CHRISTIAN TRANSITION

The title Christian Transition could strike one as non-committal, general enough to be applicable to a great many subjects. But the urgent message of the Introduction highlights a very glaring gap for the present generation both in the contents and the manner of presentation of our Catholic faith. To fill that gap Fr Joseph Shiels suggests a way forward, sharing with us his awareness of Christian transition, as St Teresa of Avila had described it, taking place within himself. Fr Joseph Shiels is an Irish Columban priest who spent his working years as a missionary in the Southern Philippines. Fundamentally, this book witnesses to two graces experienced by the author during that time. The first grace, which came early in his career, was a refreshed awareness of a traditional teaching of the Church. This is the teaching that the real, essential Christianity within us is that we are in this world to be divinised. Christian transition is the name of the process of divinisation. The author reminds us of this doctrine by presenting it in an unashamedly attentiongetting phrase, namely 'becoming-God-along-with-God'. Such a phrase is no more than the kind of advertisement that comes out of countless publicrelations offices. But no less: in terms of its summing-up of the implications of what our Christian faith really was, and still is, offering to all its members. His second, supplemental grace is that, in mid-life, after an apparently chance introduction to a book outlining the teaching of St Teresa, our author tried the contents for size - and found they fitted! The contents gave him a Teresian understanding that a progression and development - to some extent verifiable - was possible in the spiritual life of the ordinary Christian. Still in the style of an advertising executive, Teresian teaching is presented in simplified form, originally to make it accessible those to whom he had ministered, now, to inform and encourage his readers. Starting from two parables of Jesus, Fr Shiels' fresh and intriguing approach supplies a strongly scriptural basis for his account of his new awarenesses, and his witness to their potential to transform our lives too. In conclusion he shows that these graces are are really the essence of Christianity for all Christians; his experience is simply a case study of what is no more than the humble beginnings of a Christian transition, in accordance with, and by application of, theteachings of St Teresa of Avila. Fr Joseph Shiels opens up the riches of the Christian tradition to a new generation, showing how we too are invited to share in this very transition which will change our lives forever.