209- A New Vocation in the Church: “Spiritual Formator”

Mary Shows the Way

The intention of the following text is to present in a succinct way a Function or Vocation in the Church that does not as yet exist as such: that of the Spiritual Formator. Some of the tasks involved in this function, like Spiritual Direction, Teaching Spiritual Theology… have been and are still realised by some persons in the Church. But never all the tasks of the Spiritual Formator. For instance, being a Master of Novices in a monastery or a formation house does not coincide exactly with being a Master in Spiritual Life. In fact, the Master of Novices is also in charge of the formation into religious life and he is not necessarily trained to become a Spiritual Formator. However, despite the existence of some of the tasks, performed by some members of the Church, there is no formal ad hoc preparation of Spiritual Formators.

Up to the present day we do not have a function or vocation that realises all the necessary tasks of a Spiritual Formator or Master in Spiritual Life. We do not have a specific training and formation for it.

The following text is meant to present the actual state of things and to outline the nature of this vocation and its function in the Church. It further suggests that what should follow would be to offer a journey of training for potential candidates for three to five years at least.

Being a Spiritual Formator in a way is a blend of an intellectually very well-formed person in philosophy, human sciences, theology, and spiritual theology, with a long and solid experience in Spiritual Life. For many years this person will have been a disciple to other experienced people, thereby allowing him or her to receive the needed discernment. This blend of intellect, experience and discernment, plus a Call from Jesus for such a ministry, constitutes this new vocation in the Church.

In addition, we can say that Vatican Council II reminded us that striving for Holiness is not the monopoly of the Consecrated life. As a consequence, there is a need to form and support all the persons who hear this call for Holiness but do not belong to any school of spirituality. Formation in Spiritual Life should be a specific ministry in the Church offered to all, with expertise and professionalism. There is a pressing need to prepare ministers for this function.

To reiterate, the need now for Masters in Spiritual Life, or Spiritual Formators, is more than ever necessary. In fact, this function has as its main task the formation of all the persons who receive Jesus’ Call to go deeper in their spiritual life, so that they become properly capable of handling their own growth and of responding properly to the call to Holiness and fullness of love.

Teaching the practical means to empower Christians, so that they can respond fruitfully to the Call to Holiness, however, cannot be done in an amateur way. It is a very sacred task to train Spiritual Formators and it requires all the effort from the Church to fill the void this absence leaves.

It goes without saying that such vocation and service in the Church goes alongside a much-needed renewal in Spiritual Theology and a concerted effort to produce a common Body of Teaching for the Prophetic Function of the Church, in charge of the spiritual journey from the Second Conversion, i.e. Jesus’ Call, till the end, namely, the fullness of love.

Here are twelve important points to understand and properly promote this vocation:

1- Spiritual Formator, as we define it, means a person capable of forming others in Spiritual Life. Formation is much wider than specific tasks or ministries. Essentially, a formator is a person capable of giving courses in Spiritual Life, following up a person for the implementation of the Spiritual Teaching, (Spiritual Tuition), and offering a more in-depth Spiritual Direction. It goes without saying that if properly trained other easier tasks will be performed at a higher and professional level: talks, short and long retreats. In sum, a formator will be capable of teaching, forming, understanding spiritual life, and will also be capable of a high-quality discernment in the different issues faced by spiritual persons, the obstacles and problems of spiritual life.

2- Many persons do perform some of the above missions in the Church but often they are offered in a fragmented and diluted form. Being a “Master in Spiritual Life” essentially combines three qualities well blended together: science, experience and discernment. A degree in Spiritual Theology doesn’t make the person a Spiritual Formator. Experience and discernment are needed and need to be led and formed.

3- The function (the job) itself of “Spiritual Master” doesn’t exist in the Church. If some missions in the Church like “Master of Novices” or “Retreat Guide” (eg: leading the Spiritual Exercises), or the Ancient Elder Monk, are quite close to it, they are not exactly the same and today no formal preparation in the Church for such a mission is offered.

