What’s the most important step in the spiritual life?

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“I need to find a place to live.”  Not surprisingly, this is a common request from the homeless people I meet with at Strong Life Rescue Mission each Wednesday.  In my response, I look for a little step the person can take.  My follow-up goes something like this. 

“Do you have a job or source of income?”  I’m looking but no one will hire me because I lost my social security card. 

“I can take you to the Social Security office and get you a replacement.”  They need an ID.  I lost that too.

“Let me take you to the DMV instead.” I can’t pay the fee.

“They’ll waive the fee if you’re homeless.  Let me get you a letter saying so.”  Can you give me a ride?

The questions may be different, and unique for each person and their situation, but I’m looking for a way the person can be one step closer to ending his or her homelessness. 

At times, I feel spiritually ‘homeless’. I long for that place of peace and belonging. Saint John of the Cross and other spiritual writers describe the steps of spiritual growth. Saint John championed the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive Way. The Unitive Stage is where I long to be, feeling at home in God’s living room. 

But I’m in and out.  I don’t experience these stages as linear, where I hop from one paving stone to another.  For me, they’re more elliptical.  The arc of the ellipse takes me into the blessed union of being at home with God only to return to a place of spiritual homelessness.  Thankfully, the ellipses are concentric.  Each stretches a little closer to my spiritual home (at least I hope). 

In a similar manner, many of the homeless people I meet circle in and out of homelessness.  Just as I ask them, “What’s that next step?”  I can pose the same question to God regarding my occasional sense of spiritual homelessness.  “What’s that next step to guide me to my spiritual home?”

For me, it requires a contemplative review.  I might even imagine using the same technique I use as the rescue mission.  I feel homeless.  My internal ‘case manager’ could then probe deeper.  “Why?” I haven’t been praying as much. “Why?” I’m distracted.  “Why?” I’m annoyed by something this other person did…  In this review, I get closer to the root cause.  My next step becomes clearer. 

What’s the most important step in the spiritual life?  The next one you take that will guide you out of spiritual homelessness into a blessed union with God.