Catholic Schools of Spirituality -- Which Style Speaks to You?

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I found this article on American Catholic, which was a great introduction for me to the ****different schools of Catholic spirituality.

Article

The article lists these schools. The list may not be exhaustive and I’m not sure of the accuracy of the descriptions.
  • Benedictine - Reverence for the Ordinary
  • Carmelite - Depths of Silence
  • Franciscan - Creation
  • Thomastic - Intellectual Vigor
  • Ignatian -Stand for Justice
Article

Is there one style which you practice or have wanted to practice and why?

What do you love most about it?

What is most difficult?

How hard or easy is it for you to find study materials?

How has it changed you?
 
I think the one word descriptions are rather simplistic but I seem to be a Benedictine by temperment and glad I found the Oblates.
 
puzzleannie said:
I think the one word descriptions are rather simplistic but I seem to be a Benedictine by temperment and glad I found the Oblates.
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PuzzleAnnie,

Thanks for bringing up the Oblates. I didn’t know who they were so I looked them up. I am constantly learning here.

By the way, the article itself goes more into each school of spirituality.
 
Traditional RSCJ spirituality as taught by St Madeleine Sophie Barat and St Rose Philippine Duchesne.

They taught not so much reparation to the Sacred Heart, which is certainly an integral part of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, but rather, emphasized our response to the love that emanates from the Divine Heart of Jesus.

When the battle rages fiercest 'round the Standard of our King.
Let us closer press unto Him, louder! Clearer! let us sing:
Jesus, be our King and Leader, grant us in Thy toil a part…
are we not Thy chosen soldiers? Children of the Sacred Heart.
 
Carthusian - Silence and Solitude

Thomistic would likely come in a close second.
 
I wasn’t crazy about the article. There is plenty of good to it of course, because it is describing things that are very good. I’m just not so sure about some of how it is presented.

For example, to say that the Rule of St. Benedict was written “by a layperson for laypeople” is misleading. True, St. Benedict does not seem to have been ordained and I don’t know that any of his original monks were ordained, but they were certainly monks, and monks are generally not considered laypeople (we may speak of “lay monks” meaning non-ordained monks, but not of monks who are laypeople. Maybe an odd usage, but language is a messy thing). Laypeople can certainly learn from the Rule of St. Benedict and incorporate aspects of Benedictine spirituality into their lives, including the sanctification of work, but anyone who has read the Rule itself knows that it is a guide for how to run a monastery.

Indeed, a layperson who is interested in the sanctification of everyday things may do well to look into Opus Dei spirituality as well as Benedictine. They should also check out Br. Lawrence, who was a Carmelite. They may also want to read some Chesterton, who I think in practice has, with Belloc, Tolkien, and even Lewis, become a focal point for a new, hearty, highly incarnational Catholic spirituality, unusual though it is for a “spirituality” not to be based on a religious order. There are any number of other spiritualities that could be identified as well.

In general, I’d say we also need to be careful about being too simplistic and rigid when it comes to identifying “spiritualities.” The elements cited in the short list- reverence for the ordinary, depths of silence, etc.- could easily all be important to the same individual. Rather than creating a caricature of each spirituality I would seek to get a textured sense of them from the inside through prayer and reading.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
I wasn’t crazy about the article. There is plenty of good to it of course, because it is describing things that are very good. I’m just not so sure about some of how it is presented.
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The article is very basic, but it is great for someone like me who is just learning.

In fact, I was at Barnes and Noble today and this article inspired me to read through this nice little compact book on the devotions of Teresa of Avila. The beginning of the book has a short autobiography and then the devotions.

Teresa of Avila

Apparently, is is part of a series because I also found one on Francis of Assisi.

The one on Francis of Assisi especially helped me understand a little about Francisan spirituality.
Indeed, a layperson who is interested in the sanctification of everyday things may do well to look into Opus Dei spirituality as well as Benedictine. They should also check out Br. Lawrence, who was a Carmelite. They may also want to read some Chesterton, who I think in practice has, with Belloc, Tolkien, and even Lewis, become a focal point for a new, hearty, highly incarnational Catholic spirituality, unusual though it is for a “spirituality” not to be based on a religious order. There are any number of other spiritualities that could be identified as well.
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Good point.
 
SoulSurvivorJMJ said:
Traditional RSCJ spirituality as taught by St Madeleine Sophie Barat and St Rose Philippine Duchesne.

They taught not so much reparation to the Sacred Heart, which is certainly an integral part of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, but rather, emphasized our response to the love that emanates from the Divine Heart of Jesus.
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Is this related to Benedictine spirituality as well?
 
TrueLight said:
Is this related to Benedictine spirituality as well?
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Yes, in a sense.

It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that the first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found. It was in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Anselmian or Bernardine thought, that the devotion arose, although it is impossible to say positively what were its first texts or who were its first devotees. It was already well known to St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and the author of the Vitis mystica (previously ascribed to St. Bernard, now attributed to St. Bonaventure).
 
SoulSurvivorJMJ said:
Traditional RSCJ spirituality as taught by St Madeleine Sophie Barat and St Rose Philippine Duchesne.

They taught not so much reparation to the Sacred Heart, which is certainly an integral part of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, but rather, emphasized our response to the love that emanates from the Divine Heart of Jesus.
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What is meant by reparation to the Sacred Heart?
 
the only thing I disagree with in the article is the part about centering prayer, and Eastern spiritualities… I don’t believe that they co-exist well with Catholicism or that it’s a good idea to practice them at all.

As for spiritualities, I’ve always been drawn to the Carmelites but I’m not sure 🙂
 
TrueLight said:
What is meant by reparation to the Sacred Heart?
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…Devotion to the love of Jesus for us should be pre-eminently a devotion of love for Jesus. It is characterized by a reciprocation of love;** its aim is to love Jesus who has so loved us, to return love for love**.

Since, moreover, the love of Jesus manifests itself to the devout soul as a love despised and outraged, especially in the Eucharist, the love expressed in the devotion naturally assumes a character of reparation, and hence the importance of acts of atonement, the Communion of reparation, and compassion for Jesus suffering.

But no special act, no practice whatever, can exhaust the riches of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The love which is its soul embraces all and, the better one understands it, the more firmly is he convinced that nothing can vie with it for making Jesus live in us and for bringing him who lives by it to love God, in union with Jesus, with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength.

Taken From: newadvent.org/cathen/07163a.htm
 
TrueLight said:
  • Thomastic - Intellectual Vigor
  • Ignatian -Stand for Justice
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I probably fall somewhere between these two. I have a deep desire to learn constantly (probably why I’m a science major) and to use that knowledge for the greater good of all or the defense of the defenseless.
 
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