Transformation In Christ
TRANSFORMATION IN CHRIST
DIETRICH VON HILDEBRAND
TRANSFORMATION
IN CHRIST
____________________
On the Christian Attitude
IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO
Transformation in Christ was first published in German in 1940 as Die Umgestaltung in Christus. Because Dietrich von Hildebrand was at that time proscribed from publishing by the Nazis, Benziger Verlag (Einsiedeln and Cologne) published the book using the pseudonym Peter Ott for the author. Longmans, Green and Company published the first English edition in 1948. Franciscan Herald Press reprinted it in 1974, and Sophia House printed it again in 1990. This 2001 edition is published by Ignatius Press with permission of Alice von Hildebrand.
© 1948, 1976 Dietrich von Hildebrand
© 1990 Alice von Hildebrand
All rights reserved
As this book was first published long before the liturgical changes instituted by Vatican Council II, it sometimes refers to prayers or other acts that are no longer in use in the Liturgy. However, familiarity with the pre-Vatican II Liturgy is not necessary to understand these passages: their context suffices to explain them.
References to the Psalms are based on the psalm and verse numeration found in the Vulgate.
Cover design, by Roxanne Mei Lum
Reprinted 2001 Ignatius Press, San Francisco
ISBN 978-0-89870-869-1
Library of Congress control number 2001090564
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Introduction, by Alice von Hildebrand
Author’s Introduction
1. The Readiness to Change
2. Contrition
3. Self-Knowledge
4. True Consciousness
5. True Simplicity
6. Recollection and Contemplation
7. Humility
8. Confidence in God
9. Striving for Perfection
10. True Freedom
11. Blessed Are They Who Hunger for Justice
12. Holy Patience
13. Blessed Are the Peacemakers
14. Holy Meekness
15. Holy Mercy
16. Holy Sorrow
17. Holy Sobriety
18. True Surrender of Self
Biographical Note
Notes
Introduction
by Alice von Hildebrand, Ph.D.
“WE MUST have an unconditional readiness to change in order to be transformed in Christ,” These are the very first words I heard from Dietrich von Hildebrand, the man who was later to become my husband.
His words were a revelation for me. Even though I had been raised a Catholic, I had never been concretely taught how to relate my beliefs to everyday life. There was something sadly lacking in my education: it is not enough for us to believe; we must know how to live our beliefs.
This book transformed my spiritual life
Dietrich von Hildebrand—a layman—gave me the key that was to open for me the treasures of the spiritual life. Thanks to his lecture that day, I understood that my soul should become malleable like wax in God’s hands, so that I could become what He wanted me to become (and what I was so far from being): transformed in Christ.
The impression Dietrich von Hildebrand’s words made on me was so strong that I returned home soberly inebriated. Finally I had found what I had unconsciously been seeking: a concrete way of living my faith. That day—November 27, 1942—was one of the most decisive days of my life.
Alas, I was too soon to learn that enthusiasm for a virtue does not guarantee possession of that virtue; and that a clear perception of the beauty of spiritual transformation can coexist with a deep reluctance to let oneself be re-formed by Christ.
But I also soon learned that “The Readiness to Change” was the title of the first chapter of Transformation in Christ, a book in German by Dietrich von Hildebrand. At the time, Transformation in Christ was available only in German, so I dedicated myself to learning German so I could profit from the treasures contained in this book.
Later, my husband often told me that Transformation in Christ was “the book of his heart” because it considered the theme he loved most: the glow of supernatural virtues made possible through Christian revelation. It also became the book of my heart: reading it opened up for me completely new vistas of spirituality which, until then, had remained totally closed to me.
I could now understand why the German reviewers had called Transformation in Christ a “modern Imitation of Christ.” Like this perennial classic, Transformation in Christ is timeless, for it maps out the path leading to holiness; the “one thing necessary,” the one unchanging thing in the tempest of changes that characterize our earthly situation.
Regardless of our circumstances and regardless of the age or place in which we live, we are all called to sanctity. Our guide is Christian wisdom, which is not subject to time but rather should shape the time in which it is found. Transformation in Christ helps us to achieve sanctity in our time because its roots lie in the ageless tradition of Christian spirituality which goes back to Christ Himself. This wisdom retains its full validity from age to age. Being anchored in eternity, it conquers time.
