It is not possible to imagine transformation into Christ as a static reality. Divine life, communicated to man in his earthly pilgrimage, is of itself in constant progress.
From the outset of all Christian life, by the new birth "of water and of the Spirit," transformation into Christ begins, but it is but an initial transformation, a seed which must grow.
Even on the summits of the spiritual life this vital progress continues. This life of union still mounts toward unity, of course not a unity in the order of being, but in the intentional order of knowledge and of love. Marie Michel Philipon, O.P.
Jesus to Conchita:
"Listen. There are many progressive degrees in the transformation. The highest degree on earth corresponds to a transformation of the creature not only in its manner of thinking and of acting which becomes divine, but which, in a certain sense, causes it to disappear an annihilate itself to give place to Me.
"This degree is the work of the Holy Spirit alone who becomes the soul of this soul and the life of this body.
"This point which leads to union, even more, to unity, is the point of perfection which approaches most the Trinity.
"The creature left to itself would be incapable of attaining this degree without the most powerful aid of Him who is the inexhaustible Source of graces, the Holy Spirit. The mystical incarnation attracts the Holy Spirit, loving, mighty and divine of the Word who possesses the soul. Transformation is in the innermost part and the most noble of the creature" (Diary, Aug. 6, 1912).
Lights about the Unity of the Trinity
"Today, in my prayer, the lord gave me some radiant lights clarifying the Unity of the Most Holy Trinity. What abysses of perfections! What delights in God! What will heaven be, my God?" (Diary, April 9, 1913).
"Today, the Lord enveloped my soul in the depths of His uncreated light. He made me penetrate into these abysses of light the perfection of the Most Holy Trinity. He told me: 'Look and pay attention. All God's perfections are infinite, but they are based on one alone: on Unity. This Unity contains all the eternal riches. The highest perfection of souls consists in simplifying oneself, eliminating the multiplicity of objects and of things, in order to approach thus this essential Unity, fecund in its eternity, which without movement multiplies itself in its immutability in one eternal instant. There are Three Divine Persons but only one Essence, only one Substance, one eternal and indivisible Unity. Precisely in this Unity is found the secret of its fecundity. The more souls unify themselves with this Unity by union, the more these souls are fecund, since, in the measure they approach the Most Holy Trinity, is the superabundance of light, of grace and of gifts they receive from it. In this beautiful and divine Unity, the Three Divine Persons and the blessed find their beatitude. In this Unity are contained all the goods of earth and heaven, all graces, all crated beings, and all those which will be created in the future. It is the eternal hearth of all movement and of all being. It is Love. It is God.
"Simplify your spirit. Remove all complications coming from creatures and things. Love Me in Unity; live, breath, act, bring about that all virtues and all despoiling of yourself tend toward this Unity… You must live in this essential Unity, in this Unique God, bringing together your spiritual life in one only Love: Him; in one only will: His. In this capital point of unity of wills consists the perfection of this Unity.'
"That is what the Lord told me during Mass, and during my prayer He added: 'The end of every creature consists in this unity in God. There is found peace and lasting felicity. Souls which tend more and more to identify themselves in this Unity, that is, to make themselves but one with the Incarnate Word, the prototype of every creature's perfection, and which let themselves be divinized by Him in the Holy Spirit and in the Father, these souls are the holiest since holiness depends on love and the more love there is the more likeness there is to God, the more Unity there is with Him, the more perfection and holiness.
" 'One of the secrets of the Holy Spirit for developing divine life in souls and consequently union, is simplifying them in unity, that is, enriching them by love which is the essence of Unity in heaven and on earth. Spiritual marriage tends to this Unity through the Holy Spirit. Mystical incarnation tends toward this same unity through the Word. It is crowned in heaven by the Father, the mover and cause of spiritual marriage and of mystical incarnation… The whole economy and all the designs of redemption on souls, all the means of the mystical life, the role of the Incarnate Word who loves souls passionately and of the Holy Spirit who brings them to perfection for glorifying the Father in them, all this tends toward this Unity of which I speak. It is due to love which simplifies, which raises from the terrestrial to the divine, which unites and identifies the soul with the Divinity. The whole Christian life, the whole mystical life, tends to lead to this culminating point, toward this end offered to every soul which wishes to be saved and to be sanctified toward Unity" (Diary, April 11, 1913).
With the mystique of the Cross we come to the highest summits of Transformation by the Holy Spirit who unites to the Word and leads to the Father.
The fastest road to Unity
"What is the fastest road to come to this unity? It is the Holy Spirit who unites to the Word, who gives testimony of Him, who leads us toward the Father, a mission which pleases Him to the supreme degree. By title of Sanctifier, He sanctifies; sanctifying, He simplifies souls, leads them to the Father, making them lovers of the Trinity.
