Year A
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Psalm 122:1-2.3-4ab.4cd-5 (R. see 1)
Luke 16:1-8
TRANSFORMING UNION
"For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light "
Think about the quote above👴
Life, once you are in union with God, is what God wants it to be. It is full of surprises. But the best part is, as you have imitated Christ Jesus and you are Christ-like, you will have to suffer for others. That is the best part of our calling to imitate Christ Jesus. Enter into peoples situations like how Christ Jesus entered our situation, love them like how he Loved us. The greatest of this Love we know to be his suffering and death for us.
Transforming Union is a profound way of imitating the Son of God, who relinquished the privileges of His unique union with the Father to experience the human condition just as it is and to make our sufferings his own. His redeeming sacrifice could only be imitated by one who is established in Divine Union and who then gives back to God the normal enjoyment of that state in order to be immersed again in unbearable trials for the healing and transformation of others.
http://contemplativeview.com/transforming_union/
Transforming Union is prepared for by the Night of Spirit, according to St. John of the Cross. In the Spiritual Life, there are three Stages or Ways; Purgative way (Beginner), Illuminative way (Advanced), and Unitive way (Perfect).
Dark Night of the Senses is the bridge between the Purgative and the Illuminative way. Dark Night of the Soul or Spirit is the bridge between the Illuminative and Unitive way. Transforming Union mainly occurs at the Unitive way, and concerning the Nine levels of Prayer, Transforming Union Prayer is the 9th or Last level of Prayer. Thus a person at this stage is completely transformed into the life of God on earth. Because of this this stage is difficult to achieve, however we are called to achieve this level of heaven on earth so that we can be truly united with God, completely Christ-like.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL or SPIRIT; is the second stage of purification, through which God leads certain souls beyond meditation and ordinary contemplation to spiritual marriage. Its purpose is to detach the soul from spiritual consolations (not only sensible ones) and from all self-love (even love of one's own virtue). Its goal is to unite a person totally with God.
The Transforming Union enables one to handle greater trials. The trials do not take away or diminish that union, but the union is so pure that it might at times not be perceived. I have entered into Spiritual Theology and or Mystical Theology for today's reflection because I think is important for us to understand deeper what Paul is talking about concerning us making the Cross of Christ Jesus our friend rather than our enemy. Because those who make the Cross their enemy are doomed to be destroyed.
What Paul invites us to is the Last Way of the Spiritual Life and consequently the last level of Prayer on this earth, transforming union Prayer. Prayer is life, prayer is how we live our life in God's presence. The key idea of Prayer is interaction, and we cannot be without interact with God or others. When we walk or run we interact with the Land, when we eat, we interact with the food and so on, everything and everybody prays;
Romans 8:22-27
"We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains. And not only that: we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with eagerness for our bodies to be set free. In hope, we already have salvation; in hope, not visibly present, or we should not be hoping -- nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible. But having this hope for what we cannot yet see, we are able to wait for it with persevering confidence. And as well as this, the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words; and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God's holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God."From the above quote we see groans and prayers used interchangeably. The whole creation is in interaction with us and God, our every action then must be to the greater glory of God. As St. Paul said today, our stomach should not be our god, setting our minds on earthly things and comfort that come with them. Ofcourse they are important God created them for us. But the same God who created the eyes, created the eyelids so that we can close our eyes to things unworthy of them.
Even in today's gospel, the steward found a way to deal with his situation and his master praised him for his astuteness. He used the the situation to his advantage. Why can't we use the Victory of the Cross to our advantage. If only we know the importance of the Cross and the reasons why in Christian or Catholic Churches the Cross is always present as if we are still crucifying him who has conquered death once and for all, we will ask for his purifying Love on the Cross to transform us.
What was called Purifying love during the Night of the senses and the Night of the Soul is called Transforming love at the end of it, because it changes what is in us. It changes our selfishness completely into selflessness. This Love that has been at work throughout the Night helps a person to practise the most important virtue of all, selfless loving. It is in the repeated practice of selfless loving that a person is able to offer the only sacrifice that God really wants, the sacrifice of a pure and open heart. When one practices this virtue, one is in fact practising the three most important virtues of all which are Faith, Hope and Love at the same time.
Let's enter the darkness of Faith and be transformed by God's love. He invites us to transforming Union, Spiritual Marriage.
Summary on Transforming Union
- Is a way of uniting with Jesus Christ in a spiritual marriage.
- Is a complete imitation of Christ Jesus through Loving God without reserve and Loving others to the point of sharing in their suffering and problems.
- Is prepared for by the Night of Spirit, according to St. John of the Cross.
- May be followed by greater trials and temptations.
- May lead to special ministries
- Causes one’s activity to be anointed by the interior transformation of one’s inmost being by the Holy Spirit.
- Re-appropriates the good in every stage of our life by reliving the values of each stage and letting go of what was harmful.
- Moves us towards divine modes of thinking, knowing, and acting.
By Sylvester Amakye-Quayson
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