Nurture Relationships:
Relationships will be the most
important part of our lives, and
of course, our relationship with
God will be the most deciding
factor of our happiness.
Since relationships are
necessarily emotional, it is hard
to supply the stability of
reasoning or logic to them. While
some relationships will clearly
take us towards God, other
relationships will take us in the
other direction. Sometimes we can
choose which relationships we
develop, but in many cases, fate
just hands relationships to us
that we can't walk away from. For
example, we are expected to relate
to our children.
The Mistake of Hiding:
Relationships can make us very
happy, sad, hurt, or comforted. We
can (and often do) simultaneously
experience agony and ecstasy in a
relationship. When some relational
experiences cause us pain, we look
for something that will protect us
from the pain. It is only natural
to try to withdraw from pain, and
the most common way to withdraw
from a painful relationship is to
not show our true self by putting
on airs. We find these airs to be
like a fort, and we get used to
hiding in the fort.
While hiding in the fort may seem
like a safe and secure option, we
are only fooling ourselves. So
many of us have put on airs so
much of the time that society
expects us to act one way at work,
another way at Church, and yet a
different way at a party. All of
this acting is only a vain
disinformation project that
deprives us of vital relational
experiences. God is love, and God
calls us to relate deeply.
We can be so busy acting as if we
were someone else that we can
overlook our primary needs. For
example, we can be looking so much
for the desired reaction in others
that we forget to focus on what
our friends are feeling. As Jesus
puts it, we must become like
little children to enter into the
Kingdom of God.
Little children do not put on
airs. We can look at them and see
the person who they are. It is
usually easier to feel the
presence of a child than an adult
because children do not hide
themselves from us. Children often
see through the airs that adults
put on even when other adults
might not notice. For the
sophisticated airs of adults is an
encumbrance to their intellect and
other vital activities.
As we put on airs, we might feel
like we are at a slight
disadvantage, but we are actually
creating a crippling handicap. We
often fool ourselves. We don't see
these sophisticated airs as
distancing ourselves from God,
neighbor, and even ourselves.
Therefore we lose our relational
ability (from which we derive our
intelligence) as we try to act
sophisticated. In fact, even
animals often have better
relational skills than adults.
In a true story, a man was unhappy
with his dog. The man was
thinking that he would punish the
dog, and he went outside to where
the dog was playing. The man
tried to be real friendly, and
called the dog to him; but the dog
took off in the other direction at
a dead run. This happened several
times. If the dog was not in
trouble he would come quickly.
The man was an accomplished
business person, and he often
fooled other adults.
Since the dog did not try to put
on airs, he had better
relationship skills than most
humans even though he had
extremely limited intelligence in
comparison.
The specific skill that the dog
was exercising was the ability to
feel the man's presence. Since
the dog could feel the presence of
the man, the cannine could
ascertain some things that the man
was feeling.
This ability to feel the presence
of a person in relationship is
fundamental to the spiritual
journey.
Adults don't actually lose their
ability to feel the presence of
another person entirely, they just
don't use this relational skill
often enough because they can not
put on airs while they are using
it.
In another true story, a man, who
opened a print shop, had some
difficulty with people not paying
him for his work. He did all of
the normal credit checks and took
other precautions, but he would
still have trouble with people not
paying.
As he became more experience, he
did not do any credit checks or
take any precautions, but he did
not have any trouble collecting.
He claimed that he knew when the
customer would pay him from just
being around the customer. He did
not, however, know how he knew.
Many of the Saints, who founded
religious orders (e.g., St.
Francis of Assisi, St. Benedict),
loved their disciples so much that
they always knew what their
members were doing. This happens a
few times in the Bible as well.
For example, the time that Jesus
asked the disciples what they were
discussing on their way home (they
were discussing who was the most
important). Even though they did
not tell Jesus what they were
talking about, Jesus warned them
about this attitude. So, He knew
what they were talking about.
Our ability to feel another person
is a vital skill. We would be
alarmed if we could not feel some
part of our body (e.g., our foot
or arm). Since we are the Body o
f Christ, we should also be
concerned, if we have no clue of
what is happening inside another
person.
In a more cordial and relational
world, we would all feel the
presence of God and the presence
of each other. A person's
intelligence would be a measure of
how well we could feel his
presence, and the presence of
personalilties that were the most
attractive to an individual would
indicate the vocation that the
person was called to. It would be
clear to us the vocation that each
of us were called to because we
could feel each others' presence.
