Conceptual Framework and Practical Implications
- Introduction
Spirituality is the soul of civilizations, and the underlying principle of human subsistence and interactions. It is a journey of reawakening of divine nature in oneself. A genuine spirituality gives meaning and direction to one’s life. Even non-believers can be spiritual since spirituality is not only related to the transcendent but also concretely associated with existential experiences. As Donal Dorr[1] writes, it is an all-inclusive element “in terms of one’s relationship with God or one’s personal experience of the transcendent but must be folly committed to respecting all fellow- humans and caring for the earth.”[2] Spirituality involves experience, which leads to an ever-growing awareness of oneself and to a stronger responsibility towards the neighbour. Thus, spirituality, in Sandra Schneider’s words, is a “religious self-transcendence that provides integrity and meaning to life by situating the person within the horizon of ultimacy.”[3] As human persons,
[1] In this article, Donal Dorr is repeatedly quoted. He hails from Ireland and is a member of St. Patrick s Missionary Society. He is a renowned liberation theologian and a zealous missionary. For several years, he served as a consultor to the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace. At present, he is actively involved in a group christened ‘APT’ (Act to Prevent Trafficking), which is propagating consciousness to safeguard women against sexual exploitation. Since the 1970s, he has been facilitating diverse religious and secular institutions as a trainer, resource person, and a consultant to management and leadership groups. He conducts various spiritual workshops and group dynamics activities for several congregations, and he too is committed to training social justice activists. The goal of his work has always laid “a particular emphasis on empowerment, community building, and conflict resolution.” Donal Dorr, “Home Page,” www.donaldorr.com (accessed on 25.03.2022).
[2] Donal Dorr, Spirituality: Our Deepest Heart’s Desire (Dublin: Columba Press 2008), 76.
[3] Quoted in Christopher Alexander, “An Architectural Reflection on Sandra Schneider’s and Philip Sheldrake’s Understanding of Christian Spirituality,” http://www.natureoforder.com/teachers/tomreflection.htm (accessed on 03.03.2022).
we live on love and relationships. We relate to ourselves and relate to other individuals and groups. In this chain of relationships, our spirituality affects others, and the lives of others affect our inner selves. “The different aspects of a holistic spirituality can be grouped under three headings – the personal, the interpersonal, and the public.”[1]
For Christians the life of Jesus is the epitome of a balanced spirituality. He established a warm friendship with the outcast and the poor, associated himself mostly with the underprivileged, cared for the downtrodden, challenged the religious hegemonical oppression, and instilled hope in the hearts of everyone genuinely seeking God’s Kingdom. Thus, Jesus’s life becomes the foundation for virtues, values, and a life-giving spirituality. The altruistically oriented aspect of spirituality makes sense even to ‘atheists’ and ‘humanists.’[2] Love of God leads to love of neighbour. Any spirituality contrary to this is a deceitful ideology: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).
A compelling question that troubles us often as Christians is: “Why do we engage in social actions of justice and empowerment of people?” We do so because the option for the poor is rooted in biblical spirituality. The primary research question for us in this article is: “How is spirituality related to the cause of ‘the option for the poor and the care for the environment’?” This is further expanded in the following questions: “How is spirituality related to social life? What is an integral spirituality? What are its diverse nuances?”
Inferring from the biblical wisdom, life is not to be compartmentalized, rather all the aspects are to be interwoven as a single entity. Spirituality is not to be understood only in terms of prayer, worship, or other liturgical celebrations. The relationship with God must be translated into fruit-bearing activities in our daily lives. In the context of unjust social structures, economic inequality, and consumerist globalization, the poor are pushed to the peripheries. The unjust social order provokes violence among the less privileged (e.g. Naxalites and Maoists are the products of unjust socio-economic arrangements). In this scenario, the need to revisit the relationship between spirituality and the social concern of justice; thus, this article attempts to unpack the link between the spiritual dimension and the active paradigm of works of justice and mercy.
