by Jomon Emmanuel

The title of my research study is “The Relationship between Spirituality and Holiness in the Salesian Perspective and its Practical Application for Life with some Reflections on Indian Spirituality”. This study finds its basis in the person and spirituality of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Doctor of the Church. The centuries-old dichotomy between spirituality and morality is seen not only at academic levels but also in their concrete separation in all practical aspects of life, including relationships. The need of the time is to do away with the existing distinction between the moral and spiritual spheres of life and to offer a holistic and integrated approach that facilitates the human being’s quest for perfection and self-realization.

I started my research with a historical analysis of the theological disciplines of spirituality and morality, and an attempt is made to substantiate the use of the term ‘holiness’ instead of ‘morality’ due to the negative tendency of the modern man to see in it the curtailing of his freedom. Francis de Sales, apostle of the Chablais, spiritual director and bishop, who lived in a troubled phase of history at the height of the Renaissance, Humanism, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, proposed to the people of his time a life of holiness to be lived in the midst of the world. The zeitgeist pervading Europe also exerted its influence on Francis de Sales, the devout Christian humanist, and helped shape his vision of man firmly founded on the vision of God. For him, “Man is the perfection of the universe, spirit the perfection of man; love the perfection of spirit; charity the perfection of love.”

In the optimistic vision of God and man, love becomes the foundation of a spiritual tradition that makes Francis the forerunner of the “universal call to holiness” with a posthumous official mark stamped on it by the Second Vatican Council. The classic works of Francis de Sales - Introduction to the Devout Life and Treatise on the Love o f God - and the extensive correspondence with his spiritual children revolve around a good Christian life. Such a good life, always guided by love, is practised and lived out in the specific duties of one’s vocation or state in life. Attaining holiness, for him like for the Fathers of the Church and ascetical theologians of old, is a progressive, step-by-step move to perfection passing through various stages distinguished as the purgative way, the illuminative way and the unitive way. The purgative way opens the soul to conversion and purification from sin; in the illuminative way the soul is enlightened by inspiration and the stirring of the soul within; in the unitive way the soul is united to God by charity, and abandons itself to the exercise of holy love. Thus, his teachings and guidance provided and unified Christian morality and spirituality under the bond of charity.

With all the material achievements and sophisticated lifestyle of today’s world, man has neither ended his quest to find meaning for his existence nor his desire to realize and perfect himself. Although there is an emphasis on justice in the modern and post-modern consciousness, there is a conspicuous absence of love. Justice without love may end in brutality, and love without justice in banality. When love empowers justice and justice embodies love, the prevailing tendency to make a distinction between spirituality and morality can be overlooked. Such an integration elevates spirituality above the hours of prayer and morality merely as obedience to some prescribed norms but both together nourishing one’s relation to God, oneself, others and the world. Salesian spirituality, as a form of ‘moral spirituality’ pervading all spheres of life, offered a life of perfection and holiness for the people of Francis’ time. Such an integrative vision can provide satisfactory answers for man’s incessant search. To establish the universality and perennial validity of Salesian spirituality, an attempt is made to find the vision and means of perfection offered in the Indian classic Bhagavad-Gita and its commonality and complementarity in Salesian spirituality. Both the traditions - one several centuries before Christ, and the other sixteen centuries after Christ and centred on his teachings - can find common ground in their vision of man with equally similar possibilities of reaching the Absolute.

I further try to show the salient features of Salesian spirituality, such as ‘bloom where you are planted’, ‘spirituality as fruit of morality’, and the ‘possibility of a life of holiness’ in any walk of life when based on the virtue of charity, can give orientation to the man of today. The pedagogical focus of this research aims at extending the salient features of Salesian spirituality to the apostolate taken up by the MSFS congregation, of which I am a member, in the field of education, pastoral ministry and social projects. In this effort I shall underline the core values of Salesian spirituality to establish a better world. Concrete measures are suggested for the effective spread of this message that can provide an integrated life to the vast number of students in schools, and to other people who come in contact with us in other forms of apostolate. With the aim of educating the heart as the heart of education, Salesian ministry can bring a lot of healthy changes in the world today with its priority set on values, virtues and principles. It is only a life of holistic integration that can provide answers to the search of the modern man for self-realization.