Overview and Summary of the Spiritual Journey

Jesus’ first words of His public ministry were: “This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!” (Mk 1:15).

This is Jesus’ call to all of us to allow Him to completely transform us interiorly; to conform our hearts and minds to His heart and mind. This is Jesus’ invitation to come into divine union with Him. If we accept his invitation, we set out on the spiritual journey in earnest. This journey is a life long process of changing our thinking, our willfulness, our emotions, and our behavior. It is a journey out of the fallen human condition, and back to the reign of God, which prevailed in the Garden of Eden before the fall of Adam and Eve. Therefore, it is a journey out of the misery of the fallen human condition, and into the joy of Christ. Let us now look at how we can cooperate in Jesus’ transformation of us.

The root cause of the fallen human condition and the emotional misery it creates, is faulty thinking.  Faulty thinking like: “I am a more worthwhile person if I have a lot of money”, or “I am a more worthwhile person if I do things well – like play basketball well”, or “I am a more worthwhile person if other people approve of me”. These are all lies, and if a person believes a lie to be true, that person gets in trouble very quickly.

For example, if a person believes it is true (when in fact it is a lie) that they are a more worthwhile person if they have a lot of money, then a great desire for money immediately arises in that person. Notice here that faulty thinking immediately and without any effort or intention gives rise to excessive or disordered desire. Human thinking directly affects human willfulness.

The presence of excessive or disordered desire in a person leads directly and inevitably to emotional suffering. If a person has an excessive desire for money, they will try to obtain and keep as much money as possible. But it is not easy to obtain and keep a lot of money in this world. Thus this person is likely to feel frustrated, anxious and angry as their desire for money is continually frustrated by reality not cooperating sufficiently with their excessive desire. Even if they obtain a lot of money, which is unlikely, it is never enough to satisfy their excessive desire, so they are never at peace. And then if they lose any of their money, it is especially painful as they attempt to cling to it.

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