“In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing came to be. Whatever has come to be, found life in him; life, which for human beings, was also light...
for the Light was coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone.”
(John 1:1-4, 9)

“He is the invisible God’s image, first born of all creation, because within him everything was created...in Christ were created all things in
heaven and on earth: everything visible and invisible...Before anything was created, Christ existed and Christ holds all things in unity."
(Col 1:15-17)

”God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy and without sin in his presence. From eternity he destined us, in love, to be his adopted sons and daughters, through Christ...”
(Eph 1:4-5)

"God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of the divine will, according to the divine purpose which God set forth in Christ and a plan for the fullness of time, to write all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth."
(Eph 1:9-10)

”This grace, was given to me, the least, among all the holy ones: to announce to the pagan nations, the immeasurable riches of Christ, and to make clear to all, how the mystery, hidden from the beginning, in God, the Creator of all things, is to be fulfilled.”
​(Eph 3:8-9)

"The light shone in the darkness, it came into its own and as many received it, became in authority sons [and daughters] of God, to them was given power to become God's sons [and daughters]."
(Jn 15:11-12)

"Whoever abandons anything for my sake shall be repaid a hundredfold, and whoever shall possess me must deny himself and all things, and whoever will serve me must follow me and not go any more after his own."
(Mt 16:24-25)

"May they all be one, as You Father are in me and I am in You. May they be one in us...Thus, they shall reach perfection in unity."
(Jn 17:21,23)

"It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me..."
(Paul, Gal 2:20)

”But he is Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, for those called by God among both Jews and Greeks.”
​(1Cor 1:24)

"...anyone united to the Lord becomes One Spirit with God...Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, given by God? You belong no longer to yourselves...serve the glory of God."
(1 Cor:17,19,20)

"For in Christ dwells the fullness of God in bodily form. He is the head of all cosmic power and authority, and in him, you have everything."
(Col 2:9-10)

"Be still and know that I am God...The One who knows all hearts is with us...the Beloved is our refuge and our strength."
(Psalm 40)

"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature."
(2 Peter)

”Beloved, let us love one another, because love is God; everyone who who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son (Christ) into the world so that we might have life through him”
​(1 John 4:7-9)




"Love will never end. Prophecies may cease, tongues be silent and knowledge disappear. For knowledge grasps something of the truth and prophecy as well. And when what is perfect comes, everything imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways. Likewise, at present, we see dimly, as in a mirror, but then, it shall be face to face. Now, we know, in part, but then I will know as I am known. Now, we have faith, hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love."
(1 Cor 13:8-13)

"But as Scripture says: Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned on the mind, what God has prepared for those who love him. God has revealed it to us, through his Spirit, because the Spirit probes everything, even the depth of God."
​(1 Cor 2:9-10)

”Who has known the mind of God so as to teach him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
(1 Cor 2:16)

”— life, death, the present and the future. Everything is yours, and you, you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.”
​(1 Cor 3: 22, 23)

"So, with unveiled faces, we all reflect the glory of the Lord, while we are transformed into his likeness, and experience his glory, more and more by the action of the Lord, who is Spirit."
​(2 Cor 3:18)

”The Spirit gives witness with our spirit that we are children of God. But if we are children, we are heirs as well: heirs of God, heirs with Christ...”
(Rom 8:16-17)

”All Creation is eagerly expecting the birth, in glory, of the children of God...for even the created world, will be freed from this fate of death, and
share the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
(Rom 8: 19, 21)

"I love you. I knit you together in your mother's womb."
(Psalm 139: 13)

”You have compassion on all because all is yours, O Lord, lover of life. In fact your immortal spirit is all in all.”
​(Wisdom 11: 26; 12: 1)

”I have loved you with a love everlasting, so I have kept you for my mercy. I will restore you again, and you shall be rebuilt....”
(Jeremiah 31: 3-4)



"Truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he/she is born again from above (and within)...the kingdom of God is within you."
(John 3:3; Luke 17:21)

”But the hour is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for that is the kind of worshippers the Father wants. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit, and truth.”
​(John 4: 23-24)

”May God strengthen in you, the inner self, through his Spirit, according to the riches of his glory; may Christ dwell in your hearts, through faith; may you be rooted and founded in Love.”
(Eph 3:16-17)

"You must give up your former way of living, the old self, whose deceitful desires bring self-destruction. Renew yourselves, spiritually, from inside, and put on the new self, or (true) self, according to God, that is created in true righteousness and holiness."
​(Eph 4:22-24)

