Communion of Saints are named the people of God

Men and women as God's image

God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over .... Genesis 1:26. Do you think it's easy to understand this similarity? It is certainly no. Although the Bible offers a wealth of passages to clarify the issue, it remains difficult for men to analyze and compare a physical world with an infinite reality.

However, it is very important for men to understand the meaning of these statements of Genesis. In the twenty first century is essential for individuals and communities, government, professionals, entrepreneurs and workers to realize the real dimension of every human being declared by the parameters of God.

Christian religions built their doctrine, teachings and practice, founded on the concept of God from the likes of men drawn from their resemblance to God. The dignity of man could also be recognized by his/her communion with God. The ability to interact and become a partner of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the opportunity for men to maintain this glorious dignity and not let go for not understanding its excellence.

As image of God, the predominant vocation of a Christian believer is to love and be loved. This role is accomplished in the community as image of God’s community: One God in three persons. As an example and to remark the importance of the community for human beings to fulfill their vocation, in a conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal John J. O'Connor citing a book by Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, says: "We have all known the long loneliness. I learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community."

Self-abandonment -Part II

Self-abandonment is the perfect attitude toward God for the spiritual being who accepts the experience of the spiritual path. At first, it can be confusing for some people who enthusiastically offered their lives to God and in short started experiencing some kind of regression.

In view of these loyal people sudden lack of fervor and desire, inability to control their spiritual progress, and thereby meet commitments are associated with inability to manage the transcendent affairs. Spiritual instability, doubt, insecurity after begin the spiritual development task is related to lack of willingness or ability to sustain spiritual growth.

Some of them leave the commitment caused by anxiety, some continue but with a lot of pain, and eventually, others find guidance on time to rectify the evaluation done to experiences that could be worth the effort. Experts generally mystical authors as Saint John of the Cross define this moment as a transition between the natural knowledge of the spiritual to a mystical understanding of the religious experience and clarify the steps of the process as going gradually through a path of darkness or lack of light, uncertainty and doubts to a path of light in the last stages. This makes it important to know the reason of self-abandonment into the hands of God as the best attitude for the good of the creature.

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Self-abandonment in the Father's hands

Self-abandonment - Part I

Like other businesses and human achievements, spiritual union with God is a task of both sides of a multistage process that can be simplified into two, ascetical and mystical. As was said, the Holy Spirit plays a major role to make people evolve spiritually and as in this case for individuals who are especially in the unitive stage aimed to find God through the ascetical-mystical way.

Since human souls can reach God in several other genuine alternatives, the contemplative way commented in this article is considered by many the "perfect" means to reach God. Contemplation is the last step of this trip, but before reaching there, men and women begin to experience the passive purification. This means the acceptance of testing, the feelings of pain, sorrow or suffering that God permits while waiting for this way of converting the individual to him. 2 Kings 14:26

The person at this time may feel that no one is there for him / her and he / she thinks it is isolated and without hope until they turn to God as expected. At the same time, during the development of this stage the human spirit begins to make sound decisions based on feelings and thoughts fed by the main theological virtues (ie, the virtues directly related to the religious experience of God), which are faith, hope and charity.

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Chapel of the flagellation

The Bible as light for the soul

There are people who love God more than themselves, their personal goals, time, worry and joy. How to keep personal beliefs daily exposed to the pressure of the modern world? What external resources are managed internally along with the determination to make it possible for them a growing relationship with God through time? Psalm 119:137-144. Certainly, these people know how to keep alive their faith in the test of time.

There are human spirits who want to see God and go on to the confines of heaven and travel the universe to find Him, because they know that in every encounter receive an infinitesimal part of Who He is. At the same time, God does the same. The Holy Spirit makes their wants to grow while human spirits feel deep in their souls the desire for solitude.

Where is God then? They know the way back to Him is faith. Faith is the only answer that lights they journey again. The human spirit has to understand, adapt and focus full attention to this interaction with a Partner who knows little but to Whom he/she respects for his presence there. These men and women become captive listeners, sometimes painfully, sometimes joyfully, but as someone who knows that someday will understand the truth of this interaction seraphic.

The human soul knows that one day must give up the effort to find the right word or symbol to decipher their language in front of God and begins to speak the spiritual vocabulary of the celestial world of the Holy Trinity.

Faith as a Resource for the Believer

Some people ask themselves why God gives them the difficult path of faith to reach Him. The diverse, multifaceted experience of faith makes men able to move from one emotional/spiritual state to another that could be a totally different religious experience and often this happens in an instant because faith has so many aspects, facets, colors, flavors, sensations, fruits, stages, savors, tones, feelings, qualities and styles.

Faith is a Theological virtue; it is one of the 3 -the other 2 are Hope and Love- that points to reach God or have a relationship with Him. Theological virtues differ from other kind of virtues such as Cardinal virtues as Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Courage or Fortitude. Cardinal are human virtues that have to do with the opportunity for men to improve through them interactions among individuals and communities, not necessarily directed to God.

Perhaps, the reason why the virtue of faith is preponderant to please God and grow spiritually is because one of the most rewarding experience human beings as image of God may experience similarly to God is to be believed, to be understood, to be faithful to the word and promise given. As Hebrews 11:6 says, “Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.”