SUMMARY: I. Demands and signs of spiritual maturity: 1. Signs of spiritual “infantilism”; 2. Signs of spiritual maturity – II. Human presuppositions of spiritual maturity: 1. Factors of maturation in man; 2. Characteristics of human maturity – III. Psychological path towards spiritual maturity: 1. The ascetic process in the spiritual life; 2. The mystical state in the spiritual life; 3. Psychic immaturity and spiritual life.
Is it possible and legitimate to identify the “mature personality” with the so-called “natural man”, that is, with that type of man who is bound and enclosed in the earthly aspect of human nature? The answer must necessarily be negative, since mature personality means integrated personality, and is therefore synonymous with a person who has faithfully responded to all values. Well, there is no doubt that among these values the call to the transcendent occupies the foreground, the opening to a higher integration. The natural man has no right to be and remain such: Ad majora nati sumus! In the history of the Church no one, perhaps, better than Augustine can stand as a typical example of that metamorphosis of the “natural” man open to the heights, to the transcendent’.
This superior integration cannot be achieved through a simple aesthetic contact. If the natural man wants to rise to the transcendent, he needs much more: a constant will for self-improvement, a practically effective will. This elevation is possible; it is not even an extraordinary fact; it can be determined by various factors: serious pain, great temptation, a clear and decisive perception of the ultimate goal of existence; however, it can only be fully realized through a psychological itinerary of the ascetic type, understood as a process towards the “maturity” of man.
Psycho-affective maturity, according to the recent documents of the ecclesial magisterium, must be considered as the goal of personal and social efforts to achieve the integral development of man; as a premise of a vigorous spiritual development, that is, of the attainment of that maturity of Christian life to which Saint Paul exhorted the Ephesians so that they reach the dimension of the mature man “to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ ” (4.13).
“Human maturity” should be understood as the conscious fullness of all physical, mental and spiritual qualities, well harmonized and integrated with each other. The invitation to develop a full human personality, although it has always been present in the documents of the magisterium, has become especially pressing and insistent in recent times, in accordance with the achievements of the human sciences’. Human growth constitutes a kind of synthesis of our duties. But there is even more: that harmony of nature, enriched by personal and responsible work, is called to overcome. By inserting him into Christ, man has access to a new dimension, to a transcendent humanism.
Christian education does not only suppose the “proper maturity of the human person”, but also tends to ensure that the baptized “are formed to live according to the new man in justice and true holiness, and thus reach the perfect man, in the age of the fullness of Christ” (GE 2). Through a wisely organized education, “we must also cultivate in students the necessary maturity, whose main manifestations are stability of spirit, the ability to make prudent decisions and rectitude in the way of judging events and men” (OT 11).
I. Demands and signs of spiritual maturity
Both in the OT and in the NT the invitation to spiritual progress is continuous (Jer 6,16; Ps 26,12; 2 Cor 4,16; Heb 3,7; 4,10; 2 Pe 3,18; Eph 4, 13ff; Col 1,10). Christian maturity or perfection is the full development of all the potentialities of grace at all levels of the supernatural organism. It already has in faith its own orientation, its meaning and its impulse (Jn 6,29; Eph 3,17), but it is essentially realized in charity (Mt 5,44ff; 1 Cor 13,1ff; Jn 17,21). ). Theological faith and hope are related to charity, as an immediate preparation for it; in such a way that the dominion of charity in the life of man cannot become perfect if at the same time the exercise of faith and hope is not made perfect. Received as seeds of eternal life, these three virtues are destined to grow, to give vitality to the Christian, to achieve his perfection.
Saint Paul speaks of them as dynamic forces that have a decisive role in the maturation of the spiritual life (1 Thess 1,3; 5,6s). He assumes that there is “childish” Christian behavior, and opposes it to truly “adult” behavior. He frequently uses the antitheses “children-adults” or “imperfect-perfect” (1 Cor 2.6; 13,10s; 14,20; Phil 3,15; Col 1,28). According to Saint Paul, “child” is one who is at the beginning of the Christian life, taking his first steps, still indecisive, and stammering his first words; “adult” or “perfect” is the Christian in whom the germs of new life received in baptism have developed and have reached that fullness that they possessed only in potential and whose personality is constantly open to new insights.
A decisive stage in the maturation of the Christian personality is the abandonment of childish behavior, to begin to act as adults, that is, assuming the new responsibilities of faith and grace (Gal 4,1ss; 1 Cor 13,11 ).
1. SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL “INFANTILISM” – What are the expressions of spiritual infantilism that the Christian needs to get rid of? How is it possible to recognize them? From the writings of the NT these are especially deduced:
a) The inability to accept the gospel in its entirety of content and demands (1 Cor 3,1ss). It is the sign that one is still too tied to naturalistic religious conceptions. The Corinthians still behave like children, who “go in search of human wisdom” instead of seeking the “wisdom of God”, announced by “the madness of preaching” (1 Cor 1,21s).
b) Allowing oneself to be moved by the “flesh” and not by the “Spirit”. The opposition between “carnal men” and “spiritual men” in Saint Paul is parallel to the opposition “children-adults” (1 Cor 3,1; 1,10ss). It is a sign of this childishness to let oneself be carried away by human reasons, by envy and resentment.
c) The lack of awareness of the exact position of the believer before God; one already believes oneself to be wise, knowing the paths and secrets of God; consequently, he thinks that he no longer has anything to learn, even though the secrets of the kingdom have not been “revealed by flesh and blood” but by God (Mt 16,17), who reveals them to the humble (Mt 13, eleven).
d) The self-sufficiency and presumption of those who believe too much in their own strength and do not recognize that everything is a gift of God. The follower of Christ, an adult in the faith, must possess certain positive aspects. of the spirit of childhood, that they make him capable of simplicity, of joyful reception of grace, of absence of calculations, generosity, sincerity and immediacy (Mt 19,14; 18,3s; Lk 12,32).
e) Paying attention to oneself rather than to God; an affectivity centered on oneself, instead of a free affectivity to be able to give oneself to the Other, who “has loved us first” (1 Jn 4,10).
,f) The conception of freedom as licentiousness (1 Cor 8,9; 9,4s; 10,29), being so that we must be in a position to discern things and actions according to the criteria of Christ, since everything It belongs to us and we belong to Christ (1 Cor 3:23).
g) Allowing oneself to be carried away by the desire for visible charisms, instead of aspiring to the highest gifts and committing oneself to that other “higher path”, which is that of charity (1 Cor 12,31; 13,1ss).
h) The instability and volatility of a faith that is not solidly anchored in the gospel (Eph 4:14) and that is why it is shaken by certain spiritual currents that are not born of evangelical purity. Solid convictions, typical of adults, are the foundation of the firmness of the Christian personality and of the entire community.
2. SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY. – Overcoming infantilism is only the negative aspect of the process of spiritual maturation. This is not just renunciation of the imperfect, but positive development towards the fullest vitality and expression of grace. The signs of this spiritual maturity are multiple. Since we cannot make a complete list, we will point out the most obvious:
a) The sure conviction (Rom 14,5) or full conviction (1 Thess 1,5), which engenders a kind of evidence of the existence of God and his providence (Rom 4,21). In this way, man deepens his relationship with God and progressively becomes aware of God’s salvific plan that is realized in him.
b) The transformation and renewal of the mind and heart, that is, of the personality in its deepest center (Rom 12,2), which allows a perfect “discernment of good and evil” (Heb 5,14; 1 Cor 14.20); even more, a discernment of “what is the will of God, what is good, what is pleasing to him, what is perfect” (Rom 12,2). This “will of God”, this “perfection” is no longer identified with a code of laws given once and for all. The “perfection” of the Christian is characterized by docility and submission to a divine will that must be sought and discerned and whose demands cannot be measured in advance.
c) Docility to the Holy Spirit and the initiative to discern what is most pleasing to the Lord leads us to be “full of the knowledge of his will with all wisdom and spiritual intelligence”, and thus to “be fruitful in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God” (Col 1,9s). In this way it will also lead us to an abundant production of the “fruits of the Spirit” and to a constant “walk in the Spirit” (cf Gal 5,22s).
d) Mature Christians are those who have the spiritual capacity to penetrate to the depths of the mystery of Christ and to accept it (1 Cor 2,6s; Eph 1,9; Col 1,27), opening themselves to the edification of the Church, which is the sacrament of Christ (Eph 2,20ss). This means the ability to enter into constructive dialogue with others: dialogue with God, with one’s brothers and with the world.
e) In Christian maturity, “the whole man” commits himself in a radical and total way for God and for the salvation of the world. Indeed, a mature theological life makes man definitively leave an egocentric vision of life; he makes him live the experience that he no longer belongs to himself, but to the one who has called him to salvation and asks for his collaboration for the salvation of the world. The supernatural force of grace and the theological virtues unitarily orders the understanding and the will towards a higher, totally new center of unity, which is God Himself; the whole person feels in tension towards that one term that…