”When Christ, who is your life, reveals himself, you also will be revealed with him in glory.”
​(Col 3:4)

”Put to death...your old self with its practices and...put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator....Clothe
yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
​(Col 3:5, 9-10, 12)

"...Christ is all, and in all...Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. May the peace of Christ overflow in your hearts; for this end you were called, to be one body. And be thankful."
(Col 3:11,14-15)

"When you pray, go to your inner inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you."
​(Mt 6:6)

”Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you.”
(Mt.7:7)

”God wanted them to seek him by themselves, even if it was only by groping for him, that they succeed in finding him. Yet, he is not far from any one of us. For, in him, we live and move, and have our being...”
​(Acts 17:27-28)

”Rejoice, always, pray without ceasing and give thanks to God at every moment. This is the will of God, your vocation as Christians.”
​(Thess. 1: 16-18)

”Don’t let yourselves be shaped by the world where you live, but rather, be transformed, through the renewal of your mind. You must
discern the will of God: what is good, what pleases, what is perfect.”
​(Rom12:2)

”The Spirit...comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groaning. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.”
​(Rom 8:26-27)

“ God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This Christ, we preach. We warn, and teach everyone true wisdom, aiming to make everyone perfect, in Christ. For this cause I labor and struggle, with the energy of Christ working powerfully in me.”
​(Col 1:27-29)
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“As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. In Christ, ...what matters is faith, working through Love.”
(Gal 5:5-6)

"...the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him, the old things have passed away; a new world has come. All this is the work of God, who, in Christ, reconciles us to himself, and who entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation."
​(2 Cor 5:17-18)

”Therefore, we are not discouraged. On the contrary, while our outer being wastes away, the inner self is renewed from day to day. The slight affliction, that quickly passes away, prepares us for an eternal wealth of glory, so great, and beyond all comparison. So, we no longer pay attention to the things that are seen, but to those that are unseen, for the things that we see last for a moment, but that which cannot be seen is eternal.”
(2 Cor 4: 16-18)

”God’s temple must have no room for idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As Scripture says: ‘ I will dwell and live in their midst, I will be their God and they shall be my people.... and I will be gracious to you. I will be a father/mother to you, that you may become my sons and daughters, says the all-powerful God.’ “
​(2 Cor 6: 16-18)

”So, he prepared those who belong to him, for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united, in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus, we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity, and sharing the fullness of Christ. Then, no longer shall we be like children, tossed about by any wave, or wind of doctrine; and deceived by the cunning of people, who drag them along into error. Rather, speaking the truth, in love, we shall grow in every way, toward him, who is the head, Christ. From him, comes the growth of the whole body, to which a network of joints gives order and cohesion, taking into account, and making use of, the function of each one. So, the body builds itself, in love.”
(Eph 4: 12-16)

"As the body is one, having many members, and all the members while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ...Now, you are the body of Christ, and each of you individually, is a member of it...Love will never end...when what is perfect comes, everything imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways. Likewise, at present, we see dimly, as in a mirror, but, then, it shall be face to face. Now, we know, in part, but then I will know as I am known. Now, we have faith, hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love."
​(1 Cor 12:12, 27; 13:8-13)

“Paul says that anyone who truly seeks God, believing that God will reward him, will receive the gift of grace...Whether he knows the historical Jesus or not, he will come to know Christ as the eternal Word of God, the Cosmic Christ, who “enlightens everyone” (John1:9)
and through whom “all things were made” (John 1:3). ...Whoever attains to grace, attains the grace of Christ.”
-Fr. Thomas Keating
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“...The Word of God was always present beyond time. In the incarnation, he became present in time. He enfolds us, therefore, both within the temporal sphere and beyond it, at one and the same time. As the bride in the Song of Solomon said, “His left hand is under
my head and his right hand ready to embrace me” (Song of Sol. 2:6). His left hand signifies the dimension of time and his right hand the dimension of eternity. With the two arms of his human and divine natures (Christ), he enfolds us in the mystery of the incarnation
​in an incredibly strong embrace.” - Fr. Thomas Keating

”In the Eucharist, we are not only joined to Christ, whom we believe is present with his whole being under the symbols of bread and wine, but we believe that we are joined with all other Christians, with every member of the human race, and with the whole of creation. Christ is in the hearts of all men and women and in the heart of all creation, sustaining everything in being. This mystery of oneness enables us to emerge from the Eucharist with a refined inward eye, and invites us to perceive the mystery of Christ everywhere and in everything. He who is hidden from our senses and intellect becomes more and more transparent to the eyes of faith — to the consciousness that is being transformed. The Spirit in us perceives the Spirit in others.” - Fr. Thomas Keating