4- “Spiritual Formation” is needed in the Church in all areas of the Prophetic Function: Monastic Life, Religious Life, Secular Institutes, New Movements in the Church, including individual lay persons striving toward a deeper spiritual life and holiness.

5- The weakness and fragmentation of the different spiritualities in the Church has led to a lukewarm consecrated life. The division into different schools of spiritualities has reached a point of fragmentation which prevents the Church from having a fundamental core pedestal for Spiritual Life and Spiritual Formation. A common Doctrine for a deep Spiritual Life is needed before finding ways for legitimate diversification in Spiritual Schools. Note: Spiritual Theology today is rather weak, diluted and fragmented. This has had negative repercussions on Spiritual Formation in the Church. For renewal to occur serious commitment is of the essence, people needing to dedicate their lives to it.

6- Having leaned essentially on fidelity to a Monastic Rule or to a Style of Life or a Horarium to become a saint, made many think that this is enough and that there is no need for a proper Spiritual Formation. Consequently, people have lost interest in Spiritual Theology and its role in Spiritual Formation. This has also led to a weakening of spiritual formation, its dilution and lack of development. Devotions, local habits and rites end up replacing robust spiritual life and giving the wrong impression that these are means of true sanctification.

7- The inner workings proper to spiritual life still constitute an invisible inner world often classified as difficult to describe and apophatic, leading to the conviction that there is no teaching and formation for spiritual matters, with the result that any common effort to develop spiritual formation is abandoned. This has led to allegedly relegating Spiritual Life to a private sphere -an inner forum- leading finally to ignorance, fragmentation and dilution of spiritual life. It is an error to think that Spiritual Life cannot be expressed. The thousands of written pages by St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross are here to show us the way.

8- The idea of focusing all our energy on the pursuit of God and Union with Christ and the fullness of His love becomes secondary or left to personal private effort. The reality of knowing how to maintain and ensure a steady spiritual growth is really non-existent. The need for a healthy spiritual emulation and support in spiritual growth has just not been met.

9- In order to realise this mission, the Church needs to form individuals in all walks of the Prophetic Function, to become professional Spiritual Formators, capable of facing such a difficult, complex, difficult mission.

10- Spiritual Formator, or Master in Spiritual Life, emerges and stands alone as a specific vocation in the Church that deserves all our attention and effort. Its influence on the Church, especially over the Prophetic Function will be immense. Progress in Spiritual Life will allow the lives of many persons engaged in the Spiritual Journey to reach completion and to bear amazing fruits for the Church and the World. It is very difficult to measure the fruits of the implementation of such a vocation.

11- In order to achieve this formation, one needs to offer a complete training in: knowledge/ science/ doctrine, in discernment, and in the practice of this vocation. The Church needs to offer a free space and time for each person to learn, practice and discern as it does with Religious and Seminarians in their first years of formation. This is why we call it a new “Vocation” in the Church, and also a new Function in the Church. But it is not necessarily binding as to formal consecration. One can go back to his or her diocese and serve or become part of the School of Mary. It is not a formal consecration as we know it today – one remains free.

12- Offering a residential possibility for this formation is a necessity. No other formal obligations or missions should be assigned to the person. Full freedom to be formed and trained should be given. Three years is a reasonable minimum time to have the basic formation. Further formation can be given leading to a Master’s Degree within two more years.

As a result of these twelve points, we need to concentrate all our efforts on training persons who have the call to serve their brothers and sisters as Spiritual Masters.

Jean Khoury

6th August 2021

Transfiguration of the Lord

185- Spiritual Formation

Introduction

In this article we would like to answer the following questions:

- What is Formation in Spiritual Life (FSL)?

- How is it different from: Formation in Consecrated Life, Spiritual Theology Teaching, Spiritual Direction, Confession, Courses, Catechesis, Talks on a Spiritual Subject, Theology, Meditation, Personal Spiritual Life, Personal Prayer Life, Community Life...?

