Media, culture & holinessThe thirst for spirituality

today

Search for happinessIn our media culture meaning of life may be

equated with youth, health, and riches.

Freedom might be equated with absolute self-determination.

Yet our God reveals himself in Jesus to be a person whose happiness and joy is in mutual giving.

Mystery of the human personThe mystery of the human person is truly

understood in the mystery of the Incarnate Word. Gaudium et Spes, 22

media search…This same media is

talking a lot about spirituality in television talk shows, books, movies, and even in our political news.

How is spirituality defined?

What does it have to do with Jesus’ “hidden life” at Nazareth?

Can we find God in the media?

Did Jesus find God in the culture of his day?

Parables StoriesLife at Home in Nazareth

reflectionDo you find God

communicating in today’s media culture?

FilmInternetBooksMusic

“The churchgoer was giving way to the moviegoer, Walker Percy seemed to say, and in the years to come the churchgoer and the moviegoer, although related, would be strangers to each other”

Paul Elie; The Life You Save May be Your Own, 320.

Jesus brings us to his homeWhat is the conversation you hear? What is going on around you? Where is holiness manifested? What stories are being told?How do you respond? What questions do you have?

Master, where do you live?

CommunicationThe Christian spiritual life is born from God’s

communication of his own Divine life and the active reception of that life by the Christian.

Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the inner self matures and grows strong. Thanks to Divine communication, the human spirit, which knows the secrets of man, meets the Spirit, who is the eternal gift, the triune God opens himself to the human spirit. Dominum et Vivificatem, 58-59

The Enlightenment promised

that science and reason would solve our search for the numinous – the mystery. We would be

able to live in the fullness of our

humanity..

At the same time that it helped us define the rights of the human person, the Enlightenment gave way to materialism and individualism.

This period also saw the beginning of Jansenism which overrated mysticism; and Quietism which avoided mysticism.

The term Spirituality was adopted to describe the spiritual life in its integrity.

““The survivor of theory and The survivor of theory and consumption becomes a consumption becomes a wayfarer in the desert…which is wayfarer in the desert…which is to say, open to signs”to say, open to signs” Walker Percy. Walker Percy.

Vatican II Vatican II reiterated that everyone is called to holiness in Christ.

The word “spirituality” has been adopted by “new age” practitioners, neo-pagans and new religious movements.

Their understanding is not that of the “Christian Journey.”

Love of self, love of othersIn our post-modern

culture achieving a proper love of self is a difficult task. We are graced but wounded creatures.

Love of self and love of others always draws its power from love of God.