Our Story: Spirituality
God loved the world so much he sent his only Son to the world to live as a human being. John describes it in his gospel this way: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)
Jesus, the Incarnate Word, assumed our human condition. He experienced the hopes and sufferings common to all human beings.
The Incarnation, the mystery that God in the person of Jesus Christ became human and lives among us, is the foundation of our spirituality. Through Jesus, the Incarnate Word, we are called to a deeper relationship with God and with others. We stand in solidarity with all people as we promote and safeguard human dignity.
Our spirituality is expressed through seven words (pdf) that are foundational to our way of life; we call these "birthing words" because, as we strive to live by these values, we bring to life in the world the love of God made visible in Jesus, the Incarnate Word.
HUMANITY invites us to welcome human fragility and reach out in love to every person.
RELATIONSHIP calls us into communion with God, with others, with ourselves and with all creation.
PRESENCE invites us to recognize and reverence Christ in every person.
COMPASSION enables us to feel the pain of others and respond to their need.
SACRAMENT calls us to be prophetic signs of God’s love in the world.
EUCHARIST invites us to be the bread of life for others.
CONTEMPLATION allows us to see the world with new eyes, and to discern the realities of our time and the needs of God’s people.
In writing about the Incarnation, Pope John Paul II said:
Jesus reveals the face of God the Father "compassionate and merciful" (Jas. 5:11), and with the sending of the Holy Spirit he makes known the mystery of love which is the Trinity. …. The church is in the world as the living presence of the love of God, who leans down to every human weakness in order to gather it into the embrace of his mercy.” (Incarnationis Mysterium, 3, 9)