In many respects, sophisticated
airs are synonymous with
stupidity. As we hide behind these
airs, our intelligence suffers
from sophistication.
Another way of stating this is
that we are at our best when we
are ourselves. The further that we
move away from our identity or
purpose, the less effective we
become. Since we are made in the
image and likeness of God, we have
a greatness as long as we our true
to our identity. We need to
believe in the person God made.
When we are born, we go through a
phase of self discovery where we
learn how to use various parts of
our body. As we get older, we need
to continue the discovery process
by moving beyond ourselves into
feeling the presences of other
relational beings.
As a body of beings, we haven't
moved much beyond infantile
ignorance, because we are
paralyzed by egocentric appetites.
The grass is always greener on the
outside of the fort. Other people
need to see who we are, we need
other people to see us as we are,
and we need to see other people as
they are. As a people, God is
urgently calling us foremost into
the divine presence, and then, in
a very vital sense, we are called
to feel the presence of others as
much as we feel ourselves.
For many of us, it makes no
difference whether we are called
to this sort of perfection,
because, as a matter of
pragmatism, we can not feel the
presence of either God or
neighbor. If we could feel the
presence of God, we probably would
not have any difficulty
establishing consistency. While we
might not be able to reach our
goal, we can, however, still take
steps toward our destination.
For example, we can gain a sense
of who God is by (among many other
things) studying God's laws,
reading the Bible, or practicing
religious exercises. In a similar
way, every relationship can be
nurtured by gentleness, caring,
and giving, and at the same time,
we can develop a better
understanding of our neighbor by
striving to communicate with them
in a deeper way.
The Levels of Communication:
Since relationships are a two
way street, we can not dictate our
desires or decisions to others,
but we can subtly guide the
relationship to a greater depth
and expanse by communicating at a
more meaningful level. By looking
at the levels of communication
(from sensitivy seminars; these
were fashioned after some writings
by John Powell), we can find the
conversation that will help us and
avoid the discourse that will lead
towards shallow and narrow
stereotypes.
The goal is to stay in the higher
levels of communication (i.e.,
levels 1 through 3).
Level 4 takes us away from
consistency and deep prayer
because it encourages us to put
on artificial airs of strength,
importance, or other ego feeding
nonsense. The ego reduces our
chances of finding an egalitarian
posture that is conducive to
relationships.
As one might suppose, level 5
doesn't have much of an affect on
deep prayer.
The following are the 5 levels
of communication and a couple of
examples each.
|
| 1. |
Feelings: We confess our feelings
|
|
a. |
Telling someone we like them
|
|
b. |
Describing our feelings of the mountains
|
| 2. |
Features: We describe ourselves
|
|
a. |
Discussing our Faith
|
|
b. |
Telling someone about our vocational choices
|
| 3. |
Facts: We discuss something technical or factual
|
|
a. |
Discussing a diagnosis
|
|
b. |
Promoting a course of action
|
| 4. |
Frivolities: We talk to pass the time
|
|
a. |
Gossiping about our neighbor
|
|
b. |
Talking about the game last night
|
| 5. |
Formalities: We greet each other
|
|
a. |
Saying hello
|
|
b. |
Answering with a cliche
|
By trying to stay in the higher
levels of communication (1 through
3), we will reduce some of our
artificial airs which will help us
move out of our fort. As we come
out of hiding, we will begin to
focus more on God and others, and
in turn, our love will become more
pure. By building these relational
bridges, we are moving towards the
Kingdom of God which is defined by
agape.
The Goal of Agape:
Before we look at the goal of
agape, let's look at how this
whole relational process ties
together with agape. When we
become more selfish by sinning or
hiding, we also lose our ability
to relate to God which is mediated
through our soul. As we move
closer to God, our soul becomes
more free, open, and functional.
The further we move from God, our
soul is labored with many impure
appetites that call the attention
to impure activities. It is as
if we bury our soul in a
meaningless place, and our
rational soul has little clout in
our conscience.
The parable of the talents applies
to this process. If we hide our
treasure, we will lose it. We can
only become richer by investing
our treasure. Our treasure is our
ability to love. In this parable,
if we don't invest our love, we
don't go to Heaven.
In other words, if we emotionally
invest in others, we go to Heaven.
