Transformed in Christ

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Why do we find it so difficult to advance in the spiritual life? For all the graces I have received, I am far from being the saint God has called me to be. As Saint Paul laments, “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Rom 7:18-19). 

The answer, the spiritual masters tell us, resides in the will. The flesh with its passions—or “the old man”— protests the renunciation of the will, even in smaller things. We hold on to attachments our nature craves. At times we attempt to “hide” from God, even as we pretend not to “hear” the gentle impulse of the Spirit who desires to give us “all things.” Attachments to our natural desires may seem inconsequential and even lawful for us, and we give first place to our self-proclaimed right of choosing them. Alas, what we lack is purity of the heart. What we so often choose brings about the kind of “wretchedness” or dissatisfaction which Paul describes. In order to be truly transformed, we must give Him our whole heart. To follow Jesus means to have the “mind of Christ” who, assuming our human nature, completely laid aside all of the divine rights that were His as the Son of God, in order to accomplish His Father’s will (Phil 2:5-8).

The conflict between the flesh and the spirit arises in us due to the consequence of the loss of the preternatural gifts, especially the gift of integrity (infused knowledge and immortality are the other two). The world today rejects this reality of original sin and disavows the loss of an original harmony in man’s nature between God and the soul, the soul and the body, and between the body of man and exterior goods. The obedience of Christ merited sanctifying grace, but the three wounds of the soul—called concupiscence—remain in us, making the spiritual life difficult. But “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). The saints have demonstrated that this incomparable gift has a more fruitful reception in us when every day, with gratitude to Him for all things, we humbly acknowledge our weakness.