”The mystery of Christ’s presence is hidden throughout creation and in every part of it. At some moment of history, which prophecy calls the Last Day, our eyes will be opened, and we will see reality as it is, which we know now only by faith. That faith reveals that Christ, dwelling at the center of all creation and of each individual member of it, transforming it and bringing it back, in Union with him/herself, into the bosom of the Father/Mother. Thus, the eternal glory of the Trinity is achieved through the maximum sharing of the divine life with every creature according to its capacity. This is the fullness of the divine plan, “the mystery hidden for ages in God”
​(Eph. 3:9).” - Fr. Thomas Keating

” As Thomas Merton put it, we are “to become what we already are.” The Christmas-Epiphany Mystery as the coming of Christ into our lives, makes us aware of the fact that he is already here as our true self — the deepest reality in us and in everyone else. Once God takes upon himself the human condition, everyone is potentially divine. Through the Incarnation of his Son, God floods the whole human family — past, present and to come — with his majesty, dignity and grace. Christ dwells in us in a mysterious but real way.”
​- Fr. Thomas Keating
​

"...We ourselves are "the Second Adam" because we ourselves are Christ. In us, the image of God, which is complete and entire in each individual soul, is also, in all of us, "the image of God". The first Adam, "who is one man in all of us," is saved and transformed by the action of Christ and becomes, in us, the second Adam... We say that we ourselves are Adam, we ourselves are Christ, and that we are all dwelling in one another, by virtue of the unity of the divine image informed by grace." -Thomas Merton
" "We Ourselves Are Christ." How many preachers and teachers and theologians have you heard speak this teaching? It is a deep mystical teaching that is too often neglected. Christ is not present exclusively in Jesus; Christ lives in all who walk the path of wisdom.
We too are truly "the image of God." We are Christ, we are Adam, and "we are all dwelling in one another." " -Matthew Fox

”Christlikeness is another way of saying that the purpose of our union with God in Christ by the Spirit through faith, is to perfect us in
Love, not just save us from sin and hell, or evacuate us to heaven.”
- Rev. Peter Traben Haas, Contemplative Church: How Meditative Prayer & Monastic Practices Help Congregations Flourish

”Kerygma in the New Testament is the announcement of the good news that God has saved us in Jesus Christ. But it should be remembered that the Kerygma does not call us to something we were at first not intended to be. It is rather a call to realize what God
from the beginning willed to be. The Kerygma is the announcement of the mystery hidden in God from all eternity. His will to make all one with him in Christ. See Ephesians 1:10.”
— William H. Shannon, Thomas Merton’s Dark Path

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"...Christ is the eternal oneness of two natures, Divine and human. Thus the Incarnation was the revelation of Man ("Universal Man") and God's Plan for all mankind, and this Truth, this revelation, is everything we know as "Christ"." -Bernadette Roberts

"Apart from its revelation, Christ's subjectivity is difficult to realize on an intellectual level; this is because Christ, as the subjective self, is not the historical Christ, but rather, the formless, mystical, eternal Christ, the Christ of grace, transformation, and the Eucharist. As the human manifestation of God, Christ is more subjective to us than the Holy Spirit, which has no human manifestation, and therefore remains as the objective stillpoint, or light at the center. Thus, despite their unity, Christ as the subjective vessel and the Spirit as its objective interior focal point are two different experiences of God.
If, on the basis of consciousness, Christ is too subjective to be known objectively, then, on the basis of intellect, Christ is unbelievable as our personable, subjective experience. Because our minds insist insist on retaining the image and idea of the historical Christ, we are kept from identifying him as our subjective, mystical, interior reality. More often than not, we only recognize Christ outside ourselves and, interiorly, do not know him at all. We often take him for the stillpoint, the center of being, the Holy Spirit; this is all right, since they are one, but it still falls short of God's purely human manifestation in ourselves. The failure to overcome this duality and realize this identity is a great stumbling block that keeps us from realizing in what way Christ is manifest in us, here and now, as our true self."
- Bernadette Roberts, The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center

”To be transformed into Christ does not mean transformation into God, or transformation into the man Jesus. Rather, transformation is man’s earthly human nature becoming God’s one and only eternal, universal human nature — “Christ” — eternally one with Its divine nature.”
- Bernadette Roberts, The Real Christ

