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Invitation of the Trinity
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit invite
us to experience the life that flows between them. Scripture talks about us experiencing
the peace they have with each other (Phil 4:7), of experiencing their conversation
through our prayers (Rom 8:26); of experiencing them working through us to build
Jesus in each other (Rom. 12:4-8), and of experiencing Jesus life flowing through
us (Gal 2:20). How do we take them up on their invitation? We
use the tools that the church has discovered work: the
Liturgical Year, the Means of Grace, and
the Spiritual Disciplines |
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| The
Liturgical Year
When we shape our corporate and personal
spiritual lives by the liturgical year, we repeat Jesus' life in our experience
every year. The year takes us through:
Advent: we repent and ready ourselves for Jesus' coming - looking for
His second coming and seeking an eager longing for it.
Christmas: we embrace God working in matter, including the matter of
our lives - an incarnational spirituality. We let Jesus be born in our lives in
a new way.
Epiphany: we make a new commitment to let Jesus manifest himself
in and through our lives.
After Epiphany: we learn to manifest Jesus through our life and deeds.
Lent:
we repent, examine ourselves, and are renewed through identifying with
Jesus journey. We pray, fast, and give alms.
The Great Triduum (the three great days): Maundy Thursday, Good Friday,
and the Great Paschal Vigil on Saturday: we fast, pray, and commit to live in
the pattern of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Easter: the source of our life in Jesus. We die to sin in the death
of Jesus and rise to life in the Spirit. Lasts for 50 days, includes Ascension
Day and ends on Pentecost.
After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): From Pentecost until Advent. We meditate
on the teaching of the church, and go deeper into God's saving events in history.
Over the course of our lives, this repetition of Jesus' life begins to shape us
to become like Him. (back
to top)
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The
Means of Grace
"The Means of
Grace" is church lingo for the Sacraments: Baptism, Communion, Confirmation,
Marriage, Holy Orders, Absolution, and Anointing of the Sick. Preaching communicates
truth, but the Sacraments communicate God's life to us. Preaching makes us desire
what God offers us in His Sacraments; the Sacraments constitute the people of
God in a way that doctrine or preaching cannot. When
we use the Means of Grace - especially Baptism, which puts to death sin in our
flesh, and Communion, which continually infuses God's life into us - the Spirit
strengthens us in our efforts to become more like Jesus. The spiritual disciplines
are the tools we use to shape our inner landscape (with God's working in us, of
course!); God uses the Means of Grace to feed us so that we can keep shoveling. (back
to top)
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The
Spiritual Disciplines
Scripture describes us as made up of five components: the heart or will, the mind,
the body, our social interactions, and our soul, which integrates all of the other
four. To become like Jesus, we must bring all of these components into Christ's
likeness. To
do so, we use the five major spiritual disciplines:
Prayer:
shapes our will as we interact with the Father about His desires.
Lectio
Divina: "Divine Reading", or meditation on Scripture.
Shapes our mind as we learn to think the Father's thoughts after Him.
Fasting: shapes our body. Fasting teaches our body that it doesn't
have to get what it wants when it wants it.
Service: Transforms our social dimension. When we serve we break the
habit of evaluating other people for what they can do for us.
Silence and Solitude: transforms our soul. Spending time away from
people and in total silence - no music, no background noise - opens up the structure
of our souls as does nothing else. Silence and solitude give us the chance to
hear God speak to us, and allows us the leisure in which to respond. God
will not shape us into Jesus' likeness without our cooperation. The spiritual
disciplines are the means He has ordained by which we can cooperate with His work
in us; they are the tools we use to get his help in changing our inner landscape (back
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