PAUL, WHAT ARE THE DEFINING ELEMENTS of spirituality within the Roman Catholic tradition?
PS: Spirituality is the way Christ is formed within an individual and within the community. This is done through prayer disciplines and the discipline of corporate worship. In our tradition the central act of worship is the Eucharist, the Lord s Supper or the Mass. That is the word most Roman Catholics use, it comes from the final words of the liturgy, Ite missa est, which translated means Go, she is sent , i.e. the congregation is sent. A lot of people think that Mass refers to the actual liturgy, but it s not, it s the command to mission that is the emphasis. You come and you gather around the table of the Word, listen to the Scriptures and partake of the sacrament. Then, having tasted God s love in that way and having literally incorporated it into yourself, you are sent out into the world to share that love in the world around you. In his book, Introduction to Christianity, Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, makes the point that, because God has done everything for us in Chris
