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Estilo de vidaTranscripción
00:00Hello brother, I give you the warmest welcome to this sixth session of your spiritual life subject.
00:23We hope this course is proving to be a time of great blessing and benefit to your faith life.
00:30In past sessions we have been touching on fundamental topics for our life of faith, such as the much-discussed concept of holiness and later on, spirituality.
00:43This is the means by which we set out on the path towards what should be the goal of every Christian: to be saints.
00:54Let's look at some concepts. We've already discussed them extensively, citing various scriptural texts, as well as some very interesting documents that the church makes available to us to better understand these concepts.
01:09Well then, from everything we have described, we can now have a clearer vision of what spirituality itself is.
01:21Now we can suggest some useful elements to help you develop this spirituality.
01:29These elements will be those that allow me to let God gradually become more and more in me.
01:36As we previously defined it, in order to consider a spirituality as true, we say, it must necessarily lead us and be a path to reach the end of perfection in God.
01:52That is to say, holiness, that is to say, holiness, which is in itself a self-communication from God to man through the action of the Holy Spirit.
02:03That is, the very action of God, from God, is He Himself who gives Himself to us through Himself.
02:12However, this process of letting God be more in us speaks of an abandonment, of a donation of our person to God.
02:25But this donation is by no means a passive thing.
02:29On the contrary, it will demand concrete actions from us, decisive actions.
02:36Ancient treatises on spirituality called these concrete actions of man asceticism and mysticism.
02:46These are nothing other than elements that will help this self-communication of God to man to fully develop and reach its fullness.
02:58On the one hand, asceticism is the purifying process of the soul, in which the believer's will to approach perfection and enlightenment predominates.
03:14That is, it refers to the effort that each of us makes as believers to purify ourselves and be closer to the divinity of God.
03:25The subsequent process of the ascetic phase is mysticism, which in turn refers to union with the divine.
03:38Once the state of purity has been achieved through asceticism, the next step is an inner practice,
03:46which will consist of the absolute abandonment of everything earthly, in the hope of achieving a full union with God.
03:57As we mentioned earlier, in order for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we have all received in our baptism,
04:06and that which enables us to attain holiness, may develop and bear fruit,
04:15He must be provided with all the necessary elements that help him and make this development possible.
04:24This is very similar to what happens when we plant a seed of a fruit tree.
04:30You might say that it's not enough to just plant a seed and forget about it, waiting for the tree to bear fruit on its own, right?
04:40No.
04:41Certain precautions are necessary to help this seed germinate.
04:48then it develops, grows, and then, in due time, bears fruit.
04:55And this process will require different kinds of care.
05:00Things will have to be added or removed to ensure this development is healthy and complete.
05:07In a man's life it is very similar.
05:11So that this gift of the Holy Spirit, which we have all received, may grow and bear fruit,
05:18We must provide him with those elements that will help this growth process to develop.
05:27That is why we call elements of spirituality all the means that help in the development of a life of holiness.
05:36which is the same life according to the Spirit.
05:39One of the most serious, yet most common, mistakes that occurs among the Catholic Christian people,
05:47It is the idea that just because a person has been baptized,
05:53holiness in its entirety and fullness has already been automatically attained,
05:58and that he no longer needs to do anything else to experience the happiness and abundant life that Jesus promises us.
06:06And although it is true, brothers, in a way it is correct, because as we said before,
06:14There is an ontological aspect to the concept of holiness that is brought about by the presence of the Holy Spirit in the baptized person.
06:24and it certainly operates in a total way on the one who receives it.
06:29We cannot forget, however, that there is an aspect of holiness called morality,
06:35which is our responsibility to ensure develops if we truly want to live
06:41according to God's plan for each of us.
06:46Brothers, let us not forget that these two aspects of holiness complement each other.
06:53in order to then achieve true fulfillment,
06:58because individually they cannot be considered as such.
07:02For holiness to be authentic in our lives, it is necessary.
07:09On the one hand, the interior life, which is a profound openness to the grace of God.
07:16On the other hand, the ascetic life, which will encompass that effort,
07:22that human response that prepares us and makes us ready for the process of God's gift to us.
07:31Therefore, all true spirituality rests on these two elements.
07:38and it will be according to the aspect we have mentioned that the greatest emphasis will be placed,
07:46how that spirituality will take on a certain hue.
07:50Then, the different forms or charisms of the spiritualities that we know today begin to emerge.
07:58Let's talk a little more about the aspect of inner life.
08:04First, it must be clarified or established that this inner life will be structured on four main axes
08:12in order to develop their growth.
08:16First, we have the pillar of prayer.
08:20Prayer, although it remains a mystery to humankind today, especially if we do not practice it,
08:28It is also, at the same time, so to speak, a space, a path,
08:35a window that opens in our heart and allows the light of God to enter
08:41to gradually illuminate and especially alert the heart
08:48to learn to recognize and avoid the enemies of holiness, such as sin,
08:55that both the world and the devil constantly propose to each of us
09:03through many forms and very subtle seductions.
09:08These enemies, little by little, with those artificial lights that have nothing to do with the light of God,
09:18They dazzle us until there comes a moment when they blind us
09:22with the criteria and pleasures that they propose and offer us.
09:27Therefore, it is essential for man to go in search,
09:32constantly approach and immerse oneself in the clear sources of prayer,
09:39in that source of light and life that is God himself.
09:44We must go to those waters and use them to cleanse everything that clouds our vision.
09:50and that distorts our view of reality.
09:53We must clear the fog from our eyes in order to see clearly, to see the truth.
09:59and to one day be able to see through the eyes of God himself.
10:06That is a special call to every Christian,
10:10to see the world and all our brothers through his eyes.
10:15That's what makes the difference in our way of life.
10:19Thank you!