Randomized Thoughts
Steven Riddle's recent thoughts about suffering prodded this: It has seemed to me that there are two phases in Christian development: 1) nourishment (i.e. the infant milk St. Paul writes of) and 2) the "spend it" phase. In the first phase, you are simply absorbing God and few demands are made on you, just as no demands are made on an infant suckling at his mother's breast. Phase Two means you become like Christ, and to become like Christ means to sacrifice and often suffer. Now in Phase Two there is nourishment, of course, so it's not like that ever ends. Prayer, or nourishment, is oxygen for the soul to quote St. Pio. But are there potential problems if someone who is in Phase Two wants to go back to Phase One, or someone in Phase One wants to anticipate Phase Two?
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