To acquire the mind of Christ, we must begin to think in the following way. We must say that we truly believe that in the Church, the Kingdom is present and revealed, but yet to be consummated. We must sense that right now we are living a new life in Christ and respond to his call: Come, all things have been prepared for you. Our task is to do what we can in this present moment to transform our thinking and then leave the rest to God.
Further, when we acquire the Mind of Christ, we begin to actively believe that prayer is true communion with God. Prayer is not just words that we unconsciously remember and repeat. We begin to truly believe that without real prayer there is no real life.
According to John Climacus (my readers should recognize this name), prayer is defined as “converse and union with God.” It is this personal conversation with God that affects union with Him, enabling us to fulfill our task of actualizing our salvation – to truly become engaged in Theosis. If prayer is right, the Fathers say, then everything else will be right. Our task in this short earthly life is to establish a true dialogue with God – to learn how to orient the heart, turning its antennae to the frequency of God’s life and grace. It is in this way we acquire eternal life and our salvation.
To acquire the Mind of Christ means to begin to truly and genuinely begin to think in this manner. It means to develop the ability to constantly be aware of God’s presence in our world. It means becoming deeply aware that without prayer, whether personal or corporate, there is no salvation. It is imperative that all Christians everywhere, no matter their place or rank, must learn to pray with their heart, deeply committing to a life a prayer if they expect to know God and do His will.
One of the ways that we can begin to develop this ability is by thoughtfully and intentionally pray the prayers of the Liturgy. We must constantly remind ourselves that we can’t allow ourselves to just say the words of the prayers in the Liturgy (I am thinking in particular the CREED), without making a serious attempt to understand and mean them. The CREED contains all the things that we say we believe. Therefore it must be said with deliberation and thoughtfulness. SO, don’t rush this most powerful prayer but, rather, think about what it declares as the basic beliefs of our faith!