Fr. Michael Schleupner offers today’s reflection as part of a series about spirituality. Let’s take a few quiet moments to read his insights.
Spirituality – 2
Dear Friends,
The first core element of a spirituality may seem so obvious that we would not even have to say it. It is this: we need at least a basic faith about life, about God, and about some of the particulars relating to God and us.
So, each Sunday at Mass, we offer the Profession of Faith: that there is a God, that God is Father and Creator, that God’s Son took on our humanity, suffered, was crucified and rose from the dead, and that God remains with us through the Holy Spirit.
We also profess our faith in the catholic Church – catholic spelled with a small c, meaning universal or global – and in the resurrection of the dead.
So, we’ve got some core beliefs, and these are the building blocks of our spirituality.
One of our Catholic theologians makes an interesting observation about our Profession of Faith. He points out what he calls the great comma – the great comma.
In our Creed, we speak of Christ, and we say that he was …”conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried…”
Notice: we jump from Jesus’ birth to his death and skip all that was in between. We unfortunately skip so many essential pieces of the gospels.
For example, we also need to include in our belief the Beatitudes, Jesus’ blueprint for the kind of person we are to become, like: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Also, we must also assent to and live Jesus’ ultimate criterion for being a disciple: “Whatever we do for the least of our brothers and sisters, that we do for him.”
So, faith, an inner faith, a faith expressed in our Creed, and a faith that includes essential pieces in the gospels – this is fundamental to our spirituality.
Gracious God, help us to remember: our hearts are restless until they rest in you! Amen!
~ Father Michael Schleupner
1 reply on “Spirituality – 2”
I like the concept of the great comma – there is a LOT inside that great comma! I like to read/reflect on John’s Gospel of the Last Supper. Jesus knew He was going to die – so he wanted to summarize all that He had tried to teach them in those three years together . . . and it was all summed up in “Love one another.” Thank you for sharing the great comma – and reminding us we need to regularly go through the Gospels and read what Jesus ‘did’ – and asked us ‘to do’ – that is what being a Christian truly is all about.