THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

Unitive Way: Part Two

By Brother Joseph of Mary,

The Church begins inside God. She is the fruit of the interior life of the trinity where she was conceived in the intellect, memory and will of God. The Incarnation introduced her to time and space, even here in this world she was, so to speak, initially conceived in that fiat of Mary which was an act of faith, hope and love which consisted of a simple interior act of the human intellect, memory and will that resulted in the existence of Jesus in the womb of Mary. Here even the initial physical beginning of the Church continues and exemplifies that priority God’s Providence has placed on the interior life.

“The Church grows from the inside to the outside, not in reverse order. She signifies, above all, an interior union with Christ; she forms herself in the life of prayer, in the life of the sacraments; on the fundamental dispositions of faith, hope and love. Therefore, when someone asks: what must I do so that Church will come into existence and continue to grow?, the answer must be: you must strive above all to ensure that there is faith, and that hope and love are actively present. Prayer builds the Church and the community of sacraments in which she raises her prayer for us…Christ exists only in His body, not just as an ideal; that means: with all those others – with the permanent, time-transcending community that is His body. The Church is not an idea, but a body…” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth, pp. 40-41, Ignatius Press, 1992).

The fruit of the soul’s spiritual life supports the growth of the Church. The spiritual life has for its end the union of body and soul with God. The proximate means for this union are faith, hope and love. These three theological virtues correspond to the three unitive organs of the soul. They are the intellect, memory and will. The object of these three organs is truth, happiness and goodness. Union occurs when the soul has possession of God. Specific possession of God occurs when the soul’s possession of truth in the intellect, happiness in the memory and goodness in the will are completed to that extent desired by God. Perfect and optimal glorification and magnification of God takes place when this union happens. Thus God expands Himself and diffuses Himself to the greatest extent possible in these pure and robust souls found in the unitive way.

To illustrate this let us consider for our purpose that these three organs are like three bird nests; the intellect contains eggs of truth, the memory contains eggs of happiness and the will contains eggs of goodness; the dove, or active force, belonging to the intellect is named faith, the dove of the memory is named hope, and the dove of the will is named love. The dove begetting all doves is God. This divine dove lays eggs that produce a new instance of His image. In the entire cosmos this dove will refuse to nest except for a rare spot in creation known as man. At this spot there are only three areas found suitable for the purpose of nesting that results in new life. Those three areas are the intellect, memory and will. Even the angels cannot claim that the dove nests with them for the purpose of new growth in the context we discuss here. This rare privilege is for man alone.

The unitive way results in fruit that is more precious to God than fire tried gold. A soul adorned with divinity is that fruit. A divinized intellect, memory and will result from such union. To say more is to say less.

Those in whom the three following conditions are verified belong to the unitive way: a great purity of heart, mastery over self, and a constant need of thinking of God - “my eyes are ever towards the Lord” (Psalm 24,15) (Tanquerey, 1296). St. John of the Cross would rap his knuckles against the wall in order to track conversation with others because this latter sign was so predominant in his life that he would drift off to God when duty required attention on creatures.

Souls will encounter three enemies in the unitive way. They are the soul itself, the devil and poor spiritual directors. Souls must recall they are overcoming three obstacles to union. Those obstacles are the flesh, the world and Satan. Souls will recall they are to test all spirits, that if a spirit is from God it will confess Christ in the flesh.

First, to confess Christ in the flesh can mean many things to many people. At the very least it will mean this: that which is from God will exalt the soul, since that is the singular reason Christ came, according the St. John of the Cross. That is Christ came to elevate our souls to God; to undo what the fall did, which was to breach the prior union. The fall has four effects – death, suffering, ignorance and an inclination to evil.

Souls can act. A better act is called virtue. Therefore, that which is from God will bring Christ alive in one form or another in the soul, that is by essence or operation. An increase in the virtue is an exaltation and elevation of the soul’s operation. Therefore look for an increase in virtue at the bare minimum in testing spirits. Furthermore, virtue is goodness and Satan is never the source of goodness.

The world is the least difficult to overcome, Satan is the most deceiving and the flesh will be the most persistent. These are spiritual principles from St. John of the Cross.

Now, armed with this information, the soul will be capable of initiating battle with the three enemies of union with God. A soul is to be meek and untrusting of itself since the effects of original sin are ever present. A soul must always bring itself to submission with the heart and mind of the Church on any matter and it will not go astray. This is not meant to be slavish. God wants children not slaves. This is to be understood from the perspective of freedom; matters can be categorized as falling into three divisions: matters of the true and good, matters of indifference, and lastly, matters of the false and evil. Man’s freedom does not extend to dissenting from that which is true or good. Man cannot vote a circle into a square. Man’s freedom does not extend to the unintelligible such as uniting with that which is false or evil. A soul is free to choose a vocation, a spirituality or any number of subsidiary things. Canon law, public law of the Church and common law of the Church all outline the vast area of this freedom. Life is short and Satan knows it. Do not reinvent the spiritual wheel, so to say, get on and along the way, and do not waste time initiating inquiry in matters of no consequence to your union. That is how the soul can be sidetracked and hurt. Eastern mysticism and Buddhism in particular are presently causing the type of concern to the Church that is being discussed here. It is acceptable to take the good and true that the Church recognizes in such teachings, but do not take such teachings into your life uncritically without testing the effects to be produced upon your soul, misinterpretation abounds.

Spiritual directors that are not experienced in mystical matters of union may do more harm than good. St. John of the Cross is very harsh to them and appears to treat them quite frankly and would tolerate no nonsense from such a person. Recall that the Little Flower claimed the Holy Spirit as her director. Look for someone holy, but above all they should be totally obedient to the Church and learned in such matters. Teresa of Avila felt that she would prefer a learned soul to a holy one if she had to make a choice, recognizing souls at this stage need both encouragement and enlightenment; however, St. Teresa evidently would opt for more enlightenment if a tradeoff had to occur. Consider such a director is quickening the virtues, directing devotion, promoting gifts, recognizing the fruits and guiding towards the beatitudes and charisms. Such a person will allow for encouragement and provide balance. Such a person is like a farmer with a vineyard who ends as a priest with wine. If there is an absence of common sense or any impropriety, abandon the person.

Satan will deceive. He will principally operate through the four great passions of fear, sorrow, hope and joy. He will lead to self-trust and pride. Generally, God will make Himself and His intentions known to His lovers as a gentle settling dew or in a whisper. Satan fears Jesus. According to St. John of the Cross, Satan fears souls in participatory union to the same degree he fears God since he sees God in such souls. This Saint also says such a soul in full union is like an army in full battle array; such a soul is spiritually an awesome spectacle full of the power of God.

Contrary to Hollywood’s portrayal of events, Satan is afraid of such souls and these souls make excellent exorcists because Satan flees them as he would the approach of God Himself. What institution other than the Catholic Church can claim such an historical ministry against absolute evil? The closer the soul gets to union, the weaker is Satan’s influence. The souls remedy, keep your eyes on the Eucharist, never abandon your duties for other works no matter how good they appear, for Satan will weaken you this way by overextending you. Learn to say no.

Remember the general means of perfection consist of four interior means. They are the desire for perfection, knowledge of God and self, conformity to God’s will and prayer. The four exterior means consist of spiritual direction, a rule of life, spiritual readings and conferences, and sanctification of social relations. God is your origin and goal. His Church will shelter, feed and clothe you.

This completes our series of the three ways of the spiritual life at an introductory level of difficulty. Thank you for your prayers and letters of encouragement. May God bless you.