- What does FSL require?

The Prophetic Branch of the Church

and the Birth of “Spiritual Formation”

In the Prophetic Tradition of the Church, i.e. Monastic Life, Religious Orders, “Formation in Spiritual Life” is a very specific task to the point that in the early phases of formation in Monastic and Religious lives we have the appointment of a person called “Master (“Mistress”) of Novices”, and “Master” for the remaining Junior years that precede the final consecration (final vows).

It is true that the “Master of Novices” and of Junior years (“Master of Students”, “Mistress of Juniorate”) cover more than just “spiritual formation”: they have also to form the candidate into the specific style of life (Monastic, Religious) and of the specificity of the Order or Congregation’s spirituality, traditions and uses. So “Spiritual Formation” will not be the only task of the Master, but it remains the main one because without spiritual life, without a living and growing relationship with Christ, the entire life fails to have any meaning, it has no purpose no power to it. Let us remember the fundamental meaning of Monastic Life, which is traditionally and historically the first form of “consecration” (if we exclude the early ones like Consecrated Virgins...). If we look back to St. Anthony the Great, Father of all monks, and father of the prophetic branch of the Church, if we meditate on his life (see his life written by St. Athanasius) we notice immediately that first he received a call (“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mt. 19:21)), and is not just starting a life on his own impetus and choice and secondly, the journey that is triggered by this call, is all unified around one thing: searching for God, for Jesus, doing all that could be done, to find Him and Him only. Nothing else does matter, at all! This is why the desert was his reality and why the “symbol” of the Desert remains a central one for the Prophetic Branch. It is from his call that all other vocations blossomed, and all other forms of life found meaning and purpose.

Therefore, the archetype of any person who is starting out to belong to this branch of the Church, the Prophetic Branch, features two qualities:

• the call is call from Jesus (not necessarily leaving everything material behind (mind you it was progressive in the life of St. Anthony, proceeding from material things to more subtle things, through emotions, imaginings, thoughts, until he reached union) and
• his life is unified by this quest, this huge desire to search for Christ and never to stop until finding Him in the Union with Him.

Hence the fact that the “Spiritual Formation” is the main task in the formation offered by the Master of Novices and the Master of the following juniorate years up to the final consecration/vows.

Nothing can be put above “spiritual formation”. It is true that human formation, psychology, community, daily tasks are very important, but without Spiritual Formation as the main “manager”/focal point/point of reference it ceases to work.

The person who knocks at the door of a monastery in the Desert is chiefly a person who is Called! And if the person is really called by Jesus, then Jesus and His Grace working in the Person are the main players (of course with the free will of the person in play) in this Call. This is why, sometimes, the Monks in Egypt do test the call rather harshly: they do not open the door of the monastery and leave the candidate outside, in the desert... sometimes for more than one day! Motives are examined! The person can be fleeing his responsibilities in the world, his difficulties, and struggles! He can be a one who is depressed. And on and on.

The monastery is not a place for “losers” or people who have failed in the worldly life. In Egypt for many years for instance, it still is very rare to accept a candidate without a University degree! Why? Because it is so common to have one, and not having one could well be a sign of something unsound! This is just an example for a specific country, not a rule for all places. In other places people can have a successful job for years and this is just as good.

Therefore, it is imperative that the intention, the motivation, the very drive of the individual is checked. Who is calling whom? Is the Grace of Jesus working in this person? Is he or she really called by Jesus, driven by Him, attracted by Him?

Then, however, if the person enters it does not necessarily imply mean that he or she has reached the goal! They are just about to start the journey to reach Union with Jesus. The person now will have a “Master” appointed to his service, who will follow him all the time and form him. Hence the existence of “Spiritual Formation”. Again, as said above, admittedly, there are plenty of other aspects to this formation, we agree on that, but the main one is a “Spiritual Formation”, because this manages everything.

