IRS LASALLIAN SPIRITUALITY not to do whatever  you want.

  But if you are led by the

#1 Spiritual Beings by Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin & Dr. Wayne Dyer
Question: Can you see yourselves as spiritual beings
having human experiences or human beings having
spiritual experiences?
Answer: To the degree to which we align ourselves with
correct principles, divine endowments will be released
within our nature in enabling us to fulfill the measure of
our creation. In the words of Teilhard de Chardin, “We
are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
#2 Christian & Non-Christian World Views
Spirit, you are not under the law.
  The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual
immorality,  impurity and debauchery;    idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness,
orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that
those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of
God.
 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-
control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh  with its
passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit,  let us
keep in step with the Spirit.
#4 Definition of Spirituality & Essential
Elements of Christian Spirituality

Christian View Non-Christian View Definition of Spirituality

Derivation
- God centered - No God
- - - from the Latin adjective
God created Big Bang Theory
- sinned (death) - No sin • 'spirituali' ="concerning the spirit"
- savior (Jesus - No savior • while 'spirit' means "animating or vital principle of
- Salvation (unearned) - No salvation man & animal"
- Heaven (home) - No heaven/ hell - in the vulgate the Latin word
- Earth (camping) - earth becomes home
- • 'spiritus' is used to translate the Greek "pneuma"
Father answers your • i'm here to be happy
- and Hebrew "ruah"
questions feelings answers your
- God Life = God's Rules questions - thus a spiritual person is someone within whom Spirit
- my life = my rules of God dwelt and who lived under the influence of the
Spirit of God

video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM72xE7eLQo
#3 Introduction to Spirituality
Overview of the Concept of Spirituality:
A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Galatians
5:16-25
So I say, walk by the Spirit,  and you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh.  For the flesh desires what is contrary
to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the
flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are
Spirituality
- begins with God
- a lived experience
- popularly used to describe those attitudes, beliefs,
practice that animate people's lives
- helps them to reach out towards the supra-natural
realities
- in biblical context, this means being animated by God,
to be driven by the Holy Spirit as opposed to a life
which is driven and influenced by materialism