- Spirituality and Its Nuances
In every human heart, there is a longing for something beyond. Every action we perform is also aimed at achieving something ‘beyond,’ because inherently we are spiritual beings. All our activities are directed towards God (for a believer) or towards an absolute truth or values (for a non-believer). The spiritual dimension is also one of the essential aspects that differentiates the human world from the animal world. As we know from the lived experience, lack of healthy spirituality leads to violence and bloodshed. Spirituality is not limited to the realm of reflection and worship alone, “rather it is concerned with the unfolding of the deeper dimensions of everything [we] do or say or feel.”[3] Spirituality calls for two kinds of transcendence. The basic attitude or the habit one has cultivated helps a person to transcend one’s humdrum concerns to find coherent purpose, meaning, and direction in life. In a way, spirituality helps a person to narrow the gap between the values and ethical commitments one believes in and the actual practice of these values in everyday life situations. The second level of transcendence becomes possible only if we believe that it is God who calls us for the commitment of deeper values like peace, justice, equality, fraternity, and care for the environment. While “the first level of transcendence carried us beyond the everyday to the deeper values, the second level carries us beyond the values to God, the source, and end of all values.”[4] Thus, spirituality is an all-embracing phenomenon of life. We cannot decide to choose between God and human values. From a Christian perspective, human values are a consequence of a living relationship with God. “All of us need a rounded spirituality,”[5] a healthy combination of both – interpersonal and the religious aura.
- Clarification of the Term ‘Spirituality’
The term spirituality, usually, has polarized nuances and people try to arrive at ‘either… or’ positions. For people like St. Clare spirituality means pure reflection, meditation, and a life segregated from the busy world. But for the Noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore spirituality means active participation in the world rather than withdrawal from it. As he writes in Gitanjali:
Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark comer of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil! …Come out of thy meditations and leave thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.[6]
Donal Dorr, however, adopts the middle path: for him, the two dimensions are two characters
[1] Donal Dorr, Integral Spirituality: Resources for Community, Justice, Peace, and the Earth (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1990), 1.
[2] “‘Humanist’ is a person who follows a system of beliefs that concentrates on common human needs and seeks rational (rather than divine) ways of solving human problems.” “Humanist,” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, ed. A. p. Cowie, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 608.
[3] Dorr, Integral Spirituality, 272.
[4] Ibid, 273
[5] Dorr, Spirituality: Our Deepest Heart’s Desire, 8.
[6] Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, 17-18, http://manybooks.net/build/pdf_builder.php/tagoreraetext04gitnj10/pdf/-custiliad/tagoreraetext04gitnj10 custiliad.pdf (accessed on 12.03.2022).
of a single principle. Spirituality is the intervention of the Holy Spirit, for a call within to go beyond. The call to go beyond refers to a person becoming genuinely human by actualizing individual potentialities and by achieving the personhood or the image that God wants one to become. It is a call from within because the spirit does not stay somewhere outside and work on oneself but enters a human person, stirring, guiding, and shaping to set a new direction, focusing on a new vision, and to give a new meaning to one’s life.
A salubrious spirituality cannot be constrained to a mere call, but it also entails a response. This response is usually twofold: “a living relationship with the God who comes close to us, and a practical earthly commitment to human liberation in one form or another.”[1] Thus, the first response is regarding people’s relationship with God, which is the religious dimension of spirituality, and the second response is regarding one’s commitment towards fellow human beings and the world, which is the interpersonal dimension of spirituality. This interpersonal dimension of spirituality calls for a responsibility towards the suffering, seeking justice for the marginalized and the downtrodden, as well as a duty-bound concern towards ecology. The religious dimension of spirituality can involve a reflection on the awe-filled appreciation at the mystery of God, a feeling of gratitude towards his benevolence and providential care, amazement on the uniqueness of every individual and the beauty and unsolved mysteries of the earth.
Spirituality is also aimed at leading a person towards the fullness of personhood or towards the kind of person he/she is called to be. But as we observe, there is a wide gap between the reality and the possibility. This gap can be bridged through God’s grace, as well as through one’s own response, i.e., through religious and interpersonal dimensions.
- The Concept of Balanced Spirituality
It is neither an academic treatise nor a theological discourse, but it is one’s very life, which reveals one’s spirituality. Prophet Micah gives a precise idea of the requirements of a balanced spirituality. “What does the Lord require of you: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8). The spirituality becomes distorted or misbalanced when one of the aspects is over-emphasized and others are overlooked. Here spirituality does not mean “just a set of theological ideas…but more of an outlook and attitudes we have; our spirituality is revealed not so much by theories we propose as by the way we act and react.”[2] In order to have a balanced spirituality in one’s life a person must have conversion at three levels, religions, moral, and political.
