Moment With Betty

Christian spirituality begins when God’s word is accepted in faith. It manifests itself in the expression and the development of the love of God in prayer and action. It is the individual assimilation and living in charity of the objectives of theological realities. Christian spirituality implies an understanding of God, the material world, and human identity. In other words, spirituality and beliefs are inseparable. Men are given this new relationship with the Trinity gratuitously, and they express it in acts that are at once human and supreme:- Encyclopedia.com . Similarly, Christian spirituality concerns the living out of the encounter with Jesus Christ. It. refers to the way in which the Christian life is understood and the explicitly devotional practices which have been developed to foster and sustain the relationship with Christ (McGrath 1999:3).

Subsequently, Catholic spirituality includes the various ways in which Catholics live out their Baptismal promise through prayer and action. The primary prayer of all Catholics is the Eucharistic liturgy in which they celebrate and share their faith together, in accord with Jesus’ instruction, “Do this in memory of me.”

The question therefore is, what then does it mean to have “Christian spirit”?  According to Leo. J. Trese in his book “The Faith Explained”, it means of course, having the spirit of Christ. This in turn means, viewing the world as Christ views it and reacting to the circumstances of life as Christ would react.

If you ask me, l would say that Christian spirituality is interpersonal. It is the life of man with God. Individuals exhibit Christian spirituality in different ways, some through prayer, others through their actions and how they relate to their family members or neighbours. Thus, in the Church one can find certain forms of spirituality that have failed to adequately integrate the liturgical moment. Many of the faithful, although they participate diligently in the liturgy, especially Sunday Mass, have instead drawn nourishment for their faith and spiritual life from other sources. But, there is no Christian spirituality that is not rooted in the celebration of the holy mysteries.

Christian spiritual life involves knowledge, moral effort, and spiritual exercises, but essentially it is a person-to-person contact between God who speaks to man in His Word and man who responds to the Word in loving faith. Christian spirituality is indeed  a dialogue with God in love—life with the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit. We must thank God at all times for He chose us first to be saved by the Spirit’s power to make us His holy people and by our faith in the truth :- Thessalonians 2:13.   Therefore, we need to approach God in prayer to foster our way of living out the Gospel.

When the first Christians began to worship, they did so by actualizing Jesus’ deeds and words, with the light and power of the Holy Spirit, so that their lives, reached by that grace, would become a spiritual sacrifice offered to God.

In contemporary society, Christian spirituality is generally defined as a set of beliefs, values, and way of life that reflect the teachings of the Bible, the holy book of Christianity and it has to do with the practice of the beliefs of the Christian faith which includes both knowledge and action.  It encourages people to have better relationships with themselves, others, and the unknown. More so, spirituality can help us deal with stress by giving us a sense of peace, purpose, and forgiveness. It often becomes more important in times of emotional stress or illness. Christian spirituality also relies on the power of the Holy Spirit to live according to God’s will where The Holy Spirit serves to lead us into all truth.- John 16:13. 

Finally, the pursuit of Christian spirituality will result in what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit: “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control; There is no law against such things as these” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Therefore, when a believer lives by the power of God’s Spirit, it produces godly qualities as well as brings honor to God. As Jesus taught, “In the same way, your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise  your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).