Spiritualising

 'Great and terrible day' was the description about the coming of Elijah. But When the precursor came his name was 'John,' which meant 'God is gracious.' The 'terrible' was because of hardness of heart that had to turn to God and to others. This turning can happen only when we really know that God is gracious.

Any form of spiritualizing our experiences also must have the same sense, that God is gracious. To help us in this process, the Holy Spirit is given to us. Spirit sheds light upon our innermost depths. We are able to see and understand the 'hardness and brokenness and bitterness.' This inner revelation is an action of grace within us. No law and rubrics can do it. It gives us freedom because we know the truth. In fact it is essential to welcome the messiah in our heart. All the gospel canticles are from the freedom that rises from knowing personally that God is gracious. The light that radiates the reality of incarnation is this freedom.

Often our spiritualities go wrong, because graciousness of God is not the roots of our spirituality. We find a favourable ' terrible and great' description to our problems, suggest solution-paths and justify them, and further justify by spiritualizing them.