Unfolding the Psyche Growth

“What mattered most was that of Jesus self-offering to the world”. An assertion that will help us trace the development of the spirits of the people that marked significance in our salvation history including Mary, the mother of Christ and Jesus Himself. More than a millennium ago, a young mother received angelic premonitions which she had in her heart that her child would be a great leader even a fulfillment of prophecy. And yet her son, Jesus was born in a country occupied by the Romans and to a family outside the ruling and educated classes. It was not what the world offered to Jesus that would matter but what Jesus offered to the world. Through every trial that life threw at her, she pressed on trusting God, continually rising in her spiritual understanding. And she was able to turn a life of suffering and helplessness into one of healing worker to give salvation to humanity because of the tangible, practical effects of divine Love. As we journey in our spiritual development, let us sustain in our heart and mind that nourishing the spirit totally can be achieved through love because it created you and is sustaining you right now and eternally. Love is embracing you, walking with you, inscribing your very name. You are “the apple of His eye” and like Jesus, you too are His son or daughter in whom He is “well-pleased.”

In times of satisfaction and wellness, how effortless it is to acclaim and praise God and feel that all is right with the world. But when times are tough and no easy answers come, that’s when it takes a deep faith and tenacity to hold on to your spiritual reins and not give up on God. Because no matter how bare a situation looks, God do not give up on you. God is love and therefore love fills the entire humankind. You cannot be outside of that love. Its power is absolute and eternal. In some instances, we might feel that there’s no God, but that isn’t true. God doesn’t disappear when life gets difficult because God’s comforting presence is everywhere at every moment in our lives.

The term “spirituality” means devotion to metaphysical matters as opposed to worldly things. Another is, “activities which renew, lift up, comfort, heal and inspire both ourselves and those with whom we interact. Spirituality, in a broad sense, a concern with matters of the spirit, is a wide tem with many available sources. It may include belief in supernatural powers as in religion, but the emphasis is on personal experience. Whatever is the closest meaning of spirituality, Catholics regard it as a terminology proper to God.

How can someone live in a world without devotion to God? Does spirituality arises in the fact? Why is it needed to have this? Does it recognize the meaning of our existence that transcends one’s immediate circumstances? How would you develop it partly? totally?

Nowadays, we are unaware about the different principles of life. The principle used to pursue the dimensions of life. Among these dimensions, one aspect is unique. It is an aspect that people need in order to attain salvation. The salvation pertains to the spirit of a person in which it should be nurtured and fostered. Spiritual development should be practiced for a well-grown spirit. The spiritual aspect of life greatly imprints in our soul, the presence of reason and faith. The reason that is used for enlightenment pertaining to the process of reforming the defects of a certain belief and an inner sense in enriching faith in God.

We, the youth of today are the people who can respond constructively to the future. As we acknowledge spiritual strength instead of its vulnerabilities, we set the stage of developing well our spirits to respond to whatever confronts us. “Ah, young bloods(youth), you are the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the hope of our race!”. So, you may realize the question, what kind of youth are the community bringing into the world? Are they acquainted with the divine resources to be found in God that will help them in developing their spirits? The spirit is a sole component of our whole well-being. It is connected to the different dimensions of life which are all essential in developing a person totally. The young ones are showing how natural it is to expect good, to have confidence in love, to act with authority in challenging justice. It’s the childlike qualities that will transform the fearful world we may know now, into the promising one we can envision. Helping one another experience this spiritual power is the greatest gift we can share to one another and to the world.

Perhaps, part of our spiritual development is to ask ourselves with the question, “What are my unique talents?”. The said talents are the gifts that God gave to each one of us. As we find the courage to move toward utilizing these talents, we’ll find that other things will fall into place as well as will create the space to be what we can call “spiritually grounded”. The most significant part of this is listening to how God’s infinite mind and unlimited/omnipotent intelligence is organizing our spiritual development. Spiritual intelligence – the capacity and desire to grow in the knowledge of God – makes us more effective. It opens up more time with family, more time to develop other parts of our lives such as working with the Church, the People of God.

One of our recent parochial vicars in St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Camiling, Tarlac gave sense on how we can develop our spirits:

“First is to emulate authorities not only the priests and nuns but also their superiors. Next is to have a spiritual guide and to join prayer group. Another is to have the initiative to be good as in ‘tao sa tao din’ and lastly, do good to others and be a witness to Christ’s teachings.”