Session Five: Prayer and our Salvation

The last session finished half way up the mountain, on the climb towards God. The next steps will take us through a thick cloud. This represents a period called the Dark Night of the Soul, a period of spiritual darkness, during which the soul dies definitively to self. By this point in the journey, however, God has begun to send helps, such that He may be truly said to be the main driver now, in the soul's journey to heaven.

Souls that go through this period experience a sort of spiritual depression, through which they are purified of inner attachment to self. They may still fall into small sins as a result of living in a sinful world, but in their inner wills they are united closely to God.

If they emerge out the other side of this dark night they experience an illumination. Their souls are illuminated with knowledge of God preparing them for a definitive union of themselves with God, called by some writers, the 'Mystical Marriage'.

Do many souls experience these things? Probably not.

Does that mean this is all irrelevant to me? No.

Why not? Because what the great saints who have experienced this journey have shown to us is the path that we must all trace to God. If we have embarked on the journey to God in our spiritual lives, but haven't gone that far by the time we die, then we will still have to go through the process of dying to self, before we enter heaven - otherwise we would bring selfishness into heaven with us! This process has been called by the Tradition 'Purgatory'.

The process of purification about which we are speaking, here, is essentially of a painful and defining realignment of my life. It is about a shift from being Egocentric to Theocentric. A move from being self-centred to God-centred.

(1) Many people still have a view of God as a great Judge, with a traditional judge's wig, sentencing people to Heaven, or Hell. However, the Christian image of God will always be principally of a Father.

(2) Perhaps the best Scriptural image of this, is found in the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11 - 32). In this story, we find a son who rejects the love of the father, and leaves him. Thus he is separated from him. However, having spent all the money he received, the son finds himself with nothing.

• The son, finding that he has made a great mistake, REPENTS of what he has done. He decides to the return to the father - but now, he will ask for mercy, and is willing to accept whatever the conditions of his return are. He is even prepared to return as a servant.
• When the father sees him, though, he simply runs towards him, overjoyed that his son has returned.
• Notice, however, the necessity of the son making the first effort to repent and return to the father; had he not done this, there was nothing the father could do.

(3) This is, I think, instructive to our thinking about judgement. In the particular judgement, which we all experience at death, God is revealed to the soul, as He is. God is not the judge in a 'judgemental' sense - He is simply reveals the truth of who He is, and of who I am. No more deception, covering up or misreading of the situation; only truth.

• In a certain sense, it is not God, but me who judges. Faced with truth, do I, like the Prodigal Son rush towards the Father, seeking to love Him, no matter the cost? Or do I run away from the truth, seeking to be apart from Him?
• Ultimately, that question is answered in this life. Do I run towards God wherever I encounter Him, here today in this life? In the Eucharist? In the other Sacraments? In the teachings of my Faith? In the Scriptures and in prayer? In the poor?
• In our minds, we can sometimes try and separate the God we encounter in this life, from the 'real' God we encounter at the end of time. And likewise, we somehow imagine that we will be different people in the end, than we are today. However, both God and you are the same people you will be in the particular judgement. Yes, you still have some change to go through across time; but there is no fundamental separation between the 'you' before and after death. If in this life, you are self-centred, then you will be in the next life too. And thus, you wouldn't want heaven, because there happiness is all about self-gift.

(4) Therefore, everything that we do in this life, is a preparation for the end of life. Every day, we are given the opportunity to seek God, and thus seek to become more centred on Him (theocentric). Or, we can choose to focus inwardly on ourselves, and become more centred on ourselves (egocentric). Every day, every hour, every moment of our lives (if we look closely) are part of this drama.

• Through seeking to grow in the life of prayer, we devote time to very consciously focus our lives on God. This is essential, as it is inviting the supernatural power of God to bring about this inner change in us.

(5) We need also, though, to be attentive to other places where we encounter God in our daily lives. In particular, where we encounter Him in truth, beauty and goodness.

• All that is good comes from God (James 1:17), and wherever we encounter pure, unselfish goodness, we encounter the presence of God. Likewise, when we exercise virtue/goodness, we become more like God. When the soul seeks to live a virtuous life animated by prayer, it begins to acquire a taste for goodness, and so a taste for the Ultimate Good, who is God.
• United to goodness is truth; the two are inseparable and indeed are the same thing. I cannot be good, unless my life is based on what is true. Thus, as Christians, we need to allow a love for truth to be formed in us at all levels - we should resile from even the smallest untruths - that we will be interiorly drawn to Him who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6).
• Finally, that which is true & good is also beautiful. God is the ultimate beauty. It is important therefore, to expose ourselves to things which are objectively beautiful (eg. music, art, nature etc.). Sometimes this can require us to put a certain amount of effort in, to really appreciate the beauty. However, this is how are soul acquires a taste for what is really beautiful, rather than superficially so. Again, what is taking place is a certain realignment.

(6) As we begin to contemplate God through the supernatural life (prayer & sacraments) and the natural means of encounter (truth, beauty and goodness), that work of purification does take place. However, in some ways we have moved beyond it, to talk about the illumination of the soul.

• I believe, in this way, even though we may not ourselves travel through the cloud in this life, nevertheless, God gives us glimpses of what lies on the other side. Glimpses of the illumination that awaits us when we encounter Him face to face, if we love Him.

Conclusion
Key Points

• If we are to be with God forever, a deep realignment of my soul has to take place; either in this life, or the next. I need to want this to take place.
• This involves a transition from being Egocentric to Theocentric.
• In order to allow this to happen, I need to engage in the life supernatural life (prayer and the sacraments), but also to grow in my love for truth beauty and goodness.

Next Step 
1. Can I answer the questions on the handout?
2. Now spend 20 minutes (or more) in silence using the prayer exercise on the Ignatian Examen on the handout.