Once,
among a group of Catholics, I made a comment that a Catholic woman found
lacking and she told me quite directly that I was only expressing myself as a person at a lower level of faith (a beginner) and she having practiced her faith
throughout her life was in a higher level of spiritual understanding and
development. Her comment made me feel
inferior and for some time I thought that maybe she was right that
developmentally in matters of faith there was some hierarchy, at the same time
I wished I wouldn’t arrive there if it gave me notions of being better than
others. Quite a few years have passed
since this interaction and while I would say that my faith has become more
mature, I don’t think I would describe it as making me better than or in higher
sanctity realms than others. Recently, in my latest class for my Master Catechist Certificate, I thought I would finally come across the stages of higher faith since the class title was "Faith Formation." I was even looking forward, though quite
apprehensive, to theologians' descriptions of this higher level of Catholic
spirituality. Yet, after reading expert works I found no reference to elitism within Catholicism. In fact, the opposite seems to happen, as we
grow in faith our virtues grow and humility becomes a way of life. Faith development does happen in stages, but it’s a growth
in "faith maturity," a personal maturity that walks the believer from a child’s
faith into an adult faith.
This development occurs in many ways, at times the involvement of others
is needed while at other times it occurs in an intimate, personal manner between Creator
and created being.
A kid that brings out the child in me.
In the Child’s
Way, each person begins with an imaginative and literal faith. God is trustworthy because during this phase children
perceive their world as all good and positive.
Stories about God shape our understanding of him. We perceive Him as a grandfather figure with
white hair in a throne in heaven looking down on us ready to intervene when we
need help. In The Youth’s Way, group
faith takes more precedence because finding others that share the same morals
and ideals gives us courage to continue exploring and growing in our
faith. During adolescence there’s this
shift and friendships now dominate our lives, in this period God becomes our
friend much like a trusted companion.
Though we begin this period trying to fit-in, conforming to the
expectations, values and understandings of significant groups to which we
belong, this group inclusion eventually gives us courage to ask
questions. In the Adult’s Way, we begin
to ask questions that might be controversial and uncomfortable. We probe for deeper meaning and understanding
of our faith life. We begin to take
ownership of our beliefs and can now endure the pain of standing at odds with
others.
I do believe that the adult stage needs to be broken into Young
Adult and Mature Adult because while in the Adult’s Way we
begin to question our religious expression more profoundly, there has to
come a time when we arrive at sacrificial and mystical faith. A place where we are so joined with God that,
“The life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me (Galatians 2:20).” This mature adult faith is the place where
saints dwell. A place a few reach this
side of heaven, but definitely not an elitist group. From the beginning God wanted us all to be in
communion with Him and with others, to live in His presence and in community, never did He say, "you can only come
to me by reaching a top spiritual level where you can look down upon your brothers and sisters."
In fact, Jesus taught the opposite: “change and become like little
children,” “humble yourselves,” “serve each other in love,” “my power is made perfect
in weakness,” “he made himself nothing by taking the nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness…” The bible is
full of verses, narratives and examples of becoming little in order to grow in
godliness. In the biggest miracles of
all, God becoming man, we see that God for love of us - inhabited His
created world! He came into His creation no longer being a God in the distance,
but One so close we can touch Him.
Never too old for Peanuts leggings!
Our current Pope,
loves to ask people everywhere he visits for prayers. He even has stated in numerous occasions that
he is a sinner. I would think that a man
at his level of service to our church would hold a spirituality that would
leave commoners in shame; yet, he too humbles himself and these acts of
humility are what have gained him the favor of even people outside of the
church. Not once in his defense has he
stated, “Well, you just don’t get it because you are at a lower spiritual level
than me.” I think the mere statement is close to heresy. Through study of faith
formation, I have learned that there are stages of growth that each believer
encounters, revisits and grows from in this journey towards heaven, but I have
yet to find an elitist mentality that gives believers the excuse to sit up on a
throne and criticize and judge others as lower in the totem pole. Some experiences get ingrained in our minds
until the truth sets us free. For years
now, I thought in my studying I would come across these levels of spiritual
hierarchy and while some great minds have written beautifully about the levels
in spiritual formation- I now know that as we move towards deeper communion with God we
begin to see our smallness in comparison.
This smallness places us in right relationship with an omniscient God, a
God so great that there’s no need for us to be anything but little.
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