1. The "life style" of a house
2. What the image says
3. The importance of ones experience

There are households that exhibit a definite and obvious lifestyle.  The imprint of the style is so clear that every visitor feels it.

What households come to mind for you as you reflect on this thought?  For me, I remember first the Catholic retreat houses where we were received as guests on our retreats.  The life style of these houses was created by a few religious Sisters through their quiet manner and gentle care of us.  These houses were furnished in accord with the purpose to which the sisters were committed: to help other people enter into stillness.  So it is that the function of a house determines the style.

Then other households came to mind which bore the imprint of a strong personality whose influence determined the life style of the house.  Because these households operated by voluntary arrangement with work shared by all the members rather than by an authoritarian structure, they often had the effect of magnets drawing people because they offered a measure of home and security.

And finally I thought of households in which the family structure shaped the life style in its own unique way.  Here the "harmony" created by living together cooperatively provided the support structure because members of this family willingly "adjusted to each other" and "tuned in to each other".

In connection with our image of the "life style of a house", we will use the extraordinary promise which Jesus gave when he said, "If a person loves me, he [she] will keep my word, and my Father will love him [her], and we will come to him [her] and make our home with him [her]" (John 14:23).  Or as Paul says: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me"(Galatians 2:20). The "style" of our life as Christians should become more and more "stamped" ( see "typos") as we let Christ shape our life in all its dimensions so that in us and through us - given our human limitations - Christ can be present in this world.  This will be developed in three ways:

- First, it has to do with shifting the weight from me to you as experienced in the inner dynamic of true love.  This Fifth Section deals with the practice of an inner attentiveness of which we become more and more conscious and yet which often is developing imperceptibly in us.  In a life that seeks to be formed through the love of God there occurs a shift in accent which happens step by step, sometimes fast, sometimes slowly, often interrupted by setbacks.  The main emphasis is shifted gradually from the "me" of our ego to the "You" of God.  We could also say that what happens is a shift from meditation to contemplation.

"Meditation" is understood as a process in which we concern ourselves with openness and readiness before God with the accent on our activity.   On the other hand "contemplation" will be understood in the sense used by John of the Cross : God's influencing us in a direct way in the "dark examination" (the examination is" dark" because people are not able to discern the "excessively bright" light of God).  In contemplation we remain passive and let something happen to us.  In reality meditation and contemplation cannot be separated.  All our doing is always surrounded and made possible by the grace of God.  God always works in us in such a way that includes rather than excludes our human possibilities and capabilities.  There are situations when looking within we recognize clearly that the main emphasis is on our own activity or that God has taken over with almost no participation on our part.  Our spiritual life develops on a broad scale between these two possibilities.

- Secondly, this section directs us to the great offer to Christians to have a part in the mission of Jesus Christ.  Here we encounter a central concern of the Apostle Paul that through baptism and participation in the Eucharist a Christian is drawn into genuine involvement with Christ's life and mission   What happens here is so amazing, so unusual that the language at our disposal is not sufficient to speak of it.  Therefore, the apostle develops a series of new words with which to express his great vision of the Christian life.  For this he uses familiar verbs which he connects together with the prefix "syn".  "Syn", which means "with", was not used in the everyday Greek language of ancient times, but it was reserved for elevated, festive speech.  The prefix, "syn", Paul connects with various words which illuminate the mission of Jesus Christ and applies it to the Christian.  With Christ a believer can work with, suffer with, be crucified with, die with, be resurrected with, maintain life with, live with, be enthroned with, rule with, be glorified with.  We know such a combination from the word, "sympathy",  which literally means to "suffer with".  A Christian actually enters into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In this way Christ forms and permeates the entire life of the believer more and more.

This sharing between a believer and Christ in a common mission is intended by God.  It is made possible through the "for you" of Jesus that characterized his entire life.  It broke through the isolation that existed between people and created, thereby, a new quality of life - even the possibility of sharing life with Christ.  Harald Riesenfeld , a New Testament scholar, developed this view from his knowledge of the thought world of the Apostle Paul.  Foundational for the proclamation of early Christianity was the understanding that the death of Jesus happened "for us".  This "for you" of Christ made possible the believer's "with Christ".  It opened, so to speak, a door in the wall of separation that normally stands between people.  Through this "door" the Christian can now enter into the sharing of Christ's mission.

Entering into a common mission wit h Christ can happen in two ways.  On the one hand the "for you" opens the possibility of receiving a deeper share of the reality of the life and mission of Jesus Christ.  On the other hand it can procure for us the actual life which Jesus denied for himself.  Because Jesus died, now I can live.

"He exchanges with us wonderfully:
Flesh and blood he takes on
And gives us in his Father's realm
Trinity pure therein."