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Christian Spirituality
- not simply for the 'interior life' but is directed to the
implementation of both the commandments of Christ,
to love God and out neighbors
- the process of spiritual formation of a disciple of
Jesus Chris for an authentic & fulfilled Christian life
in the present world
- Trinitarian = incarnation & grace-filled living
- theology in action
Essential Elements of Christian Spirituality
1. About Knowing God, not just knowing about God
- "being Christian is not the result of an ethical
choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an
event, a person, which gives life a new horizon
and a decisive direction ... Since God has first
loved us, love is now no longer a mere
'command'; it is the response to the gift of love
with which God draws near to us."
• (Pope Benedict XVI)
2. About Experiencing God to the full
- greater than wisdom = love of God in Christ
- wisdom flows out of this love
- knowledge exudes from this love
- if we seek wisdom & knowledge, we are only
gaining a part. Solomon went astray with his
wisdom; knowledge easily leads to pride but the
love of christ surpasses these things
- we were made with the purpose of being filled
with God's love and only His love can fill that
deepest longing of our hearts
3. Involves Transformation of existence on the basis of
the Christian faith and truths
- a life lived in the Spirit of God is a life that is
transformed by God's grace from glory to glory
- "glory to glory"
• from redemption & sanctification on earth, to
our glorious eternal welcome into heaven
4. Attaining Christian Authenticity in life & thought
- the transforming effect of living our life according
to the guidance of the Hold Spirit brings us to
God's ultimate purpose and destination for every
believer, to transform is into the image of His Son
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#5 Characteristics of Christian Spirituality
Christian Spirituality is about totality of the whole
person
- involves the whole person, the entire fabric of our live
- is a lived experience, a quest throughout our lives that
involves the weaving, a dynamic synthesis, of the
elements of the deposit of Christian faith to give us the
fire within our lives
Christian Spirituality is about the Trinitarian God of love
& grace
- conscious of living the spiritual life is a daily encounter
with the love & grace of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit
- involves a reverence & gratitude to the creative love of
the Father, commitment to imitate the redeeming love
of the Son and trusting in the sanctifying guidance of
the Holy Spirit
Christian Spirituality is a prophetic spirituality
- proclaims the transforming love of God as it
increasingly engage with important issues of social and
cultural transformation in order to make real in our
various circumstances, the vision of building the
kingdom of God
We are sustained in the journey of faith by grace
- an empowering spirituality
- a self-affirming, aware, and grateful for God's gifts to
us giving us a healthy self-esteem
- also mutually empowering, affirming other people &
facilitating their blossoming
- the spiritual life is a journey from achievement to rest
Christian Spirituality is a contemplative spirituality
- emphasizes moments of reflection, meditation, and
contemplation
- being present to the Present, a constant awareness of
the absolute within us, who is the inexhaustible source
of joy, love, and energy & makes us committed but
carefree
Christian Spirituality is a healing spirituality
- a process of surrendering to God's power of healing
our own woundedness and using one's own
experience to heal others
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Christian Spirituality is Christian spiritualities
- is not monolithic
- his or her spiritualities will be influence by his or her
temperament, social, financial, educational,
denominational, and cultural context
The cauldron of an enduring spirituality is suffering &
conflict but is ultimately leads to an Easter spirituality
- a spirituality that transcends Good Friday and is
infected with the fearless joy of Easter
- resists the forces of death & promotes the
enhancement of life
- feasts more than it fasts
- not so much control as surrender and is not cold
asceticism but a celebration of life
#6 Life of
St. John Baptist de La Salle
The Lasallian family celebrates the feast day of St. Jean
Baptiste de La Salle or St. John Baptist de La Salle,
recognized as the universal patron saint of teachers every
May 15.
Life and Journey
- known as the patron of all teachers of youth
- founder of De La Salle University, died April 7, 1719.
- Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. La Salle on
the anniversary of his death.
- canonized a saint of the Catholic Church on May 24,
1900
- proclaimed patron of all teachers of youth by Pope
Pius XII on May 15, 1950
- St. La Salle’s untiring faith and zeal inspired a modest
revolution in Christian education in his day and
continue to stir the hearts of educators everywhere.
During De La Salle’s time, few people lived in luxury,
instead most were extremely poor.
- Very few could afford to send their children to school.
In his pursuit of providing a practical, Christian
education to the young, especially the poor, De La
Salle left his home, gave up his wealth, renounced his
position as a Canon, and moved in with teachers,
which formed the Brothers of the Christian Schools. De
La Salle’s tuition-free schools welcomed all students,
regardless of social standing. He provided free
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education as a way to liberate the poor and give them
hope for the future.
- Born at Reims, France April 30, 1651
- Ordained priest April 9, 1678
- Died April 7, 1719
- Beatified February 19, 1888
- Canonized May 24, 1900
- Proclaimed Patron of Christian Teachers May 15, 1950
#7 Lasallian Spirituality / Core Values &
Domains of the LS Lived Spirituality
Lasallian Spirituality
- brings a particular 'flavor' or emphasis, because it is
inseparably linked to the life-story of St. John Baptist
de La salle and the world-wide educational movement
- all spiritual movements in that it is based on a
profound interiority, a relationship of trust and
confidence in a loving God who, in De La Salle's
words, "wishes everyone to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth"
Core Values
- the spirit of faith
• induce those who compose it not to look upon
anything but with the eyes of faith, not to do
anything but in view of God, and to attribute all to
God
• the essential link between the personal faith of the
Lasallian and its importance for those 'confided to
their care"
• this way of 'seeing as God sees', presupposes that
this is not a remote God but someone with whom
we form a relationship
• "Jesus may live in our hearts, forever"
- the spirit of zeal for service
• the spirit of faith should overflow and show itself
through a spirit of zeal
• secondly, the spirit of their institute consists in an
ardent zeal for the instruction of children and for
bringing them up in the fear (awe) of God
• will lead Lasallians to try "to touch the hearts" of
those with whom they work, so that they may more
easily lead those with whom they word to God
- the spirit of community
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 • De La Salle"launched a movement" by first forming
a community which survived him
• has become enshrined in the Lasallian heritage
through the expression used by the brothers in the
first vowed formula of consecration, "together and
by association"
• in view of a common mission, expressed to day as
"the educational service of the poor"
A 'practical' spirituality
- '3 spirits' show the essential unity of Lasallian
spirituality in its origin
- De La Salle, clearly recognising the traditional view of
spirituality of his time as the means taken to achieve
personal salvation, expresses the importance of this
'new' and 'apostolic' spirituality
- Lasallian community consists of people who bind
themselves in solidarity with others to ensure that the
Christian school or Lasallian work in which they work
will be a place of 'salvation' for all the young people
who attend it
- that the presence and love of God manifested in Jesus
Christ is to shine through words & actions
Domains of the Lasallian Lived Spirituality
Seeing in the eyes of Faith
- involves the ability to regard life experiences and
everyday realities in the light of the Christian story and
vision and so bring a faith perspective to one's
thoughts, words, and actions
- about discerning what God is saying to us in these
experiences
Praying our Experiences
- involves the ability to bring life experiences to prayer
and worship, recognizing that God is experienced in
persons, places, events, and things that constitute
everyday life
- acquiring the dispositions for prayer and developing a
sacramental vision of reality
Personal Transformation
- includes the affirmation, adaptation or conversion of
beliefs, attitudes values and behavior brought by
engagement with the Christian story & vision
• personal transformation
- journey to freedom that begins with
commandments, proceeds to developing the
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virtues and beatitudes and culminates in the
freedom to will and desire what God wills &
desires
• spiritual practices & disciplines
- focus on encouraging virtues and curbing vices
Living in Friendship
- calls us to transcend self-centeredness and consider
the good of others as just as important as our own
Care for the Earth
- promotes the orientation to serve the common good
and enter into effective solidarity with those in need
#8 Metaphors of LS Spirituality
Metaphors
- you are called by God to your work
- you are co-workers with God
- you work for the poor
- through the movement of the Holy Spirit
#9 Chapter 2: Seeing with the Eyes of Faith
CHRISTIAN STORY & VISION (CSV)
Why do we seek God?
- God has placed in our hearts a longing to seek and
find him
- a person is not completely himself until he has found
God
The Sources of Christian Faith
- Christian Faith
• an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ is at
the same time an encounter with the person of the
Father who loves us and created us in His image
and likeliness
• has been passed from the Biblical times down on to
our time, because of the instrument of God's
salvation which is the Church
- Deposit of Faith
• Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, & Holy
Magisterium
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HOW DOES ONE GO ABOUT
BELIEVING?
- someone who believes is seeking a personal union
with God and is ready to believe God in everything
that shows (reveals) about himself
- spiritual habit of discernments: habit of listening &
seeing the hand of God at work in our lives
Discernment: Making Inspired Choices
-tried & true pointers that can help you discern God's will-

