Tag: spiritual development

Growing through the seasons of the church year

July 14, 2025

I have spent time pondering the idea of growing in faith at times that organically or spontaneously occur in our own life cycle (I have experienced that!) or focusing on growing in step with the organized calendar of Christianity’s liturgical seasons.   Really, I don’t think it needs to be an either/or – it can be both/and.  Faith growth that sprouts at our own times – based upon the seasons and circumstances of our own personal lives – sprouts and grows depending upon our own situations.  Our own circumstances are infinitely varied.   With this growth, I like to think of it happening within a phrase I recently came upon – within “The Hermitage Within.” What, though, of faith development that is nurtured by liturgical seasons?

With Pentecost some time behind us, we are well into what the Christian liturgical calendar (for many liturgically-oriented denominations) calls “Ordinary Time” – the times in the year that are not part of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter.  Our first period of “Ordinary Time” in the annual liturgical  calendar (the calendar itself starts at the beginning of Advent) is between the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (after the Christmas season) and the beginning of Lent.  Our second period of Ordinary Time happens between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent.

When we talk of “Ordinary Time” in our liturgical calendar, we are not simply describing “ordinary” time in the sense of “plain” or “a period of nothing special.” Rather, the term “ordinary” comes from the word “ordinal” – meaning numbered/ordered (“1st Week of Ordinary Time,” “2nd week of Ordinary Time,” etc.)

So, what are we – as parishioners – to do with this counted (ordinary) time on our liturgical calendar?    Our personal and communal faith need never be “ordinary” in the sense of “plain,” or “nothing special.”   God loves us and we are adopted daughters and sons of God.   We always have the opportunity to allow God to transform us into the people God intends for us to be – there is absolutely nothing “ordinary” about that!   Such transformation – when we surrender to allowing God to change us – truly is extraordinary.  We absolutely can surrender to this process year-round – including during “Ordinary Time.”

Liturgies – every church service we attend – is designed to help us surrender to this transformative encounter with God.

Looking for a deeper encounter with liturgy when you attend church?  Be fully present – attentive with no distraction.  Pray before church, ask God to help you to fully experience the service.  Get involved in church beyond attending on Sunday.   Volunteer at church – volunteering requires being attentive to what’s happening – a great bonus! Read faith books regularly. In short, be an attentive participant!

Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist. If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you subscribe to follow this blog (it’s free – thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them and invite them to subscribe (thank you!).

Our faith stages: developmental growth

May 15, 2025
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Growing in our faith is meant to involve life-long growth. Our religious understanding isn’t meant to stop after completing Sunday School. Just as our growth in other aspects of life continue maturing into adulthood, so should our faith.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) says the following: adult faith formation “fosters a baptismal spirituality for adults…to embrace the invitation and challenge of an ever deepening faith in Jesus.”

On many levels, our human experience involves continuing emotional and mental development throughout our adult lives. Job training develops us for the workforce. Continuing education and book reading foster our intellectual development. Just as we learn adult levels of emotional maturity throughout our lives and train as adults for workforce competence, adult faith formation must move beyond an introductory level to mature. Our faith life can only continue to mature through intentional development.

Individuals who grow up in a faith tradition and then continue to develop their knowledge and perceptions about religion – and engagement with their faith – navigate maturing stages described by development psychologists and theologians such as James Fowler.

For those who grow up in a faith tradition, learning one’s faith tradition is experienced early in life with sacraments, attending services, learning prayers, learning basic tenet’s of one’s faith tradition. For those who come to a faith tradition later, on, faith formation happens….well, later. Teen years and/or the early twenties are often a time for faith reflection and perhaps struggle. Do I believe in and accept the faith tradition I have been raised in? Can I see a path to greater and deeper faith maturity in my current faith tradition or another tradition? For those who continue on within an organized faith tradition, the teen-to-early-adult period is also one of transition: figuring out religious meaning on new levels (what are the underlying concepts represented by the symbolism of my faith tradition?, etc.), taking a deeper level of new responsibility for one’s faith (i.e., “this faith tradition was given to me as a child, now I’m evaluating my decision about if and how to stay, how to participate.” “I was given A, B, or C religious concepts as a child….What do these concepts mean to me now? Am I seeing these concepts differently or on a new level??). beyond “taking things at face value” or just “reciting back what you’ve heard.”).

As we navigate an adult level of faith, some adults need to navigate the faith stages of youth if those stages were not navigated earlier in life. Then – if we continue to grow in faith as adults – we surrender into additional levels of understanding faith and finding our way to new levels of relationship with God (and, therefore, with one another!).

The opportunity for faith to continue to develop and mature, however, is often stunted when there is no continued connection as an adult to faith formation. Adults can be surprised – if they take time away from religion or don’t engage with “beyond Sunday” faith formation within their religious tradition – to find out that their faith tradition offers a deeper level of understanding faith on a level of “come to weekend services and take faith concepts literally.”

An adult faith is one that continues to mature developmentally – deciding to take personal responsibility for one’s faith path, thinking through the faith concepts one was taught while growing up (if one grew up in a faith tradition), surrendering to new levels of understanding of religious concepts, etc. Many individuals who live an active faith as adults engage in – and experience – such maturing faith stages. Pastors recognize parishioners who navigate through such stages. Authors such as Jane Regan write about cultivating the maturing faith of adults (check out her book, “Toward an Adult Church“).

Further, there is the need for “life-long learning” of what faith traditions have to offer. There are boundless amounts of religious content available for we lay people to lean into – and an endless amount of ways for us to learn to bring that content into our lives. I am glad to be journeying with you via this blog.

Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist (and is a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). Blogging is sustainable via blog readership (i.e. readers/subscribers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you subscribe to follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them and invite them to subscribe (thank you!).