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Saintly Spiritualities
P.C.S. is the opposite of a formula spirituality which you try to fit into, like, for example,
adopting a Franciscan spirituality, a Benedictine, Augustinian or Ignatian spirituality. These are
good and outstanding methods for seeking and serving God which thousands have followed.
But P.C.S. is not someone else's conception which you place upon yourself like a garment. It is
a spirituality which results from your own discovery of God and how He is working in the
realities and circumstances of your life, how he has taught you and spoken to you and
enabled you to understand his ways with you. God Himself is your best spiritual advisor and
mentor. P.C.S. Is all about your unique relationship to God.
The spirituality of the saints were originally their own personal spirituality; their own
P.C.S. St Francis discovered his spirituality as he lived out the events and circumstances of his
life. Rejecting his father's wealth he became poor. Repulsed by the lepers he kisses them.
Renouncing the garments of a troubadour and soldier he dons the rags of a homeless street
person. Unaware of the world about him when he was absorbed with forging his coveted
recognition and prestige, he becomes a lover of all things natural. Soon a band of followers
adopted the Franciscan spirituality. But it was his spirituality, not theirs.
Your journey with God is always your own. It must be your own. No one else has
encountered God in the same way that you have, because no one else has your psycho-
emotional makeup, your temperament, your life experiences, or your social and cultural
characteristics. Each of us has encountered God differently.
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all spirituality.
Temperament
A popular trend in spirituality theory spotlights the importance of shaping spirituality
according to one's temperament. Temperament refers to those individual tendencies of a
person; the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; his natural
predispositions.
One is based on the Myers-Briggs personality questionnaire (MBTI) developed by
Katharine C. Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. This instrument helps people
understand and use Carl Jungs theory of psychological type preferences.
The Enneagram is another popular temperament questionnaire originated by Riso
and Hudson; a scientifically validated, forced-choice personality test.
Another comes from Gary Thomas' book Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path
to God. He describes nine types of spiritual tendencies or preferences. Thomas says, It's by
the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own
unique intentions. In effect he is saying that God gives us our spirituality because he gave
us a certain temperament.
All of these are deterministic fixed rather than fluid formulations of spirituality.
They all say in effect, If you have these temperament characteristics or tendencies, this is
the way you will prefer or are determined - to pray or worship or relate to God. Your
preferred spirituality flows from your fixed temperament.
On the other hand, Personal Christian Spirituality, developed by this author, views
temperament as only one of several possible factors which contributes to spirituality. P.C.S.
emerges simultaneously along with, and as a result of one's unique personal development
from childhood through older adulthood, from your psycho-emotional makeup, your
temperament, your genetic composition, your life experiences and social and cultural factors,
your family limitations or opportunities, your disabilities and talents.
Measuring your P.C.S.
One model for making that assessment is the Four F evaluation schema.
Your intimacy and closeness to God the Father, Jesus and the Spirit fluctuates. You cant
always feel fervent, alive, close and intimate with God. The felt quality of your relationship to
God changes from time to time because your spirituality is fluid and growing! It can progress
and regress. It moves forward, or stops or moves backward. It is good to know what state you
are in.
What is important here is to become aware of where you are with God right now, or
anytime you want to assess your spiritual state. In a similar way, this conceptual tool can be
helpful to assess the spiritual condition of a friend or a person you are helping.
The following descriptions are similar to the four soils in the Parable of the Sower. There
was the hard soil of the path (Floundering), the shallow soil of the rocks (Floating), the weed-
infested soil (Failing), and the good soil (Fervent).
1. Fervent, faithful, filial fellowship with God. (The Good Soil)
This is the ideal state of your relationship to God. It is a victorious spiritual state in
which the Holy Spirit is most active. You have a felt and joyful heart-attachment to Jesus and
the Father. The Word of God is alive, it speaks to your heart. You experience the supernatural
moving and power of the Holy Spirit in your worship, victory over temptation, and praying.