It has to be this way, because
Heaven is reserved for those who
love. Before we get too
comfortable with this, love means
so much that it has little meaning
in English, or (perhaps better)
love means different things to
different people. For its part,
Heaven requires agape which is a
purer form of love than the
contemporary English meaning of
love.
For example, in the English
translation when Jesus asked Peter
whether Peter loved Him, Peter
answer 3 times that he did. In the
Greek translation, however, Jesus
asked Peter whether Peter agaped
Him, but Peter said 3 times that
he philosed Jesus. After He
questioned Peter's agape, Jesus
told Peter to, "Feed my sheep"
(tend His Church). In other words,
Peter would need to agape Jesus to
become a pope who could assist the
Church.
Let's take the easy part first.
When Peter said that he philosed
Jesus, he was telling Jesus how
much he admired and respected our
Lord. Philos is a fraternal or
brotherly love. The members of a
sports team might admire each
other so much that they feel like
a family which is philos.
In Isaiah, agape is compared to
the mother's consciousness and
compassion for the baby at her
breast, but the passage says that
God's love for us is even more
consistent than a mother's love.
There is an insistence by God,
that we need to agape Him. For
example, in Matt 25 (The master
told the foolish virgins, "I do
not know you."), Luke 13 (The
master tells those who are locked
out of the house, "I do not know
where you come from."), and John
10 ("I know my sheep and my sheep
know me in the same way that the
Father knows me and I know my
Father."), Jesus places this
consciousness or feeling of Him as
a condition of salvation. John
says that God is agape. From these
things, we can conclude that our
happiness is dependent upon agape.
Agape leads to self control.
Jesus said that if we agape Him,
we will keep his commandments, and
Paul tells us to resist sin by
putting on the armor of Christ
(which wouldn't make much sense
except in the next paragraph he
tells us to pray constantly). This
reference to armor is also implied
in Saint Patrick's Breastplate
("Christ be with me, Christ within
me, Christ behind me," etc.).
Saint John of the Cross tells us
that major vices (he speaks
specifically of sexual sin) are
not overcome until we find our way
into deep prayer where we feel
God. Aquinas says that a longing
for God is the only common element
all our appetites have in common,
and only a relationship with God
can save us from them. Augustine
says that our hearts will be
restless (pulled to one appetite
after another) until it rests in
God. We can only avoid sin by
feeling God.
In the "Prayer of Saint Francis",
Saint Francis of Assisi points out
that Agape is important in
everything (not just self
control). In his mystical wisdom,
Francis longs to be a channel of
agape, and God tells Francis to
rebuild His Church which is very
similar to the order he gave Peter
that was mentioned above.
Among every other good thing,
agape saves our soul, gives us
control, feeds His sheep, repairs
His church, and defines our
vocations. From these things, we
can certainly conclude that agape
should be our goal, but we need a
plan to reach our goal which is to
know and love this presence of
God. We come to know God's
presence primarily by experiencing
the full life of God's Church,
searching for God in deep prayer,
serving within our vocation, and
participating in Eucharistic
relationships. Since Christians
are called to universal love, the
importance of Eucharistic
relationships are often
overlooked, but we are more likely
to experience agape in Eucharistic
relationships than in any other
way.
There are many times where we show
up at Church, but we bring very
little away. It is extremely rare
for us to find either deep prayer
or our vocation. On the other
hand, if we participate in small
Church communities, we will get to
know each other. Agape should be
the goal of every relationship,
but we are often ignorant of how
relationships progress to our
goal.
While we understand the importance
of empathy, politeness,
compassion, hospitality, and other
good relational traits, we often
fail to wonder how God is
expressed in each other.
Many of us have heard how we
should see Jesus in every one we
meet, but the humanness of Jesus
and the stereotypes of our society
often render this spiritual
exercise ineffective. For example,
our stereotype of Jesus might be
a compassionate man from the
Middle East, and we might be
unable to relate that image to a
woman in Los Angles. The Jews
worshiped God for many centuries,
but they did not recognize Jesus.
The Bible says that we are made in
the image of God, and God can be
expressed in ways other than what
we think of Jesus. We can use the
attributes (e.g., powerful, holy,
perfect, beautiful, happy,
intelligent, merciful) of God to
help us meditate on who God is. It
should be rather easy for us to
find some of these attributes in
every person, and the
constellation of our attributes
hint of our vocation. If we follow
our vocation, we become
instruments of the God of love on
earth.
