Spiritual comparison

[dayanne]

what type of spirituality a person must adopt if she is very silent, shy, and very observant. Which saint should she be devoted? what aspect of nature can this person compare his or her spiritualiy? can anybody share about this topic? Can a person choose his/her spirituality even not joining any religious group?

 

[Trishie]

**
Hi, Dayanne
I ask Jesus to bless and help you in your good intentions and hopes to live as He wishes you do. You are blessed in wishing to be good and spiritual person He longs for you to be, loving you dearly as He does!!!
:harp:
Dayanne, you are not required to adopt any particular spirituality other than to faithfully participate in the Sacraments and the commandments of gospel love and service. You are not required to be devoted to any particular saint.

Jesus commanded us to love God above all and others as ourselves, To love is not simply to have warm emotions about people, but to actively live generously with others, treating them kindly, as we would wish to be treated, forgiving when we are offended, and helping others when we can. These are the things that Jesus asks of us. If you wish to have relationship with a saint, rather, choose Jesus. You may choose a saint who inspires you but always secondary to our Saviour.

Being shy doesn’t excuse us for acts of love towards others…and I know it’s difficult when you’re shy. I was very shy earlier in my life. It is in being generous and caring towards others and less focused on oneself that helps us to grow past shyness. Shyness usually means, and I know from experience, that we’re very focused on ourselves, and also it means that we lack self-confidence, we’re afraid of being judged or rejected by others. We should pray for each other, which is an act of charity also, but we must act in respect and kindness to each other whenerve we can manage to do so, according to others’ needs.**

“Since the Father loved us so much that He sent You to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away, we too should love one another.” [John 4:10-11] “By such love, everyone will know that we are Your disciples.” “ a person who does not love the brother that he can see, cannot love God whom he has never seen.” [1 letter of John 4:20-21]Our love “is not to be mere words or mere talk, but something real and active; only by this can we be certain that we are children of the truth.”

[John 3:18-19] Your apostle Paul exhorts, “Do not let your love be pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other…If any of the saints are in need you must share with them; and you must make hospitality your special care.” [Romans 12:9-13]
“Be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate” even to the sacrifice of His beloved Son. “Do not judge others and you will not yourself be judged. Grant pardon and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure.” [Luke 6:36-38] “
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be children of your Father in heaven, for He causes the sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and His rain to fall on honest and dishonest persons alike…You must therefore be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [Matthew 5:43-48]

“Is there a poor brother among you, one of your brothers, in any town of yours? Do not harden your heart or close your hand against that poor brother of yours, but be open-handed with him.” [Deuteronomy 15:7-8] “Each one should give what he has decided in his own mind, not grudgingly or because he is made to, ‘for God loves a cheerful giver.’” [Proverbs 28:2] “None of us lives for himself only.” [Romans 14:7]

**This is the spirituality that all of us shy or confident, must live. I know that with His loving grace, and our trust in Him, we can do this!

The following is, according to Jesus, what He judges us upon when we die He tells us that these who act as He describes below, are who are judged fit for heaven when we die. **
“Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You; or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and make You welcome; naked and clothe You; sick or in prison and go to see You?” Jesus replies “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.” “In so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least, you neglected to do it to me.” [Matthew 25:37-40, 45-46]

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

God bless you on such admirable desires. I would recommend praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit on what to do every day and give it time and see where he leads you. God bless you.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

what type of spirituality a person must adopt if she is very silent, shy, and very observant. Which saint should she be devoted?

It sounds as though this person shares some of the qualities of the Blessed Virgin Mary and would do well to take Mary as her constant guide and companion on the road to Jesus.

• Mary was a woman of deep prayer. She must have spent time in silence with God. How else could she have been so receptive to His will, and ready to hear and respond to the angel Gabriel’s message?
• Mary was a woman of deep humility, and God loved this virtue in her. When Gabriel greeted her with the words “Hail, full of grace,”

“she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29).

When Elizabeth praised Mary with the words “blessed are you among women” (Luke 1:42), Mary did not keep the praise for herself but rather turned it into a hymn of praise to God, which we call the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Her words

“For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness” (Luke 1:48)

are not the words of a woman who likes to draw a lot of attention to herself. I would not be surprised if the people who knew Mary considered her shy. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

• Mary, too, was someone who was very observant. Seeing God’s wonders worked in and around her, she observed in reverent awe, as the Gospel says:

“and his mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:50).

This person can accompany Mary and observe all the wonders God is doing in and around her. The fact that this person is asking these questions and wanting to draw closer to God is itself something to marvel at!

• But Mary, despite her humble, quiet nature, was not one to let herself be paralyzed by timidity or fear. She took action when charity called for it. When her friends at the wedding at Cana ran out of wine, she did something about it, telling Jesus,

“They have no wine” (John 2:3)

and telling the servants,

“Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).

And she courageously stood at the foot of the Cross when her Son Jesus was dying, never abandoning Him even when it involved tremendous suffering.

what aspect of nature can this person compare his or her spiritualiy?

I’m not sure exactly what you mean here, but I’ll attempt to answer it from Scripture.

The Song of Songs is a beautiful book of the Old Testament of the Bible. It is a love poem between a bride and a bridegroom, which represents the love between God (the bridegroom) and His Church (the bride). Because Mary is the perfect representation of the Church, the words referring to the bride in the Song of Songs are sometimes applied to Mary. Song of Songs 4:12 says,

You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride, an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed.

Like Mary, this person can think of her soul as an enclosed garden reserved for God, where He can delight to come and visit. We still have to live in the world and interact with all kinds of people and act in charity towards them (as Mary certainly did), but interiorly we belong entirely to God and have a secret place where we can always call Him to mind and welcome Him.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

what type of spirituality a person must adopt if she is very silent, shy, and very observant. Which saint should she be devoted? what aspect of nature can this person compare his or her spiritualiy? can anybody share about this topic? Can a person choose his/her spirituality even not joining any religious group?

I read a good book years ago called, Who We Are Is How We Pray: Matching Personality and Spirituality, by Fr Charles Keating. amazon.com/Who-Are-How-Pray-Spirituality/dp/0896223213

The author takes you through a process to identify your personality type, and to help link you up with the prayer style
that matches.

Myself, I was matched as a extrovert and ironically, my personality type is best matched with quiet contemplative prayer. So, Fr Keatings book, recommended St Teresa of Avila.

Problem was, at the time, I wasn’t ready for reading the depth of spirituality, and the Way of Perfection served me nothing more than being akin to a sleeping pill.

However, years later, after doing contemplative prayer, I joined up with a Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, and the first book I had to study during formation was St. Teresa’s Way of Perfection. This time, St Teresa’s words hit home.

So, in all, pray for guidance on knowing where God wants you. He’ll lead you to the form of spirituality that suits you best.

God Bless
Jim