The Way of the Disciple

by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis

Publisher:

Ignatius

, 2003

Overview

The Way of the Disciple explores six Gospel scenes in-depth to discover essential elements of Christian discipleship. Author Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis describes the basic requirements for receiving the Word of God effectively in our hearts and contemplates the vital position of the Mother of our Lord in the life of his disciples. Leiva-Merikakis shows that the call to discipleship is above all an invitation to intimate companionship with Jesus, and that the “active apostolate” is the fruit of a life of prayer and adoration. This is the heart of a disciple’s life, which can never be swept up by mere activism.

Contents

Top Highlights

“What areas of my life are still rigid, refusing to yield resistance and be shaped by God’s fingers?” (Page 26)

“I take this, then, to be the foundation of serious Christian existence: the deliberate choice, repeated on a daily and hourly basis, to return to the beginning, to our own individual ‘genesis’, to a state where God’s Spirit may create us anew. Formlessness, darkness, indetermination, wet shapeless clay: Are these not the conditions for receiving the mercy of God in any way his wisdom may choose to give it to us? Was this not the situation of the apostles between the Ascension and Pentecost, a situation that serves as model for the permanent condition of the Church in the world?” (Page 28)

“There is little doubt, then, that the disciple will spend the greater part of his time and effort, not ‘doing God’s work’, but simply in yielding to the work God wants to do in him. No one can be a disciple without first being a contemplative. The heart of Jesus’ intention in choosing his followers is that they might be with him: above all, Jesus wants to share his life with us, and this too—the longing to be with Jesus—should be the gravitational pull to which all our desires should hasten.” (Pages 36–37)

“But the only thing that God’s Glory can house within itself is the persons God created us to be, and not the illusory selves we have manufactured; and so this Glory will often feel like a ‘consuming fire’, separating the gold of our authentic, God-created being from the dross of our fake self-constructed image.” (Page 19)

“if we expose ourselves deeply and humbly to the power of God’s Word” (Page 40)

Product Details

• Title: The Way of the Disciple
• Author: Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis
• Publisher: Ignatius
• Print Publication Date: 2003
• Logos Release Date: 2018
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Jesus Christ; Spiritual formation; Spiritual life › Catholic Church
• ISBNs: 9780898709353, 0898709350
• Resource ID: LLS:WAYOFTHEDISCIPLE
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:07:00Z

About Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis

Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis obtained his PhD in comparative literature and theology from Emory University. Formerly a professor of literature and theology at the University of San Francisco, he is now a Trappist monk at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. He is the author of Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word.