What is “Spiritual Formation”?

Does the applicant embark on Formation immediately? Are there other steps before Formation? Yes of course! Today we have a variety of other steps before it:

- The person goes to see (“come and see” (John 1:39), pays a visit to the monastery or religious house!

- The person can afterwards go and spend more time with the Monks! Although here the “style of life” is very much to the fore as well as the necessity to know to which state of life Jesus is calling the person: “spiritual growth”, “human maturity” and a balanced life are involved implicitly and constantly.

- Afterward living inside the monastery or the house for a certain period of time though not as a monk as yet, can be envisaged.

And it is only after going through these stages, even though they are not mandatory, and the discernment linked to them, that the person might be accepted as a Novice and start the real steps of formation.

To a great extent much importance should be placed on to the previous stages because they prepare the person! Faithfulness to Christ in the previous stages is a vital necessity to allow growth and maturity, both spiritual and human.

If a person is not ready, it will not be helpful to start the Formation proper i.e. the Noviciate. Spiritual growth is important! It is inadvisable to give food that belongs to a further stage of spiritual development to a person who is in need of another milder type of food. In order to be ready there are many stages that are required beforehand! If they have not been completed the future “athlete” will fail to be ready to start the “training”!

Everything counts in the life of a human being. Formation at home, at school, at church, in the university, at work, each step being full of challenges that form the person. Even a person like St. Therese of the Child Jesus went through all these stages before entering the Monastic life at the age of fifteen. One can read about and analyse all the formation she received at home, the training she went through and it was not easy! A helpful suggestion would be to read the first part of the “Story of a Soul”.

To continue then…. After all these initial stages have been completed, proper Spiritual Formation can start! Mind you, it does not mean that no spiritual life has been lived beforehand! Not at all! A great deal was lived and realised on the Spiritual level. But it was not necessarily the main driving force and the Call of Jesus was not yet clearly heard, or if you prefer, the long stage of preparation had not yet been accomplished.

It is in a way rather rare to admit, but it is the bitter reality continually experienced that if important aspects of the previous formation are not accomplished it complicates things later.

Spiritual Formation starts.

Against all other explanations, it must be understood that Spiritual Formation should commence only once all the preparatory stages have been completed. Against all other definitions it must be said that Spiritual Formation is meant to form the person and support him on the journey to real and full Union with Jesus.

What does “Spiritual Formation” provide?

Spiritual Formation, through the Spiritual Formator and his or her collaborators, offers essentially three aspects that need to be in constant interaction:

1- Science: teaching spiritual life. The main science here is Spiritual Theology. Offering the teaching on the first stages of Spiritual Life: what the first stages are, the means for growth of Spiritual Life, types of prayer (the most important from among them), the effect of the work of the Holy Spirit in us, the elements of discernment, the conditions for growth....

2- Experience: not only talking about “prayer” and “love” of neighbour but acting on them:

• taking time for prayer on a regular basis (Mass, Divine Office, an hour of Lectio Divina, one or more hours of Prayer of the Heart, spiritual reading), and allowing contact with others in order to have opportunities to love, to forgive, to be patient, to help others and to share what is common with them.
• A good balanced daily schedule of an ordered life is important.

3- Means of Discernment: on a regular basis: meeting with the Spiritual Master. Going to Confession. Having Spiritual Direction.

One cannot have one or even two of the above areas of Spiritual Formation and neglect the others. The combination of the three harmoniously, under the constant vigilance and supervision of the Spiritual Formator, is fundamental. Thinking that “Spiritual Formation” can be achieved with one of these elements or worse “sub-element” is simply to live in illusion.

Lay people need to be spiritually formed

In the Gospel, the Lord called everybody to follow Him! He invited us all to become holy. Council Vatican II insisted on this call and reminded the whole Church that we need to focus on this Call. It is the exact same call we were considering above, the call that St. Anthony heard one day when he entered his Parish Church.

