Blog two
In the first book,
we saw the first step into the spiritual life, which is to getting rid of all
things that may hinder us from walking in the right direction. Some are from
the exterior life such as possessions, and others from the interior such as
wrong attitudes and bad feeling toward others. Now the interior life is the
second step. “The kingdom of God is within you, said the Lord. Turn thee with
all thine heart to the Lord and forsake this miserable world and thou shalt
find rest unto thy soul. Learn to despise outward things and to give thyself to
things inward, and thou shall see the kingdom of God come within thee.” [1]
Since the kingdom of God is within us, it is a condition that we have to limit
to the things of this world. It is that we cannot do both because one would
hinder the other. The more we detach materials, the more we become spiritual.
Meditation
For the interior
life, one must prepare the soul for the bridegroom. We need his grace because
we cannot do it by ourselves. It is not we are waiting for a friend that comes
to visit us in our home, but rather it is Jesus who comes to visit our souls.
So we need prayer and meditation. “Let thy contemplation be on the Most High,
and let the supplication be directed to Christ without ceasing…for if thou
devoutly fly to the wounds of Jesus and the precious marks of the nails and the
spear thou shalt find great comfort in tribulation.” [2] When we meditate on
Jesus from the beginning to the end, we see his humility when as God became man
and suffered through and on the cross. And there are different stages of his
life that we can meditate in, for example, the healing, prayers, and his
passion. There is no better example to imitate and meditate on than Jesus the
Most High. There is also the side of the relationship with Jesus that is
created through prayer and meditation. And perhaps that is what more important
that Jesus in our hearts, but also that he is constantly helping us becoming
more like Him.
Loving
Jesus Above All Things
The greatest thing
we can learn to do is to love the way He loved us. For true love is to give our
lives for our friends. It is different than the conditional love that we are
used to, or the love for things that have little value. “The love of created
things is deceiving and unstable, but the love of Jesus is faithful and
lasting. He who cleaveth to created things will fall with slipperiness, but he
who embraceth Jesus will stand upright forever.” [3] Often we do not see the
benefit of the friendship we have with Jesus, and we drift away for created
things. But those things take time from the relationship we should be building
with him. Moreover created things only last a while and have no real premises.
It is also important to realize that He is with us until the last day. Because
most of the time we think that he is far from us, but that is not the case, the
fact is that when we speak to him, he is listening. We invest much effort and
time to worldly thing, and even more should be invested in our relationship
with Jesus. For it is much more fruitful to gain the thing of heaven than the
things of this world.
One of the saints
that have imitated Christ perhaps even more than the author of the book “The
Imitation of Chris” Thomas Kempis is St. Francis of Assisi in more ways than
one. First on the side of humility Francis practice the love of other first
rather than himself, it was not something that he just thought in his mind or
said it in words but took into action. “I Brother Francis the least of your
servants, pray and conjure you by the love which is God himself willing to
throw myself at your feet and kiss them, to receive with humility and love
these words and all others of our Lord Jesus Christ, to put them to profit and
carry them out.” [4] Something to notice is that in order to think more of
others is to think less of oneself. Francis always saw it that way and thought
of himself as the least, but as the least of the servant. Perhaps this a good
imitation of Christ, since Jesus being formed the same substance of God and is
God never thought of himself equal to the Father. Further took the flesh of man
to become the servant of all. What a great example of a God who became a slave.
Also following the example of Jesus, who did everything out of obedience and love
for the Father, Francis had not only the Father but also the Son to love and
obey
[1] Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book II,
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Sabatier Paul. Life of St. Francis.
Scribner Press New York. (1919). Pg. 101
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