Spirituality
What in
the world is diocesan spirituality? This question stems from the fact that “spiritualities”
are customarily attributed to great founders of religious congregations such
as St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis of Assisi ,
St. Dominic de Guzman, St. Therese of Avila
Before we
speak about diocesan spirituality, let us first deal with spirituality in
general. Why do we need to reflect on spirituality? According
to the CBCP Pastoral Letter on Filipino
Spirituality, “The quality of our spirituality tells us who we are as a
people. Our spirituality defines who we are. We are a pilgrim people on our
way to our true home. We are pilgrims who made a covenant with God pledging to
contribute our talents to the establishment of the Kingdom of God
The word “spirituality”
goes back via the Latin term spiritualitas
which is rooted in the biblical semantic field of ruach, pneuma or spirit: the Spirit of God and the spirit of man
which interacts with and impacts each other. The term serves as an umbrella
concept of asceticism and mysticism--the overarching concept for everything
that has to do with “spiritual life.”[i]
Spirituality is essentially the sense of intensification of a personal
encounter with God that leads to a positive development in the sense of
personal improvement. According to Teresa of Avila, “If you do not strive for
the virtues and practice them, you will always remain dwarfs. Whoever does not
increase decreases. I hold that love cannot possibly be content with remaining
always the same.”[ii]
Thus spirituality can be understood as a process of maturation in Christian
faith.
According
to St. John
When Pope
John Paul II first went to the Philippines
From this
we can surmise that, in its far end, spirituality includes the purification of
one’s faculties for the formation of one’s conduct. And when we talk about the
formation of one’s conduct and values formation, we could very well say that
this falls under the realm of education. But before we go into that, allow me
first to venture into what we may eventually call a primordial understanding
of diocesan spirituality.
Diocesan Spirituality
Taking
into consideration the Year of Faith that we celebrate this year in commemoration
of the 50th Anniversary of Vatican II, a scorching topic that needs
to be reflected on is the spirituality of the diocesan clergy. We can say that this
is a nebulous topic, with a variety of worthwhile opinions. MAPSA, being an
association of diocesan and parochial schools commonly administered by
diocesan priests, has been quibbling about the meaning of this term. That is
why it is opportune that we strive to reflect upon its meaning.
In
general, the vocation of a religious priest is thought of primarily as the
commitment to a community and a specific style of spirituality and way of life.
For priests who belong to a religious congregation, it can be argued that their
priesthood itself is a secondary, though very important facet of their
vocation--a sort of a “call within a call.” Even in specifically clerical
orders like the Jesuits, men are only ordained after they have made their
solemn or final profession.
In
contrast, the vocation of diocesan priests consists solely in their participation in the ministerial
priesthood of Christ through the sacrament of Holy Orders, grounded within the
context of service to a particular diocese. But the simplicity of their
spirituality does not denote a lack, as is commonly thought. Rather, it indicates
a certain universality, as the priesthood is not defined by any one culture or
historical period; as well as a more intense, “streamlined” focus on the
awesome mystery of their ordination.[iv]
The term “diocesan”
categorically comes from the root word diocese--a district or see under the supervision of a bishop,
divided into parishes. The word diocese is from the Greek term διοίκησις, meaning “administration.” It signifies management of a household, thence
administration in general. Diocesan
stands in contrast with a religious congregation. It refers to a group of
priests tasked to pastor a particular church or parish. Thus a diocesan priest
is basically tasked to be a shepherd of his local church or parish in the mould
of the one and only Good Shepherd, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In
defining the essence of diocesan spirituality I will expound it by presenting
the characteristics of diocesan spirituality which I divided into three essentials:
Eucharistic, Pastoral and Marian.
Eucharistic
In a 1983 address to U.S.
bishops in Rome
The centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the
diocesan priest is apparent. The Eucharistic celebration is a very
important element in his life. He celebrates it every day and through this
celebration, he is able to offer praise and worship to God and be in daily
communion with his parish community. In his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul
II said: “If the Eucharist is the center and summit of the Church’s life, it is
likewise the center and summit of priestly ministry. For this reason, the
Eucharist is the principal and central raison
d’etre of the sacrament of priesthood, which effectively came into being at
the moment of institution of the Eucharist” (EE 31).
