29th October, 2006

Global Spirituality

I often meet people who are truly concerned about their spiritual life. They are trying to live in a way that promotes their journey with God. When talking with them, I see that there are various spiritualities operating in the world today. There is, of course, the generic Christian Spirituality. Then we can talk about the spirituality inspired by various saints: Franciscan Spirituality, Dominican Spirituality, Passionist Spirituality etc. And when we get right down to it, we can acknowledge that there are as many spiritualities as there are individuals trying to be open to God and loving God.

I read an article written by a noted spiritual author who expressed a need for spirituality in our Global Age. He too acknowledged that there are many spiritualities in our culture that are thriving. But that not all of them are to be recommended. For example:

• Spirituality which demands that if we only work harder at it, we will arrive at some deeper stage of spirituality – it feed on the idea that we can do anything we want if only we strive hard enough. But there is too much reliance on ourselves and it cuts God out of the plan. To be holy demands more than just following some given program. It demands a personal commitment to God in prayer and following the guidance of His Spirit.
• Spirituality which separates body and soul – we concentrate on the soul and consider the body unimportant. We identify ourselves with our soul but not with the whole person. To correct this incomplete spirituality, today we hear spoken of Holistic Spirituality.

Today we live in a global culture in which God not only exists but that God is present and operating in the whole world and not just in me or my little world. A global spirituality must be relational. It is about our relationship with God and our relationship with others. It must be centered in God and the working of God in our lives. But, the closer we are to God, the closer we are drawn to all other human beings. We are drawn closer to others because of our oneness with Christ in the Spirit. This is especially true of our concern for the poor and needy of the World. To love God is to be interested in what interests God. And what God is interested in is His sons and daughters, especially those who have great needs.