Simplicity and Spiritual Mentorship

Making decisions about the future is scary, even in good times. However, when one has someone more experienced to follow, look at, and emulate it is a great help when we are weighing options and making personal decisions. We all need spiritual mentorship, especially the young. I remember in my youth how daunting it was to consider the life in front of me. Once I was asked, “What do you want to do with your life?” My answer, “I want to help people,” and I was laughed at.

The Servant of God, Luigi Giussani said that we need to get to know the person in front of us. I understood that sentence only recently in light of decisions I had to make in my own life as I considered the need for spiritual mentorship.

Mentorship

Saint John Paul II would go up to the mountains and read C.S. Lewis with his youth group. He would say mass and go on hikes with so many. He was such a great man. For me, this example is a starting point.

The media is full of shows and movies about teachers, parents, and coaches who try to mentor others; however, how do we set an example to others?  They act as role models and this could be a great thing. I watched a Ted Talk by an educator, “Every child deserves a champion.” It is very beautiful to see others being helped as they move through life, but the real champion is Christ. It is Christ who speaks to us through others.

Sometimes, we cast perfection on everyone we meet and even on ourselves. However, when we look at Christ, we realize our frailty and how much we need Him. We hope and pray to look at Him as our spiritual mentor, asking Jesus what He wants for our lives. This results in big questions that must be addressed. Christ puts these questions in front of us and then we must respond.

Saying Yes

When we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, we know that Mary’s ‘YES’ was the beginning of something great. I think of people such as St. Gianna Molla who sacrificed her life for her child. St. Theresa of Avila was eleven years old when her mother died and being so grief-stricken that she turned to Our Lady for solace. This was written in her autobiography.

John Paul II lost his family by the time he was 20 and he knew who he could turn to – Mary. We call our priest’s Father out of love and respect because we want to follow them. That is why St. Paul said: “even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” (1 Corinthians 4:15)

As Pope Francis once said in a homily, spiritual fatherhood

is a grace we priests must implore: the grace of pastoral fatherhood, of spiritual fatherhood. Indeed, although we can all have sins, even many sins, not having spiritual sons and daughters, not becoming pastors, is equivalent to living a life that does not reach the end but stops halfway.

Who Do I Follow?

What does all this mean? For me, it means – who do I follow? Who can show me the road to indicate Christ? Who is my mentor? The road of life is full of challenges but we all need someone who could be someone to look at – to follow. As nuns are brides of Christ, there are others who sacrifice so much to lead others to Christ. He is always our final destination.

St. John Bosco was responsible for great work with young people. He said, “Without confidence and love, there can be no true education.” This holds true for all of us. How can we trust without love? It is not the love that the media and society teach us but the great love that only God can show us through Christ. Despite having taught for so long, those teachable moments are much more important, and I always needed to be attentive to know when those moments present themselves. It is so important to be attentive to what is happening around us.

Some Thoughts

Looking back on the decisions I have made and what is happening around me in every moment, I understood how I was mistakenly taught to take my life into my own hands and make my own decisions. Schools and society force us to be independent and make our own decisions and be self-made.

However, Catholicism takes a different approach. We are taught to depend on those who have gone before us. I think of the story of St. Jean Vianney. I visited Ars, France, and his parish and I was awestruck. He was a simple man without much to offer according to society, but it was Christ who saw things differently. He said, “The virtue of obedience makes the will supple… It inspires the courage with which to fulfill the most difficult tasks.”

This is a great challenge for all of us. St. Jean Vianney, a truly simple and humble man followed and depended on God. I think that spiritual parenting or spiritual mentorship basically means being a witness and being an example. He also said that if people would do for God in the same way they would do for the world, then many of us would get to heaven.

Simplicity

It is so important to set an example but one that is based on faith in Christ. In the early Church, great saints and martyrs were made. According to Pope Benedict, the ancient world was converted without a plan and without missionaries. People simply lived their faith. This is the simplicity of the Annunciation, of John Bosco, and Jean Vianney, and other spiritual mentors. This is the simplicity we need.