Page 195 - Built For God Handbook (Annotated and Explained Edition) - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching - The New Evangelization - Pope John Paul II

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The journey of faith is the story of how our lives unfold year after year.
Some divide life into two halves, with different rules governing the second
half. The first half is a time for acquisition, while the second half leads us
into relinquishment.

For others, there are three stages of life: essential for youth, generative for
adults, and radical for the aged called to redemptive suffering. There are
also the four stages of eastern anthropology: student, householder, forest
dweller, and sannyasin or wisdom figure.

For the saints, the most complete journey of faith involves six stages: pre-
conversion, conversion, first fervor, waning of first fervor, proficiency and the
Dark Night of the Spirit. This journey will also involve the spiritual spiral of
passion, death, and resurrection, which involves facing reality, accepting
reality, and dealing with reality.

This faith journey through life necessitates being aware, staying alert, and
having a respectful patience to allow the many seeds planted in our lives to
grow and mature. It involves a deep trust in the indwelling Spirit of God
guiding us along the way. It is especially at the stage of waning of first fervor
that one must understand disillusionment as a necessary step towards
commitment and not an occasion to give up, if we are to arrive at full
maturity.

Those who are wise will intuit that they are following God’s plan for their
lives, providing them with divine guidance that will allow them to practice a
spirituality of letting go, to trust that God will turn all things to the good for
those who love God, and in the end, to let go and let God.

b
a Psalm 23:1-3; Psalm 37:5-7; Psalm 55:22; Psalm 62:5; Proverbs 4:10-15;
d
c
Proverbs 3:5-6; Habakkuk 2:3; Genesis 12:1-2; Matthew 10:38-39;
Proverbs 28:20; Matthew 4:8-11; 1 Timothy 6:10; Luke 12:13-21;
Romans 8:5; Titus 2:11-15; Matthew 17:20; John 16:33; Matthew 11:2;
e
f 1 Corinthians 2:6-7; Colossians 1:9; James 1:5.