External relationships (those that
we have with other people) are not
very different from internal
relationships (those we have
inside ourselves), and in fact,
they often reflect each other. For
example, if we are happy on the
inside, we will tend to make other
people happy (and vice versa).
In the agape relationship, we draw
the attributes of God out of a
person, and others do the same for
us. For example, while Peter may
have philosed Jesus, it is clear
that Jesus agaped Peter. Jesus
said that Peter was the rock that
the Church would be built upon.
God is the same yesterday, today,
and forever, and Peter reflected
some of God's stability. Jesus
declared Peter's vocation while
proclaiming Peter's stability.
Peter denied Jesus three times
when Jesus was before the
Sanhedrin, and Jesus questioned
Peter's agape three times. With
the power of the Holy Spirit,
Peter must have begun to agape
Jesus because he never vacillated
again.
When Mary was called to be the
Mother of God, Gabriel called her
blessed which is the only time in
the Bible that an angel calls
someone blessed. A few weeks later
Elizabeth calls Mary blessed. In
both of these cases, Mary is
confirmed in her vocation, while
both Gabriel and Elizabeth agape
Mary by identifying her as
blessed. Of course, the source of
Elizabeth's agape was John who was
inspired by God in her womb.
We need to keep in mind that we
are looking at agape (not
vocational calls), but people are
called in God's love which is
agape. There is no requirement,
however, for the vocational call
to contain agape. For example,
when Paul was called everyone was
afraid of him. In another case,
Moses was called because of his
ancestry which God pointed out
during the call and the Bible
builds the same basis by giving
the lineage of Moses and Aaron.
It is commendable to feel the
presence of another person, but
agape focuses on feeling the
attributes of God in the person's
presence. While this might seem
rather specific, with a little
thought, we can quickly conclude
that it can't be any other way.
Many of us may protest that we
can't feel the presence of another
person, but in reality, we all do.
For example, we showed how a smile
is contagious, but the connection
to other people can have a dark
side (such as the hate and
violence in a mob). Agape is
either the love of God or a close
relative, and it does not have a
dark side. We can't have the
pureness that agape requires
without focusing on a
characteristic of God.
If we strive for agape in our
relationships, we will be drawn
out of fort. Without question, we
will begin to emotionally invest
in our relationships, and
superficial relationships that
center around level 4
communication will seem so
unsatisfying. When we respect and
honor the presence of God in other
people, we are not far away from
feeling the presence of God in our
lives.
In the secular world, it is popular
to have the comforts of the
friendship to be the objective of
the relationship. As Christians,
we have the opportunity to find
much more in the relationship.
Each of us was made in the image
of God, and we carry the
attributes of God within us. If
our relationships accent our
divine attributes, we will build
the City of God upon a foundation
of solid agape that allows the all
important grace of God to flow
through us like a mighty river.
The Evangelism of Agape:
We are attracted to any of the
attributes of God, and we loathe
anything that is not from God. We
are attracted to beauty,
intelligence, love, generosity,
happiness, truthfulness, and any
other attribute of God. From the
Bible, we know many of the early
Christians were drawn to Christ by
the way the Christians loved one
another. If people are not
attracted to the Church, then
agape is not being used to accent
the attributes of God.
To put this another way, no one has
been able to argue against the
Church with any degree of
intellectual honesty for the last
800 years, but the Church won't
make many converts by winning an
argument. As it is with all
things, only God is attractive,
and the Church is seen as
attractive to the degree people
can see God in the Church. There
is no better public relations than
the emotional rush of agape, and
the attributes of God provide a
perfectly consistent marketing
theme that is always fresh and
attractive.
While God's attributes are
satisfying, they are never
filling. We can't have too much
beauty, intelligence, love, joy,
hope, or any other attribute of
God. We never grow weary of any of
God's attributes, they are always
fresh and inspirational. With
these features, the attributes of
God enable permanent covenants.
After Jesus agaped Peter by
comparing Peter to a rock, then
Jesus told Peter that the Church
would be built on the immutable
attribute of God.