You are able to turn from temptation in strength, not in struggle and indecision and conflict,
but with decisiveness and conviction. You are sin-free. You have a clear conscience. You feel
highly motivated to study God's Word, pray fervently, attend church, fellowship with other
Christians and pursue ministry enthusiastically. You are fruitful in the nine fruit of the Spirit
(Galatians 5:22-23). This state doesn't come from your own power or might, "But by my Spirit,
says the Lord".
2. Floating. (The Shallow Soil)
You move away from God. You begin to take God for granted. You start neglecting the
scriptures . You especially either stop praying or pray without your heart in it. Perhaps you pull
away from church. A routine dullness may be starting to creep into your spirit. You are
gradually becoming spiritually more numb and somewhat rote, even a bit indifferent to
spiritual things. Maybe you're not committing any big sins but you're not very alive inside or
feel connected with God. God seems to be getting distant and remote. Instead of knowing his
presence intuitively, you have to remind yourself of your relationship to God. And as you
continue to float, the Holy Spirit will give you warnings and cautions about what is happening,
but you may be less sensitive to his voice, and dont heed him. To reach for God is to reach
God. Desire for God gives birth to His embrace.
3. Failing. (The Weed Soil)
You move further away from God. You're letting yourself rationalize about sin. Your
relationship to God is becoming increasingly distant, disengaged and empty. You don't
experience the vitalizing presence of God. His voice is becoming softer and more inaudible.
The sweetness and interest and companionship and presence of God are fading rapidly. God is
distant. You are resisting the voice of the Holy Spirit; grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit.
When you are in this state you are failing to respond to the grace of God; you are losing
your reverence for the things of God. God is wrestling with you; God is lovingly trying to
discipline you and correct you and get you back on course; but you are consciously ignoring
or resisting Him. Your heart is becoming hardened.
In the background of your life Satan is compounding this by making you feel
discouraged and indifferent. You hear the deceiving voice of Satan say, Whats the use?
Youre stuck and you cant do anything about it. There is no joy in God, youve lost your first
love, you are a failure and a phony. Give it up!
4. Floundering. (The Hard Soil)
You have moved farthest away from God. You are still his child but now you are his lost
child. You are his prodigal son. God has to use severe discipline.
Afterhe had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he
began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent
him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were
eating, but no one gave him anything, (Luke 15:14-16).
You have been sining without reflection and restraint. Your conscience is dulled. Youre
backsliding fast and living like an unbeliever. Spiritually, emotionally, behaviorally you are
becoming increasingly numb, indifferent, out-of-control. Your heart has become hardened.
You need the warning in Hebrews l2:l5-l6,
"Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does
there can very easily spring up in him a "bitter spirit" which is not only bad in itself but can
poison the lives of many others. Be careful, too, that none of you falls into impurity or loses
his reverence for the things of God."
The Father is longing for you to come to your senses and say,
'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I
will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired
men.' So he got up and went to his father. (17-29).
And of course, your first desire and effort and longing to return to the Father (which
comes from the Spirit) is seen by your Father God, for even though you are
" still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his
son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. (20).
And you say,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called
your son,' "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a
feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found.' So they began to celebrate. (21-24).
After such a round of experiences its likely that you will return to a fervent, faithful,
filial, fellowship once again and enjoy the closeness of your Fathers love.
Evolution
Another implication of the P.C.S. way of describing your spirituality is to recognize that
spirituality is developmental and maturational in a similar way as is a person's psycho-
emotional maturity. It grows, runs into hazards, becomes blocked at times, overcomes
obstacles, can't see ahead of itself, is affected by choices and decisions, is highly influenced
by the people one encounters in life, and
goes through times of confusion, anomie, and utter dissatisfaction. In other words, spirituality
is an evolving reality right along with your life. It is what is your changing relationship to God.
14 What is your relationship to the saints and Mary? I admire the saints but seldom
pray to them. However I do say the rosary and have come to understand the special place of
devotion and honor due to Mary. I believe that she has indeed appeared to several people in
many nations and times.
I invite you to engage in this exercise. You will surely discover your own Personal
Christian Spirituality.