No one would dream of scaling a mountain without an experienced guide; no one should try to ascend the mountain of holiness without the help of someone knowledgeable in things spiritual, who points out dangers that threaten to jeopardize our ascent towards the mountain which is Christ.
Transformation in Christ became such a guide for me. Again and again as I read it, I was led to realize how often I had fallen into illusions about myself, and how often I had followed a path that actually had led me away from the true goal: to be transformed in Christ. It was as if scales had fallen from my eyes.
I discovered that my own readiness to change was highly selective, for whereas I was willing to improve in some areas of my life, I wanted to remain in command and to determine myself the scope and limits of my transformation. Rare are those (and they are properly known as saints) whose readiness to change is total, absolute, unconditional, and who let the Divine Master decide how deeply the marble is to be chiselled.
How difficult is it for us fallen men to will what God wills, for much as we believe we love God, we are tempted to love our own will more. How hard it is for us—the sons of Adam—to speak truly and fully the words of Christ: “not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” And yet, this absolute and unconditional readiness to change ought to be the very basis of our spiritual life, so that we may become “new men” in Christ.
I learned how difficult it can be in the spiritual life to discriminate between things which seem similar but which are, in fact, profoundly different. How tempting it is for us to believe, for example, that we possess the readiness to change because, lacking in continuity, we follow every fashionable trend of the time. How often we believe that we are truly forgiving when in fact we are really too thick-skinned to notice offenses or we find it advantageous to make peace. How often we assume that we are spiritually recollected because we can concentrate fully on a task, when, in fact, we are merely capable of efficient mental concentration, which is radically different from recollection. To help us see such important differences in ourselves and to help us avoid other pitfalls, Transformation in Christ provides spiritual guidance for those who are serious about making progress toward holiness, enabling them to discern more clearly the path to holiness.
Since first reading Transformation in Christ and having my eyes opened by it, I have discovered that my experience has been duplicated in the lives of very many other people. Over the years, my husband received innumerable letters from persons testifying that reading Transformation in Christ profoundly changed their lives.
Reviewers of the book have also been unanimous in recognizing the extraordinary spiritual wisdom it contains. In 1949, a year after its American publication, it received the Golden Book Award of the Catholic Writers Guild.
Transformation in Christ awakens our longing for supernatural virtues
Too often, well-intentioned spiritual authors believe that in order to make the supernatural more palatable, they must water it down and use a vocabulary borrowed from down-to-earth, trivial experiences. This often creates a spiritual hiatus, a false note which is painful for those whose spiritual ear is attuned to the music of the angels.
One of the striking characteristics of this book is that the author never uses a word which is not in perfect harmony with the sublimity of his topic. With an unfailing holy instinct, he always pulls us upward toward a higher sphere clouded over today by our secularized anti-culture which constantly pulls us downward. From this point of view Transformation in Christ is a much needed spiritual medicine. It will inevitably sharpen our sense for the supernatural and reawaken the deep longing which exists in every human heart for what is above. Indeed, this was the call that St. Paul addressed to us: “Seek the things that are above.”
Transformation in Christ illuminates in a unique way the nature of the supernatural virtues which can blossom only in and through Christ. Much as my husband had loved moral values prior to his conversion, it was through the lives of the saints that he discovered a new, higher morality—the supernatural morality—the one embodied in those whose very souls mirror the infinite beauty of the God-Man.
What a chasm lies between the natural virtue of modesty—an objective awareness of one’s own limitations—and the supernal ural virtue of humility which (as exemplified in St. Catherine of Siena) makes one rejoice over the fact that God is everything and man is nothing. What an abyss separates the natural warmth and friendliness which a good pagan possesses, from the ardent, burning supernatural charity which characterizes the saints.
It was the beauty of supernatural values which first touched my husband’s soul, stirred within it love and longing, and brought him into the Church; it is just this beauty that he eloquently celebrates in Transformation in Christ.
Transformation in Christ reveals the splendor of God through the majesty of created things
Much as Transformation in Christ deserves to be compared to The Imitation of Christ, there is, however, an important difference between these two works which share the very same aim: to help the soul on her path to holiness. For whereas The Imitation of Christ (particularly in its first three books) stresses the dangers that natural goods constitute for man on his way to God, Transformation in Christ—while fully acknowledging these dangers—shows how these goods, if properly understood as being reflections of God’s infinite goodness and beauty, can actually lead us closer to Him by being used as stepping stones leading to Him.
