The purpose of this blog is to reach a deeper understanding of Good News Spirituality and how it may be directed to the transformation “of the culture and cultures of the world.” From the author’s perspective, this school of apostolic spirituality is best understood in the words of father Fr. Jules Chevalier, Founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who said: “The greatest human need, if people are to find meaning and happiness on earth, is to learn to believe in God’s love for them and to let that love transform their lives.”

With regard to spirituality’s apostolic nature, Pope Paul VI hit the mark in his Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization in the Modern World:  “Finally: the person who has evangelized goes on to evangelize others. Here lies the test of truth, the touchstone of evangelization: It is unthinkable that a person should accept the word and give himself to the kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn.”

Herewith a summary of Christian spirituality to provide a background for bloggers.

For a Christian, spirituality is the art of hearing God’s word and responding to God’s love. It means taking on the mind and heart of Christ in the power if the Holy Spirit. It is the practice of living at a level of reflection so as to follow God’s will in all things, thereby gaining purpose and meaning for life. All authentic forms of Christian spirituality must look to the fulfillment of the Great Commandment: “Love God above all else, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Here is a more technical definition taken from the New Catholic Encyclopedia: “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 subjective assimilation and living in charity of the objective, theological realities of revelation.”

In a simple sense, spirituality is the “why” in all that we do. Why we do things in large measure depends on our beliefs, our values, our attitudes, our goals, our principles, our priorities–those very things that make up our sense of identity. Spiritual direction differs from counseling in that it deals with identity in one’s relationship to God, not how to cope with problems.

In more modern terms, we can describe spirituality as life’s “concept rationale”–the reason for doing what we do. In this sense, it is an act of management planning that maintains consistency between our identity and our lived experience. It’s “the why”, “the big idea,” the “bottom line,” or “what it’s all about.”

In the words of Jesus, “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”