What is Spirituality?
The term "spirituality" is derived from the Latin adjective ‘spiritualis’ which is a
derivative of the term "spiritual", which means matters "concerning the spirit”
while the term ‘spirit’ means "animating or vital principle in man and animals”.
It is derived from the Latin word spiritus (soul, courage, vigor, breath) and is
related to spirare (to breathe). In the Vulgate the Latin word spiritus is used to
translate the Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah. Thus a spiritual person (1 Cor
2:14-15) is someone within whom the Spirit of God dwelt and who lived under
the influence of the Spirit of God (Gal 5:16-25, 16 So I say, walk by the
Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires
what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They
are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a (Links to
an external site.)] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not
under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage,
selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and
the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit
the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things
there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step
with the Spirit.).
The word Spirituality is popularly used to describe those attitudes, beliefs,
practices that animate people’s lives and help them to reach out towards the
supra-natural realities. Christian spirituality is not simply for the ‘interior life’ or
the inward person, but as much for the body as the soul, and is directed to the
implementation of both the commandments of Christ, to love God and our
neighbors.’ In the Biblical context the term Spirituality means being animated
by God, to be driven by the Holy Spirit, as opposed to a life which is driven
and influenced by materialism and other non-Christian practices.
Christian Spirituality is the process of spiritual formation of a disciple of Jesus
Christ for an authentic and fulfilled Christian life in the present world; involving
bringing together the fundamental tenets of the Christian truths and the
experience of living in God’s presence, grace and love in our daily life. It is
Trinitarian, incarnational and grace-filled living. Christian Spirituality is theology
in action.
Spirituality is a lived experience, the effort to apply relevant elements in the
deposit of the Christian faith to the guidance of man and woman towards their
spiritual growth, the progressive development of their persons which flowers
into a proportionately increased insight and joy.
Hence our spirituality begins with God. It begins with a divine call, rebirth and
conversion (John 3:3-8; Acts 2:38-39) and continues with sanctification or
spiritual formation. It requires divine grace and our willing co-operation. It
involves our inner and outward lives. It involves the integration of ours lives as
we are being restored by the Holy Spirit. The goal is to become more like
Christ (Eph 4:13-16).
The adjective ‘Lasallian’ add to the common understanding of the word
‘spirituality’? It brings a particular ‘flavour’ or emphasis, because it is
inseparably linked to the life-story of Saint John Baptist de La Salle and the
world-wide educational movement of which on his own admission he was the
largely unwitting founder. It is then both from the deeds and from the writings
of De La Salle that we can expect to set out some of the distinctive
characteristics of Lasallian spirituality. But we need to note that if the original
enterprise of some three hundred years ago attracted persons who were
primarily teachers in a formal sense, the living heritage today is shared by a
wide range of people, principally teachers but including also social workers,
front-office people, all those who can be included within the broad category of
Lasallian educators. This is the importance of the Church’s 1951 conferring the
all enveloping title, Patron of Christian Educators, on Saint John Baptist de La
Salle.
As a natural expression and development in a practical way to the three ‘spirits’
already mentioned above, Lasallian spirituality is grounded in some very down-
to-earth actions. Throughout his Meditations, especially in the Meditations for
the Time of Retreat, De La Salle reminds his teachers of the dignity of their
calling by some very clear directions about what he calls their ministry. Here
are some of the many examples: ♦ You are called by God to your work: You
are the ones whom [God] has chosen to help in this work by announcing to
these children the Gospel of his Son and the truths that are contained in it.
(No. 193.3)
You have been chosen by God to make Jesus Christ known and to proclaim
him. (No.87.2)
It is God who has called you, who has destined you for this work, and who has
sent you to work in his vineyard. (No.201.1) ♦ You are co-workers with God:
Let this be your whole effort in the instructions you give them, looking upon
yourself as the ministers of God and the dispensers of his mysteries.
(No.193.1)
Jesus Christ wants you to understand that the more your work for the good of
your disciples is given life by him and draws its power from him, the more it
will produce good in them. (No.195.3) ♦ You work for the poor: Every day
you have poor children to instruct. Love them tenderly as this saint [Saint
Cyprian] did following in this the example of Jesus Christ...these poor are also
the ones whom God has entrusted to you and to whom you are obliged to
proclaim the truths of the holy Gospel. (No. 166.2)
God has had the goodness to remedy so great a misfortune [i.e. the plight of
the children of artisans and the poor] by the establishment of the Christian
schools, where the teaching is offered free of charge and entirely for the glory
of God. (No. 193.2 & 3) ♦ Through the movement of the holy spirit:
You need the fullness of the Spirit of God in our state, for you should live and
be guided only according to the spirit and the light of faith. It is only the Spirit
of God who can give you this disposition. (No.43.2)
You carry out a work that requires you to touch hearts, but you cannot do this
except by the Spirit of God. Pray to him to give you today the same grace he
gave the holy apostles, and ask him that, after filling you with his Holy Spirit to
sanctify yourselves, he also communicate himself to you in order to procure
the salvation of others. (No. 43.3)
De La Salle’s own life was marked by a profound sense of openness to
discerning and doing God’s will as he saw it. This is clear in the fragment called
the Memoir of the Beginnings in which he recognizes that he was led by a
“God, who guides all things with wisdom and serenity and whose way it is not
to force the inclinations of persons, willed to commit me entirely to the
development of the schools. He did this in an imperceptible manner and over a
long period of time, so that one commitment led to another in a way that I did
not foresee in the beginning.”
Thus, through the ‘chance meeting’ with a stranger at the convent of the
Sisters of the Child Jesus, he saw himself guided [conduit] by God to making
vows for life with a group of laymen some 14 years later. It is this same
conviction that he expresses on his death bed by the words “I adore the
guidance [conduite] of God in everything concerning me.”
Lasallian spirituality is, therefore, like all spiritual movements in that it is based
on a profound interiority, a relationship of trust and confidence in a loving God
who, in De La Salle’s words, “wishes everyone to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth” (No.193.1). But this spirituality is lived out in an
educational relationship that is earthed in all the difficulties and contradictions
of life that can make relationships conflictual and difficult. This tension in itself
becomes creative when true Lasallians find strength and solace in trying to see
as God sees and being prepared to be zealous in acting without self-interest in
doing whatever is judged best for the good of those whom they see as
“confided to their care.”
