Theosis

Here's some more insight on prayer and spiritual formation from Frederica Mathewes-Green's The Jesus Prayer:

"...in the Eastern Christian tradition, union with God is the goal for everyone. It is God's will for every Christian, and, through their preaching of the gospel, for every human being. The Purpose of this earthly life is to be saturated with the life of Christ. Everything flows from that, every theological insight, and every effort to help the poor. The idea is that God will fill people with his Son's life, and then they will accomplish his work in the world. It works better that way, actually. The other way round, when people set out to do things for God under their own steam, leads to disappointment, conflict, and wasted effort.

This process of assimilating the presence of God is called theosis (pronounced 'THEH-o-sis"). Theos means "God," and as a cloth soaks up water by osmosis, we are saturated with God through theosis. This indwelling presence heals, restores, and completes us, preparing each of us to take up the role in his kingdom that we alone can fill."

-The Jesus Prayer, page 12.

Oh Lord, I need some more Theosis!