„He is a servant and I a King,
A truly great exchange!
How can it be so generous
this heart of my dear Jesus “ [N. Herman EG 27,4-5 ]
or:
„Your battle our victory, your death our life;
In your bonds freedom is given us.
Your cross our comfort, your wounds our healing,
Your blood the ransom our sinner's portion “ (A.Thebesius EG 87,3)

There is more to say in this connection.  Perhaps many wonder that often the "for you" (plural) has been changed into a "for you" (singular).  It is the understanding of meditative knowing that we cannot take universal truths merely into our minds, but we must personally take these truths  into our life.   In so doing, we bring them into our specific context in the world.  Only that which has penetrated us personally can we pass on credibly.  Therefore, we make our life available through participating in Christ's mission so that Christ can be "symbolically" present in the world in us and through us.

- Thirdly, this section deals with the potential of seeing our life in the everyday as a spiritual symbol, that is, in the full meaning of the various possibilities of a spiritual symbol about which we have been speaking.  ( see "the essence of the spiritual symbol").

When our life is drawn more and more into living with, suffering with, dying with and rising with Christ, it can become a sign for other people and, therefore, a spiritual symbol.  This symbol can allow a hidden longing, perhaps a longing for a more fulfilled life than previously known, to break open in those who encounter it.

In the early Church the expression was coined, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."  As background for such a phrase there must have been experiences which happened frequently.  Many non Christians witnessed the victorious joy of martyrs who were willing to  go to their death because of their faith.  That awoke a longing in them for a similar calmness over fear of their own death.  Many sought the fulfillment of this yearning, allowed themselves to be baptized and accepted the message of the resurrection. (First dimension of a spiritual symbol)

A life in partnership with the mission of Christ as a spiritual symbol contains and communicates a true and real share of that to which it points: the life and redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  I was deeply moved one day when I discovered that Paul, with great self understanding, used the "for you" (plural) of Jesus also for his (Paul's) own suffering.  "For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation" (II Cor. 1:5 ff.). (Second dimension of a spiritual symbol).

When our life with its weakness and imperfection can become a symbol of the life and mission of Jesus Christ, it becomes unequivocally clear that every symbol points beyond itself to something that far exceeds obvious signs.  "Stand up; I too am a man", said Peter to the one who fell at his feet (Acts 10:26).  The Christian can never be completely identified with Christ.  The distance is always far greater than the closeness. (Third dimension of a spiritual symbol).

When the Christian intends his or her life to bear in itself this reality as a symbol of the life of Christ, it becomes more visible there than in any other place how great the danger is for demonic distortions of a symbolic image.  Whoever forgets this difference and no longer understands his/her life as merely a sign or pointer to what is infinitely greater, would no longer be a symbol of such life, but rather a distortion of that to which it would point.  The ancient myth records the fall of an angel.  Satan tried to put himself in the place of God.  With that he lost his status as an angel.  Also in the amazing prophecy of the "Fall" of humankind we can remind ourselves that the great temptation in which the human being was corrupted was "You will be like God". (Fourth dimension of a spiritual symbol).

Nevertheless, we are bound as human beings to our mental images and bodily experiences.  We have been shown that we can experience the gift, the closeness and love of God in with and under the gift, closeness and love of other people.  Indeed, the whole world has been shown that there are Christians who have been called by God so that in their life, with their limitations and weaknesses, they can "symbolically" make visible the life of Christ.   As Christians we have been called by God not as neutral communicators of a message independent of us, but as witnesses: "You shall be my witnesses ...to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).  A witness in the biblical sense is, a person who contains, "embodies", in her/his life the message that he or she proclaims.  (Fifth dimension of a spiritual symbol)

In this section even more than in previous sections the point is made that only one's own experience provides the way to understanding.  These experiences happen on different levels and at various depths of understanding.  How deep such experiences go for the moment is not only a question of practice and the particular effort of a person, but above all, a question of where God wants to lead a person.  This is different from person to person and the basis for that is hidden in the mystery of God.  Yet, everyone should pray for what God has intended and assigned to them.  When that is given people will "have life abundantly" (John 10:10).

Our journey brings us to a narrow ridge.  On the one hand there is the danger that we think God must grant everything to the greatest extent or we will lose something.  However, the more we demand abundance, the more we desire it, the more we grasp it, the less opportunity we will have to receive it.  All spiritual teachers agree about that.

On the other hand, however, there is the danger that we close ourselves off from the abundance which God intends for us.  This happens just as much when we think too narrowly of God's possibilities and believe too little in God's desire to shape us into the image of Jesus Christ as when we fail to acknowledge what has already been given us even after being aware of it.  Thereby, we fail to conduct ourselves in accordance with the gift given and to give thanks for it again and again.

It is important, therefore, that we not only have our own experiences of God, but that we become aware of these experiences again and again.  This means that we reflect on them giving thanks and praise to God for them.  That is especially important for the practice material of this Fifth Section.