One of the most defining features of the
Catholic Church is its vast organizational structure, spanning the whole globe.
No matter where you go in the world, the same readings and prayers will be celebrated
at mass, the same dogmas taught by the bishops. A statement that is 99% true—there
are different rites and local customs within the Church—but let’s not
go down that road right now. Because of this near uniformity of liturgy
and theology, it can be tempting, sometimes, to think that there is but one way to
approach God and the world within the Church. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite
being unified under one religion, Catholicism offers a variety of spiritualities, each
highlighting a particular part of our faith. What are the most popular spiritualities and what can
we learn from them? This is Catholicism in Focus. — We begin our survey at the top, with the purest
and simplest of all spiritualities, Franciscanism. A statement that is at the same time dripping
with bias, and actually an apt description. The opening line of the Rule
of St. Francis says it all: “The rule and life of the lesser brothers is
this: To observe the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” While there are twelve chapters
to the rule, it’s widely held that this line was all that St. Francis wanted: to humbly and
simply live as Christ did in the gospels. For Franciscans, it is all about imitating
Christ’s earthly life and mission—from the humility of his birth to his care for the
poor, his preaching of the reign of God to his passion on the Cross, St. Francis
was intent on doing exactly as Christ did. For this reason, Franciscans emphasize ministry
with the poor, preaching repentance, and joyfully sharing God’s love, while living simply,
not seeking to be in charge or have control. This is typified in the simplicity of the
habit—just a plain tunic with a rope tied around it and sandals. Not flashy, not ornate:
it’s a habit of penance, meant for serving others. Of all the spiritualities of the Church, it is
probably the earthiest, focusing on the love of God through creation, living simply, welcoming
the lost and outcast, and finding joy in it all. Besides St. Francis’ own writings—of which I
personally recommend the Admonitions—you can read the works of St. Clare, St. Bonaventure, Blessed
John Duns Scotus, and St. Bernadine of Siena, or for more modern writers, Thea Bowman,
Ilia Delio, Daniel Horan, and Richard Rohr. Next up, we look to the Jesuits, or as I like to say, Franciscans
with better organizational skills. If you want a charism, be a Franciscan. If
you want order in your life, be a Jesuit. The reason for this is because Ignatian
spirituality, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, is what you get when you cross the Franciscan
charism with the regiments of a military man. There are familiar elements of humility before the
Greater Glory of God, finding God in all things, and contemplation in action, but there
are also some very important innovations. Like a succinct and codified method
of discernment, called the Spiritual Exercises. St. Ignatius compiled meditations,
prayers, and contemplative practices into an organized program, usually done
as a part of a 30-day retreat. Within this, a “call and response”
approach is developed, in which the adherent is attentive to the movement of God
in the present and joins this with a decisive, active response, offering both spiritual and
psychological wisdom for decision making. All of this, one can probably see, is
particularly practical in thinking, something often caricatured in Jesuit
jokes. As a people deeply committed to mission and the work of social
justice—earthly, time-sensitive tasks—Jesuits tend to be the most adaptable
and resourceful in their life and ethics. Pioneers in modern casuistry, they
employ a process of treating every situation on case-by-case basis, rather
than applying general rules to everything. Because of this, their theology can be all over
the map, including people like St. Peter Claver, St. Francis Xavier, Karl Rahner,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Avery Dulles, James Martin, and Gregory Boyle. Quite the cast of characters if you ask me… Moving to a completely different end of the
spectrum, we look now to Dominicans, an order founded at the same time as the Franciscans
and representing the sort of yin to our yang. If the Franciscans are the heart—passionate,
experiential imitators of Christ’s humility—the Dominicans are the head—profound,
precise logicians of the mystery of God. While both are known for their preaching,
the nature and content of their mission is clearly distinct. While the Franciscans
were simple preachers of repentance, going mainly to fellow Christians
in the city squares, the Dominicans preached to the heretics of the middle ages,
combatting heresy with orthodoxy and wit. It’s because of this that study is so important
to Dominicans, possibly even its most essential feature. More monastic than the Franciscans and
Jesuits, Dominicans spend much of their day in either prayer or study, contemplating
the Word of God, first and foremost. Naturally, then, Dominicans often
find themselves in teaching positions, working in schools and parishes,
unveiling the great truths of God. Thomas Aquinas is obviously the
star thinker of the Dominicans, but they have also produced St. Catherine of
Siena, St. Rose of Lima, Francisco de Vitoria, Edward Schillebeeckx, and to many
people’s surprise, Gustavo Gutierrez. Plot twist! Moving now to the contemplative side of things, we look to the Benedictines, the
OG of religious life in the West. Whereas the Franciscans and Dominicans
may look like monks to the general public, Benedictines are in fact monks, adherents
of the monastic life. For St. Benedict, life was about two things: ora
et labora: work and prayer. Founded in the 6th century, this movement arose
from a desire to live more intentionally for God but for those seeking an alternative to the
austerity and privacy of the lives of the hermits, who lived alone. Benedict believed that community
was an essential aspect to spiritual growth, and that one often needed
a strong spiritual guide. Thus, Benedictine monasteries are at the
same time places of strict order, with a regimented and stable life of contemplation,
under the obedience of an abbot, and centers for hospitality and shared growth. The monks
live in monasteries to escape from the world, but also to provide for it, offering respite,
guidance, and the fruits of their labors. Common practices for Benedictines would
be the regular recitation of the psalms at various intervals of the day, reading scripture
through the process of lectio divina, and private meditation—all for the purpose of “inclining the
ear of the heart” and “living for God alone.” And when your home is also
a brewery in many cases, all the more reason to never leave the house. Key figures in this spirituality are St.
Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Peter Damian, St. Scholastica, St. Anselm, Joan Chittister,
Thomas Merton, and Thomas Keating. For some people, the stability of Benedictines
is a bit too intense, but the apostolic life of the Dominicans or Franciscans isn’t contemplative
enough. For them, there’s Carmelite spirituality. By far the most difficult to categorize, the
Carmelites don’t have a founder like the other orders but developed over many years as
hermits and mystics began to establish themselves on mount Carmel, the mountain
traditionally associated with Elijah. While there is indeed study for Carmelites,
it is primarily a spirituality of the heart, fueled by a desire and hunger for God
fulfilled by contemplative prayer. Like Benedictines, the individual cell
is critically important for silence and personal prayer, developing a pure heart
and stout conscience that is completely in allegiance to God. Great emphasis
is placed on humility and conversion. Unlike Benedictines, however, their contemplation
necessarily pours out with apostolic zeal, insisting that they take part in the
salvation of souls through missions, preaching, and service, often
beyond the grounds of the monastery. Benedictines bring the
stability—Carmelites bring the fire. Famous Carmelites include St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Therese
of Lisieux, and St. Edith Stein. At this point, we’ve covered five of
the most classic, and most religious, of the religious orders, geared towards
living outside of the normal ways of the world. The last two go in the opposite direction,
giving order and direction to secular lives. The first is Salesian spirituality, founded by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane
de Chantal in the 16th century. For them, there was a universal call to holiness—monks
and nuns weren’t the only people who were to live saintly lives… it was the opportunity,
and responsibility, of all Christians. To accomplish this, St. Francis emphasized
the “little virtues,” everyday ways to live a spiritual life in ordinary situations.
These virtues included things like honesty, acceptance, generosity, humility, gentle
strength, kindness, patience, simplicity, liberty of spirit, interiority, joyful
optimism, courage, acceptance and stewardship. As he used to say, “bloom where you
are a planted,” a common phrase today, but one that he actually came up with. It’s because of this that Salesians have
traditionally been apostolic in nature, living and working outside of a cloister,
easily adaptable to the needs of the world. The Sisters of St. Joseph, The Paulist
Fathers, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, the Oratorians, the Fransalians,
and the Salesians of John Bosco, the second largest congregation in the
world, are all products of this way of life. It may not be as much of a household
name as the Jesuits or Franciscans, but the Salesian spirit is a live in our world. Which brings us to our final stop in
our survey of Catholic spiritualities, a movement that is well known around the world by
name even if completely misunderstood: Opus Dei. If that name sounds familiar to
you and you can’t remember why, it’s because it appeared prominently, but not so
lovingly, in the Dan Brown novel The Divinci Code. Like the Salesians, Opus Dei is geared towards
life in the secular world; unlike the Salesians, and all of the examples thus far, it
is not a communal based form of life, nor do adherents take public vows, but is
rather lived out almost entirely by lay people, making private commitments to a way of life. Meaning the “Work of God” in Latin, the central
focus of Opus Dei is to find God in ordinary life, collapsing any distinction there might be
between an interior spiritual life and an outside ordinary life. To be truly
holy, there must be a unity of life. Opus Dei is known for its commitment
to regular prayer, strict fasts, and mortification of the flesh—acts
of penance meant to sanctify and bring order the ordinary encounters
of work, family, and society. Because of the intensity of life, adherents are recommended to have a spiritual
director and meet regularly for meetings.
You never really want to take on strict fasts and mortification without
a buddy. Too easy to go too far. And there you have it, seven of the most popular
spiritualities of the Catholic Church. While all of them share a love for Christ and a desire
to live a holy life, it’s clear that there are many ways to go about it, and that no life
is a perfect fit for everyone. And that’s sort of the beauty of it: it doesn’t have to
be. Some people are hearts, others are heads; some are missionaries, others are contemplatives;
some want to step away from the world, others want to find a way to live in it more fully. In
the Church, there is something for everyone, and everyone can learn something from each of
its many spiritualities. Which one fits you best?