"The Lord told me complacently: 'God is One, and it is at the interior of this Unity His perfections are reproduced to infinity. God is One, but He does not dwell alone. There are three Persons in this Being which is One, and this One does not remain inactive. He cannot remain inactive because of the super-abundant fecundity of His Being. He is One, but it is precisely from this Unity that He draws the force of His action, of His creative power, of His fecundity. He produces Himself in each act, I might say so that you understand me, as you would express it. Contemplate this abyss of light, approach Him. But know that in God, there is no succession of acts. He operates eternally in one creation, all things in one only instant, the eternal instant of Unity in which is reflected and exists always present, past and future. That is when eternities without end vanish in Him. You, you measure time by the succession of your acts, but in God there is no time. All His acts, all His creations of nature and of grace, He Keeps them as in a mirror in the purity of His Spirit, brings out and reproduces out of His bosom and of His immensity all worlds, recompenses, crowns and all the beings that glorify Him, without the slightest movement on His part, in one only act of infinite Might.
" 'God multiplies Himself while still remaining One and without the least change. Immutable, eternal, He rejoices, I the infinite instant of His Unity, of His Being and of His numberless perfections.
" 'The souls closest to Him in heaven are those who, on earth, are most united to Him, putting aside all that could be an obstacle. They broke all attachments of evil passions and all else by the exercise of virtues and by self-spoliation, whose who by perpetual separations and a constant abnegation united themselves unconditionally to His will.'
"I saw abysses of light in this beloved Trinity. What depths, or rather what sublime perfections and what marvels!
"I said to Him: 'Lord, how would I be able to simplify myself?'
"He answered: 'By dying to your will and by making it one with Mine' "(Diary, April 11, 1913).
"The Lord continues to show the practical way to arrive at Unity: 'I insist that, for simplifying your acts in one finality, super-naturalizing them in God, you simplify your loves in one only love, in that of God, whence comes love of neighbor in the Unity of this God.'
"Learn to have but one only outlook, one only tendency, one only affection and will in God. Employ your existence loving God most simply, without detours, without complications, without seeking other ways or paths to come to Him, but seek only this essential Unity in which you must plunge yourself.
"The very virtues you practice, direct them all to this Center of love, to this Unique Being whence all grace and holiness come, to this unity which is God. The Holy Spirit, one with the Father and the Son will bear you on His wings up to the heart of this Unity, that you may understand, move, breathe and live in It. This divine Spirit, on spiritualizing you, that is, on unifying you, will make you penetrate into what is Spirit, that is, into the essential Divinity, having prior to this passed through Jesus Christ in your transformation into Him in virtues and through love.
"This is most sublime, but not impossible for the creature. This is not an ideal perfection I ask of you, but a most practical perfection by means of the exercise of virtues. This implies renunciation, simplification for uniting oneself more closely with Simplicity itself: God, one in the spirituality of His substance, this One in Three and these Three in One, indivisible and all perfect.
"All that you do and practice, cast it as often as possible into this Unity which must bring you along by the infinite perfection of its ever new beauties and by its infinite love. Your pains, your sufferings, your joys, your acts of renunciation, your desires and your hopes, your needs and your feelings, cast them all into this Unity which by its contact will simplify your life, the essence of your life, until you come to make yourself like to this unity itself in the plurality of virtues" (Diary, April 15, 1913).
The secret of arriving at unity is to let yourself be conducted by the Holy Spirit since it is He who brings about Unity in God Himself.
"Loving is perfecting and living with the love the Father has for the Son, that is, through the Holy Spirit - (this) is the most sublime perfection.
"Once transformation into Jesus is brought about in a soul, the Holy Spirit also becomes the spirit of the creature raised to a more or less higher degree according to the intensity and amplitude of transformation, which strictly depends on the growth of the soul in virtue. The Holy Spirit absorbs the creature's spirit in the course of transformation and fills it with this so pure love which is Himself. Then, it is with this same Love that the creature loves the divine Word, that is, with the same Love with which the Father loves Him, with absolute Love.
"Loving with the Holy Spirit is the grace of graces, the fusion of divine charisms, it is heaven itself placed at the disposition of that poor creature. The creature no longer acts, for its is the Holy Spirit who acts, whose heart beats, and who lives in it, and who loves with it and wholly surrounds it" (Diary, April 17, 1913).
When the heights of this spiritual life are perceived it could be asked whether this ideal is reserved for some rare privileged souls or if it belongs to the normal development of the life of grace.
The Lord gives us the answer: "I did not choose saints to tell them Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. I addressed Myself to all men, to the good and to the evil. All without exception are obliged to sanctify themselves" (Diary, April 15, 1913). |
No comments:
Post a Comment