We are part of an aristocratic, royal whole. Spirituality is not a radically individualistic affair. Just “Jesus and me” is truncated and far from the waters of life running through the kingdom. Even further, we need not simply a group of likeminded souls that we might call church. We need the church founded by Christ with its sacraments which are the channels of those life giving waters. We are sanctified as part of a Kingdom, not in a self-defined individualistic manner.
“It is the latter point that is so often misunderstood or even ignored when contemplating these two great saints. To be beautiful in oneself is one thing, but to actually have that beauty be appropriately proportional to an even higher principle representing a unified wholeness of all parts is to reach perfection. Our spiritual perfection cannot be attained in a vacuum. By the very nature of what it means to be perfect, our spirituality must, while retaining our individuality, be moved outward from ourselves toward the authentic whole. Being a beautiful flower is wonderful. Being a beautiful flower in a meadow which sits by a rushing river with majestic mountains in the distance is perfection.” ~ Royaume France