4.1 Conversion and Sailing along the Path of
God
The notion of ‘journeying with humility along the path of God’ refers to an individual’s personal relationship with God, thus there arises an invitation to a religious conversion. “Religious conversion helps a person to accept one’s weakness. This acceptance gives a person the kind of sympathy which one needs to have with others who, willingly or unwillingly, reveal themselves in their inadequacies as well as their gifts.”[3] This conversion could be either a gradual process as in the case of St. Augustine or a flashing spectacular event as in the case of St. Paul. Here what matters is not the process, but the end result, i.e., the conversion.
Conversion calls for an experience of forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean just being forgiven of the past sins but becoming aware that God loves me despite my weaknesses, stubbornness, and unfaithfulness. The process of conversion also entails an awareness of the providence of God, that he has imprinted us in his palm and that, even if a mother forgets her sucking child, he will not forget us (Isa 49:15-16). It is the sense of providence which gives meaning to ‘the plan of God’ in a person’s life. It is the same providence of God which makes us worthy of the kingdom like Jesus by leading, guiding, and healing through the day-to-day life events.
In God’s providence, there is an interplay between God’s sovereignty and human freedom. Individuals are entirely free but at the same time, God has plans for everyone. Indeed, it is tough to reconcile both. God of the Bible lives among his people, and he cares for his people. It is the same God who called Moses in the wilderness and said: “I have observed the misery of my people” (Ex 3:7). This theme continues throughout the New Testament. Jesus not only voiced against the unjust social structures, but he also fulfilled people’s mundane necessities when required. The very feeling one has that God cares for me is a realization of God’s grace in one’s life. In prayer, one can become aware of the providence of God. When our lives sail through rough weather we need to pray like Jesus, ‘Lord it is not my will, let thy will be done.’
The awareness of Providence also involves accepting Christ as one’s Lord and Master, which means “allowing Jesus, to be the criterion of my plans and actions.” Once this is done, “an individual is able to discern the consonance or discordance between one’s proposed line of action and the life of Jesus.”[4] Dorr suggests that even in our plans we should look for the will of God. However, today we not only take ultimate decisions about our lives through Euthanasia, we also choose to end others’ lives through abortion. Today, one of the reasons behind human misery is that we are trying to become the ultimate controllers of our lives until death.
4.2 Love without Boundaries
Love without boundaries calls for a moral conversion and faithfulness. Moral conversion is “a process of withdrawal from self-enclosure to self-transcendence in one’s decisions.”[5] The sign of a morally converted person is showcased in honesty and trust of others; he/she also becomes genuinely other-centered, other-oriented, and sensitive to the needs of the other. Moral conversion is a gratuitous gift from God, which sometimes involves the risk of vulnerability, being offended and betrayed, so one is free either to accept it or reject it. This gift “makes us to give ourselves freely, first of all to God, but also to others.”[6]
God is the prototype and source of love.
Our love is to be modeled on the enduring faithful love that God shows us (“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.’ Jer 31:3). Therefore, moral conversion involves not merely the power to reach out to others but also the power to ‘stay with’ them, to be loyal even in the difficult times.[7]
The epitome of this steadfast love is well described in the book of Hosea (3:1 -2), where God is personified as the husband and Israel as the wife. God was steadfast in his love for Israel though Israel was unfaithful going after other gods, and this should be our fundamental attitude in our love towards others.
4.3 Towards a Just Social Order
In the scheme of balanced spirituality, justice demands political conversion with an understanding of the functionality of the society and a commitment to change the unjust social structures by replacing them with just “economic, political, cultural and ecclesiastical spheres.”[8] This aspect of balanced spirituality deals with the public and political area of social life. To ‘act justly means “to eradicate and curb every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion as incompatible with God’s design.”[9] We must make sure that the minority and the marginalized are not discriminated but have dignified living conditions and equal opportunities to excel and flourish.
A question can arise in our minds—why is spirituality, which is supposed to be dealing with transcendental matters, concerned with all these social issues? According to Dorr, “For Christians,
[1] Dorr, Integral Spirituality, 271.
[2] Donal Dorr, “A Balanced Spirituality,” Furrow 34/12 (1983): 758.
[3] Dorr, “A Balanced Spirituality,” 763.
[4] Ibid., 761.
[5] Robert M. Doran, “What Does Bernard Lonergan Mean by ‘Conversion’,” http://www.lonerganresource.com/pdf/-lectures/What%20Does%20Bernard%20Lonergan%20Mean%20by %20Conversion.pdf (accessed on 02.03.2022).
