In the spiritual life, many of us find ourselves trapped in a rhythm of falling and rising, often feeling like we are making no real progress. We struggle to find time for prayer and feel distant from God. To break this cycle of spiritual dryness and build a tangible, personal relationship with God, we propose a method known as TAPPING.
TAPPING is not a rigid formula but a “spiritual safeguard”—a daily framework that integrates seven essential steps of prayer: Thanksgiving, Adoration, Pardon, Praise, Intercession, New Life, and Good Action.
The Evolution of the Soul: Four Stages of Growth
However, TAPPING is not a static practice; it evolves as the soul matures. Just as a child outgrows their clothes, the soul eventually outgrows its initial methods of prayer. We must understand that we grow in the spiritual life through four distinct stages:
- The Foundational Level
- The Awakened Level
- The Contemplative Level
- The Unitive Level
The way we view TSM (Tapping, Spiritual Fencing, and Meditation) must change as the capacity of the soul evolves through these various stages. What sustains us at the beginning will not suffice for the ascent.
A person who has been doing TAPPING for a few months in the Foundational Level will slowly be moving toward the Awakened Level. You may reach a point where, despite all your sincere efforts to surrender and wash with the blood of Jesus, and despite your diligence in TSM, certain deep-seated struggles persist. You surrender, you wash, and yet the “stones” within remain. This frustration is not a sign of failure; it is a sign of growth. It indicates that you are ready to understand and practice TAPPING at the Awakened Level.
I. The Foundational Level: The Discipline of Rising
The journey begins at the Foundational Level. Here, the believer possesses a strong desire for holiness but is still prone to frequent stumbling. The defining characteristic of this stage is not perfection, but resilience.
1. Overcoming the “Delay of Adam”
In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve fell, they did not immediately run to God for forgiveness. Instead, paralyzed by guilt and shame, they hid. If they had asked for pardon, the God who forgives “seventy-seven times” (Mt 18:22) would surely have shown mercy. The enemy’s strategy is not just to make us fall, but to fill us with shame so that we delay our return to the Father.
In the Foundational Level, we defeat this strategy by rising immediately. We do not wait days or weeks for the Sacrament of Confession to restore our friendship with God; we restore it daily through TAPPING.
2. The Evening Ritual: Cleansing
At this stage, TAPPING is primarily done in the evening. It is a reactive prayer.
- Surrender & Pardon: We review the day, identify our specific failures—thoughts, words, and deeds—and surrender them to be washed by the Precious Blood of Jesus.
- New Life: We discuss these specific failures with the Lord. If we lost our temper, we ask, “Lord, how can I be more patient tomorrow?” We visualize a new way of acting.
- Thanksgiving (Foundational Approach): When we thank God at this level, we focus on what He has done for us. We actively recall into our minds the various blessings received—safety, health, provision, and guidance. This mental enumeration of gifts helps us feel a tangible connection to the Giver.
3. The Initial Consolation
It is important to note that especially in the initial days of TAPPING, the believer often experiences a flood of joy in the heart. Prayer feels sweet, and the connection with God feels tangible. This emotional consolation is God’s grace to encourage the beginner, confirming that they are on the right path.
4. The Result: Reduced Frequency of Sin
As we consistently practice this evening cleansing, a shift occurs. The frequency of falling drastically reduces. A person who fell ten times a month may soon fall only twice. Furthermore, when they do fall, they learn to surrender and “wash” immediately in the moment, rather than waiting for the evening.
II. The Transition: Why the Morning?
There comes a point where evening cleansing is no longer sufficient. Despite faithful guarding of the senses and evening TAPPING, certain deep-seated weaknesses—our “stones” hidden within—persist. These often stem from unconscious psychological needs, where we act according to a craving for appreciation or affection rather than our identity in Christ.
To address these lingering struggles, we must move to the Awakened Level. The shift is marked by moving TAPPING from the evening to the early morning.
The wisdom of this shift is found in scripture: “For that which was not destroyed by fire melted when merely warmed by a fleeting ray of the sun” (Wis 16:27). While the “fire” of evening repentance cleanses gross sins, there are subtle imperfections that only melt when exposed to the early morning sun of God’s presence before the day begins.
III. The Awakened Level: The Discipline of Climbing
The Awakened Level is for those who have developed a daily plan and a habit of spiritual fencing. Since the believer now cleanses minor faults immediately as they happen during the day, the morning prayer is no longer about fixing the past—it is about anointing the future.
1. The Evolution of Gratitude: From Gifts to Giver
A profound shift occurs in how we approach the “Thanksgiving” step of TAPPING.
- In the Foundational Level, we focused on listing what God has done, recalling specific blessings to stir up gratitude.
