by Alan D. Creech

To reach a sate in which we are not guided by our own will. This is our aim. This is where we want to go - to a place where our will is swallowed up in the will of God.

Is it only certain individuals (monk, minister, etc.) who are called to reproduce the life of Christ on earth? Is it only they who are to overcome death with life and be transformed into His image?

I think not. To be set apart is not necessarily to "set one's self apart," but it is that God has set us apart. It is an interior consecration and not necessarily an exterior one. We need not try to set the body straight and expect the inner parts to follow suit. This is backwards. We will only cause ourselves great harm.

We are called to conscious and manifested internal union with God. It could be said that this is all we are called to. If there is any outward work that any of us is particularly called to, it will only be found in the one call of union.

We are on a journey in which we are constantly losing pieces of ourselves. What is really happening, although to us it seems like what I just said were the case, is that we are escaping illusion. We have been "under the influence" for so long that we don't know up from down, and we are coming into sobriety - not physical, but spiritual. From darkness to light; from sleeping to waking; whatever human analogy you wish to lay over it, it's all the same. We are becoming, wholly, who we were created to be.

It is necessary in this process that we will become less and less aware, acutely, of our personal selves as something separate from the essence of God. In our pneuma (our spirit) we have His own eternal breath living and giving us life. It is there that we are no longer separate from Him. He has, by His power, breathed His self into us so that now, at least in the eternal sense, we are one self with God.

However, that is not the end of the story. It is at once the beginning and the end. We have found our home. We've been given residence. But, we have no idea where we are. We must not, though, start thinking that because we are not familiar with our surroundings, that we are actually not at home. We can't be thrown off and think that we somehow have to "get there" or "find our way" home. This will bring disastrous results! Although we have sight, we are then blind!

What we are doing, then, is allowing ourselves to become acquainted with our new home. And we must realize that we cannot acquaint ourselves with this house that we do not own and which we did not build. We can't just go around bumping into things and falling down stairs, etc. (well, we can but...) We must graciously let the host familiarize us, show us around, if you will, and make us at home, which indeed we are.

We have indeed been brought into "the House," in fact, we have been made the House and are now going about finding out what that is all about. We don't, at first, realize what a glorious and beautiful home we have been given. We are always in the House, always! But, we are not always really aware of where we are. This is a sad thing. What we've got to come to is the understanding that we are the House, or (if you wish) we now live in the House - that it is our home, not a strange hotel somewhere that we will soon leave, but in eternal reality, our HOME!

We must also realize that we are not it's master. This is key. If we never come to know that this is our home, then we will never live here as if it is. We won't be comfortable here and will not avail ourselves of all that is a part of living here - awful thing!

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about our life in God, in Christ. We have found, in Him, our eternal Home. And, in a real way, we have become His home. Jesus came down to earth and took upon Himself, our nature. He died, was raised from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, to give us life. Our Christian life is now a process of maturing, of learning what that life is all about - what it means to be alive in God.

This is the Spiritual Life - to learn to live in the House of God, to explore every room, to know we are not just "foster kids" who will leave someday, but that we have truly been adopted. It's not a trial run. This is the real, forever thing. God is our real Father and we are really His children whom He loves with an incomprehensible love!

This is the Gospel - the Good News! And it is not just something to say to ourselves to make ourselves feel good. Well, it is something we should say to ourselves and I'm sure that it will make us feel good in a way when we here it, but it is much more! It is what is most real in life. It is the core truth of why we are here and what we are doing.

So, sit back; make yourself at home. You are, you know. You live here now. Please don't act like a visitor! Get acquainted with the place. We're all going to be here for a very long time...