Salesian Spirituality Continued: What is Spirituality?

As we pick up again the theme of Salesian spirituality I’d like to look at what we mean by the term “spirituality.” Today we hear the word spoken a lot, but I’m not always sure the people who use it understand what they are talking about. How many times do we read or hear of actors and other celebrities who call themselves spiritual, or who have adopted some form of Eastern spirituality that no one has heard of and doesn’t seem to be connected to any concrete belief system. The aim quite often is the improvement of their emotional or psychological well being and not necessarily finding better ways to guide their actions and moral choices. In the contemporary world spirituality often gets reduced to achieving a feeling of peace through some type of meditation or prayer routine. As Catholics, when we speak of spirituality we are talking about something very concrete and practical. Spirituality is how we live out our faith in Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. Prayer and meditation are a part of this, but the goal is not simply to have our anxieties and stresses relieved. The ultimate goal is union with God.

True spirituality takes into account our moral lives. We achieve union with God by purifying our actions and desires so that they are in conformity with God’s will for us. Then, when we come to a knowledge of God’s will, to go about doing it. It sounds simple, and in truth it is. But, as we all know, actually doing it can be difficult. This purification entails eliminating mortal sin from our lives, and then working on the venial sins that, while not completely breaking our relationship with God, keep us from truly soaring to the heights we were created for. This is not just a matter of not sinning, but of purifying our desires, to eliminate the attachment to sin. Catholic spirituality seeks to grant us inner peace, true, but it also seeks to make us moral people attentive to the needs of our brothers and sisters. We are to become like Christ, united to Him in a deep, intimate way.

One of the great beauties of the Catholic Church is that we have been given many different roads by which to reach this goal. These gifts of the Holy Spirit, also known as charisms, are represented by the various spiritual families that have grown up in the Church over the centuries. Benedictine, Franciscan and Jesuit schools are three of the major spiritual traditions that have enriched the Church. They along with a myriad of others offer unique perspectives how to unite our selves with God and fulfill His will in our lives. Salesian Spirituality was developed by St. Francis de Sales and adopted by Don Bosco, and is followed by a variety religious orders, congregations and lay groups including, of course the Salesians of Don Bosco. It is this brand of Catholic spirituality we will be exploring in the coming weeks.