Original scientific paper
Tendencies in Contemporary Spirituality in the Light of the Experience and Doctrine of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Franjo Podgorelec
orcid.org/0000-0002-1088-7878
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The author presents some of the tendencies in contemporary spirituality that in the light of the experience and doctrine of the first woman Doctor of the Church, are refined and directed in order to avoid one-sidedness and error.
The spirituality of communion, which rightly aims to set the Mystical Body of Christ and the neighbor in the foreground, thus freeing a man of egotistical narcissism, must not thereby eliminate the need for interior hygiene and building up a personal relationship with God and one's own identity. Joy is one of fundamental elements of Christianity, therefore a certain level of enthusiasm, if it is primarily a theological and not just psychological reality, should also be a normal thing. As such, it includes a freedom of the spirit, a condition in which a person free from excessive worry about whether or not they possess internal consolation is focused on the essential: in all things, to please God Who loves them. Teresa, herself endowed with many extraordinary mystical phenomena, offers healthy and valid criteria for identical contemporary experiences, as well. Her proposal on the need for a dialogue between theological and spiritualistic currents, as well as the importance of the spiritual gift of teaching can serve as a signpost even today, and it finds its confirmation in the tendencies of contemporary theology. The tendency of the consecration in the world, even though it is not St. Teresa's calling, however, starting from her personal gift of prayer, she offers healthy principles on the unity of life, on the relationship between action and contemplation, as well as the need of man to cultivate not only theological, but also a humane and a human dimension.
Keywords
the spirituality of communion; lay spirituality; spiritual consolation and desolation; extraordinary mystical phenomena; action and contemplation; freedom of spirit; openness to the world; the unity of life
Hrčak ID:
161854
URI
Publication date:
15.7.2016.
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