Transcript RELATIONAL PILLAR

CHRISTIAN HUMAN FORMATION
Family of the Pierced Hearts
Miami, Florida
Presented by
Father Avelino Gonzalez
May 2009
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STAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Religious psychology recognizes a spiritual “evolution” in three
stages:
 1. The preliminary unity of the human person; fragile and unstable
 2. The conflict between the spiritual and the material
 3. Final integration of the human person
 The second stage of the spiritual life often involves an unexpected event or “birth”
called conversion (“born from above” John 3:3)
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Described as a turning point where there is an illumination of the conscience as to the
insufficiency of the previous life
Produces a spiritual “springtime” in the interior life that brings uncompromised joy
Brings awareness of profound filial love from the Father
 This experience however produces a spiritual shadow on the soul as one’s own Cross
becomes clearly evident
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Involves painful tension between two states that seek to exclude the other
Brutal experience of falls and impotency causes one to cry out that God is too demanding;
that our Cross is heavier than everyone else’s.
Habit of obedience and trust eventually makes the Cross lighter facilitating the transition to
the third stage of the spiritual life – final integration – which is our goal
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Four Pillars of Human Formation
Relational
Relational
The Holy
Family
Spiritual
Spiritual
Intellectual
Intellectual
is
Apostolic
Model of
Christian Life
Apostolic
Mary = Woman, Spouse, Mother =
Marian Heart
St. Joseph = Man, Husband, Father = Josephite Heart
Child Jesus = Youth, Son =
Heart of the Child Jesus
Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ
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“Know Thyself” - Theological
Anthropology
“Jesus Christ reveals Man to himself “ (GS 22)
1. Created as Image of God (“imago Dei”)
2. Created as capacity for God (“capax Dei”)
• As receptive capacity or “potentia oboedientialis”
• As the desire for God or “desiderium naturale videndi
Deum”
3. Created as capacity for the Trinity (“capax trinitatis”)
4. …and therefore the capacity for love
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RELATIONAL PILLAR
Dealing with other human beings on an
individual level
 Become a bridge for others to meet Christ
 Develop interpersonal skills for apostolic work
 Show respect for every person:
 A sense of justice
 Genuine compassion
 Become affable, hospitable, open and encouraging to
others; Be forgiving and consoling
 Involves being aware of the familial, cultural, and
historical context in which we have been formed
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RELATIONAL PILLAR (cont)
 Correct our notions of authentic love through a personal
love for Jesus Christ
 Commitment to change our disordered affections
 “De-programming” and healing of past wounds
 Develop a clear and strong understanding of authentic
freedom
 Self mastery over selfishness and individualism
 Openness to others
 Generosity in service to others
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SPIRITUAL PILLAR
Communion with God and searching for
Christ
 Spiritual formation is:
 The core of becoming a fully integrated person.
• “Our hearts are restless until they rest in the Lord” (St.
Augustine, Confessions)
 Ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit
 Consists in a deep communion with Jesus Christ:
• A filial attitude towards the Father
• A trustful attitude towards the Church
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SPIRITUAL PILLAR (cont)
 Union with God is achieved by a consistent and
unceasing search for Him:
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Regiment of Prayer and Contemplation
Faithful meditation on the Word of God
Active participation in the Church’s holy mysteries
Service of charity towards the “little ones”
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SPIRITUAL PILLAR (cont)
 Knowledge of the Word of God:
Makes conversation with God easy
Detaches us from evil
Nourishes our heart with the thoughts of God
Results in our evaluating persons, things, events and problems
through the lens of faith
 Leads to a life inspired and motivated by Jesus Christ
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 Prayer is:
 The first and fundamental manner of responding to the Word of
God
 A dialogue that becomes a sharing in the filial conversation
between Jesus and the Father
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SPIRITUAL PILLAR (cont)
 The Eucharist is the high point of Christian prayer. It is
the summit and source of the sacraments.
 It is necessary and urgent to rediscover the beauty and
joy of the Sacrament of Penance.
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INTELLECTUAL PILLAR
Faith seeking Understanding (“fides
quaerens intellectum”) and
participating in the light of God’s mind
 To seek to acquire a wisdom which is open to and
directed towards knowing and adhering to God
 To defend the Faith and to account for the hope that is
in us (1 Peter 3:15)
 To form critical discernment in a culture that is marked
by relativism and pluralism.
 To engage in apostolic ministries
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INTELLECTUAL PILLAR (cont)
 The study of philosophy and theology:
 Is crucial to intellectual formation
 Leads to deeper understanding and interpretation of the human
person
 Develops a reflective awareness of the relationship between the
human spirit and truth
 Human sciences are of considerable use to the
understanding of man and the development of society.
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APOSTOLIC PILLAR
To make the faithful true servants of God
after our Lord Jesus Christ, the Suffering
Servant
 All the pillars of Christian human formation must
fundamentally have an apostolic character:
 How to represent Christ to humanity
 How to transform the world into the Kingdom of Heaven—the
most basic obligation of being a child of God
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APOSTOLIC PILLAR (cont)
 Apostolic formation develops by means of:
 Mature reflection
 Practical application
 Being rooted in the Holy Spirit
 Apostolic action:
 Enlivens the Church
 For the faithful, is first exercised in the context of the local
parish
• Building up of the local parish community takes precedence,
but does not exclude apostolic activities outside the local
parish
• All parish apostolic work should be subject to the local pastor
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