“Certainly human emotion is involved in any act of love, and people respond emotionally according to their temperament. But it seems better to speak of this new faith life [following the Baptism of the Spirit] on the level of a penetrating and all-encompassing conviction which involves the whole body-person, with all his human qualities in a response of deep committment.” (Catholic Pentecostal, p.145).
“Secretes of the Interior Life” – Archbishop Luis M. Martinez
"There is nothing so important in the supernatural order as to have a dep, intesnse interior life. This is so, because at times we run into the error of subordinating the interior life to the practice of the virtures, as if our contact with God were only a means to perfect ourselves… <footnote 63>
63 This error is more common then appears at first sight. One author, hightly recommended, it is true, in a work of his for priests, has, nevertheless, expressions like these: “Everything in prayer ought to converge to the resolution and contribute to a definate way toward the reform or the perfecting of one’s life.” "The resolution is the immediate term of praryer; its finnnal end is the4 effective reform or perfecting of one’s life through the fulfillment of the resolution. “Prayer is the labratory of the soul’s resolution.” "In prayer, there is no question of art for art’s sake, but of working to make resolve and thus eventually to better one’s life."Cannot this be called spiritual uttilitarianism?
…The case is not thus. There is not doubt that praryer and all the other acts of the interior life have an efficacious influence on the acquisitions of the virtues. From our relation wth God, we draw the strenght wherewith to repel temtations, self-knowledge whereby to be humble, sweetness of temper wherewith to treat our neighbors, and the light strength with which to practice all the other virtues. Even more can be said, for one may be sure that the virtues which do not have their roots in the interior life are neighter solid nor deep.
But this does not mean to say that we approach God solely to acquire virtues [charism?]. On the contrary, the active life and all the virtues we must practice with respect to our neighbor and to ourselves, more than being the reward of our efforts, are the means whereby to achieve the contemplative life, the perfect interior life. In other words, the contemplative life is not a meanss or a ladder whereby to arive at the active life. On the contrary, we work, we struggle, we sacrifice ourselves in order to love God, in order to have intimate and loving relations with Him. The true spiritual life consists in our relaltions with God. Relations with our neighbors and even with ourselves are something
secondary; either they are ordinated to achieve the interior life, or they overflow from it…Thus, our interior life is the summit, the ideal, the goal towards which all our efforts ought to converge…The contemplative life is the life of Heaven. There, all the works of the active life will disappear. In Heaven, there will be no passions to contend with, or neighbors to help, or miseries to bear. The life of the blessed is an eternal contemplation: they see God, love Him, and are united to Him in an indissoluble embrace. This is the true life.
And God in His goodness has disired that even in this life, we should exercise ourselves in that which will constitute our eternal life. Already here below we can contemplate Him, although in the mists of faith…This is the true life; all else is fading and transitory. For this reason, our Lord told Martha that she was concerned about many things when only one thing was necessary and, OTOH, Mary had chosen the better part, and that it would never be taken from her. In this way, our Lord Himself teaches us that the contemplative life is better than the active, and that it will never be taen from the soul who has chosen it.