The Holy
Eucharist is the greatest of all the sacraments. Baptism of course is the most necessary sacrament;
without Baptism we cannot receive the other sacraments. Yet, despite all the
wonderful things the other six sacraments accomplish in the soul, they still
are but instruments of God for the giving of grace. But the Holy Eucharist is
not merely an instrument for the giving of grace--here is the actual Giver of
grace Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord truly and personally present. It is of no surprise
then that Vatican II clearly specified that the Eucharist is the “source and
summit of Christian life and the centre of the Christian community.” (Lumen Gentium 11; cf. CCC 1324).[vi]
The Holy Eucharist is the gift that
Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God’s infinite love for
every man and woman. This wondrous sacrament makes manifest that “greater” love
which led him to “lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Jesus
did indeed love them “to the end” (Jn 13:1). In the same way,
Jesus continues, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, to love us “to the end,”
even to offering us his body and his blood. [vii]
The theology of the Eucharist is enormously pregnant with meaning.
There are numerous ways to approach this topic and find great message vis-à-vis
diocesan spirituality. That is why I would like to go back to basics and apply
the three key tenets of the Eucharistic theology namely: presence, sacrifice
and communion.
Presence. The Eucharist is the primordial sacrament of Christ everlasting
presence here on earth. As he has promised, “I will be with you always until
the end of times (Mt. 28: 20). Christ’s perpetual presence is made manifest in
the holy mass where, according to the Council of Trent, Jesus is “truly, really
and wholly present” (CCC 1376).[viii] Diocesan spirituality signifies that the diocesan priest is to make
Christ’s presence real, perpetual and dynamic. As we were always told when we
were seminarians, people should always see Christ in us. If they fail to see
Jesus in us, it is because we are blocking his way. That’s why we have to
always step aside so that Jesus can be seen and simply be a barometer that
always point to Jesus and not to ourselves. As Mother Teresa said during the
First Worldwide Retreat for Priests in Rome
Sacrifice. When we say that the diocesan spirituality has to be Eucharistic, it
connotes that the spiritual life of a diocesan priest must be patterned after
the Lord Jesus who sacrificed his very life for the salvation of many. This
means that a diocesan priest must continually endeavor to approximate and
develop the special character of Christ’s Eucharistic act, that is,
self-sacrificing love. The Eucharistic celebration must constantly remind
diocesan priests that his priesthood is not to be a source of livelihood but an
act of offering himself for the spiritual nourishment and an instrument of
salvation of his parish community.
Communion. The
relationship between Eucharist and communio is pointed out by the Pope
John Paul II in his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia.
He spoke of the memorial of Christ as “the supreme sacramental manifestation of
communion in the Church”.[ix] The unity of
ecclesial communion is concretely manifested in the Christian communities and
is renewed at the celebration of the Eucharist, which unites them and differentiates
them in the particular Churches, “in quibus et ex quibus una et unica
Ecclesia catholica exsistit” (LG
23). The fact that the one Eucharist is celebrated in each Diocese
around its own Bishop helps us to see how those particular Churches subsist
in and ex Ecclesia.[x]
The
Eucharist is the sacrament of unity. The ultimate aim of the Eucharistic
celebration is the building up of the Christian community. An important element
for the spirituality of the Diocesan priest springing fort from the Eucharist
is unity. For the diocesan priest, it entails his total availability to the
diocese and to the flock through his faithful promises of obedience and
celibacy. Through the Eucharist, the diocesan priest keeps his community
united. Thus he becomes a unifier of his parish community.
Indeed looking at
diocesan spirituality in the perspective of the Holy Eucharist is not only a profoundly theological but also a practical approach
to the spirituality of the diocesan priest. Diocesan priests make their daily
Mass the heart of the day. They prepare for it by meditating on the readings
beforehand, by a spirit of prayer and recollection prior to Mass, by a
reverent, sincere celebration of the Mass, and by a period of thanksgiving
afterwards. If this could be faithfully done, we’re on our way to “the
spirituality of a diocesan priest,” bringing Christ whom they have offered up
and received to our people, in our ministry, throughout the day.[xi]
Pastoral
Allow me to introduce this second element with an anecdote:
Six different priests were on retreat together.