[6] Donal Dorr, Time for a Change: A fresh look at Spirituality, Sexuality, Globalization and the Church (Dublin: The Columba, 2004), 29.
[7] Dorr, “A Balanced Spirituality,” 762-763.
[8] Dorr, Integral Spirituality, 147.
[9] Catechism of the Catholic Church (New Delhi: Theological Publications in India, 1966), no. 1935.
spirituality cannot be divorced from morality either at the individual level or in relation to major social and ecological issues.”[1] A self-centered person becomes blind to social issues. Neither can we consider the material world to be evil, nor can we discourage people from actively participating in public, political, and environmental concerns of the globe because the Bible says “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). One should not misguide people by saying that those who suffer in this world will be rewarded in heaven; hence, do not fight against injustice, rather endure oppressions patiently. Such kind of spirituality is not a prophetic spirituality because we know from the gospels that Jesus voiced against unjust structures and practices.
Justice for the poor demands a preferential option for the poor. By making an option for the poor we are not despising the rich, but we are showing a special consideration towards the poor because the rich have wealth, money, and power to look after themselves. In Jesus’ own words, it is the sick that need a doctor (Mk 2:17). Making an option for the poor does not mean just sympathizing with them or doing a few remedial services for them, but sharing their experiences of vulnerability, rejection, and powerlessness. Dorr states:
Jesus gives us a radical example of this kind of solidarity. He came from a despised village. His lifestyle was that of a wanderer who had ‘nowhere to lay his head’ (Mt 8:20). He mixed with the common people, he made friends with outcasts who were seen as sinners, and he gave time to heal the sick who were seen as cursed by God.[2]
One must feel that he/she is called by God to serve the poor and he/ she must make the poor to feel that God is on their side. Poor must realize that just as God had concern for the people of Israel when they were in the Egyptian bondage, today he has concern for them.
4.4 Integration of Conversions
The components of religious, moral, and political conversions are connected to one another diametrically, and they become perfected only in relation to each other. “Our spirituality must be rooted not in just one or two aspects of conversion but in all three — the ‘religious’, the ‘moral’ and the ‘political’. It is a distortion of Christian faith to neglect any of them or to fail to work for a full integration of the three.”[3] An ideal society can be established only when all three aspects of conversions are realized in a person’s life. Often people become too centered on one of the aspects of spirituality neglecting the other. While some people concentrate too much on prayer and reflection blinding themselves from social issues around them, others are so busy in the socio-political field round the clock that they have no time for personal prayer and internalization. In Christian spirituality the interpersonal and public aspect of life should be the consequence of the profound union with Christ in prayer, thus Christ becomes the source of all that we do and say.
- External Expressions of Integrated
Spirituality
We have discussed what makes spirituality balanced and holistic. Here we will articulate some of the necessary implications or external expressions of spirituality. For Dorr, structural justice, interpersonal respect, and personal integrity all come together at the heart of an integrated spirituality.”[4]
5.1 A Move from ‘Self’ to the ‘Other’
The Trinitarian God of the Bible is a God of giving. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). The Son emptied himself (Phil 2:7) so that we may have life and life in abundance (Jn 10:10), and the Spirit brings forth new life (Ezek 37: l).
In this ultra-modem age, we witness people becoming more and more self-centered in their thinking; they have no time for anyone including God. From this perspective, we need to especially focus on this move from self to the other. Western societies’ social security system (health care, education, and decent living conditions for all) is highly praiseworthy. Everyone contributes to it, the citizens in particular and the government at large. Such a system, is, in fact, a move from ‘self to the ‘other.’ In the Indian sub-continent, in general, the move from ‘self’ to the ‘other’ is not much seen at the governmental level. Every taxpayer thinks, I studied spending my money, I secured my job because of my merit, and now I am working hard to earn my money, so why should I pay tax? People try their best to evade paying taxes.
It is a shame that the most expensive and extravagantly luxurious house in the world is in India. It is a 27-story tower called Antilla and it is located in Mumbai. The net worth of this residence is 2.6 billion.[5] It belongs to petrochemical giant Mukesh Ambani. It is a flamboyant display of wealth and power in a country where 32.7% of people (according to 2021 survey) live on less than $1.25 a day.[6] India is rich in resources, yet most of the people are still poor. According to 2022 survey, on the one side, “India has the third highest number of billionaires after US and China -142 billionaires,”[7] on the other side, “21.9% of people (according to 2020 world bank data) are living in below poverty line.”[8] This difference in economic condition is the result of self-centeredness and selfishness. In order to change this unfortunate situation, people must move from the ‘self’ to the ‘other,’ and this will become possible only with the spiritual, moral, and political conversions of people.
