Christian Spirituality

talk by Fr.Ignatius on Spiritual Theology He says in comparison to Spiritual Theology which is a branch of Theology it is rooted in the personal call to Holiness. Man can only obtain true happiness in this lfe through obedience to God's merciful plan & to coopereate with the grace by which he unites himself & does not resist this divine call. Growth in Holiness depends on the glorification of God & sanctification of Humanity (relationship with neighbour). Discerment of something ,watch the fruits. it must be good leading to love & unity. it must be lasting . it must glorify God. A spiritual life must be: communal-coresponsibility,collboration & participative. Must search for purpose ,commitment & for integration. must be relational ,leading to healing of estrangement from God & neighbour. Developement in spiritual life(according to Erickson) infancy one must sort out basic trust vs. mistrust. adulthood one must sort out one's generativity vs.stagnation. old age one must sort out one's integrity vs. despair. (there are 8 stages he only touched on this 3 stage) What is a spiritual person ?His or her life is being guided & influnened by the spirit of God. There must be some signs like the fruit of the spirits eg.love ,joy ,peace etc. Spirituality is beyond mere knowledge it must is the attiude of the mind towards a ethical code or societal value for the common good..It is the concretization of the attitude or spirit from which one's action flows.There must be no dichotomy between one's expressed belief vs.one's lived values.. What is Christian Spirituality? It is a way in which a person who is animated by the living presence & action of the spirit of Christ acts & reacts habitually in accordane withe his characteristic Christian gifts. It is also a life led ,influnened & guided by moral or inspired by the spirit of Christ.

Chris's spirit is a way of life ,a lifelong & transformative process,involving the realization of the human personality acoording to the inner plan established for each one by God. Most great people have found thier individual vocation in God's plan eg.mother Theresa. Prayer is divided into an expectant faith which prays expecting a solution to a problem & also a submissive faith which accepts God's divine will,both are the are opposite in the same coin of faith. Experience of God. In any event initally we see it as a happening But with the experience through time uppon further reflection will lead to a lasting impact leading to our transformation. Prayer by Fr.Ignatius not so much of thinking but of loving. encounter not performance. ready for th real God not the idealized God. being present to oneself & of God. a journey inwards the unlocks the keys to our heart. listening,learning ,loving ,living . spirit of Jesus living in me. illusion to true communion with God. Presence of God in sense of consolation without a cause(St.Ignatius). Prayer is = Listening to relationship. A. Adoration to identity. C.Confession to humility. T.thanksgiving to gratiude. O.Offering to generosity. R.Resolution to ? S.Supplication to compassion.. This is the end of the formal lecture by Fr.Ignatius,however there are some bones of contention below. Redemptive suffering.

Don't waste your suffering offer it for good causes. Many people expect physical healing but sometimes the miracle is in the spiritual healing hence the person may not recover. Eucharist. In John 15 where Christ speak of the vine & branches. we are all individual branches ,with our own individuality yet we are all joined to the vine of Christ.Christ gives us life but does not replace us. The first day he basically talk of crisis ,he says sooner or later we will lose our loved ones,our job,our dreams & our health.It is better to anticipate the crisis as when we are able to anticipate it the pain of loss will be less. He used the book "who moved my cheese " where there are some characters move on quickly when the source of gratification is gone. While others who procastinate & keep insisting their right to the cheese(our source of gratification) & refuse to move on.There are some who did eventually moved on & found that by moving on they did find their cheese & enjoyed the adventure that went along with it. Refusal in moving on when we face with a crisis will result in 1.folded life where we become apathetic . 2.Personality disintegartion where we lose our sense of identity . 3.destructive life where we will be filled with bitterness & envy. He also talked about one's lfe coordinate which everyone should have. 1.identity.(priest,single,married,occupation) 2.relationship.(father,mother ,son etc.) 3.mission. He encourage to read Henri Nouwen's work for identity & mission & Joyce Rupp's work for letting go. He also used the movie Fly away home to illustrate a little girl who lost her mum & have to reclaim her identiy & finally with the help of her father developed a sense of mission i.e. to help the geese to fly to find fulfillment. Later he also talked about the developemental stages by Erk Erickson especially for adults & seniors. He says it is very important to be generative to beget children & spiritual children . Next it is important to achieve integrity in life where one sees all the happenings in one's lfe ,the good & bad all as one divine plan.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (New International Version) 18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. He encouraged us not to be trapped in the past & meditate on the passge above. Next he talked about letting go as in cancer etc.(Kubler Ross) denial anger bargaining depression(self anger) acceptance forgiveness(christian dimension) The positive things we can do when we face difficult situation. 1.Sharing our feeling with friends & Christ. 2.Being loved by the significant other & the ability of this person to accept oneself & able to share this feeling. 3.emotional reconstruction of the hurtful memories in Jesus presence. He also reinterate that forgiveness does not automatically means reconcilliation as reconcilliation depend on the other party.Sometimes meeting some one who has hurt us may not be wise & avaoidance may be better. The important thing is not to allow this paiful memory to stifle our growth & freedom. Many times inface of tragedy there is no use in asking why rather it is better to lived out the question as an answer may never be available or it may require a long time.

Last Sunday's Homily was about the sower & the seeds Fr.Ignatius divided the scenarios as 1.harden hearts,2.shallow hearts,3.crowded hearts,4.fruitful hearts . How to forgive. Tell Jesus how really you feel,then surender it to Christ.Then relax & gaze at Jeus & return to the scene of the hurt.Try to see the past

with Christ's viewpoint & turning the anger to see if there is any good that has come from the hurt. All of us view certain people & scenarios either too optimiscally or too pessimistically ..We must view a situation of the objective reality as accurately as possble without tinted glasses. Obstacles to letting go. *Clinging vine types with weak personality & dependent in nature. *Turtle type with timidity & fear of unknown withdrawing into self . *Power hungry types usually arrogant types many old priests ,usually a sign of insecurity & atually suffer low esteem with loss of power. *Star type who are usually helpful people who are actually Codependent type personality.Always wanting to be needed St.Theresa says the key to growth in the Spiritual life is self knowledge & humility.Never saying I am too old or too weak to change.