They were celebrating the Office of Compline (Night Prayer), when suddenly the
lights went out. So what did they do?
The Benedictine priest continued on with the
liturgy as though nothing had happened, since he had the breviary memorized;
The Franciscan priest assumed the power was cut
off because the retreat house was unable to pay its electrical bill, and he
rejoiced that they shared his love of evangelical poverty;
The Carmelite priest had a profound mystical
insight as he connected the lack of exterior light with his own interior
experience of darkness;
The Dominican and the Jesuit priests got into a
heated debate about the theological implications of the lights going out…
This anecdote is understandably objectionable
to the religious and self-serving to diocesan priests. But the fact cannot be
denied that diocesan priests, primarily tasked to mission in parish
communities, are in the forefront of pastoral ministry. This being the case,
their mission is truly hands-on in their task of service to the Christian
community and his spirituality can be said to be both practical and functional.
According
to Bishop Leonardo Medroso of Tagbilaran, “The spirituality of the diocesan
clergy and his effectiveness in the ministry is to be found from the very exercise of his priestly ministry. The
priest becomes what he administers; he grows in spirituality according to the
way he fulfils his priestly ministry; he becomes holy because he deals with
holy things.”[xiii]
This concept was given an authoritative account by the Second Plenary Council
of the Philippines
Diocesan
priests are fundamentally tasked to become pastors of their parish community.
They are appointed to become the administrator and spiritual caretaker of
their communities. In essence, the diocesan priest embodies the shepherding
ministry of the Lord Jesus, the one and only Good Shepherd (John 10,11). In
order to understand this shepherding or pastoral ministry, we will once again
go back to basics and look into the main functions of the Church otherwise
called triplex munus: the priestly,
prophetic and kingly ministry of the church.
The Catholic
Church does not have an official “mission statement.” If it did, these words
from Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus
Caritas Est would be a good starting point: “The Church’s deepest nature is
expressed in her threefold responsibility of celebrating the sacraments (leitorgia), proclaiming the Word of God
(kerygma), and exercising the
ministry of charity (diakonia). These
duties presuppose each other and are inseparable” (DCE 25).
This
threefold mission of the church is based on the biblical nature of Jesus Christ
as “priest, prophet, and king” (Heb. 7:1). As the mission of the church stems
from the person of Christ, this threefold function of Jesus becomes her
threefold mission: to sanctify, to evangelize and to shepherd or to serve the
community. And each Christian share in this ecclesial mission. In baptism, when
the priest anoints the person with chrism, he says: “as Jesus was anointed
Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you too live as a child of God.” Thus, all
baptised share in the priestly, prophetic and kingly ministry of Christ and the
church that highlights the distinct aspects of his discipleship.[xv]
That is why in our parishes we always have the worship, education and social
service ministry, in order to accomplish these missions.
The
“priestly” ministry focuses in celebrating God’s love through the sacred
rituals of the liturgy and the sacraments. The “prophetic” ministry is
concerned about the proclamation of the Word of God, that includes taking a
stand against the evils of society in the mould of the Jesus and the prophets
of the Old Testament. And the “kingly” or “shepherding” ministry of the church
is concerned with the proper governance of the secular community, the common
good and public order.[xvi]
It necessarily includes the church’s concern towards integral human development
and “action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of
the world” which, according the Synod of Bishops of 1971 “fully appears to us
as a constitutive dimension of the
preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words,
of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from
every oppressive situation” (IM Introduction, emphasis added).[xvii]
In view of
this, diocesan spirituality is made manifest in its dedication towards the
welfare and well-being of his community. A diocesan priest is called to shine
forth the image of the Good shepherd, called and chosen to guide his people. He
is encouraged by the love of Jesus, the Good Shepherd to offer his life for his
sheep. A diocesan priest would only become true to his nature as pastor of his flock
if he is in the forefront of promoting the common good based on social justice
and the fraternal love of the members of his community to their neighbour. This
is what it meant when we say that diocesan spirituality is pastoral.
