I remember one of the most powerful realizations for me theologically was understanding what the spiritual disciplines actually do. There are all kinds of spiritual disciplines, especially in the Catholic tradition like the Rosary, Lectio Divina, community, serving the poor, Charismatic prayer, evangelization, generosity and more but without the right understanding, I felt at times like I was just adding things to do on top of my already overbusy life. They might have been meaningful channels to connect with God but I didn't see what they really had to do with the rest of my life.
It was through some of John Mark Comer's excellent work on this that I realized: the goal of the spiritual disciplines is to open us up to grace. None of the spiritual disciplines transform us on their own (although they do have benefits, like how fasting increases our self control or prayer increases our sense of internal peace). Rather, what the disciplines do is dispose our hearts to receive God's grace.
This mental shift was massive for me. I realized that prayer isn't about trying to have some kind of "spiritual experience:" it's about having time set aside each day for God to transform me. The Sabbath isn't about having a restful day: it's about giving God a whole day to form me every week. Fasting isn't about growing in self control: it's about quieting the desires of my body so that I learn to feel my spiritual desire for God all the more.
In the midst of all of this, one piece that still had not yet clicked for me was the Sacraments. The Church has a beautiful teaching that the Sacraments function ex operato or regardless of the faith of the minister or recipient. We experience this all the time: how often do we receive the Eucharist struggling with doubt? Ex operato means that God can still work in us through the Eucharist regardless of that doubt.
This theology is beautiful but I could not resolve this tension - why is it that so many receive Sacraments (especially the Eucharist) and yet don't experience any kind of spiritual transformation? Why don't the Sacraments seem to be "working?"
I recently started reading "The Holy Longing" by Fr Ronald Rolheiser and he writes at length on the role of the Sacraments in our spirituality. It was this analogy about the Sacrament of Reconciliation that opened up a whole new line of thinking for me.
He uses the example of a person who, one night while spending time with his family, has an angry breakdown, throws his coffee cup across the room, and storms off to stew in his bedroom until he falls asleep. The next morning when he wakes up and comes back into the room, he is aware of the awkwardness of the actions of the night before. He doesn't verbally acknowledge the incident but acts sheepishly and apologetically signalling to his family "I want to be part of you again."
This, Fr Rolheiser posits, is the most basic form of reconciliation. Forgiveness has taken place, and the person is re-united. To take the analogy a bit further though, what if the person were to look at his family members in the eye and say "I've done wrong. Through my actions I've hurt you and I want our relationships to be right again. Will you forgive me?" In that moment, though forgiveness had been extended before, the person is really, truly, and completely forgiven, all wrongs forgotten, and communion re-established.
Here's the thing: if the person had asked for forgiveness without fully meaning it or being totally convinced of his wrongdoing, forgiveness would still have taken place but it certainly would not have been as effective.
I think this is a very helpful analogy for understanding the Sacraments. One of the temptations of "cultural Catholicism" is to believe that all transformation requires is the external part of the Sacraments but not the internal work that opens us up to the fullness of God's grace. In theological language, the Sacraments are working ex operato but because we have the wrong disposition the possibility for spiritual transformation is muted.*
We can then start to look at all of the other Sacraments with this same framework: what disposition is required of us to receive more of the grace available to us? And what are the spiritual disciplines we can use to help us cultivate that disposition? What spiritual disciplines open us up to Sacramental grace? I think if we have a Rule of Life lived in community and brought to completion in the Sacraments, we are living what the Church calls "the Sacramental Life."
The Sacramental Life is not, as many unknowingly believe, a life where you receive the Sacraments. It is a life where you are disposed to grace, through the spiritual disciplines and the moral life and then go and actually receive those graces in the Sacraments. This understanding of the Sacramental Life, in my opinion, is a powerful way into transformation and the abundant life Jesus offers.
*In some cases, I might argue that the wrong disposition can be spiritually dangerous - see 1 Corinthians 11:29 and CCC 1457
It was through some of John Mark Comer's excellent work on this that I realized: the goal of the spiritual disciplines is to open us up to grace. None of the spiritual disciplines transform us on their own (although they do have benefits, like how fasting increases our self control or prayer increases our sense of internal peace). Rather, what the disciplines do is dispose our hearts to receive God's grace.
This mental shift was massive for me. I realized that prayer isn't about trying to have some kind of "spiritual experience:" it's about having time set aside each day for God to transform me. The Sabbath isn't about having a restful day: it's about giving God a whole day to form me every week. Fasting isn't about growing in self control: it's about quieting the desires of my body so that I learn to feel my spiritual desire for God all the more.
In the midst of all of this, one piece that still had not yet clicked for me was the Sacraments. The Church has a beautiful teaching that the Sacraments function ex operato or regardless of the faith of the minister or recipient. We experience this all the time: how often do we receive the Eucharist struggling with doubt? Ex operato means that God can still work in us through the Eucharist regardless of that doubt.
This theology is beautiful but I could not resolve this tension - why is it that so many receive Sacraments (especially the Eucharist) and yet don't experience any kind of spiritual transformation? Why don't the Sacraments seem to be "working?"
I recently started reading "The Holy Longing" by Fr Ronald Rolheiser and he writes at length on the role of the Sacraments in our spirituality. It was this analogy about the Sacrament of Reconciliation that opened up a whole new line of thinking for me.
He uses the example of a person who, one night while spending time with his family, has an angry breakdown, throws his coffee cup across the room, and storms off to stew in his bedroom until he falls asleep. The next morning when he wakes up and comes back into the room, he is aware of the awkwardness of the actions of the night before. He doesn't verbally acknowledge the incident but acts sheepishly and apologetically signalling to his family "I want to be part of you again."
This, Fr Rolheiser posits, is the most basic form of reconciliation. Forgiveness has taken place, and the person is re-united. To take the analogy a bit further though, what if the person were to look at his family members in the eye and say "I've done wrong. Through my actions I've hurt you and I want our relationships to be right again. Will you forgive me?" In that moment, though forgiveness had been extended before, the person is really, truly, and completely forgiven, all wrongs forgotten, and communion re-established.
Here's the thing: if the person had asked for forgiveness without fully meaning it or being totally convinced of his wrongdoing, forgiveness would still have taken place but it certainly would not have been as effective.
I think this is a very helpful analogy for understanding the Sacraments. One of the temptations of "cultural Catholicism" is to believe that all transformation requires is the external part of the Sacraments but not the internal work that opens us up to the fullness of God's grace. In theological language, the Sacraments are working ex operato but because we have the wrong disposition the possibility for spiritual transformation is muted.*
We can then start to look at all of the other Sacraments with this same framework: what disposition is required of us to receive more of the grace available to us? And what are the spiritual disciplines we can use to help us cultivate that disposition? What spiritual disciplines open us up to Sacramental grace? I think if we have a Rule of Life lived in community and brought to completion in the Sacraments, we are living what the Church calls "the Sacramental Life."
The Sacramental Life is not, as many unknowingly believe, a life where you receive the Sacraments. It is a life where you are disposed to grace, through the spiritual disciplines and the moral life and then go and actually receive those graces in the Sacraments. This understanding of the Sacramental Life, in my opinion, is a powerful way into transformation and the abundant life Jesus offers.
*In some cases, I might argue that the wrong disposition can be spiritually dangerous - see 1 Corinthians 11:29 and CCC 1457