The Covenant of Agape:
The seeds of agape will never bear
much fruit without taking root in
a permanent covenant. Where is the
witness of agape, if we do not
believe and hope in the
relationship? If we look at the
fruit of either Peter or Paul whom
were respectively commissioned by
the Jesus and the Spirit, we can
see that agape requires a covenant
to bear fruit. All of us are
called to vocation (where the type
of vocations are as imaginative as
God). If the City of God is not
flexible enough to covenant these
divergent calls, we can not expect
the vocations to yield fruit. This
fact is stamped into reality
everywhere we look. For example,
what fruit will eros yield without
the convenant of marriage? After
God called Moses, what fruit would
the call have borne if the
Israelites did not commit to
following Moses? As Paul put it,
all gifts are for the community,
and (we might add) the community
must accept the gift before it has
value.
As it is in the community, so it
is inside us. We need to covenant
that calling with God, but before
this can happen, several things
need to happen.
Our Identity in Christ:
Our bodies are a mixture of many
different appetites. Our appetites
often oppose each other which
slows the understanding in our
bodies. In this state, our bodies
can not understand how the Lord is
calling us.
Jesus acts a liaison between God
and man, and our souls play a
similar role in us. We need to
take deliberate action that will
increase the respect our souls
receive, if they are going to be
heard over the din of our
appetites. If the soul is
overruled by the appetites of the
body (such as the person living in
the fort), the body can not
realize the call.
We could try to go directly to
God, but we need to remember that
even the illustrious Saints
sometimes advanced far into their
vocation before they realized what
God was calling them to do. Yes,
deep prayer will ultimately lead
us to our vocation, but we would
need consistency to establish
deep prayer. At this point, we are
still trying to establish
consistency.
As we become emotionally engaged
with each other, the attraction
between us might start as eros or
philos, but despite the quality of
the love, the only attraction
comes from our attributes that
reflect the attributes of God. By
focusing on those attributes, we
will gravitate towards a purer
relationship. The attributes that
draw us closer together will bring
us closer to God.
If we knew why other people were
attracted to us, we would
partially know how the Lord is
calling us. As we find out who
others are, we define who we are,
and the City of God begins to take
shape. The Eucharistic community
accelerates our relationship with
Christ, and it strengthens our
ability to resist deception by
helping to define our identity in
Christ.
The Egalitarianism of Christianity:
In Heaven, everyone knows each
other, and as Jesus feeds us with
His Body, we gain the ability to
understand each other.
Non-Christian communities are
exemplified by rigid power
structures that devalue individual
identity and magnify state rule.
These communities reflect very
little of God's attributes.
Civilization, wealth, and other
needed attributes are sorely
lacking. In the System of God, we
find inspiration in the identity
of individuals. The City of God is
able to capitalize on individual
inspirations because we hope and
believe in each other as agape
demands of us. Agape is
initiated in the Eucharistic
celebration.
It might be argued that the
process occurs in the market place
which is outside the City of God,
but the degree of the reflection
is proportionate to the proximity
of the Faith Community. In other
words, the process starts with the
Eucharistic Celebration and it is
contagious. In our human nature,
it doesn't continue unless it is
continually fed. We find then that
wealth centers around pockets of
agape.
In a top down fashion, wealth is
moved from one country to another
through the arbitrary manipulation
of exchange rates (the relation of
one nation's currency to
another's), but these diabolic
influences are only temporary
setbacks for the City of God.
God is not a hedonist, and we
don't mean to imply that an
individual who is holy will be
wealthy (i.e., the heresy of the
Reformation which was driven by
money in the Church's treasury).
We are trying to show that God's
attributes flourish in an agape
centered community. A holy person
will have everything that money
could buy plus a lot more, even
when money is scarce. As Augustine
or Paul would testify, money means
little when compared to God.
Agape extends to all attributes of
God. For example, Aquinas showed
how free armies defeat armies that
are controlled from the top. In
other words, the best soldiers
have the freedom to use their best
judgement. For example, the only
American ace in the Vietnam war
shot down MIGs (enemy aircraft)
with such precision because he
knew what they were ordered to do
next. We could find many other
examples from many other wars. Our
point is that agape extends to
power, but it only does if we hope
and believe in each other.
The Command to Serve:
Most Eucharistic communities have
only a small understanding of what
God is trying to accomplished. In
the eyes of many people, the
primary role of the Church is to
save souls. While salvation is
certainly central to our being, we
need to be saved because we didn't
love God enough to keep God's
commandments. We definitely need
to understand that Jesus did not
come to establish a set or rules,
practices, and traditions that if
followed will save our soul. God
is personal and relational, and a
community of God needs to imitate
God's qualities. The rubrics of
the Church assist our salvation,
but our salvation depends upon our
relationship with God. Jesus is
the Judge, and Jesus says (several
times in the Bible as
demonstrated above) that He will
save those whom He knows.
