Finally, the promised series on human formation is here. As I mentioned a couple of months ago in our last reflection on the Creed, “in the coming
weeks and months, I will be offering reflections on human formation and how the
necessary healing and development of our human nature helps us to believe in
and live everything we have been reflecting on in our Series on the Creed. Human formation is an indispensable part of
every vocation and it is my hope that these reflections will in some way help
all of us to open our nature more and more to God’s grace.”
Human formation is indispensable because God’s grace, which is His very
life, builds on our human nature. Put
another way, our human nature was made for the grace of God. The Church teaches “the desire for God is
written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God
never ceases to draw man to himself.
Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops
searching for…” (CCC, 27).
We’re created “by God and for
God”. Our study of humanity in general
and human formation specifically must start with God because He is our origin
and goal! That’s why I began with some
reflections on the Apostles Creed. The
truth about man is relative to the truth about God! And the truth about God is that He loves
us! Human formation is about preparing
our nature to receive this Love, which is the foundation of every vocation.
As we
reflected on the first two articles of the Creed we read:
“You
have a Father in heaven, God, who created you. Even before the world began to
exist, God your eternal Father thought of you, knew you, loved you, wanted you,
and brought you into being. Your life is from Him. Although you need not have
existed, He wanted you to exist, and therefore you do exist. Your life was
given to you so that you might come to know how much He loves you and to love him
in return…. Although you do not
comprehend how much he loves you and adores you, He has provided a way for you
to come to know His incredible love for you….[That way]
is Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal Son. He is looking for you. He sees you, he
knows you through and through, and he loves you. He reveals his love to you in
a special way.
God
really does love us! Ponder that and
stay tuned for the second part of our series.
God bless you all,
Fr. Isaac Spinharney, CFR
St. Joseph Friary
Harlem, NY
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