The Stages of Falling in Love with Jesus

The stages of falling in Love with Christ can be understood in the context of falling for a love interest and eventual spouse.

Stages of Falling in Love with Jesus

Falling in love with Jesus has stages just like falling in love with a loved one here on earth. More specifically, nuptial union, points to the love of the trinity.

The natural progression of a human relationship is analogous to the progression of our relationship to Jesus, our divine creator and father.

Admiration of Beauty: Just like in a love interest, we first become attracted to our love interest based on beauty.

We then want to learn everything about the person we have found an attraction to. Where is this person from? How many brothers and sisters do they have, does this person share my faith, what was his/ her childhood like? Falling in love with someone, is gradual and there is a process involved. First we become attracted by beauty followed by a gleeful admiration.

Gleeful admiration: A sort of obsession that stems from good feelings or a sort of high, well the same could be said for falling in love with Jesus. A religious high.

Desire to Learn : As we begin to fall in love with Jesus, we begin to want to learn everything about him. There is a thirst for the understanding of who he is and what his church teaches.

After the initial attraction of gleeful admiration and beauty, o we have an excitement that leads us towards wanting to know more. We dearly want to learn about our loved one, so this is true when it comes to our love for Christ. We want to know all about him. This is the time when we dive into books, youtube, podcasts, anything to quench that thirst for knowledge.

Desire to Learn who Jesus is in the context of His friends.:

It this stage, we begin to become curious about the people our love interest spends time with. We want to know his/her family, and friends.

We desire to meet people who also know and love Jesus. An interest for who Jesus’ friends are and how they loved him. Some examples of Jesus friends are the saints, Mary and followers of Jesus.

Think of this in the context of a relationship with a future spouse. Suddenly we find ourselves needing to spend every moment with that person. A magnet begins to keep our hearts present to a steady fondness. We desire to spend most days with that person, making memories, telling stories and discussing ideas.

The Deepening Bond: During the emotional bond stage, we believe the phrase, “Jesus Loves you.” We begin to understand the weight of his sacrifice on the Cross. It the time of trust. This leads us into making a commitment to God.

Trust and emotional deepening bond begins to form which leads to the desire to make a lasting commitment. As time goes on that commitment turns into holy matrimony then leads to daily living together unity and sacrifice.

Making a Commitment: Maybe God calls us to receive all of our sacraments, offering grace to become fully alive in the church. Maybe this is the time where we lean into our vocation. This step usually involves something life altering.

The Honey Moon Stage: Basking in the glow of Jesus’ transformation on the mount. Acceptance of the transformation he has to offer.

Daily Living: Choosing to live everyday with a loved one, waking up to and choosing to pour the coffee, change a diaper or plan a budget. These are the moment that are most lived. They reveal the gradual inclination toward love or apathy.

This is finding moments everyday to continue to commit to Jesus. Prayer, talking with Jesus on a daily basis. As love grows, so should the amount of time we spend conversing with Jesus.Day to day walking with the lord can either result in a greater love or inversely in a lukewarmness.

Redemptive Suffering: The more we suffer the more unified we are to our Christ. The fruit of this is salvation of souls.Sacrifice is the procreation of the fruits of Christianity, which ultimately brings light joy and beauty to the world, so that others begin the same process of falling in Love with Jesus.

Anyone who has been married, knows that sacrifice, a dying to self is absolutely necessary for a sustainable marriage. We say sorry when we don’t feel like it, we choose unified goals and plans over our personal preferences, we smile at our loved one even when our mood is sober.

Note: All of these stages are cyclical. And the order of these stages can be interchangeable at times.