It is God working in the soul to make it like unto Himself. Perfection is neither more nor less than the faithful cooperation with this work.
— Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence
I came to the Lord in a rather unusual way. I was raised Catholic, and though Catholics are not necessarily known for having (or at least professing) a personal relationship with Jesus, this young Catholic stumbled into one quite unexpectedly. Continue reading “The Christian Soul: Control”
So we are saying then is that the Christian life is a life motivated by love. That in the Christian life, we are only responsible to do what love for God compels us to do, and this is what true Christian spirituality is all about. Continue reading “The Christian Soul: Looking for a Way Out”
I have to let you in on a little secret: This whole series on Christian Spirituality is personal to me. I suppose any topic written is personal to its author in some way. But this one is especially so. When I talk of “you” and “us” and “we” in these discussions, I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else. The “you” inside me is listening to what I have to say.
And so last week when I introduced the question concerning what motivates us, I was thinking about what happened to me long ago. I was thinking about being told by some individuals I was not okay before God, and that the only way I could be okay before God was by doing everything the Bible said — which meant doing everything they said. It was that simple, really. Continue reading “The Christian Soul: Acceptance”
I run risk at this point in our series on Christian Spirituality of repeating myself. But since it is the New Year — and I have also interrupted our discussion with my most recent piece on divorce — allow me to recap.
The year 2017 (as far as our discussion is concerned) was about tearing down. We closed out 2017 laying waste to the notion of Christian obligation. Before that, we had laid waste to the notion of Christian freedom (that is, that Jesus died that we might do as we please). Continue reading “The Christian Soul: Love”
I am taking a break temporarily from our series on the Christian Soul in order to address an issue which was very relevant to my Christian journey several years ago. It pertains to an issue that in many parts of the church is a settled matter, and this issue is the question of divorce.
By the question of divorce, I mean not so much whether divorce is allowable but whether remarriage after divorce is. And to set the proper stage for this discussion, I would like to begin with a story. Continue reading “The Question of Divorce”
D. Patrick Collins 