From this point of view, Transformation in Christ is strongly marked by the spirit of St. Francis who understood nature and creation to be singers of the glory of the Great King. Created by God’s bounty, natural goods are to be loved—but God is to be loved more. That is to say, all created goods should be loved not above God, not outside of God, not apart from God, but in God, and should kindle our loving gratitude toward Him as the Giver of all gifts. Indeed, heaven and earth are filled with the glory of the Lord, and are footprints of His greatness.
Transformation in Christ is deep but not complicated
At first sight, Transformation in Christ may strike the reader as a long and complicated book, written for a small minority of scholarly people. But this difficulty is only apparent. True, Transformation is written by a German, but a German born and raised in Italy, whose mind has been formed and benefited by the clarity of the Latin spirit. In fact, Transformation in Christ is luminous throughout, but like all great things, it calls for close and constant attention.
Too many are those who believe that a deep book must be complicated and therefore above the head of the average reader. But deep does not mean “complicated” and complication does not guarantee depth. It is true, there are books which hide the penury of their contents by using highly esoteric language which is not only confused but confusing as well. There are thinkers who major in this: their language is so tortuous, so ambiguous, that they cheat people into believing that their message is deep. But the reading of the greatest of all boob, the Gospel, should reveal to us that a book can be of sublime depth and yet be understood by any man whose heart is open to Truth.
Granted: Transformation in Christ was written by “an intellectual”—and even by one who had studied under some of the very great thinkers of this century (including Husserl, Scheler and Reinach). Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that Dietrich von Hildebrand put his intellectual talents in God’s service and that in writing this book, he wanted to address himself not to a few pundits, but to every Christian who is, like Daniel, “a man of longing.”
Therefore, Transformation in Christ does not require the reader to have a painstaking philosophical training or to know a special technical vocabulary. It will richly fecundate anyone who has purity of heart, and who longs for the truth. Effort will be required, but it will be rewarded abundantly by the fruits to be harvested.
Transformation in Christ is not meant to be hastily read. No, it should be read slowly, meditatively, and should always be concretely related to your own personal life. Half a page, sometimes a few lines can nourish your soul, illumine your mind, and inflame your heart.
Transformation in Christ is not the fruit of scholarship, but of the author’s experiences
Just as Transformation in Christ was not written as a scholarly tome, so it is not the fruit of a mind such as we find in some scholars, who unfortunately spend innumerable hours in a library, perusing dusty manuals on spirituality and then couch the ideas harvested there in an abstract, impersonal language.
On the contrary, Transformation in Christ was conceived and born of personal experiences. The author had an extraordinarily rich life: he knew royalty; he knew commoners; he knew saintly people; he knew great sinners; he knew great minds; and he knew those whose endowments were mediocre. He was privileged to meet some who had ascended high on the holy mountain of the Lord and whose lives were marked by a deep humility; he knew some who lived in complete illusions about themselves, and yet believed themselves to be close to sanctity; he knew some who were still groping in the darkness of sin and error.
Through faith, Dietrich von Hildebrand saw in all of them the image of God and longed to share with them what he himself had received. For much as he loved books, he loved people more; and it is from the wealth of his Christian experiences, enriched and fecundated by his own readings and meditations, that he learned the wisdom found in this book.
It is the wealth of these experiences that he shares with us in this work; it is real people that we meet in Transformation in Christ—and in many of them we shall recognize ourselves, our own frailties, our own dangers, our own illusions. (At times, we are even tempted to believe that the author knew us personally when he wrote the book, and that he was sketching our own character and our own faults.)
This serene spiritual classic was written at the peak of the author’s dangerous battle against Nazism
Transformation in Christ emanates such a serene spiritual atmosphere that the reader is likely to assume that it was written at a particularly contemplative and peaceful period of the author’s life. In truth, however, the book was written in the midst of his heroic and dramatic fight against Nazism. This work—which sings the beauty of supernatural life—was composed at a time when the author knew great hardships and was threatened by constant dangers because of his opposition to Nazism.