Formation, Deformation and Transformation

[Wm777]

The answer to this question may be self-evident, but I am going to ask it anyway in the hope of drumming up something new. It’s also going to be a bit of a sermon-like reflection on my own part, as it got a little long - because - in a way, when I type my posts, I am speaking to Jesus, praying, talking to myself and reaching out to others with empty hands - all at once. So, if you dont want to do a bit of reading, then please understand the post is more than just a question.

Having said that…

In the Catholic Church, formation is a very important topic, which could mean anything from Seminarians aspiring to become Ordained Priests to the more general topic of “formation of conscience” applicable to all of us (not just ordained Priests).

While I have no direct proof to cite, our prayers and our catechetical upbringing likely plays a big part in the formation of conscience. Similarly, I am sure Jesus is the role model for the perfect form of a man (although he is also God); Mary is the role model for the perfect woman; and, if one includes St Joseph, then the Holy Family is the model family. If - because Christ’s perfection is derived from his Divinity - I’d say St Joseph is probably the closest thing to a perfect human-only man. So these people are models of perfection upon which we should shape and form our consciences, as when we pray, study, make decisions, etc…

Here comes my question.

 

[Wm777]

If all that is so, we might have somewhat of a problem. The perfect forms (of at least) Jesus and Mary were obviously formed in the right way, or they wouldn’t be perfect. However, it is almost as if humans are simply (by the human condition) just “deformed” by nature; perhaps by our fallen nature, perhaps by sin, perhaps by bad circumstances, etc… So we pray and catechize ourselves to try to reform (or correct) these deformities back into some more Christ-like or Marian shape.

But the effectiveness of the prayer can have different results. If, for instance, someone (like me) has a disability, then it might take a miracle to reform the idea. On the other hand, if that miracle is not granted, then something else must seem necessary to ask in prayer. I have a cognitive disability with Asperger’s, so perhaps it is my fault I have not fully recognized a cure myself, and I should pray harder for an understanding of how to reform myself. Or, perhaps, my own prayers are not the issue, but I am “just this way” because maybe God wants the others in my life to learn from it. That is something I could not help myself, although I could still pray for and be thankful to those who are helping me through this life. I get confused, and I dont know the answer.

Yet, we speak of “transformation” in prayer, but the direction of the transformation seems a bit strange. In one sense, we see Christ as a really great guy who went out curing everyone, which is what we all love about Him; but, we also see Christ helplessly nailed to a tree, broken and “deformed”. Fortunately, we see him reformed into a glorified, resurrected state.

In forming our consciences, the church then has to explain this to us… If they told us to go out and work miracles and be the perfect guy that Jesus was, I think they know we would fail… Jesus is, was and always will be the Messiah, the Christ… So then the only thing they can tell us is to go in the other direction and to crucify ourselves… but, then, they dont really mean literally - even the Letter to the Hebrews says what happened at the crucifixion and resurrection can’t be repeated - so the CCC just calls the solution “allegorical”… The shaping of our consciences thus depends upon - allegory?

In the end, when we look at ourselves - when we go through that process of being broken and reformed into the likeness of the glorified Christ… it’s allegorical… but the transformation… the metamorphosis… the metanoia… the conversion… whatever it is called… how do we stay focused on the right thing in all those changes?

 

[fhansen]

You could be overthinking this a bit. Jesus came so that we can know God, of His existence and nature in a fuller and truer way than had ever been revealed before that time. As we come to know Him, we come to love Him-that can’t be helped- and enter communion with Him and in this our transformation begins to take place. We learn to trust, to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10), to acknowledge our “creaturely status”, our limitations in comparison to our infinite Creator, and then to do the best we can with whatever we’re given, knowing that He’s there, in control, giving us the grace needed to grow in perfection, nearer to Him, as we’re willing.

 

[Shakuhachi]

how do we stay focused on the right thing in all those changes?

If our focus is on the wrong thing we might indeed spend our hole life thinking e are progressing when a ctually we are. Going nowhere.

So what is the “right thing”? Jesus told us it is love. So how do we measure out transformation into loving people?

 

[Lee1]

With respect, I am really struggling to understand what the question is. Honestly, I’d love to help but I can’t.

 

[Wm777]

With respect, I am really struggling to understand what the question is. Honestly, I’d love to help but I can’t.

