Good Morning Everyone,

As we study St. Benedict we learn, share and practice what it means to be a good Christian.
Sister Joan writes the following, which I forward because I believe we are trying to achieve the third level of a spiritual life.

Peace,
Larry

 Three stages of the spiritual life

The spiritual life is not a template; it is a process meant to change our lives. There are stages in the spiritual life that move us from one level to another.

The first is compliance. The Ten Commandments dominate in this phase. Being spiritual in this phase depends on keeping a list of do’s and don’ts, on keeping the “rules”—whatever they are—on being perfect.

The point is that we don’t make choices in this stage. Not real choices. We simply conform or rebel. We do what we’re told but never ask ourselves whether or not what we’re doing has anything at all to do with Beatitudes or not.

The second level of the spiritual life is awareness. It has more to do with becoming a Christian than it does with going through the rituals of being Christian.

…we come to realize that though God began the process of Creation it is our responsibility to complete it. Then we set out to become the kind of people we were put on Earth to be. We begin to go out of ourselves for the sake of the world rather than simply awarding ourselves gold stars to being regular observers of ancient rituals. It is holiness, not regularity, that we are now concerned about in our spiritual life.

Finally, the third level of the spiritual life is transformation. It requires that we ourselves begin to “put on the mind of Christ.” We ourselves begin to think like the Jesus of the Mount of Beatitudes. We face what it means to be just in an unjust world, meek in an arrogant one, humble in a domineering one, compassionate in a prejudiced one, full of grief for those who suffer from suffering not of their own doing, compassionate for those who are oppressed by the indifferent of the world.

Then the truly spiritual soul sees the world as God sees the world and sets out to make it right.

—excerpted from the “Foreword” by Joan Chittister in Sick, and You Cared for Me: Homilies & Reflections for Cycle B, ed. by Deacon Jim Knipper  (Clear Faith Publishing).