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Wisdom Saying
The following are words from Teresa of Avila, in her Life..., about a ~Priest-Spiritual Director whom she had, a man who was very fond of her and, also, involved in a long-term affair with a woman of very questionable character...
I felt sorry for this man because I was so fond of him. I was so superficial and blind in those days that I thought it was a virtue to be loyal and grateful to anyone who liked me. Damn such loyalty when it distracts a person from her loyalty to God! This is a common mistake people make in this world, and yet it never ceases to baffle me. Even though it is God to whom we owe gratitude for all good things, we do not hesitate to act against him, while we are reluctant to do anything that might strain our human friendships.
*Teresa of Avila. Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life. Translated by Mirabai Starr.
Comments
Here is a universal truth about spiritual evolution of the soul:
When you are growing toward and into Loving Union with the Divine One, you cannot keep the same friends you had before.
This may sound harsh, but sometimes truth is not tasteful to our ego selves.
As you grow into Union with Love, you will have a refined, expanded, more godly love for all persons and creatures, even so-called inanimate nature.
Having a more refined, expanded, and godly love for persons and being friends with them is different. Not remaining friends with some persons is not a selfish act. To try remaining friends with some persons and communities at their level~where they will judge you for growing beyond them, accuse you of being heretical, and seek to pull you down to the level you lived with them once~can be an act of disloyalty to yourself and your best Friend, Christ Jesus.
Indeed, the refined love will be uncompromising toward former loyalties. Devout, contemplative devotion to God will lead you to be more protective of the sacred energies growing in and entrusted to you. Your absolute devotion must be to what God is doing within and through you, not to your friends, human relationships, or your religion. Religion prioritized to the point of compromise is another godless idolatry, even with the words "God" and "Christ" attached to it~then, it is even more godless, Christ-less, and harmful.
So, how do you find it godly to flirt with it? You do not exclude them; they exclude themselves by their choice not to grow in Christ.
So, do not think you are doing some friends a service by maintaining friendship with them. Rather, your apparent disloyalty to them, as they interpret it, may be the witness and example they need. God~Love is not nice; God~Love is Real, and God~Love is uncompromising.
You may say, "But, God calls me to serve and live among them?" Yes, okay, but even then you must detach from them to the extent that is wise to live true to the Christ~within~you. God might put you to live in the middle of a group of such persons, but your heart cannot be given to them, but must be guarded for God. You can love them, but love them wisely, not thinking you must give your heart wholly to those who are not prepared to receive and honor that sacred trust and your sacred inner experience of Christ~Within.
And, beware most of the religious persons, for they are the most liable to tempt you to compromise your loyalty to the Spirit. At times, they will demand your compromise to their level of ignorance and spiritual blindness and, if you remain true to the Light within, they will stone you in the name of Christ, seek to ruin your good name: so blinded are they by their immature, selfish, and childish religiosity. Did they not treat Jesus the Christ in this same "religiously godless" way?
Even as Jesus let Judas go, you may have to do the same with some of your former friends. You may have to decide this question, "Is this sacred journey into union with God~Love more important that my friends, or not?"
Remember: Sometimes what others call disloyalty is the most loving, loyal thing to do.
Suggested Reflection
Do you need to revisit the status of some of your relationships in regard to where you are growing in spiritual transformation?
Do you tend to be too nice about these matters of personal loyalties?
Would you be willing to lose all your friends to be true to what God is doing in your life to transform you into the person you are to be be be-coming in Him, in Her?
Rejoice!
See next page for details on OneLife Ministries, Brian's book An Ache for Union, and material pertaining to sources used in the writing.
Feel free to submit a query. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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