain and special opportunity for growth…The most important question is “What do you really want?”’ ‘Although the popular image of the Dark Night is the image of a cloistered nun kneeling on a cold stone floor… I think most dark nights are experienced at kitchen tables and at office desks…a young mother may turn to the plaster statue of a saint in her little kitchen and accept the death of her child with painful but loving trust…contemplatives have been formed in just this way.’

23. Why is it called “Dark Night”? The “darkness” and “night” refer to how different this experience is from the believer’s usual condition of being able to see (even if only dimly) by the light of faith. In this purification experience, we really don’t see what is next, God is working in the unseen depths of our soul. However, God is close to us in thenight— closer than when we are experiencing a consolation.

24. Spiritual Passages ‘The essential lessons of the Dark Night are learned only when one takes the first halting steps toward hope and trust…The first step to be taken, the first thing to be learned, isthe sovereignty of God. This is learned only in darkness when we come to the realization of our absolute insufficiency. We simple cannot do anything alone.’ ‘The most important experience of the Dark Night, however, is the rescuing by God, which marks the end of darkness. It is like the resurrection on Easter morning.’

25. A Night Has Three Elements • 1) The Inflow of God (it is initiated and empowered by God) • 2) Bewildering Suffering—we experience dryness, confusion, a sense of failure and having lost our way. • 3) Creative Response—faith, acceptance, an emergent vitality—rescued by God • Persevere! God is faithful!

26. Spiritual Passages ‘The person who passes through darkness, gaining the freedom of detachment may go back again to where he or she had been. I suspect many of us have passed through enough dark nights to ensure our entrance into the illuminative stage several times over. We see the light and yet we go back… We would like to keep our options open and so we must pass through darkness again and again until at last we surrender.’

27. The Impact of God: St. John of the Cross By Fr. Matthew ‘John of the Cross speaks to people who feel unable to change…within us, an unvoiced fear can make change impossible. It is the fear that when we reach, we may not find.It begs the question: if I give myself, will God fill me in my life? That is where John of the Cross stands: at the threshold of uncertainty; and he assures us that what dwells beyond is not simply chaos. The darkness bears the Spirit of God.’

28. A Self-Outpouring God ‘Life remains dispersed until this God is at its center.’ ‘John’s universe is drenched in a self-outpouring God… He hovers over to enter, presses in, and once in, burns through until he finds the deepest core of the human person.’

29. Making Space for God ‘For John, God is an approaching God, and our main job will be not to construct but to receive; …‘Making space for God in order to receive.’… Progress will be measured, less by ground covered, more by the amount of room God is given to maneuver …‘Space’, ‘emptiness’, are key words; or, as John puts it, nada.’ ‘God’s purpose is to make the soul great, the Spirit does more than arrive. He ‘provokes’, ‘invites’, and perseveres in his approach until ‘he makes the person wide enough, open enough, and capable of himself’ ’

30. Trust in God ‘The Living Flame here discloses the greatness of the human person. The fact is that only God is able to uncover aspects of our humanity which otherwise lie fallow. So of the ‘deep caverns of the soul’, John says that ‘nothing less than the infinite will fill them. ‘Belief is John’s requirement because that may be all we have to go on: God’s gift may not be evident to the mind or feelings. Trust in God’s word, and not in evidential security, must be our ultimate guarantee.’

31. Detachment ‘John says that a bird held by a thread is as held as a bird held by a rope. The thread is easier to snap, but until it is snapped, there is still no flying. That seems to mean that, wherever desire is out of order,and we want it that way, and it is not a (single event) but a habitual condition, then the situation has to be addressed.’ …by saying…

32. Nada ‘Establish your freedom, by saying, ‘no’. No, I don’t need this. I need You… I don’t need it, not because it is bad, but because it is bad at the center, and I want You at the center.... I do not need to do these things, not because they are necessarily wrong, but because I need You,and when I have shown myself that it is You I really want, then I can return to these others not as a slave.’

33. Perseverance ‘It takes courage to ‘stay with it’:not to move on when I do not like it any more, but instead, to stay with it and let what is no longer novel disclose its unsuspected depth… To live on likes and dislikes...keeps one a tourist, doing more and more, experiencing less and less… Not filling the gap with another novelty can feel like starving, but it allows the genuinely new to be disclosed.It allows one to live, not as a consumer among objects, but as a person among persons–fit for communion.’

34. The Journey of Transformation Remember, the details of the journey are unique for each person. * Transforming Union * Dark Night of the Spirit * Unitive Stage Loss of Defenses * Dark Night of the Soul * Simple Contemplation * Peace & the Presence of God Illuminative Stage * Enlightenment & Zeal ‘We are in some way at all stages of the journey at any particular time.’ -Groeschel * Darkness Purgative Stage * Maturing Faith “Ground Hog’s Day” * Moral Integration * Awakening Pre-conversion Adapted from Spiritual Passages, B. Groeschel

35. Summary (1) In discovering Who Jesus is, we discover who we are.Our true identity is tied to Jesus. It is revealed by the Holy Spirit, Who also reveals the true desires of our hearts. We are free, and the Lord asks us, “What do you want?” Because the Lord leaves us free, we have a tangled covenant relationship with God,complicated by our weaknesses, failures, sin and double-mindedness

36. Summary (2) God’s Covenant Love for us impels our transformation. God has a pattern of formation in creating people after His own heart—tamim—the Holy Spirit takes us in hand to transform us more and more like Jesus God does the work, but we need to cooperate with the Holy Spiritas best we can.  Make use of the gifts of the Church (the Sacraments) and the community.

37. Summary (3) Realize God uses trials and crises as part of His plan. Dark nights are part of His plan.He is very close to us in these times of darkness. St John of the Cross: ‘Persevere—God is faithful, He will not fail you.’ We wholeheartedly ask the Lord to use our life together as an instrument of change in every area of our lives so that we might be a holy people, fit for service, reflecting the character of the Holy God who dwells in our midst.

38. Appendix: Books You May Wish To Read The Impact of God by Fr. Iain Matthew Spiritual Passages by Fr. Benedict J Groeschel Weeds Among the Wheat by Fr. Thomas Green Prayer of the Heart by George Maloney Fire Within by Thomas Dubay