Unfortunately, I probably do not have the answer to this question. However, it is something SpirHealth.com will begin to explore and eventually define, at least for ourselves.

My initial instinct was to assume that Spiritual Health can be achieved. And, it sounded like something I would really like to achieve. But, there I go again, adding a new goal to my endless ToDo list – “achieve spiritual health.”

I turned to the internet, for better or worse, to see how others have defined this concept. And, I soon realized that spiritual health is something to practice not to achieve. Much like pursuing bodily health and fitness, it’s an ongoing practice, a lifestyle. After losing 15 pounds, it’s not too uncommon to gain the weight back. Some days I’ll eat well and exercise. Other days I will turn lazy and eat poorly. I’d assume one’s state of spiritual health fluctuates in the same way.

I eventually found a nice and short article describing one woman’s thoughts about Spiritual Health. Kara Bauer says that to her, spiritual health is:

• Peacefulness
• Presence
• Simplicity
• Acceptance
• Compassion
• and Self Awareness.

Kara’s article is also titled “What is Spiritual Health”. Give it a read and let us know qualities define Spiritual Health for you. For me, Kara’s idea of being present struck me the most. I’ll leave you with her words.

A spiritually healthy person is very in tune with the present moment and doesn’t live in the past or in the future, but instead fully accepts the current moment as the only “real” moment in which to experience life. When someone is present, they are able to experience their senses in ways they otherwise wouldn’t, resulting in clarity and fresh thinking. (click here to read more of Kara’s Article on Spiritual Health)

Thomas Merton spent his early years without the constant presence of loving parents. In his years as a young man he embraced the street life of New York city with all of its detours from God. Finally, he sensed the void, found Him, converted to Catholicism and became a Trappist monk. Tom became one of the great minds of Catholic literature in mid twentieth century America, writing many works reflective of God’s attempt to speak to us over the noise of our times.His Prayer of Trust reflects his journey and really, all of us trying to do the right thing.

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me toface my perils alone.”  -Thomas Merton

City of Numbers

Violence in the City of Brotherly Love

“We live in two worlds—they only notice each other when they collide.” The new play about violence at the Interact Theater is worth attending.  Those who are shot to death in Philadelphia and those who shoot them collide these two worlds. The story is told of one young man, who came to Philly last year to be a teacher and was shot to death for his Ipod. It makes one weep. He was white, from Minnesota. His murderer was Black, from a Philly ghetto. Victims and victimizers. Two different worlds. Sometimes.
Read more…

“Dance me to the children who are asking to be born.”   -Leonard Cohen

See, I will not forget you, for I have carved you on the palm of my hand.

(tattoo on the palm of an inmate… from Isaiah 49:15).

Rose, stripped of my soul, I suffer without you. (tattoo on his throat).

Oh God, so many of your children are suffering behind bars. (1 in every 100 Americans). Many of these have caused others to suffer as well–people they have victimized, their own families, including wives, husbands, parents and children.  The children and siblings of those in prison are six times more likely to wind up in prison themselves.  Much of this is due to addictions. The effect of addictions spreads like cancer.

Show us how to stop this, please.

This issue of our newsletter focuses on addictions. Incarcerated people are not the only ones imprisoned. Many of us are addicted—to alcohol, drugs (including prescription meds and pain killers), sexual conquests, money/gambling, power and control. Even the obsessive use of technology. These “false gods” hold us captive.  Wake us up, Father, to the prevalence of these fake fixes in our families and ourselves.  Show us how to take steps to heal this “spiritual disease” as it is called in the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous The following story by “Cliff”could have been any of us…I’ll call it “Heroin, My Love.”
Read more…

But, Why Not Me?

This question, in the mouth of a friend of Augustine’s, is the key to understanding Augustinian Spirituality. In Book Eight of his Confessions, Augustine describes himself in a garden in Milan before he finally took the step to commit himself wholly to Jesus Christ and to be baptized. In one of the most dramatic conversion stories in Christian history, Augustine describes how he is struggling with all of his sexual passions; he can not become chaste as he wishes. While in the midst of this inner struggle, he tells us, “a mighty storm arose in me, bringing a mighty rain of tears.” He leaps up and runs into a remote section of the garden. While sobbing out of control under a fig tree, he hears a child’s voice singing over and over again, Tolle, lege, tolle lege, which means “Pick it up and read it.” Augustine experiences this as a message to him from God. He returns to the bench where he had been reading St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. He seized the book, opened it, and read silently the first text he found: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh in its concupiscenses. (Romans 13:13) “A light of utter confidence shone in my heart,” he tells us. “All the darkness of uncertainty vanished.”

It is a stunning story, perhaps even polished up to grab our attention and lure us in as we read it. Except for the opening line, there is one significant feature left out of this summary. I believe it to be at the heart of understanding Augustine and Augustinian Spirituality. During this dramatic encounter with God, Augustine’s dear friend, Alypius, was sitting on the garden bench nearby. To ignore this, or to erase the conversation between Augustine and Alypius which followed, is to miss the unique gift to the Church that Augustine and Augustinian Spirituality offers.

Read more…

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times and says, “I repent,” you must forgive him.

Jesus
Luke 17:3-4