Marian
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the only
one true mother, spouse and exemplar of every diocesan priest. “With her
example and intercession the Blessed Virgin keeps vigilant watch over the
priestly life in the Church. And so priests are called to have an ever firmer
and more tender devotion to the Virgin Mary and to show it by imitating her
virtues and praying to her often.”[xviii]
By her “fiat” to the plan of God’s love (cf. Lk 1:38), in the
name of all humanity, the Blessed Mother accepts in history the Savior of
mankind. In her Magnificat she proclaims the advent of the Mystery of
Salvation, the coming of the “Messiah of the poor” (cf. Is 11:4; 61:1).
The God of the Covenant, whom the Virgin of Nazareth praises in song as her
spirit rejoices, is the God who casts down the mighty from their thrones and
raises up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away
empty, scatters the proud and shows mercy to those who fear him (cf. Lk
1:50-53).
Looking to the heart of Mary, to the depth of her faith expressed in
the words of the Magnificat, diocesan priests are called to renew ever
more fully in themselves “the awareness that the truth about God who saves
cannot be separated from the manifestation of his love of preference for the
poor and humble, that love which, celebrated in the Magnificat, is
later expressed in the words and works of Jesus”. Mary is totally dependent
upon God and completely directed towards him by the impetus of her faith. She
is “the most perfect image of faith, complete surrender on God and total
obedience to the will of the Father.”[xix]
It is of little wonder that the Congregation for the Clergy urges
that “Pastors should entrust themselves to Mary, so that, united with the Vicar
of Christ they may discover new ways to evince a sincere desire for renewal
among the Church's priests in their tasks as teachers of the Word, ministers of
the Sacraments and leaders of the community.”[xx]
Putting
all these elements into consideration we venture to define diocesan
spirituality as a spirituality that is centred on the Eucharist, pastoral in
nature and Marian in character. Beyond the dramatic drop in seminarians and the
declining numbers of priests, beyond the sexual misconduct scandals shaking the
confidence and trust once readily given to priests, a spiritual deepening and
devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary could surely renew the spirit of the
diocesan priest.
Response
of Catholic Schools to the Challenges of the New Evangelization
Based on
our foregoing reflection on diocesan spirituality, we can now surmise the responses
of our Catholic Schools to the Church’s challenges of the New Evangelization.
According
to the Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei of Pope Benedict XVI for the Indiction of the
Year of Faith, the primary aim of the Year of Faith is two-fold: to deepen our
faith so as to be able to greatly propagate it. The task of deepening our faith
could be accomplished by going back to the three important sources of our
Catholic faith, namely: the Sacred Scriptures, the Sixteen Documents of Vatican
II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Understandably, the primary task
of this school year for our parochial schools is to integrate these sources in
our curriculum.
1.
Eucharistic
Attendance
to the Holy sacrifice of the mass remains as the most basic responsibility of a
Catholic. The question is, how many of our students or better still, how many
among our teachers and employees attend the Holy Mass every Sunday?
We need to
inculcate the importance of the holy mass among our teachers, students and
their families and make them more participative in our Sunday liturgies so
that they will deepen their faith and friendship with Christ. We need to
continually make the Eucharistic celebration truly the source
and summit of Christian life and the centre of every member of our school community.
2.
Pastoral
Our
Christian faith is a combination of contemplation and action. This is clearly
manifested in Christ’s parable of the vine and the branches (John 15:1-8). In
this Year of Faith, the pastoral component of diocesan spirituality teaches us
that our Christian life must be also be concerned with integral human development,
actions on behalf of social justice and participation in the transformation of
the world.
In view of
this, our diocesan and parochial schools must be the venue where the Gospel
values of truth, justice and love are formed to all the members of our
institution--administration, faculty, employees, alumni, students and their
parents. The motto of MAPSA, “that Christ be formed” is a very appropriate
reason for this. We need to form our students to be persons of truth and
integrity, to be just and fair to all those whom they deal with, and above all,
persons of love who has a heart and sincere concern for the needy. We need to
make the pastoral ministry of the church active and alive in all the members of
our institution so that our graduates will become persons of morality, integrity
and social responsibility, who possess genuine concern for their society and
the environment.
3.
