Authenticity of Christian Spirituality

“The originality and authenticity of Christian spirituality consists in this: that we follow a God who took upon himself our human condition. One who had a history like ours, who lived our experiences, who made choices, who devoted himself to a cause for which he suffered, who had successes, joys, and failures, for which he gave his life. That man, Jesus of Nazareth, like us in all except sin, in whom lived the fullness of God, is the only model for our discipleship.

For this reason the starting point of our Christian spirituality is the encounter with the humanity of Jesus. This is what gives Christian spirituality all its realism. In making the historical Jesus the model of our discipleship, Catholic spirituality uproots us from the illusion of: spiritualism,” of an “idealistic” Christianity, of values that are abstract and alien to historical experiences and demands. It frees us from the temptation of adapting Jesus to our image, to our ideals, to our interests.

Our spirituality has to recover the historical Christ. This dimension has frequently been played down in our Latin American tradition. This tradition has a tendency to “dehumanize” Jesus Christ, to emphasize his divinity without giving enough emphasis to his humanity, with all the consequences. This tendency has brought with it many consequences. The Jesus of “power,” extraordinary, miraculous, purely divine, hides Jesus as a historical model of discipleship.

It is only through Jesus of Nazareth that we can know God, his words, his deeds, his ideals, his demands. It is in this Jesus that the true God reveals himself all powerful but at the same time poor and suffering for love: absolute, but also someone with his own human history, someone close to every person.”

From Jesus: A gospel by Henri Nouwen
“If you were to ask me point-blank: ”What does it mean to you to live spiritually?” I would have to reply “Living with Jesus at the center.” There are always countless questions, problems, discussions and difficulties that demand one’s attention. Despite them, when I look back over the last thirty years of my life, I can say that, for me, the person of Jesus has come to be more and more important. Specifically, this means that what matters increasingly is getting to know Jesus and living in solidarity with him. There was a time when I got so immersed in problems of Church and society that my whole life had become a sort of drawn-out, wearisome discussion. Jesus had been pushed into the background or had himself become just another problem. Fortunately, it hasn’t stayed that way. Jesus has stepped out in front again, so to speak and asked me: “And you, who do you say that I am?” It has become clearer than ever that my personal relationship with Jesus is the heart of my existence. It is about Jesus, above all, that I want to write to you, and I want to do so in a personal way.”


My reflection:

Teresa of Avila was always insistent that we keep our eyes on Jesus. He was the truth of God. He was our guide to know the truth about ourselves that would guide us to God.

When the Inquisition banned all books about prayer and recollection including the book on her life, Teresa became disheartened. At this time, Jesus said to her in prayer that he would be all the books she needed. “His majesty became the book in which I saw all truths.” (IC1.1.1)

In Jesus, she understood that we would discover all that is necessary to know ourselves and to know God. She insisted ceaselessly that we live out of this fundamental truth of our lives: keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.