Is there such a being in the world as someone who is entirely "unspiritual"? Is an atheist or an agnostic an unspiritual person? John Chuchman, and the group from Montana who were the inspiration for this series, don't attempt to answer those questions in this commentary but they are questions prompted by the commentary. I suspect all people, even atheists, engage in the activity we lable as meditation — speculation about the deeper meaning of our existence and being. Perhaps the term "need" in the title to this reflection is where the emphasis ought to be rather than on the term "personal" — the need we all have to understand our spirituality?

Series Navigation: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

Part III: The Need for a Personal Spirituality

Over the centuries, people have tried to borrow or imitate
the spirituality and spiritual practices of priests, nuns, and monks.
While this has been helpful to many,
those schools and spiritual practices leave something to be desired.

Ninety-nine percent of
the faithful are not monks, nuns, or priests.
The way of life, responsibility, and environment of a priest or nun
is significantly different from those not so ordained.

Yet to be developed is a framework for the spiritual life
that fits well with the lives of the un-ordained people
who struggle each day with the ordinary but challenging tasks and responsibilities
related to day-to-day living
and the sometimes messiness it entails,
for example, dating, career choice, finding a job, marriage, family parenting,
caring for a disabled child or an aging parent etc.

Perhaps now, more than ever before in history,
when we face so many challenges, some totally out of our control,
when religion, the economy, the environment, and the political landscape
seem to be beyond our ability to have any effect,
it is truly more critical than ever to consider our own personal spirituality.

In the community we call Church
as we are baptized priest, prophet and king
into the mystical body of Christ,
we begin to discover an interconnectedness that we all share
and that can,
when nourished by a wholesome spirituality,
sustain us through that messiness of life.

With our baptism as our cornerstone,
we must develop a spirituality that grounds us
through even the most difficult moments of life,
when unlike those monastics
with a routine regiment of prayer life and contemplation,
we must move through each moment
and face each crisis with love and caring,
and that in and of itself is prayer.

Prayer in our lives is often simply an awareness
that we are not alone in this,
that the Divine dwells in us and in all.
That interconnectedness of all in the here and now
and in all that has gone before sustains us.

Life is a progress, a passage through time,
not a station, never a stopping place.
It is a progression of events that leads to insight,
to self-knowledge,
to the direction of the home within.

One experience at a time,
we begin to understand who we really are
and what happiness really is for us.
Life is a succession of lessons
which must be lived to be understood.

Prayer is not the avoidance of distractions,
but precisely how we deal with distractions.
Contemplation is not the avoidance of the problem,
but a daily merging with the problem,
and finding its full resolution.
It is a way to look over [our] shoulder for God.

The persistence of the distraction
can actually steady our gaze,
deepen our decision,
and increase our freedom and desire for God
and for grace—over this or that passing phenomenon.

The shoulders of the distraction become our necessary vantage point,
and they create the crosshairs of our seeing.
What we quickly and humbly learn in contemplation
is that how you do anything is how you do everything.

So often in our lives, we must take a moment
and ask ourselves the critical question.
What do I need to let go of in this moment to be at peace?
When we are able to answer that question and act on it,
we find that in knowing that our relationship with the Holy envelops us in love,
we can embrace life and truly find that peace deep within.

Love, John Chuchman

If you are impatient you can read the full text of this series on John Chuchman's blog.
You might also like to read the original documents from which these reflections are extracted
on the American Catholic Council website HERE.

Series Navigation: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

IMAGE CREDIT:
The background used to support John Chuchman's reflection has been sourced from stock.xchng one of the sources for free images on the net provided by people who voluntarily upload their work for others to share. Daniel Cubillas who is located in Spain provided today's image. A gallery of Daniel's freely available images can be found at: www.sxc.hu/gallery/dcubillas. The image used in the headline is sourced from the ex-christian net website: new.exchristian.net/2011/02/loving-father.html

John Chuchman

[Index of Commentaries by John Chuchman]