”This transmission (our experience and transformation of ever-deepening Divine Union within God) may take place by way of insight into the Mystery of Christ, of an infusion of Divine Love, or of both at once. It can also take place beyond any psychological perception in the darkness and immediacy of pure faith. In the latter case, it is known only by its fruits in our lives. In whatever way the transmission of the Mystery of Christ takes place, it is always recognized as sheer gift of grace. In the context of the Mystery of Christ and our participation in it, grace is the presence and action of Christ not only in the sacraments of the church and in prayer, but also in everyday life.
Contemplative prayer is the ideal preparation for liturgy. Liturgy, in turn, when properly executed, fosters Contemplative prayer. Together they further the ongoing process of conversion in which the Gospel calls us. They awaken us to the realization that we ourselves, as members of Christ’s Body, are the cutting edge of the New Creation inaugurated by Christ’s (Incarnation), resurrection and ascension.
The Liturgical Year focuses on the three great theological ideas that form the heart of Christian revelation: Divine Light, Life and Love. They constitute the gradual unfolding of what we mean by grace, God’s gratuitous sharing of his nature with us. As the primary focus of divine activity, each emphasizes a special stage or aspect of God’s self-communication. These theological ideas are all contained in condensed form in each celebration of the Eucharist. In the Liturgical Year they are expanded in order to be studied and savored one by one, the better to search out and assimilate the divine riches contained in each of them. This marvelous arrangement enhances the power of the Eucharist to transmit them. Divine Light is then experienced as wisdom, Divine Life as empowering and Divine Love as transforming.”
- Thomas Keating, The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Christian Experience


"The liturgy teaches and empowers us, as we celebrate the mysteries of Christ, to perceive them not only as historical events, but as manifestations of Christ here and now. Through this living contact with Christ, we become icons of Christ, that is, manifestations of the gospel...in daily life."
"As living cells in the Body of Christ, we are caught up in the process that is moving toward the pleroma. This term describes the ripening development of Christ-consciousness shared by each of the individual cells in the corporate Body of Christ...We can cling to the old Adam and solidarity with him, or we can accept the Spirit inviting us to unlimited personal and corporate growth in Christ, the new Adam. (Eph 4:13 - "Become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.")
- Thomas Keating, The Mystery of Christ

"This passing of Jesus from human to divine subjectivity is called in Christian tradition the Paschal Mystery. Our participation in this Mystery is the passing over of the transformed self into the loss of self as a fixed point of reference; of who God is into all that God is. The dismantling of the false self and the inward journey to the true self is the first phase of this transition or passing over. The loss of the true self as a fixed point of reference is the second phase. The first phase results in the consciousness of personal union with the Trinity. The second phase consists in being emptied of this union and identifying with the absolute nothingness from which all things emerge, to which all things return, and which manifests Itself as That-Which-Is."
- Thomas Keating, The Mystery of Christ

”To enter by our transcendent freedom into Christ and to become a New Creation means to enter by faith into the future of every person and into the very heart of creativity itself, into the future of God.
To be “in Christ” is to accept the offer that Jesus makes, to be food for his friends. As prerequisite to this, one must renounce the lordship pattern of organizing social relations. One must forsake being either dominant or submissive. One must undergo this metanoia, this particular mutation in consciousness. To be “in Christ” is to enter into the revolutionary events of Holy Thursday by experiencing the archetypal death and resurrection, letting an old modality of consciousness die and seeing a new one rise to life.
To be “in Christ” is to abandon thinking of oneself only in terms of categories and abstractions by which one may be externally related to others and to coincide with oneself as a transcendent center of energy that lives in God and in one’s fellows — because that is where the Christ lives, in God and in us.
To be “in Christ” is to experience oneself as an initiative of free energy radiating out to give life abundantly to all, for that is the function of the Christ. To be “in Christ” is to be an indispensable member of a living body, which is the Body of Christ. To be “in Christ” is to be identified with the Living One who is not to be sought among the dead, for the Living One is the One who is Coming to Be.
If I am asked, then, “Who do you say I am?” my answer is: “You are the new and ever renewing act of creation. You are all of us, as we are united in You. You are all of us as we live in one another. You are all of us in the whole cosmos as we join in Your exuberant act of
creation. You are the Living One who improvises at the frontier of the future; and it has not yet appeared what You shall be.”
- Beatrice Bruteau, The Grand Option: Personal Transformation and a New Creation