Now, in the times in which we live, we are able to see the difference between the state of life and the call for Holiness while initially, whoever heard the call, literally left everything and followed Jesus into the desert of this quest. Today, because of many centuries of development we are able to distinguish between the various forms of life (Monk, Religious, Community, Movement in the Church, or just living alone (hermits, virgins)... and lay life (married or single)...) and the spiritual life. Within formation itself, we actually do distinguish today between what is proper to “Spiritual Formation” and “Monastic Formation” or “Religious Formation”, or Formation in a New Movement in the Church, or Lay Formation in a Movement of the Church or a third order.

It is true that we have not yet reached the maturity to distinguish between “Spiritual Formation” in a specific religious family in the Church and “Spiritual Formation” for everybody. We still focus strongly on the differences between the different “schools of spiritual life” and do not yet see the core of teaching in “Spiritual Formation” that belongs to all of us. Despite this lacuna, we do distinguish between “Spiritual Formation” on one hand and “Religious” or “Monastic Formation” on the other hand.

Hence, if we say that “all are Called to Holiness or Union with Jesus”, and if a lay person hears the call one day, and either already has a state of life (is married for example), or has chosen to remain single in the world, he or she is also in need of Spiritual Formation.

Would it be different from the one described above? The “Spiritual Formation” as opposed to the Monastic or Religious formation mentioned above is in fact valid for all of us… lay people included.

Spiritual Formation

Now comes the big question: if the Church claims that all, one day, when they will be ready, will hear the Call of Jesus to follow Him, and if this includes lay persons, how then can they receive their “Spiritual Formation”?

If they do not want to belong to any movement in the Church (providing of course they offer proper “spiritual formation” which is not always the case), or if they do not want to join a third order (Franciscan, Benedictine, Dominican, Carmelite, Jesuit,... third orders or fraternities), where can they find a proper “Spiritual Formation”?

Some might think that a “Spiritual Director” is a “Spiritual Formator”! Well, of course he is not. He might be capable of wearing that hat also, but normally this is not the case. The “Spiritual Formator”, as is described above, has infinitely more science, experience, formation and discernment.

I am well aware that today both “Spiritual Directors” and seekers wish to give and receive respectively Spiritual Formation. They wish that the two functions were the same, but they are not! The Spiritual Formator offers exceedingly more to the seeker than the Spiritual Director! Please re-read above.

Today we need a place to form “Formators in Spiritual Life” and not only “Spiritual Directors”.

Spiritual Formation Offers
Science	Experience	Means of Discernment
A Teaching in Spiritual Life. The First Stages of SL: Courses, Sessions Reading Studying	A Daily Schedule including: Prayer times Work times Love our brothers	Meeting on a regular basis with: Spiritual Master Going toConfession Spiritual Direction

Books that can help understand the first stages:

• Augustine’s "Confessions".
• "The Life of St. Anthony" by St. Athanasius.
• "Autobiography" of St. Teresa of Avila.
• "Story of the Soul" of St. Therese of the Child Jesus.
• "Imitation of Christ".

Readings that can help understand “Spiritual Formation”:

• "Way of Perfection" of St. Teresa of Avila.
• Therese of the Child Jesus’ early letters in the Monastery to her sister Celine.

163: Lectio Divina in Daily Life 11: The Call and Lectio

Continuation of "Lectio and Vocation".

a) Lectio permits us to walk this road

In lectio Christ comes first and I second. He speaks and I listen. The danger exists that Lectio, instead of being a time for listening, becomes a moment of decision making for me, where I appropriate the Word for myself. When I do this, I take the place of Christ, and I am no longer listening. For this reason the Holy Spirit helps me to listen, to adjust my relationship with Christ by ceding to him.

