In each of the three stages of spiritual advancement: purgative, illuminative, and unitive, o ur primary guide is the interior voice of God, in our moral conscience. Many lists of moral action exist, but we carry the most important guide with us always.103
In spiritual advancement a rule for activity is much more
effective than a list of activities, here is the rule:
Any activity, be it action, thought or will, must be
stripped of illegitimate selfish content. Those wishing
perfection must strip it even of legitimate self interest.
What remains of the action must have its origin and end
in Christ.
The standard for our spiritual advancement is Christ.
Christ is not only the rule, but the end which we seek. The rule which we live by, manage our actions toward, and evaluate them against is spoken by Jesus himself in Matthew 22:37;
103 The fourth chapter of this book details dozens of virtues to cultivate, and vices to avoid.
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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind.”
Again Jesus lays out this teaching, but in a bit more detail to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi. Anna was a mother of seven children, three of who died in infancy. Anna was unmatched in her prophetic knowledge, she was given miraculous knowledge of any topic, future events, afterlife status, location of lost items; her healing powers were extensive and well
documented. She deeply participated in Christ, including the attributes and abilities of Christ, which we term miracles. She made this participation by living the rule for spiritual perfection told to her by Jesus himself.
“The greatest merit consists in being in the midst of
the world and yet holding the world under one’s feet,
serving God in the state of life to which it has pleased him
to call you. Remember it is far more meritorious to
renounce one’s own will and submit to the will of God,
than to perform the greatest bodily mortifications…you
must not in the future use language such as ‘I want this;
this is pleasant, but this other is not.’ Do what you do not
wish to do, leave undone what you wish to do. One such
act is much more pleasing to me than an entire year of
penance. The soul that suffers patiently the tribulations
from people is greater than that of a penitent.”
Again, Jesus explained this principle of participation to Saint Henry (Heinrich) Suso. 104
104 Suso was a most interesting figure. He was a German Dominican monk, who declined to bathe for 20 years, (it takes a saint to live with a saint), and his clothing was studded with tacks pointing inward. All of this was an attempt to discipline his body, but Christ later appeared to him and informed him that in his attempt to focus on the body, he was diverting his attention away from Christ himself, who only wants union, not torture.
Suso was an innocent magnet for trouble. He and another friar were 133
“The truest and most effective teaching that you can
receive is this. Keep yourself apart from all men, if not in
body, then in spirit. Keep yourself free from all unneeded
images and words. Free yourself from everything that is
accidental, binding or that brings worry. Always direct
your spirit to the intimate contemplation of God, keeping
me constantly present before your eyes and never
turning them away from me.”
“Direct all other exercises, be it poverty, fasting,
vigils and all other types of chastisement toward this
goal and make use of them to the extent that they
advance this end. Do all this and you shall attain the
summit of perfection that not one person in a thousand
comprehends because they make these exercises their
goal and therefore wander about for years.”
These three prior rules for spiritual perfection — all given by Jesus to his disciples — is the finest wisdom available in the universe; anyone can do it, and the payoff is beyond imagination. Let us further examine the principles set forth in these three instruction sets.
The advice that Jesus Christ gave to friar Suso, would fit into his life as a monk, his job in life was fasting and prayer.
Recall that the mother of seven, Anna Maria Taigi also attained the highest perfection, and Christ guided Anna in her moral consciousness all the way. She never neglected her children or husband in preference to prayer, she did not fast through family meals, she sat and ate. But all of Anna’s discretionary passing through a village, when the well was discovered to be poisoned (by nearby sewage probably). A girl remembered seeing Suso near the well and the townspeople fell upon him. He informed the people that he had not poisoned the well, but left his fate in the hands of God. It was an event which demanded both faith in Christ, alongside selfless abandon, after making reasonable effort.
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moments and decisions were dedicated to participation in Christ, and this was how she attained perfection.
The student himself is the best judge of his actions, but he must be honest and attentive to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit who is our immediate guide. At its core, spiritual advancement is the cultivation of the three theological virtues and the twelve moral virtues. Our intellect may not have these memorized, but our will does, and our living moral conscious will prompt us toward the good, and away from the evil.
Can a person evaluate his spiritual advancement and attainment? 105 The measure of Christian spirituality is love of Christ, and Christ told us what this love is, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The apostle John confirms this,
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and is commandments are not burdensome.”, (1Jn 5:3).
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” The measure of our soul is the quality of our actions. We often fill out some form, which grades some action we received, we should not neglect to evaluate the quality of our own actions.
All of our actions become more perfect, according to the
depth of our participation in Christ, and practice in selflessness improves all our moral actions. Our “big” actions, are not our 105 Under the heading of spiritual evaluation is a possible upcoming event of great importance. It is the Great Warning of Garabandal. Garabandal, Spain is the site of an unconfirmed Marian apparition in 1961. Virgin Mary spoke to four girls of an upcoming warning, miracle and chastisement. A dozen or more prophecies of the saints speak of this same “illumination of conscience.” The warning will be worldwide (Acts 2:17), and involve a literally stunning personal revelation of moral consciousness, and each person will then understand how they stand before God. Acts 2:17 tells of Christ ‘pouring out his Spirit upon all people in the last days.’ It is to happen during the life of visionary Conchita Gonzalez who is 70 years old in 2019. See also the chapter, “Possible Future Events in Spiritual Advancement.”
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only important actions, actions we might consider as small also form and reinforce our soul, and affect all of creation. Patience on the road, or in a line, immediate forgiveness for a sharp remark, moderation at table and more are not optional. Such actions actually constitute who we are; virtues are not mere words or ideas they really compose the unseen fabric of our person and the entire universe.
A useful indicator of spiritual progress is the observation of our idle thoughts and day dreams. As the soul purges self and advances in union with Christ. We may expect a general upgrade in the quality of our idle thoughts. Our conscious thoughts are our intellect, but our idle, undirected thoughts are our will being manifest.
The most important question concerning spiritual
advancement is, “May I ask for and attain, the opportunity for spiritual perfection?” The answer is generally, ‘Yes.’ No one knows how long life will be, and someone asking late in life may need to take the accelerated course. An accelerated course is preferable, it cuts out the years of wandering, St. Francis did this, he cut out all discretional selfishness in his life, and so can anyone; the accidents of life (rich, poor, working, retired, nun, married) remain accidents.
Volumes could be written on other topics in spiritual advancement: discernment of spirits, spiritual directors, religious orders, third orders and associations, prayer groups, solitude and community, individual charisms and much more, but the foundation of spiritual advancement is daily doing and not doing, and our attention is most profitably directed at identifying selfishness in any action and purging it. What remains of the action should in some way be directed at union with God, via Jesus Christ.
Do not worry so much about the spiritual attainment of others, remember if you look after Christ’s interest, he will look 136
after yours. Regular prayer for others is our most productive action in this regard.