”Thomas Merton’s Christology builds on finding one’s identity in God, since to find God is to find oneself and to find oneself is to find Christ. Only in Union with Christ, he indicated, can a person be united to the many since, as Word and center of the Trinity, Christ is both the One and the Many....Bede Griffith’s experience as a Christian among Hindus opened up for him the depth of the mystery of Christ and the importance of interreligious dialogue as the source of fruitful growth for Christianity itself.
The value of exploring Christ in evolution through the writings of these four contemporary mystics (including Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Raimon Panikkar) is that through a deep inner experience of God, Christ emerges as the life-giving power of the universe.
....The rebirth of Christology is shaped by common themes noted among the mystics, including the need for a more Contemplative approach to Christology through the integration of spirituality and theology, and an emphasis on the organic nature of Christ.
....We are in a new age of consciousness that signifies a new level of awareness around the globe brought about through technology and mass communication. We can no longer reflect on Christ as if the evolution of human consciousness is an epiphenomenon, an independent or reversible phenomenon unrelated to the essence of human life or the meaning of Christ. Awareness of the global human condition, from religion to culture, language, ethnicity, geography, politics, and whatever else comprises this condition has shifted through evolutionary advance, insofar as we find this new consciousness to be one of greater complexity. From a Christian perspective we must ask, What is the meaning of
Christ in light of this advance? That is the task before us, to explore the unfolding presence of the Word incarnate in a world where the fire of Christ’s Love has grown cold because we have failed to nurture the Christ within us. God’s Word is a dynamic Word intended to empower the fullness of life through the life of the Spirit. How to rekindle this power of life, to see Christ as the integrating center of
our lives and of a universe moving forward into God, is the heart of this study. What I propose here is not the end of Christology in a new millennium; rather, it is simply the beginning of a new vision and a new hope for a new creation.”
- Ilia Delio, “Introduction” in her Christ in Evolution. (2008)

”The cosmos, or universe, is evolving toward its full realization in Christ, the Omega, who is the energizing principle underlying the process of evolution. The cosmic dimension of Christ:...the incarnation in its cosmic dimension is Christ, the God-community, into which human life and the whole cosmos are incorporated. Creation will not be complete until participated being is totally united with God through Christ in the pleroma when God will be “all in all.” “
- J.A. Lyons, The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin (1982)

”As we discussed previously, Christ’s reality is not exhausted with Jesus’ historicity, rather, “Christ is that central symbol that incorporates the whole of reality.” John McKenzie states that “Christ is a principle of grace and virtue and these things are fulfilled in Christ: the love of God, spiritual enrichment, the righteousness of God, freedom, strength, faith and love.” McKenzie highlights the idea that Christ is first and foremost the life of God by which grace and virtue is possible.... Christ symbolizes the perfect union of God and creation, which is expressed in a creaturely personal union; thus, the symbol of Christ mediates not only what is symbolized, the life of God, but it symbolizes the life of the creature in God.
Christ is more than Jesus. Christ, the Word incarnate, is the one in whom all created reality is transformed in the personal love of God... Christ is the icon of created reality. Christ is the divinization of created reality in whatever way the divine Word can fully enter into that reality.
The reality of Christ is the personal union of God and creation and, as symbol, mediates the divinization of every created order in its relation to God. The cosmological significance of Christ means that Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning of every created order as Word of God and the completion of that order as incarnation of the Word. In short, Christ, through a self-giving act of love, completes every possible world order by entering into that order through an incarnation or Word-embodiment... The incarnate and risen Word, the Christ, transforms every created life-bearing order in its relation to God... However we conceive of the incarnate Word as the integrating and personalizing center of all life in the universe ( or universes ), there remains only one Spirit and one Christ to the Glory of God the ‘Creator’.”
— Ilia Delio, Christ in Evolution

“Christ is the power of God among us and within us, the fullness of the earth and of life in the universe. We humans have the potential
to make Christ alive; it is what we are created for. To live the mystery of Christ is not to speak about Christ but to live in the surrender of love, the poverty of being, and the cave of the heart. If we can allow the Spirit to really take hold of us and liberate us from our fears, anxieties, demands, and desire for power and control, then we can truly seek the living among the dead; we can live in the risen Christ who empowers us to build this new creation. We can look toward that time when there will be one cosmic person uniting all persons, one cosmic humanity uniting all humanity, one Christ in whom God will be all in all.”
— Ilia Delio, Christ in Evolution






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