“As many as I love, I reprove and chaste. Be zealous therefore and repent” (Rv 3. 19). This reprove in the purification of the prayer of union invigorates the spiritual awareness of the souls power enormously and thus she begins to hear the knocks of her Beloved, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me” (Rv 3. 20).
   The emphasize here is on the words: “If anyone hears my voice AND OPENS.” Not all souls open when they hear the knocks of the Bridegroom. This we see in the Gospel of St. Luke. “Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How can I know this?’ “ (Lk 1. 18). He seeks a refuge in the sensory and human nature, or by the words of Simeon the New Theologian,


In the case of the priest Zechariah he lost his sight and the communication was cut off – brought to a halt! The disciples responded in opposite way on their way to Emmaus, they stop and, “He opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Lk 24. 45). In the Greek text the parallel word for mind is nous, the highest spiritual faculty in man, the contemplative intellect. Luke gives us also an account of how the Blessed Virgin responded and it is obvious that she had shared her experience with him, “Rejoice, you who enjoy Gods  favor! The Lord is with you” (Lk 1. 31).
   When our Lord is with us we discern it as a burning love in our heart, just as the disciples formerly, “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures?” (Lk 24. 32). And St. Luke adds, “SHE WAS DEEPLY DISTURBED” (Lk 1. 30). This is always our human condition: God is simply to heavy for our nature, too transcendental as the Omnipotent One. Thus the soul becomes deeply disturbed when He reveals Himself on the shining and polished plate of the golden table of loaves (Med. 54) and the soul discern Him in the heart as burning love. This was also how one of the master minds of humanity experienced this burning love, the philosopher Blaise Pascal. For years he had unsuccessfully tried to draw closer to God by philosophic arguments when he experienced in an authentic way and unexpectedly the birth of the ETERNAL WORD in his own life as we can see on his Memorial which he carried always with him after this experience,


This was what this king among the philosophers experienced when the fire of love broke out,


As other great contemplatives Teresa of Avila new this proof or demonstration of power in an authentic way as she shed light on in her Life. When the efficient grace overshadows the human being it is so authentic in its power in the infused prayer that no resistance on behalf of the soul is of avail and she must submit completely to this power,


When Christ breaks through into our lives He is always a Wall Breaker! This is how our Lord Jesus Christ makes a breakthrough into our lives. This truth is emphasized by a mural painting of Christ the Wall Breaker in the Cathedral of Skalholt in southern Iceland, the center of Christianity from the beginning of Christendom in the country. This mosaic above the main altar was designed by one of the leading artists of the country, Nina Tryggvadottir, who for most part of her carrier lived in New York. This master piece of art shows Christ as breaking through the wall of the church, as penetrating from outside towards the faithful. Many who have contemplated this altar piece have felt how they are drawn back by an irresistible force to see the mosaic again. It is as it has been engraved deep within them in the essence of their being. Numerous people from foreign countries have thus felt how they were literally speaking forced to return just once more again to feel “Christ the Wall Breaker,” in several cases this has repeated itself so often, that the people in question have literally speaking been enraptured by the work.
  
    On this mural mosaic we see Christ grow from the earth of humility symbolized by the brown hues dominating in the lower half of the work. Gradually these brown hues become intermingled with the green hues of the jasper – His divinity: He is a man and God. The conflict of the colors is intensified around the Sacred Heart when we lift our eyes upwards were the purple hues become dominant – the color of a repentant heart in its purity. Thus the heavenly blue hues of the sapphire becomes dominant in the uppermost part of the work. The stained glass windows in the nave of the church made by this same artist are by their vivid colors actually a replica of the illumination of the foundation stones of the Celestial City Jerusalem, as an interplay before the vision face to face.

When Christ reveals Himself on the polished plate of the golden table of loaves we become deeply disturbed as the Blessed Virgin and the bride in John of the Cross’ Spiritual Canticle  [4] when the Bridegroom turn His gaze on the bride/soul. She asks Him to withdraw His eyes,


We encounter here a truth which makes Christianity once more unique among the religions of the earth. How often have we not heard mystics of other religions speak about the fear that grips their heart facing the mystery. It is as an admonition of what Christ said Himself while still on earth, “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able” (Lk 13. 24). He was referring to the thief and robbers who do not enter by the door into the sheep fold, “but climb up some other way” (see Jn 10. 1). The way is the way of pure faith in Him!
    And in his explanation of the stanza John of the Cross says, “The misery of human nature is such in this life that when the communication and knowledge of the Beloved which means more life for the soul and for which she longs so ardently, is about to be imparted, she cannot receive it save almost at the cost of her life. When she receives the eyes she has been searching for so anxiously and in so many ways, she cries: “Withdraw them, Beloved!” [5] God is “ganz anderes,” an ontological difference is at hand between the Creator of heaven and earth and His creation, an ontological differencewhich is only bridged by lifting this same created being above its own created nature and make it a theological being. This is the deification or theosis which I choose rather to name THE CHRISTIFICATION. Another comparison poops up in the mind of Teresa of Avila: a silkworm,


This is indeed what takes place when the soul receives the Eucharist, this thin, circular shaped and unleavened bread which we call the hostia. Thus Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) asked the faithful to “make their left hand hand is if a throne for the right, which is on the eve of receiving the King”, as a token of the earthly Tabernacle which is grounded and sustained on earth by the Eucharist, [7]


Thus we walk the only and right narrow way as our Lord staked it out in advance for us by following the tools of His Sanctuary as instrumental signs on this Sacred Way,


Let us now follow this little white butterfly or dove enamored in the light of the Seven days sun shining from the lamp stand, so enchanted by the fire blazing on its seven lamps that it flies into them just to be devoured forever by the blazing fire of divine love.

---

---