A Transformed Life
In A Transformed Life, Sister Maria Tasto expresses what she has gleaned from years of walking with others on the spiritual journey as well as her own journey. She has also been inspired by the works of Father Thomas Keating, OCSO, to articulate in her own words the path we are all called to take as we become who God created us to be.
A Transformed Life is meant to provide for those on the spiritual journey a context within which to understand both the challenges and the blessings of our journey of seeking God. Sister Maria shares with the viewer a road map which points out some landmarks and signs along the way.
Sister Maria survived two bouts with cancer. The first time she became angry with God because many of her attitudes and motivations for living a Christian life were challenged. The second episode of cancer brought her face to face with death. Given two weeks to live, she awoke one night to experience God’s loving, forgiving presence. Her remarkable and spellbinding story is a perfect backdrop to her presentation of A Transformed Life. As she tells stories and shares ways to become your True Self, you will be engaged, enlightened, and most importantly, inspired to become who God has created you to be.
Conference I
Shifting Perspectives
This conference sets the stage for our spiritual journey of seeking God. We are challenged to confront our attitudes and motivations that are stumbling blocks on the journey. We are called to look within to discover who we are and who God is and how we are in relationship with God. It is a journey of finding God within and coming to know an essential element of our Christian faith that we are basically good and loved unconditionally by God.
Conference II
Unmasking Distortions
This conference focuses on the formative impact of our first years of life. We examine the process by which we are shaped by our environment, the great effect our early life experience has on our behavior, and the beliefs that were formed in us as children and continue to affect us as adults. We consider how all this combines to shape an image of ourselves that is made up of both truth and falsity. Finally, we consider how our false beliefs create within us exaggerated needs that lead to frustration and failure and how our society encourages us to live a life of falsity. We reflect on Paul’s description of our falsity at work: “I don’t do the right things that I want to do; and what I don’t want to do, I do.” So we need to repent and go beyond our egos.
Conference III
Growing in Awareness
The focus of this conference is the process by which we become aware of our own falsity. We identify some of the signs of our False Self in daily life and our need to be open and receptive to God’s loving mercy. We explore possible choices we have before us, such as staying immersed in our falsity by holding on to our illusions and distorted beliefs, or becoming aware and journeying towards truth.
Conference IV
Discovering the Truth
This conference describes our True Self as the essence of who we are, who God created us to be. We identify the foundational beliefs of our True Self and explore its characteristics. We reflect on the transformative process from falsity to truth initiated by God and nourished by our openness and receptivity.
Conference V
Embracing Inner Freedom
This conference explores the experience of living in truth. We look to the Beatitudes as ways of being as we become our true selves. These attitudes correspond to our basic needs and describe how we approach life when we are living in truth. The first four Beatitudes speak to our exaggerated needs for security, affirmation, control, and belonging and describe an alternative way of being. The next three Beatitudes describe how we are called to live as Christ by loving others, by seeing God in everything, and by being rooted in the presence of Christ. The last two Beatitudes address our call to join our sufferings with those of Christ.
Conference VI
Finding True Happiness
The final conference focuses on a person’s experience of the spiritual journey as coming into the fullness of life. We explore some of the aspects of this experience, namely, becoming who God created us to be, growing in awareness of God’s presence within, and becoming a messenger of this presence in daily life. We discover the meaning and purpose of our life and our oneness in God. As the journey’s destination unfolds, we find that what we were looking for we already had.