5.2 Establishing a Just Socio-Economic
Order
The vital element in the public aspect of social life is structural justice. The United Nations’ 2006 document ‘Social Justice in an open world: The role of the United Nations’ states that “social justice may be broadly understood as the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth… .”[9] Often a group or individuals are mistreated or oppressed either because they have no power to defend themselves or because there is no one to defend them. “People may be exploited, or unfair advantage may be taken of them because they are not in a good bargaining position, or because they are not aware of their rights.”[10]
Each individual’s human dignity whether poor or rich, belonging to a high caste or low caste, should be respected. We must continually remind ourselves that ‘everyone is created in the image and likeness of God’ (Gen 1:26), whereby all human beings have equal rights and privileges, thus by all means justice should be promoted. “Justice is a foundation for peace is not just an abstract ideal; it is a fact that is verified in history…Most societies that survive over many generations have certain ‘checks and balances built into them, thereby ensuring some measure of equity.”[11]
According to Dorr, “Structural injustice arises when one nation, race, class, gender, group, or individual has undue and unchecked power and is therefore in a position to take advantage over others.”[12] The cause for the existence of inequality or the powerlessness of the marginalized is basically due to the insensitivity of the rich towards the poor. “Such exploitation occurs on every level, from that of the local moneylender to that of the loans given or refused by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”[13] In addition to this, the misuse of power in political, religious, and cultural spheres contribute to the existing unjust structures. In order to establish structural justice, everyone should become conscious of the worth and dignity of all human beings, and there should be ‘checks and balances’ of the use of power at all levels.
The common good of society requires that all agencies – political, social, and economic – respect the principle of subsidiarity. This means that responsibility is to be exercised as far as possible at a lower level rather than a higher level. However, the common good requires that there be monitoring agencies at every level, from the local up to the international level, to ensure that abuses are minimized.[14]
The government policies and state laws should aim at safeguarding the rights and providing decent living conditions for the poor. The rich should not look at the poor as rivals but as brothers and sisters in need.
5.3 Fellow-Feeling towards Environment
All over the world, the indigenous people considered themselves as part of nature, and treated it with respect and care. However, the modem people have replaced this value with exploitation in the name of development. God has given us the nature ‘to till and keep it’ (Gen 2:15), and not to exploit it. The natural world does not exist just for the use of human world, but it does have an intrinsic value. Laura Westra argues that “ecological integrity is real and identifiable in the natural world; hence, the principle of integrity is essentially the injunction to respect the integrity of ecological and biological processes.”[15] Unfortunately, we have exploited the nature ruthlessly to the extent of destroying its integrity. By exploiting nature, we are stealing the resources of future generations. The scientific developments have created a ‘mechanistic outlook’ towards nature, viewing it as a mere commodity that exists for our benefit and use.
The development of eco-spirituality that human beings are part of nature is very much appreciable. Option for the poor and care for the earth are interrelated, as Pope Francis writes in Laudato Si ’, “a sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.”[16] According to the Celtic way, the progress of holiness “involves an effort to develop an awareness of the presence of God in everything and everybody — above us, below us and all around us at the four points of the compass.”[17] Nature helps us to know God and experience his benevolence. “Humans are the stewards of the good of the Earth and have a duty to respect them and use them for the benefit of all.”[18] We all have the ecological responsibility to care for the earth, by not recklessly using the energy and resources, by not wasting the minerals, by not using unsuitable technologies for experiment, and by not polluting the earth. If we continue to exploit the earth, it will cause ecological imbalance resulting in a threat to the survival of life on the planet.