Marian
The
Blessed Virgin Mary, according to Lumen
Gentium is our Mother and Model (LG 8). In this day and age, she remains to
be the prime exemplar of all Catholics, in terms of faith, chastity, and
obedience to the will of God. In our days when obedience to elders among our
young people and adherence to authority among adults is hard to come by, the
portrait of Mary is an enduring example of obedience. Her fiat to the mission given her by the Father at a very tender age of
fourteen is the best example to our young people to rediscover the importance
of obedience to elders.
As I
always say, if we do not train our young people to be obedient to their elders,
we are breeding people who will be disobedient to the will of God and thereby
become people of immorality; and disobedient to the laws of our land, and
thereby becoming law-breakers and criminals. In this postmodern age when freedom
is given prime importance, we maintain that the value of obedience is of enduring
importance. That is why our devotion to our Blessed Mother based on the Marian
character of diocesan spirituality is a most powerful tool to form our diocesan
and parochial school students to imitate Mary in her words, “Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum
verbum tuum” (Lk 1:26).
Conclusion
The task
and challenge forwarded by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI in this Year of Faith
is indeed gargantuan. The mission to deepen and propagate our faith remains the
biggest challenge to us Christians in general and educators in particular. But
I believe something can be done, only if we put our hearts into it. Nemo dat quod non habet. We cannot give
what we do not have. Only if we share the vision of our Holy Father and
passionately put them into action can we reap the grace of this Year of Faith.
Otherwise, this Year of Faith will come and go without realizing its purpose
and goal.
May this Year Faith truly become a year of
grace, an opportune time for our Catholic Schools to deepen our faith in Christ
Our Lord Jesus and make our institution true its mission of becoming an
instrument of the local church towards the New Evangelization, in the
propagation of our Catholic faith among our people.
Rev. Msgr. Arnel F. Lagarejos,
SThD
20 November 2012
NOTES
1 Dr. Kees Waaijman, O.Carm., “Spirituality:
Essence and Methods” in Lecture Series in
Spirituality: The Essence of Spirituality and the Relationship of Christian
Spirituality with the Spirituality of the other Great Asian Religions and
Elements of Filipino Spirituality (Quezon City :
Institute of Spirituality
in Asia , 2003), 30.
[iii] Dr. Michael Plattig,
O.Carm., “Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul of Liberation” in Lecture Series in Spirituality (Quezon City : Institute
of Spirituality in Asia ,
2003), 12.
[iv] Blog, Sponsa
Christi ...a young consecrated
virgin reflects on her vocation, http://www.sponsa-christi.blogspot.com/2008/06/diocesan-spirituality.
[v] Timothy M. Dolan, “The Spirituality of a Diocesan Priest” in Priests for the Third Millennium (Indiana
[vi] Vatican
II, Lumen Gentium, 21 Nov. 1965, AAS 57 (1965): 5-75, n. 39. The English
translation entitled “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” A. Flannery, Vatican II, 350-426.
[vii] Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis of the Holy
Father
Benedict XVI on the Eucharist as the Source andSummit of the Church’s Life and Mission
Benedict XVI on the Eucharist as the Source and
[xiii] Tidbits, The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priests,
Blogspot of Most Rev. Leonardo Medroso, D.D., http://medroso.blogspot.com.
[xiv] Acts and Decrees
of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines
[xv] Marvin L. Kier Mich , The Challenge
and Spirituality of Catholic Social Teaching (Quezon City
[xvi] Arnel F. Lagarejos , The
Church of the Poor: A New Perspective on the Church, the State and the Poor
(March 1998), 184.
[xvii] 1971 Synod of
Bishops, De Iustitia in Mundo, 30 Nov. 1971, AAS 63 (1971): 923-42. The English translation entitled “Justice in
the World” is taken from Vatican II,
2:423.
[xviii] John Paul
II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, On the Formation of Priests in the
Circumstances of the Present Day, 25 March 1992, 82.
[xix] Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the
Social Doctrine of the Church (Vatican
City
[xx] Congregation
for the Clergy, The Priest and the Third
Christian Millennium: Teacher of the Word, Minister of The Sacraments and
Leader of The Community, 1999.