- In the Awakened Level, we may feel a disconnect when trying to recall individual blessings. The soul is no longer satisfied with the list. Instead, we move toward a gratitude for who God is. We feel a sense of gratitude for the Person of the Trinity.
Initially, this shift allows us to feel the presence of God without needing to spend time mentally recalling various events. However, this deeper form of gratitude introduces the wilderness experience. As we move away from the emotional “sugar rush” of counting blessings and deeper into the mystery of God’s nature, we might struggle. In the later period of this level, we may not feel the presence of God as we desire. This dryness is normal; it is the weaning of the soul from the gifts of God to the God of gifts.
2. The Shift from Joy to Fidelity
As we enter the wilderness of the Awakened Level, the sensible joy that flooded the heart in the Foundational Level often disappears. It is replaced by a certain dryness. In this stage, there is often only the quiet contentment of the knowledge that we are doing God’s will.
We are on the right track, yet one can easily mistake this for the absence of God or conclude that something is wrong. But this stage is vital. If the feelings remained, we might fall into the trap of loving the joy that God gives rather than the God who gives the joys. The disappearance of these feelings forces us to grow into spiritual maturity, where our fidelity to God and obedience to His word do not depend on feelings or emotions.
3. From Surrendering Failures to Surrendering Plans
In the morning TAPPING, we do not focus on yesterday’s sins. Instead, we surrender the activities of the coming day. We present our schedule, our meetings, and our duties to the Lord.
- The Shift: In the Foundational Level, we wash away dirt. In the Awakened Level, we anoint our actions with the Precious Blood, sealing them before they happen.
4. New Life: Utilizing Mirror Neurons
The “New Life” step undergoes a profound change. We no longer discuss how to fix a mistake. Instead, drawing from our daily meditation, we select specific qualities of Jesus—perhaps His silence, His compassion, or His courage—that we intend to embody that day.
We use our imagination to visualize ourselves living out these qualities in the day’s specific scenarios. This engages the brain’s mirror neurons and neuroplasticity, literally rewiring our minds to reflect Christ’s nature (Rom 12:2).
5. The Biology of Determination: Strengthening the aMCC
This level of spiritual ascent requires a robust will, and intriguingly, this spiritual reality is mirrored in our biology. Neuroscience identifies a specific area of the brain known as the anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex (aMCC) as a critical hub for tenacity and the will to live. Research suggests that the aMCC acts like a muscle: it does not grow when we do things we enjoy or find easy. It grows specifically when we consciously choose to do what is uncomfortable because we know it is good.
In the Awakened Level, when we force ourselves to wake up early for prayer despite fatigue, or when we choose to forgive despite feeling angry, we are engaging in “leveling up our discomfort.” By winning the battle of the alarm clock or the battle of prayerful silence, we are forging the neural capacity to remain determined in the face of greater spiritual trials.
IV. The Imagery of Ascent: The “ASCENTS” of the Soul
The Awakened Level is not a walk in the meadow; it is a climb up the mountain. As the psalmist asks: “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?” (Ps 24:3). This journey is summarized by the acronym ASCENTS:
- A – Altar of Sacrifice (Abraham on Mt. Moriah): Like Abraham, we walk in obedience even when feelings are absent. We surrender our deepest attachments without demanding emotional consolation.
- S – Statutes of God (Moses on Mt. Sinai): We no longer read Scripture for information but for transformation. We strive to make our actual lives match our theoretical knowledge.
- C – Courage in Spiritual Warfare (Elijah on Mt. Carmel): Fortified by the morning anointing, we engage in spiritual warfare and emerge victorious over the “prophets of Baal” in our culture and minds.
- E – Eternal Vision (Moses on Mt. Nebo): The distractions of the world lose their grip. We begin to understand the true value of the Mass and Sacraments as a foretaste of home.
- N – New Life (Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes): We adopt a radically new perspective (Mt 5). We stop asking, “Is this a sin?” and start asking, “Is this act full of love?”
- T – Transfiguration (Jesus on Mt. Tabor): Through the daily “New Life” visualization, our human nature is renewed, and the face of Christ begins to shine through our daily conduct.
- S – Surrender (Jesus on the Mount of Olives): Finally, we reach the level of total surrender. Like Jesus in Gethsemane, we offer our body, mind, and spirit wholly to the Father, content in the knowledge that we are fulfilling our mission.
Conclusion
The shift from the Foundational to the Awakened Level is the shift from a defensive spirituality to an offensive one. It requires the strict discipline to rise early, to plan the day, and to endure the dryness of the climb, actively strengthening our determination through holy discomfort. But for those willing to brave the mountain—and endure the wilderness where God’s presence is believed rather than felt—the reward is a transfigured life, where we truly “let our light shine before others” (Mt 5:16).
Vox Divini 