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Paul of the Cross'

 Spirituality
 ___________

Mystical Death

Faithful to God

Poverty of Spirit

Paul's Vocation

How to Pray

Distractions

Detachment

Contemplative Work

Mystical Prayer  

~taken from The Life and Works of Paul of the Cross in
Chapter 1 of The Mysticism of the Passion in St. Paul of the Cross
by Martin Bialas, CP 

Paul of the Cross' vocation matured in four stages. 

• Initially, he felt called to retire into solitude . . . to wear a poor, black tunic . . . to live in extreme poverty . . . to lead a life of penance.  In other words, he felt called to live as a hermit.

• The second stage of Paul’s vocation consisted of an inspiration to “gather companions who would live together and work to strengthen souls in the fear of God”.  In his own words, Paul admitted he did not pay any attention to this call at the beginning.  After a series of repeated inner lights, however, God strengthened in Paul “the desire and interior impulse to gather companions and, with the approval of Mother Church, to found a Congregation with the name ‘the Poor of Jesus’”.

• The third stage was considered to have been reached from the moment Paul arrived at the inner certainty that he was called by God to found a religious community. 

• Only when the specific and extraordinary mission of the new Congregation was made clear to him was the fourth and last stage of Paul’s vocation reached.