On Balanced Spirituality

From "In the Spirit of Transparency"
November 21, 2003 (3 part series)

The Family Is Our Primary Ministry

There is no doubt that community is good for spiritual growth and well being. Many of us encountered Christ in a life-changing way through the community. Heeding His call to community, we stayed, bonded with our spiritual brethren and immersed ourselves in its life and work.

Community membership requires, among others, a commitment of time. Since time is a finite resource, maintaining a healthy balance in life is crucial to our physical and spiritual wholeness. Thus, the community must promote a balanced spirituality among its members. Many members, however, are experiencing an imbalance due to our hyperactive community calendar. They lamented that they have less time for their family and prayer. Such imbalance has resulted in increased cases of burnout, sickness, sabbatical requests and even misunderstandings within the family. Clearly, a reexamination of our community’s priorities, programs and activities is in order.

Such reexamination must begin with a good understanding of the Church’s relevant teachings concerning the lay apostolate’s duty to the family [from JPII’s Christifideles Laici (CL) and Familiaris Consortio (FC)]:

• The community’s primary duty is to the family: “The first and basic expression of the social dimension of the person, then, is the married couple and the family… (Gen 1:27). Jesus is concerned to restore integral dignity to the married couple and solidity to the family (Mt 19:3-9)... The lay faithful's duty to society primarily begins in marriage and in the family… The family is the basic cell of society. It is the cradle of life and love, the place in which the individual "is born" and "grows." Therefore a primary concern is reserved for this community…” (CL 40)

• The members’ primary duty is to their family: “…’The Church of the home' remains the one place where children and young people can receive an authentic catechesis." The ministry of evangelization carried out by Christian parents is original and irreplaceable.” (FC 53)

• The community must help its members fulfill their primary ministry to the family: “It is above all the lay faithful's duty in the apostolate to make the family aware of its identity as the primary social nucleus, and its basic role in society, so that it might itself become always a more active and responsible place for proper growth and proper participation in social life. In such a way the family can and must require from all, beginning with public authority, the respect for those rights which in saving the family will save society itself.” (CL 40)

What are the root causes for the problem discussed above? How can we best help our members with their primary ministry and fulfill the Lord’s vision for the family? How can we achieve a balanced spirituality?

Share in the Life of Jesus

The journey towards balanced spirituality begins with the examination of our interior life, of our life in Jesus. At certain stages in this journey, we could find ourselves beset with a chilling of heart, a clouding of vision, a deflation of hope or a futility of endeavor. We ask ourselves how these could happen now that we are followers of Christ. We look for answers at the wrong places, and find ourselves more confused and frustrated. Only through our eyes of faith are we allowed to see that these experiences are meant to reveal the lack of God in our life.

Fortunately, we are a work in progress and can learn from our experiences. St. Paul said that “In Jesus, you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” Eph 2:22. In Jesus is our wholeness. If we lack in Jesus, we lack in God. Then, we are not “built together,” we are not whole. Our relationship with Jesus is the foundation and structure on which our spiritual life is being built (1 Cor 3:11). “If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw, it will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work” 1 Cor 3:12-13.

The intimacy of friendship, the fellowship of community and the ministry of good works are gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw unless they are the fruit borne of our abiding life in Christ. Without Christ, love is fickle, community is fractious, and ministry is fruitless. Without Christ, a spiritual life built on good relationships and good works collapses at the onslaught of adversity (Mt 7:25). Only in Christ are solid relationships and fruitful work possible (Jn 15:5). Only in Christ can we truly become God’s building (1 Cor 3: 9), where He is ever-present in Spirit.

In this life, we will constantly be hungering, thirsting and longing for the Lord who alone can satisfy our heart and bring wholeness to our being. Aware that our heart desires an ever-deepening communion of life and love with Jesus, St. Paul exhorted us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17). A life filled with prayer is a life filled with Christ. St. Augustine counsels us to seek that “interior kind of prayer without ceasing, namely the desire of the heart…Whatever else you may be doing, if you but fix your desire on God’s Sabbath rest, your prayer will be ceaseless. Therefore, if you wish to pray without ceasing, do not cease to desire.” And God our delight will not cease to satisfy our hearts’ desire (Ps 37:4).

Listening To God’s Word

In addition to prayer, listening intently to the Word of God and actualizing it everyday in our lives lead to a balanced spirituality. When we prayerfully meditate on the Scripture, we encounter Christ who is present in the inspired text and who draws us to a deeper personal relationship with Him. He leads us to a growing understanding of His Person, His love for us and His will for us. He brings us along His side as He fulfills His ministry of salvation in the Gospel, and we identify with what He experienced. We share in His joy, in His pain, in His rest, in His death and resurrection. As we live in Him, He will teach us about God’s love, the love that transforms us into Him. In Him, we find our rest, strength, joy and peace.

We will find wholeness only in Christ. His presence in the Word brings wellness into our interior life and empowers our prayer. The Lord invites all: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves” (Matthew 11:28-29). In Mark 6:31, He encouraged His apostles who had just returned from their mission to rest in body and spirit: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." Jesus desires to give us the fullness of His grace in the intimacy of prayer, in the enlightenment of His Word.

We will find life and health when we listen attentively to God’s Word: “My son, to my words be attentive, to my sayings incline your ear…For they are life to those who find them, to man's whole being they are health.” (Proverbs 4:20,22). The Word of God, who is present body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist, gives spiritual nourishment that will never end: "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35).

We must abide in Jesus every moment of our life, for without Him, we are “like a land parched, lifeless and without water” (Psalm 63:2). But with Him, we are “like a tree planted near streams of water that yields its fruit in season. Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers” (Psalm 1:3). When our life is joined to the life of Jesus, we will find our peace, well-being and harmony, for our heart will rest in the heart of God.