PROGRESSIVE INCORPORATION IN CHRIST AND SANCTITY

PROGRESSIVE INCORPORATION IN CHRIST AND SANCTITY
The doctrine of progressive incorporation in Christ will mani
fest its marvelous fecundity to the soul that wishes to live by it.(24)

First of all, in order to die to sin and its consequences, we will recall what St. Paul says: "We are buried together with Him (Christ) by baptism into death. . . that the body of sin may be destroyed." (25) "And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences"; (26) this is the death to sin through baptism and penance. Then, in the light of faith and under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the Christian should put on "the new (man), him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him. . . . Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God," adds St. Paul, "holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience. . . . But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection." (27) This is the illuminative way of those who imitate Christ, who adopt His sentiments, the spirit of His mysteries, His passion,(28) His crucifixion,(29) His resurrection.(30) This is the way of the contemplation of the Savior's mysteries which all the saints have lived, even those of the active life, while recalling these words of the Apostle: "Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ." (31)

This road leads to continual union with the Savior, according to the sublime words of the Epistle to the Colossians (3: 1-3): "If you be is.en with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead (to the world); and your life is hid with Christ in God." Then the peace of the Savior reigns in the soul that delights in saying to Him: "Lord, give Thyself to me, and give me to Thyself." In the saints, this union is like an almost uninterrupted communion. A glance, a movement of the soul toward Christ, tell Him our desires, present to Him our weakness, our good will, our disposition to be faithful to Him, and the thirst we have for Him. Such is the way of the loving contemplation of the great mysteries of Christ; it has its aridities and its joys. Those who experience it, see in it the normal prelude of the vision of heaven.

Some delude themselves, pretending to reach union with God without having continual recourse to our Lord. They will scarcely attain any but an abstract knowledge of God. They will not reach that delightful, living, quasi-experimental knowledge, as well as an elevated and practical knowledge, called wisdom, which makes the soul see God and His providence in the most insignificant things. The quietists fell into this error, holding that the sacred humanity of our Savior is a means useful only at the beginning of the spiritual life.(32) St. Teresa reacted especially against this point, reminding us that we should not of our own accord leave aside in prayer the consideration of Christ's humanity; it is the road which gently leads souls to His divinity.(33) We ought often to think of the immense spiritual riches of the holy soul of Christ, of His intellect, of His will, of His sensibility. By so doing we will come to a better understanding of the meaning of His words: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He is the way according to His humanity; as God, He is the very essence of truth and life.