-- V -1. 2. As we know, St. Augustine famously says: “You created us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts will not know peace till they rest in you.” In other words, each human being is “born with a spiritual vacuum God alone can fill” (Conrad Marcourz, W.F. Born with a Vacuum God alone can Fill, Thornhill, Ontario: Missionaries of Africa, 1987, p. 3) The Salvation Process of each human being is thus a personal process of seeking frequently the loving presence of the Creator for filling his/her in-born spiritual vacuum, again and again, with sufficient God-pleasing prayers and actions, until its perfection in Heaven. St. Paul personally witnessed: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20) “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21) At the same time, the term ‘Valentine’ generally means “a person one loves or is attracted to; a sweetheart or a special friend.” (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2nd edition, revised, 2006, p. 1947) Apparently, there are two kinds of Valentine, i.e., the one from Heaven, such as Jesus who will never abandon those who truly love Him; and the one on earth, such as one’s earthly spouse or spouse-to-be whom one loves. According to the First Greatest Commandment of God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mk 12:30) Therefore, following the beloved example of the Saints who have intimately fallen in love again and again with Jesus Our Lord and God, the Process of Salvation is a process of learning to fall in love again and again with Jesus as our greatest everlasting Valentine from Heaven who loves us infinitely and has given Himself completely to us and for us with His very everlasting love, until its perfection in Heaven. [Note: One question is being begged here, i.e., How much does Jesus love each human person in the world? Apparently, it is an interesting question of an infinite number being divided by a finite number. In other words, it is an issue of the infinite love of Jesus for us being divided by approximately 105 billions of individual human persons (cf. https://www.bing.com/search?FORM=AFSCWO&PC=AFSC&q=how +many+people+have+existed+on+earth). Surely, the answer is infinite. Yes, indeed, the love of Jesus for each human person in this world is infinite! Jesus said: “Abide in me and I in you.” (Jn 15:4) Apparently, when a practicing Catholic receives the Consecrated Host, he/she is receiving the Real Presence of the whole Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Such an intimate union with Jesus is not only physical, but also mental and spiritual. Accordingly, Jesus and the person who has received His Real Presence have become mystically one flesh, one mind, one spirit. Indeed, only those who are truly in deep mystical union with Jesus can begin to feel such an indescribably intimate union. St. Therese of Lisieux of the Child Jesus witnessed: “Oh! How sweet it is to abandon oneself in the arms of the good Lord, without fears and desires.” (Complete Doctrine of St. Therese of Lisieux, p. 129) At the same time, St. Theresa (or St. Teresa) of Avila, who is also called St. Teresa of Jesus, has described one’s intimate union with Jesus as a mystical marriage. She said: “Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, all things are passing, God is unchanging. Patience gains all; nothing is lacking to those who have God: God alone is sufficient.” Overall speaking, it seems those who are constantly in deep mystical union with Jesus would feel that they have everything they desire; the rest of the things in this passing world can freely come and freely go. Apparently, just as there is no conflict at all to practice simultaneously the First and the Second Greatest Commandments of God, there is no conflict for any married couple between loving Jesus as the greatest Valentine (or the Valentine of Valentines) from Heaven and loving one another as a couple of greatest Valentines on earth. In fact, the more he/she loves Jesus, the more he/she loves each other. Concurrently, the more they love one another, especially in difficult times, the more they will love Jesus. In fact, it is Jesus who has put the couple together in the sacred marriage and will give them all the graces needed to fulfill a wonderfully good marriage. In other words, all Christian couples are called not only to truly love Jesus with all their hearts, all their minds, all their souls and all their strengths, but also to love each other truly in Jesus, through Jesus and for Jesus. As an important footnote, it is indescribably important for us to consecrate or make sacred daily our loving relationship with Jesus as well as the loving relationship between a couple to the Immaculate Heart of Our Heavenly Mother who will only protect and bless such wonderful relationships of love.] 3. 4. 5. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.” (Ps 23:1,4) Therefore, for each human person, the Process of Salvation is a process of learning to walk through countless valleys of trials and death without fear of any depression and evil, since God Himself is with him/her and His unsurpassed authority and amazing grace will surely comfort him/her also, until its perfection in Heaven. “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” (Eccles 1:2-4) Thus, by the grace of God, the Process of Salvation of each human individual and community is a process of learning to be increasingly free from all the false glories or vanities of vanities coming deceptively or unreliably from the secular world, the devil, and the flesh, until its perfection in Heaven. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’” (Rom 12:19) God said: “I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful punishments. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance on them.” (Eze 25:17) Therefore, since vengeance is God’s very business, the Process of Salvation is a process for all human beings and communities to learn to forgive and love their enemies, i.e., doing no vengeance to anyone, until its perfection in Heaven. 6. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2Cor 4:7-10) In the final analysis, this treasure is none other than God the Most Holy Trinity who dwells in each believer who is living on earth as a vessel of God. Therefore, amid all the good and trying times, the Salvation Process of each human person on earth is a process of learning to allow the Most Holy Trinity to dwell in his/her very being as an earthen vessel, interacting with Him with constant God-pleasing prayers and actions, until its perfection in Heaven. [Note: “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)] 7. