Over the last several weeks Stephan has been asking me all kinds of questions about how to grow in his spirituality. Of course we all know the usual answers, but his questions have required a more thoughtful and ordered response. The truth is that you can't get a perfect body in one fell swoop, no matter what the latest magazine headline tells you! Michael Phelps did not become the gold metal athlete that he is over night.
We can learn a lot about being "spiritually fit" by understanding physical fitness. There are many people who suffer from attitudes toward spirituality similar to their attitudes toward fitness; namely, wanting the results without really understanding the process that leads to results. We want to have inner peace, a sense of meaning, a connection to other people, a knowledge of God and the World -- and we want it now! Generally we realize the need for spirituality in the midst of a crisis. We realize that something is missing and we try to quickly find whatever it is so that we can feel better right now. But it doesn't work that way. We must come into reality and understand that this will take time and accept the fact that our work and dedication to spirituality will pay off in the end.
What is spirituality?
Unfortunately, a lot of people think that spirituality is just about themselves -- it becomes a "self-help" exercise, just another kind of consumer product. If spirituality is to have any meaning at all, it must be about God. Spirituality is what leads us deeper and deeper into the mystery of life, of beauty, of truth, of goodness -- in short, into the mystery of the person we call God.
Ignatius said, "spirituality is the practice, a regular endeavor through which we come to build our lives on the love of God -- to order our lives according to God's plan for us." Therefore, its focus, then, is not primarily ourselves, but God.
"A regular endeavor through which we come to build...." We then are called to develop a long-term spiritual "workout." A workout that first and foremost confronts the reality of God and the reality of ourselves. The first step is to "repent," or identify the wrongs ways of living and don't do them again. Secondly, is to build good habits in place of the bad ones. This may sound overly simple, but truthfully it is the only way to begin. If we want to develop spiritually we must learn what we're doing that is harmful to us and we must also learn to do those things that are helpful to us.
Thus spiritual "workouts" or "endeavors" will help us to become better human beings by practicing the love of God and neighbor.
I will try to walk you through some of these endeavors.... so come walk with me!!!
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By loving us, God makes us lovable.
What do you call a soldier without an army? (Deserter)
What do you call a child without a family? (Orphan)
What do you call a fish without water? (Dead)
What do you call a Christian without a Church? [all the above]
The Church is the powerful forming or shaping of God's People to establish His kingdom on the earth. QDM
"Not all who wander are lost!" JRR Tolkien
True, whole prayer is nothing but love!
St. Augustine
To journey without being changed is to be a nomad,
To change without journeying is to be a chameleon,
To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.
(Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk)
Haiti 1
THE QUOTE OF THE DAY
(St. Augustine)
What do you call a soldier without an army? (Deserter)
What do you call a child without a family? (Orphan)
What do you call a fish without water? (Dead)
What do you call a Christian without a Church? [all the above]
The Church is the powerful forming or shaping of God's People to establish His kingdom on the earth. QDM
"Not all who wander are lost!" JRR Tolkien
True, whole prayer is nothing but love!
St. Augustine
To journey without being changed is to be a nomad,
To change without journeying is to be a chameleon,
To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.
(Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk)
In every encounter, God asks "Adam, where are you? Where do you stand? How is it with you?" To answer this question, a person must be willing, lucid, transparent. Once someone has left behind the habitual prayers of childhood and has entered into the personal encounter, there is no way back. He must live in the light of God and expose and entrust himself to the light ever more unconditionally. (Adrienne Von Speyr)
2 comments:
This is from Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz...
"The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this. 'Life is a story about me' . . . no drug is as powerful as the drug of self." and of evangelism: "Most Christians have enormous respect for the space and freedom of others; it is only that they found a joy in Jesus they want to share. There is the tension. . . . For me, the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a nonpolitical mysterious system that can be experienced but not explained."
Or how about this...
If it is true that we are made spiritual because of God’s union with us, it is also true that our spiritual life is the living out of God’s union with us through contemplation and participation:
THE WORSHIP OF GOD IS A STYLE OF LIFE.
A WAY OF LIVING
A SPIRITUAL LIFE
Contemplation...
We are called, like Mary, to “ponder in our heart”
To meditate is to search for God
To CONTEMPLATE is to DELIGHT IN THE FOUND TRUTH….
We are to live in the delight of the foundness of the TRUTH.
Participation...
Contemplation leads us to make choices:
-Choices to participate in God and God’s purposes for life in this world.
-EVERY CHOICE IS A RENUNCIATION
-We are no longer preoccupied with self, the welfare of self, the indulgence of self, and the preservation of self.
-Participation in God affirms life.
-To live with FOCUS AND INTENT = Spirituality
This from our retreat is honestly some of the best I have seen regarding Christian Spirituality and I refer to it regularly.
Man is conditioned in his thinking process to reason along certain fixed paths. These paths are the warn trails of traveled truth that make it difficult for us to think outside the box of religious rationalizations. The challenge of rediscovering the mystery of the plan is enormous. It is difficult for man to break off from this path of rationalism. We must never forget that God's plan though a mystery, is really very simple. God desired to have one like Himself in order to share with him the great mysteries of eternity. His desire is to have a relationship with man. He longs for a connection, a bonding, a rapport -- a relationship with another being like unto Himself. This relationship is first and foremost a spiritual union. Hence, we must pursue this connection with Him.
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