That is fine. Here is a summary, and an attempt to clarify the question, if one exists…

1.) Man is with God in perfect form.
2.) Man falls from Grace and becomes deformed.
3.) To restore onesself to Grace, Man must be reformed.
4.) The process results in a Transformation.
5.) Then what happens…?

The problem occurs maybe as early as Step 3, but more likely at Step 4…

Step 5 is ideally supposed to be a return to Step 1, but the CCC tells us to do this we have to be broken, like Jesus was, except somewhere around Steps 3 or 4 because we are deformed already.

However, Jesus was broken by a one time only crucifixion, which could never really be repeated - perhaps because he was the only not-deformed one of us… And, even if we went out seeking to literally be crucified, I dont think anyone would actually do it, nor would the church condone it… So, what the CCC tells us is, we have to think of the crucifixion allegorically… which is kind of like attempting to translate a metaphor in a poem into reality… In the meantime - politicians, doctors, psychologists, businesses, friends, family and everyone one meets tends to have an opinion on what the meaning of the metaphor is, and why one should or shouldnt be broken or fixed one way or another… Thus, Step 4 becomes convoluted and contorted… or, in other words, it seems being broken is just a further deformation of what was once perfect…

So, then, should we appreciate the pre-crucified perfection of Jesus the healer? The resurrected and Glorified Christ? Or the broken figure upon the cross who wanted that cup to pass before him anyway? The church seems to point us in the direction of la via dolorosa; but, if our interpretation of the allegory is itself screwed up, then what good is it doing?

I’m not denying the sacrifice Jesus made was ineffective. Look at the grandeur of our church; it long history; the miracles God has wrought through it; the advancement of our civilization our prayers have brought us to today; an, I believe, it is clear Christ succeeded.

The part I dont get is how to reform and transform ourselves by continually breaking ourselves is supposed to result in anything other than further deformity, i.e. something not a perfect form…

Does that help clarify the question?

I can cite examples, if not…

 

[Vico]

…

We are not created perfect rather have a good nature that is fallen.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

302 Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call “divine providence” the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward this perfection:

By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made, “reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and ordering all things well”. For “all are open and laid bare to his eyes”, even those things which are yet to come into existence through the free action of creatures.161

310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better.174 But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world “in a state of journeying” towards its ultimate perfection. In God’s plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection.175

 

[Wm777]

Then, please, let me veer away from the word perfect to explain what I mean.

My understanding is Adam and Eve were in a state of grace, so originally there was nothing to reform (fix).

When they fell from grace, they lost their form - they became deformed…

To recoup they then need to somehow be reformed.

This would necessarily require a transformation of the deformed state to… ?

I guess that is one of the parts I dont get… what is the form of that state of grace? And then, of course the second question is how to get back there (i.e. the means of reform used to transform the deformed into the “fixed form”)?

 

[Lee1]

My contribution is going to be meagre I’m sorry to say.

I don’t understand why we need to continually be broken. We suffer setbacks and falls on our journey and I suppose each time we return to the fray we are stronger, our resolve is reinforced by experience of falling yet trying once more to live as we should and restore our faith.

I firmly believe in God, yet yesterday and partially today I have had a particular thought which has sought to corrode my faith, I will cleave to God because I have no other reality. Am I broken, no, bowed but not broken. I bleed but not to death. Perhaps we are transformed in the way that a trainee cadet becomes battle hardened through the heat of war.

 

[Vico]

Then, please, let me veer away from the word perfect to explain what I mean.

My understanding is Adam and Eve were in a state of grace, so originally there was nothing to reform (fix).

When they fell from grace, they lost their form - they became deformed…

To recoup they then need to somehow be reformed.

This would necessarily require a transformation of the deformed state to… ?

I guess that is one of the parts I dont get… what is the form of that state of grace? And then, of course the second question is how to get back there (i.e. the means of reform used to transform the deformed into the “fixed form”)?

Catechism of the Catholic Church

376 By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die.252 The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman,253 and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called “original justice”.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p6.htm

The state that Adam and Eve were in included both supernatural gifts and preternatural gifts. We will not receive the preternatural gifts until we have resurrected glorified bodies, but we can receive the state of sanctifying grace.