have been made to conform with Him, who have died with Him and risen with Him, are taken up into the mysteries
of His life, until we will reign together with Him. On earth still as pilgrims in a strange land, tracing in trial and in
oppression the paths He trod, we are made one with His sufferings like the body is one with the Head, suffering
with Him, that with Him we may be glorified."
Lumen Gentium 7
Second Vatican Council
"Observance of the commandments, properly understood, ... means conquering sin, moral evil in its various guises.
And this leads to a gradual inner purification... Values are lights which illumine existence and, as we work on our
lives, they shine ever more brightly on the horizon. So side by side with observance of the commandments.., we
develop virtues. For example, in observing the commandment: 'You shall not kill!' we discover the value of life...
and we learn an ever deeper respect for it.
The unitive way. This is the final stage of the interior journey, when the soul experiences a special union with God.
This union is realized in contemplation of the divine Being and in the experience of love which flows from it with
growing intensity. In this way we somehow anticipate what is destined to be ours in eternity, beyond death and the
grave. Christ, supreme Teacher of the spiritual life, together with all those who have been formed in his school,
teaches that even in this life we can enter onto the path of union with God."
Pope John Paul II
Memory and Identity page 28-30.