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, there are three ways to describe the absolutely infinite God, i.e., via affirmationis, via negationis, and via eminentiae ---- the Latin terms for ‘way of affirmation, way of negation, way of eminence’. For example, by way of via affirmationis which uses our human affirmative language, we say that God is good. However, according to via negationis, God is not good in the limited way which human beings are said to be good. Further, according to via eminentiae, being Goodness itself, God is infinitely more than our human understanding of being good (cf. Gerald O’Collins, S.J., and Edward G. Garrugia, S.J., A Concise Dictionary of Theology, p. 260). For another example, God is holy according to via affirmationis; but God is not holy in the limited human way according to via negationis; in fact, God is eminently infinitely holy, indescribably so, according to via eminentiae. Furthermore, as a person Christians love or are attracted to, or as a wonderful sweetheart or a special friend, we say that Jesus is our greatest Valentine (via affirmationis); but Jesus is not our greatest Valentine in the limited human way (via negationis); in fact, Jesus who is fully God and fully human is eminently infinitely more than our greatest Valentine (via eminentiae), indescribably so. Therefore, the whole Process of Salvation is a process in which all human beings are called to learn to acknowledge God through via affirmations, via negationis and via eminentiae, with God-pleasing prayers and actions, until its perfection in Heaven. [Note: Traditionally, Eastern Catholic or Eastern Orthodox theology uses the expression of cataphatic theology (or positive theology) for via affirmationis, and the expression of apophatic theology (or negative theology) to integrate or combine via negationis and via eminentiae (cf. A Concise Dictionary of Theology, pp. 15-16). For example, Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians traditionally believe that we finite human beings will continue to learn about the infinite divine nature of God in Heaven, since the infinite God is forever beyond the understanding of finite human beings even in Heaven.] 8. 9. “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” (Rom 12:9) “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Rom 12:12) Therefore, the whole Salvation Process of each person and community is a process of not only avoiding all kinds of God-displeasing vice, but also of partaking of all kinds of God-pleasing virtue, until its perfection in Heaven. “He [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”(1Pet 2:24) “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa 53:3-6) Therefore, the Salvation Process of each human person is a process of humbly imitating the saintly example as a victim soul of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the greatest Victim Soul of all Victim Souls, with daily God-pleasing prayers, saintly thoughts and virtuous actions, until its perfection in Heaven. 10. 11. 12. “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s [Christ’s] act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s [Christ’s] obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Rom 5:18-19) “On his [Christ’s] robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’” (Rev 19:16) “Then he [Christ] said, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” (Rev 21:6) Therefore, the whole Process of Salvation for each human person and community is a process of becoming a part of the amazing victory of Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega of all creation, in His continuous battle with all the evils in this world, until its perfection in Heaven. “Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I [Christ] will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Rev 21:7-8) Therefore, the whole Salvation Process of each human person and community is a process of partaking in the ultimate perfect victory of Christ, “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev 19:16) against all the God-displeasing evil doers, until its perfection in Heaven. “Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called ‘cardinal’; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.” (CCC, 1805) Therefore, the Process of Salvation for all human individuals and communities is a process of learning and practicing the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, in Christ and through His beloved Church, directly and indirectly, until its perfection in Heaven. 13. 14. “‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Mt 16:23-24) Accordingly, the process of any truly God-given vision, plan, mission or dream of a person or community can be divided into three fundamental stages: (A) the Vision given by God; (B) the Cross to carry for the God-given Vision; (C) the Crown or Fulfillment of the God-given Vision. Here is an example of Christ going through the three stages as the Saviour of the world: (A) the God-given Vision of Christ (cf. Jn 3:16; etc.); (B) Christ has to carry the Cross (cf. Mt 16:23-24; etc.); (C) the Crown or Fulfillment of the God-given Vision (cf. Rev 21:5-6; etc.) Therefore, the Process of Salvation of any human being and community is a process of going through the three no-pain-no-gain, no-Cross-no-Crown stages, i.e., (A) the Vision of Salvation; (B) the Necessary Cross of the Vision of Salvation; (C) the Crown or Fulfillment of the Vision of Salvation, until its perfection in Heaven. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Rev 21:1-5) Therefore, the whole Salvation Process of each human person and community is a process of God personally visiting all creation, in particular the whole human family, seeking to be intimately united with us forever and ever as one intimate beloved family, until its perfection in Heaven. 15. “We are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.” (1Jn 5:19) “‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.’” (Rev 21:5-6) Therefore, the whole Process of Salvation for all human beings and communities is a process of vivification of all created things indescribably filled with all kinds of deadly evil energies, until its perfection in Heaven. [Note: Accordingly, the term vivification means: “(1) to endow with life or renewed life; (2) to impart vitality or vividness to” (https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/vivification)] 16. As we know, exemplified by the Holy Family of Nazareth, the three religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are made by the religious people in the Catholic Church. At the same time, these three vows distinctively characterize the divine spirituality of Jesus who is indisputably the Saint of saints and will “make all things new” (Rev 21:5) being “the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8) of all creation. Therefore, the Process of Salvation, individually and collectively, is a process in which the three religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience are to be deeply honoured and practiced according to one’s status, so that we would be sufficiently purified, sanctified or divinized in the partaking of God’s divine nature aplenty (cf. 2Pet 1:3-4), for both ourselves and others, until its perfection in Heaven.