Spirituality

1.3. CHRISTIANS SPIRITUALITY

Christian Spirituality is part of our way of life as Christians. It involves the elements that make up Christianity. Spirituality pertains to our way of being Christian, in response to the call of God, issued through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is life in the Holy Spirit who incorporates the Christian into the Body of Jesus Christ, through whom the Christian has access to God the Creator in a life of faith, hope, love and service. It has to do with our experience of God and with the transformation of our consciousness and our lives as outcomes of that experience. It is living relationships with our God, with the rest of nature, with one another and with ourselves. We cannot live a fully human life without spirituality. The goal of spirituality is to support the fullness of life. It has to do with our way of being religious. The spiritual life of any person is the path that a person chooses to follow in response to the God within.

The spiritual life of a Christian is life lived with some intensity. It is the serious response of man to the revelation of God’s love in Christ and one’s fellow man. It manifests itself in the love of God, which when translated into action becomes love of neighbor. It is a matter of responding in love to God and it deals with the whole life of the whole person. It is not restricted only to some Christians but is addressed to all. All share the same Spirit and are called to one and the same holiness. Of its very nature, Christian spirituality is communal, finding its fullest expression in love. It is expressed through relationship with God, with self, with others, with community, and the natural world. It is centred on the example and values expressed in the life of Jesus Christ in the Gospels and in Scripture. It draws its vitality from the salvific deed of God in Jesus Christ present in the Church and transmitted through its preaching and sacraments.

Christian spirituality will...