Two Ways of Seeing the Journey

1. The “Ascent” Model — Formation and Growth

The starting point is grace-empowered effort to cultivate the virtues which enables us to receive more of the divine presence.

• In this view, sanctification is like learning a craft or athletic training. The believer grows in virtue until the soul becomes capable of deep union with God.
• Through practice and perseverance, believers cooperate with grace to cultivate virtues such as humility, patience, courage, and love.
• The emphasis is on formation — shaping the soul through prayer, worship, acts of service, and, in sacramental traditions, regular participation in the Eucharist and confession.
• Virtue is not meritorious in itself but disposes the person for fuller participation in grace.
• Grace initiates the journey and sustains it, yet the believer’s response matters. The soul becomes more Christlike as virtue replaces vice, and love is strengthened through repeated acts of faithfulness.

Analogy:
A musician who trains in scales (virtues) to be able to play freely with the master (communion).

Core Practices — “Training the Soul”

These focus on moral, relational, and habitual transformation:

1. Practising the Virtues
   • Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)
   • Humility
   • Patience
   • Charity / Love in action
   • Forgiveness
   • Diligence, temperance, prudence, justice (the cardinal virtues)
   • Faith, hope, and love (the theological virtues)
2. Acts of Mercy and Service
   • Caring for the poor, visiting the sick, almsgiving
   • Volunteering or active ministry — “faith working through love”
3. Sacramental Life and Confession
   • Regular Eucharist as a strengthening grace
   • Confession / Reconciliation to purge sin and re-align the heart
4. Spiritual Reading and Moral Reflection
   • Scripture meditation aimed at imitation of Christ
   • Spiritual direction, examination of conscience, retreats
5. Mortification / Discipline
   • Fasting or abstinence as moral training
   • Simplicity, chastity, self-control

If taken to excess, there is the danger of Legalism or moralism — mistaking steps for the goal

2. The “Overflow” Model — Abiding and Communion

The starting point is direct encounter with God and as we get closer to Him, the virtues naturally follow. In this view, communion is the wellspring, and virtue the stream that naturally flows from it.

• The decisive move is entering communion with God through faith, prayer, sacrament, and the indwelling Spirit.
• Virtues are not acquired so much as manifested: they are the outward signs of the divine life now active within.
• The task of the believer is not to strive to become holy but to remove obstacles (the passions, pride, distraction) so that God’s grace may flow unhindered. The focus is less on effort and more on receptivity — letting divine life flow through us like sap through a vine (John 15:5).
• Through stillness, prayer, fasting, worship, and openness to the Spirit, the believer learns to dwell in God’s presence. Virtue and good works then flow naturally as the outward expression of inner communion.
• The focus is not on “building” virtues but on participation and purification — removing inner noise so that God’s grace can flow unhindered.

“Be still and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10

“Abide in me, and you will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5).

Analogy:
A tree rooted in divine soil naturally bears virtuous fruit.

🔹 Core Practices — “Opening to the Spirit”

These cultivate awareness, receptivity, and divine indwelling:

1. Prayer of the Heart
   • The Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”)
   • Contemplative or centering prayer
   • Spontaneous conversational prayer (Particularly Evangelical)
2. Worship and Liturgy
   • Eucharist as encounter with the living Christ
   • Corporate worship and praise — experiencing God’s presence
3. Fasting and Stillness (Hesychia)
   • Fasting not as self-denial but to quiet the passions
   • Silence, solitude, inner watchfulness (the nepsis tradition)
4. Scripture and Divine Illumination
   • Lectio divina — letting the Word speak inwardly
   • Personal Bible reading for encounter, not just information
5. Repentance as Ongoing Re-Turning
   • Confession as continual re-calibration of the heart
   • “Metanoia” as transformation of mind

If taken to excess this leads to Quietism or passivity — neglecting moral formation

For more information on the practicalities of spiritual growth and formation in different traditions, click here.