Spiritual Formation of the Heart

Holy Spirit How we see or understand God determines how we live Holy Spirit Son Father

The Spirituality Spectrum

Holy Spirit Experience

Holy Spirit Theology Experience

Holy Spirit Spirituality Theology Experience

Spirituality is our human capacity for God which allows us to recognise God or the movement of God in our lives, and, in the light of this recognition and experience of God, our lived response to God

Holy Spirit Spirituality Theology Experience

Holy Spirit Spirituality Theology How we encounter God

Experience… is our starting point for Jesus comes to us, he wants us to encounter him, find him, discover him.

Our experience of God leads us to an understanding of God

Holy Spirit Spirituality Theology How we encounter God

Holy Spirit What we know of God Spirituality How we encounter God

Theology… seeks to understand the truth God has revealed to and through the experience of his people.

Holy Spirit Theology Experience

Spirituality… is our lived and loving response to the truth of God, to what we believe is true. It is our life lived in his Spirit, in the knowledge of Gods love for us.

Holy Spirit What we know of God How we encounter God How we love God

In simple terms… Experience is is how we ENCOUNTER God Theology is what we KNOW of God Spirituality is how we LOVE God

Holy Spirit What we know of God How we encounter God How we love God

Holy Spirit What I know of my spouse How I encounter my spouse How I love my spouse

Holy Spirit Son Father

EXPERIENCE How we ENCOUNTER God

To truly experience God moments is… to notice to ponder to treasure

What makes Christian marriage essentially different is that God becomes a partner in your marriage.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS What was the ah! moment in the presentation, that is, the idea or thought you really liked or that you had never thought of but you know is true? What us an experience that you know or think might have been an experience of God in your marriage?

THEOLOGY What we understand of God

They are a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth. This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterised by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord's disciples, the Church. Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Meeting with Catholic Educators, Washington, D.C., Thursday, 17 April 2008

Theology is not just for theologians – it is for all the followers of Christ

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other peoples sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The words of the wedding should take flesh in the marriage.

Everything that the Church teaches about life and love ultimately has its origin in Jesus – so the more we bring people back to Christ the more the Churchs developed theology of love, life and marriage makes sense.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS What might the reading say to you in your marriage? What does the example of Jesus saying This is my body given to you say to you in your marriage?

SPIRITUALITY How we love God

Spirituality – our lived response to God – is always situated in or takes flesh in a person.

Your spirituality is… a reflection of how you encounter God and how you understand God. a sign of how much you value God as a partner in your marriage, as the head and heart of your family.

From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers together with all their household... These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world. In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centres of living, radiant faith. For this reason the family is called the Domestic Church cf. CCC

Being Marriage Educators is being Faith Educators who help, often with simple, practical ideas, couples become Christian husbands and wives, mums and dads who come to live in their marriage the fullness of life and love.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Explain your picture of God? Is your understanding of God from your picture reflected in any way in your marriage, family, in other words in your spirituality? How? Share some of the ways you live your Christian spirituality as a couple, as a family?

Holy Spirit Spirituality Theology Experience

Holy Spirit Spirituality Theology God is with us and in us

Holy Spirit God is Love Spirituality God is with us and in us

Holy Spirit God is Love God is with us and in us We too become Love