There is also a risk of calling oneself, of deciding by oneself the meaning of the Word of the day. But the movement of listening is just the opposite: He begins to speak. The invocation of the Holy Spirit puts us in our right place.

By daily listening to Christ, who calls us to follow him, we find the steps we need to take. And so we walk in Christ’s footsteps.

b) Practicing lectio implies a commitment

Lectio also supposes that one is committed to Christ. The exercise of Lectio is particularly demanding, and it is difficult to listen as long as one is not fully devoted in one’s heart to searching for the truth and to meeting Christ.

St Matthew's Call, Caravaggio, Rome

Lectio and accompanying vocations

Evidently, in order to make a good discernment of a vocation it is necessary to listen to the Lord every day. It is not possible to say that one has a vocation if one does not practise Lectio. That would be tempting the Lord (1). Each person who is called or who wishes to discern, according to his or her possibilities, should practice Lectio. Nevertheless, it is evident that if the Lord calls, or seems to call, (and he calls everyone to follow him), it is not normal to allow only a few possibilities for him to speak to us. Tempting the Lord manifests a lack of wisdom. If one continues to be engrossed in a thousand different things and states: ‘The Lord is calling me; if he does this, he knows what he is doing and he will be able to direct me in another way if he wishes’. But no, the Lord expects us to choose with our will and our intellect. Without us he cannot and will not act. If he does so as an exception he does so in mercy; but normally we come to see that we are inverting the values, and that as a consequence we need to change the rhythm of our lives, even if it comes at a price. Of course, it is good to talk with a priest or an experienced guide. But sooner or later our life needs to progress toward the recognition that lectio needs to be done on a daily basis.

Many people are called and many end up by loosing their call. This does not mean that the Lord has stopped calling them (the Lord does not take back his gifts), but we have regressed to the point of losing what we had gained. A call is like a small seed that must become a big tree. If the seed is not watered, nourished and taken care of, it cannot reach maturity. When the first storm or temptation comes, or another voice, it gives way. People trample on it and the call seems to be definitively lost. Now, Lectio allows the seed to grow, protecting it like a guard tower against everything and everyone. The humble person, who practices Lectio everyday, has incredible strength; he or she is able to confront all the contradictions through the grace coming from the daily encounter with Christ who speaks, consoles and securely guides him or her.

Sometimes people think that a retreat for discernment is sufficient. But before or after the retreat they neglect to be faithful to daily Lectio. If we have discerned that the Lord is calling us and suppose that we have been “put on the right track”, that “all will go well”, we are fooling ourselves, because we have to live faithfully every day!

When mediation blurs

Sometimes certain people do not really discover their vocation: they are oriented; they receive counselling and are directed; but, although they “advance”, they are still distant from Christ. Mediations, instead of being transparent to Christ, they become opaque. The vivifying encounter with Christ does not occur “freely”, and this happens because people do not listen to the Call directly. Now, Lectio puts us into direct contact with Christ. He is the vocation of each baptised Christian; he gives strength and energy; he seduces and draws; he convinces and commits. All mediation serves this relationship, and ought to promote it. But when the mediation is self-interested - often unconsciously - when spiritual direction becomes a projection onto the person being accompanied, a screen is erected which breaks the relationship instead of furthering it. In this case, lectio itself may be compromised.

(1): When the devil tempted the Lord in the desert “he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the Temple, and said to him, `If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, for it has been written: ‘To His messengers He will give charge concerning you, to watch over you,’ and: ‘On hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone.’” But Jesus replied: “‘It has been said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”(Lk 4:9-12). Progressing in one’s vocation without the support of lectio is like throwing oneself down from the pinnacle of the Temple and saying: “The angels of the Lord will save me, since I am God’s child!” It is impossible to advance in one’s vocation without the substantial help of lectio; this would simply be “tempting God”.

Note 1: This is an extract from the book: "Lectio divina in daily life" (please click here)

Note 2: To know more about Lectio Divina see: A keynote on Lectio Divina

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