W H A T D O E S M Y F A I T H H A V E T O DO 1. talk to someone you respect

WITH THE CHURCH? 2. find some solitude
- no one can believe alone and by himself, just as no 3. start with what you know
once can live alone and by himself. We receive the 4. tell God what it is that you desire and what you fear
faith from the Church and live it out in fellowship with 5. let God speak to you
the people with whom we share our faith. 6. know that God has a plan for you
7. pray to do God's WILL
OUR CATHOLIC FAITH 8. wait
- we adapt the following presentation on the The 9. prayerfully commit
Christian Profession of Faith from the Catechism of the 10.check out the fruits
Catholic Church
- whoever says "I believe" says "I pledge myself to what
we believe". Communion in faith needs a common
language of faith, normative for all and uniting all in
the same confession of faith.

This synthesis of faith was not made to accord with

human opinion, but rather what was of the greatest
importance was gathered from all the Scriptures
- "professions of faith"
• they summarize the faith the Christians profess
- "creeds"
• symbols of faith

Among all the creeds, 2 occupy a special place in the

Church's Life
- The Apostles' Creed
- The Niceno-Constantinopolitan or Nicene Creed

Read for a more in depth Understanding

I. "I believe in one God"
II. God reveals His name
A. "i am who i am"
B. "a God merciful & gracious"
C. God alone IS
III. God, "He who is", is truth and love
A. God is truth
B. God is love
- implications of faith in one God
- faith in biblical experiences
- faith in the life of st. john baptist de la salle

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