Jesus also makes it clear (again
several times in the Bible, e.g.,
"thief in the night", "oil in the
lamp") that the relationship with
Him has to be maintained.
Since Jesus feeds the Eucharistic
Community with His Body and Blood,
there is an acute presence of
Jesus in the community. The
Eucharistic Community is the Body
of Christ. If the Eucharistic
Community knows us, Jesus knows
us.
God is not concerned whether the
Eucharistic Community knows our
phone number, E-mail address,
family members, work place, monthly
income, or leisure activities.
These are superficial facts that
are similar to
level 4 conversation.
We have a unique calling in God. To save us from
our sins, Jesus commands us to
serve the other members of the
Eucharistic Community with those
attributes that define our
vocational calling.
The Necessity to Commission:
For its part, the Eucharistic
Community can not love God unless
it believes and hopes in God, but
the City of God can not believe
and hope in God unless it believes
and hopes in us. For we carry the
calling of God.
Through the power of the Holy
Spirit, our soul communicates
these attributes of God to our
body, but more importantly, the
soul miraculously coordinates the
attributes of God into our being
as Aquinas points out. While we
may not understand what our
attributes are, the Body of Christ
sees them through its faith in us.
As our DNA identifies us, we
identify the human species.
Therefore, we are the recursion of
the species. Inside our body, the
fate of some cells may be
different than others, but we
don't think of each cell acting in
a different way (although a little
more thinking like this would be
helpful).
God has called the human race, and
the Church knows the call. The
Church has tried to embed the
global call into the human family,
but as the soul is not the only
voice inside us, the Church is not
the only opinion in the world.
The evil inside a body can be so
pervasive that every cell in the
body is condemned to Hell, and it
is no different with us as a race.
In exemplary cases, every cell can
be saved. In these extreme cases,
it is easy to see how strongly we
affect each other.
Our Choice of Relationships:
Since love is the highest domain,
our relationships can either be
our strongest ally or greatest
impediment. In particular, some
avoidance is necessary when the
friend strives to distract us from
our goal, but evangelism is better
than avoidance.
In too many cases, we seek
relationships with the rich,
powerful, or famous, but we should
seek relationships with those who
are holy. Why should we expect our
destiny to be any different than
our ambition?
Relationships are the keys to our
destiny and fate. Jesus told us
that we would be judged by whether
He knew us. Then He said that
whatever we do for the least of
our brothers, we do for Him. Jesus
specified the least of our
brothers because He was concerned
about our intent. We need to be
trying to help people. The rich
and powerful usually don't need
our help. With so many others in
desperate need of our help, what
is our intent when we help them?
The primary point in this passage
is that we save ourselves by
helping others. In other passages
(some of them previously
mentioned), we learn that we can
not be saved unless God knows us.
In other words, the Father calls
us to serve one another, and God
knows us only through the service
we extend to each other.
We are called to help others. If
we engage in a selfish pursuits, we
will be judged defective. We can
only save ourselves by becoming
the servants we are called to be.
Grace is the key to our salvation.
As the strongest current is in the
main part of the stream, the most
grace is in the most central part
of the Church. To experience the
strongest grace, we must be in the
main part of the spiritual
community. For example,
bi-locations, stigmatas, and other
supernatural signs almost always
fall inside the central part of
the Church. Only a few healings
and other miracles fall outside
the Church.
Our response to God will have a
significant impact on how our
friends respond to God. In the
history of the Church, many Saints
knew each other. For example,
Saint Bonaventure and Saint Thomas
of Aquinas were good friends.
Saint Dominic had a close
relationship with Saint Francis of
Assisi whom in turn was close to
Saint Clare of Assisi. Saint
Teresa of Avila worked with Saint
John of the Cross, and the two of
them knew other Saints as well.
Since Saints are so rare, it is
statistically unlikely that any
one Saint would know another
Saint, yet it happens scores (if
not hundreds) of times. As a
matter of fact, if we become a
Saint, it is very likely we will
know someone whom makes the heroic
climb with us.
Saint John of the Cross gave the
analogy that a single piece of
coal might catch on fire, but it
will not burn to white ash unless
it is close to other coals that
are burning.
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