- Conclusion
From our common wisdom we know that spirituality cannot be disconnected from lived experiences. Our spirituality should be life-giving following the example of Jesus, who said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Dorr opines that “Spirituality is not a private affair, a one-to-one relationship with God, but argues that spirituality has a public and even political dimensions. If we ignore that, our spirituality will be seriously defective.”[19] Hence, we must open our eyes to the realities around us and work to amend the unjust social structures in order to uplift the poor and the marginalized from the filth of misery and sorrow.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus was physically present on this earth and went about healing, forgiving, alleviating sufferings, and raising voice against the unjust social structures. Today Jesus is not physically present with us; it is we who must become his hands and feet reaching to the poor and the underprivileged. Our spirituality must help us to establish a society and nation, about which Rabindranath dreams of in Gitanjali:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever- widening thought and action; Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.[20]
This kind of society is possible only in a just, serene, and harmonious social conditions, where everyone is treated equally, where everyone has freedom, where everyone enjoys a balanced economic status, where everyone enjoys equal rights. A balanced spirituality can pave the way for such a society. Dorr states: “Those who take on this spirituality are committed to finding ways to be in solidarity with the poor and disadvantaged at an experiential level.”[21] Spirituality should be liberating and enriching. Change always involves a struggle between two forces, the one who wants to maintain the status quo and the other who wants to alter it. This struggle should not find climax in violent animosity but in a harmonious synthesis, which would lead to the betterment of the poor and the underprivileged. This is where spirituality comes into the scene as a handy reference point.
For us Christians, as Bible points out, there is a logical connection that leads spirituality to social justice concerns. This concern is radicalised by the option for the poor. Let us come back to the question: Why should we make an option for the poor? A Christian’s retort is clear: Because God makes that choice. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk 6:20). In the book of Amos, Prophet Amos rebukes and passes judgment over the oppressors of the helpless: “Thus says the Lord: I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals – they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way” (Am 2:6-7). So too we are expected to make the same choice. When we do so, we can proudly be part of that tradition of faith, which seeks to build a better world for everyone.
(Ref: Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, Vol. 87, No.6, June 2023, pp.9-25)
[1] Dorr, Spirituality: Our Deepest Heart’s Desire, 134. Here the term ‘Semi- Spiritual Person’ is used as contrast to ‘Balanced or Integral Spiritual Person.’ In this article, the terms ‘Integral spirituality’ and ‘Balanced spirituality’ are used interchangeably.
[2] Dorr, Time for a Change, 19.
[3] Dorr, “A Balanced Spirituality,” 766.
[4] Dorr, Integral Spirituality, 5.
[5] J. F. Sargant, “Top Ten Most Expensive Homes in the World,” http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-expensive-homes-in-the-world.php (accessed on 17.03.2022).
[6] Millennium Development Goals Indicator (The Official United Nations Site for the MDG Indicators) http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Data.aspx (accessed on 17.03.2022).
[7] Atish Patel, “India has World’s Third-Largest billionaires,” http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/02/04/india- has-worlds-third-largest-number-of-billionaires/ (accessed on 17.03.2022).
[8] The World Bank, “India – Economy & Growth,” http://data.worldbank.org/country/india (accessed on 17.03.2022).
[9] The International Forum for Social Development, “Social Justice in an Open World: The role of the United Nations,” § 7. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/ifsd/SocialJustice.pdf (accessed on 17.03.2022).
[10] Dorr, Integral Spirituality, 141.
[11] Ibid., 161
[12] Ibid., 163.
[13] Donal Dorr, The Social Justice Agenda: Justice, Ecology, Power and the Church (New York: Orbis, 1991), 90.
[14] Dorr, The Social Justice Agenda, 89.
[15] Cited in Celia E. Deane-Drummond, The Ethics of Nature (Chester: Wiley Blackwell, 2004), 35.
[16] Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 91, https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papafrancesco-2015052enciclica-laudato-si.html (accessed on 20.05.2022).
[17] Dorr, Time for a Change, 185.
[18] Dorr, The Social Justice Agenda, 85.
[19] Dorr, Spirituality: Our Deepest Heart’s Desire, 148.
[20] Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, 30,
http://manybooks.net/build/pdf_builder.php/Tagoreraetext04gitnj10/pdf/custiliad/tagoreraetext04gitnj10custiliad.pdf (accessed on 12.03.2022).
[21] Dorr, Spirituality: Our Deepest Hearts Desire, 148.
make an option for the poor? A Christian’s retort is clear: Because God makes that choice. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk 6:20). In the book of Amos, Prophet Amos rebukes and passes judgment over the oppressors of the helpless: “Thus says the Lord: I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals – they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way” (Am 2:6-7). So too we are expected to make the same choice. When we do so, we can proudly be part of that tradition of faith, which seeks to build a better world for everyone.
(Ref: Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, Vol. 87, No.6, June 2023, pp.9-25)
