The Goal of Apprenticeship

The goal of the whole spiritual journey is love and only Jesus made self-giving, even enemy-embracing love the very point of being human, defined it by his own death, and rooted it in the character of God. Yet love isn't a feeling we fall into but a direction we grow in: Bernard of Clairvaux traced four stages, from loving ourselves for our own sake all the way to loving even ourselves, our neighbor, and our enemy for God's sake. It's not a ladder we climb by effort but an upward spiral we're drawn along by grace where every step forward is a step in the direction of love.