1. Our Search for God

2. Our search for God or God’s search for us?
I feel alone, separated, the “ego-centric predicament”
It feels like I must somehow “find God” out there in the universe

3. The “God-Thrust” of Faith/Religion
God is forever knocking on the door of the human heart, asking to be allowed in
God’s greatest gift: free will (ALWAYS up to me to say yes)
The spiritual journey is an INNER journey, starting with an OUTER experience

4. Experiences Shape Faith
1 – OUTER EXPERIENCE
Can be a painful crisis or an encounter with beauty – stops me in my tracks;
2 - INNER EXPERIENCE
Something happening inside me – a moment of illumination, enlightenment – I see more to life than what is on the outside
3 – UPPER EXPERIENCE
A sense of unification, connectedness, to the Transcendent – something/someone beyond

5. Seeking Faith? Put On “Beginner’s Mind”
Important, unskippable step in talking about God
No one has all the answers (some longer on the journey)
We change and grow over time, and so do our images of God

6. Faith is not rational certitude, just the opposite!
Faith is coming to realize that I DON’T KNOW
An embrace of mystery at the heart of all exsitence

7. Where Does Religion Come From?
Has ancient roots to the very beginning of human thought
Non-physical things are real –ideas, emotions, imagination, memory, relationships, intuition, suffering, joy, faith, love
To believe only in what you can see seems a peculiar form of blindness
We cannot even describe what IS physical

8. The Search for God Is Recorded in All Cultures, All Disciplines
Philosophy
Psychology
Anthropology
Ecology
Science
The Arts
Etc.

9. The Search for God is Innate
We are born with the need to make sense out of life – a search for meaning.
We seek answers to the “bigger” questions – Who am I?
Why am I here?

10. Faith Is A Life-Long Process

11. Restlessness Lies Deep in the Heart
Everyone has a fire or passion within
What we do with that passion = spirituality
A “holy longing” exists for transcendence, something beyond ourselves
Everyone seeks and finds something to fill the longing: GOD
God takes on many forms some true and some false

12. Only Religion Dares to Answer Ultimate Life Questions:
Why does the unexpected happen?
What do we make of the absurdities of life?
What happens when we die?
Who is God?
What is faith?
Is there a purpose for life?
What is the ultimate nature of reality?
What is the meaning of suffering?
Is there objective Truth?
What is evil?

13. The Search for God Lasts a Life Time
The search changes as we change
The search goes in stages
The search is developmental
“In seeking God,
we have already found God.”
Fr. Louis F. Knight

14. Is God Searching For You?
Catholic Faith says YES
We are the Chosen Ones, from all eternity, whether we know it or not
God is forever pursuing us, desiring a response but never forcing us.

15. So. The question is NOT: Who/What is God
So. . .The question is NOT: Who/What is God? But rather: What is your faith?

16. Defining Faith As. . . A Process A Gift of the Spirit
An evolving sense of relatedness to other persons.
An evolving sense of soul or spirit
 A dynamic, evolving pattern of the ways we find meaning in life.
A Gift of the Spirit
A Theological Virtue
Grounds us in relationship
Gives meaning and coherence to our lives

17. Faith is Paradoxical. . . Depends on God Depends on Us
A “simultaneous dance of Spirit”
“Pray as though everything depends on God, work as though everything depends on you.”
St. Augustine

18. STAGES OF FAITH
JAMES FOWLER

19. The Incorporative Self
Primal Faith
The Incorporative Self
0-2 years
Image of God:
Mirrored in Parents
Shaping what is to come
Prayer of Parent

20. Intuitive-Projective Faith the Impulsive Self 2-6 years Image of God:
Stage 1:
Intuitive-Projective Faith
the Impulsive Self
2-6 years
Image of God:
Literal, real
Baby in a Manger,
Man on a Cross
Rote, Memorized Prayer;
“God Bless……”

21. Intercessory, Prayer of Contrition
Stage 2:
Mythic-Literal Faith
The Imperial Self
7-12 years
Image of God:
Parent deity who
rewards & punishes
Imaginative Prayer;
Intercessory, Prayer of Contrition
Bargaining

22. Synthetic-Conventional Faith The Interpersonal Self 13-20 years
Stage 3:
Synthetic-Conventional Faith
The Interpersonal Self
13-20 years
Image of God:
Best Friend, companion
Prayer is “Talking to God”

23. Individuative-Reflective Faith
Stage 4:
Individuative-Reflective Faith
The Introspective Self
Adults Seriously on the Journey
Image of God:
nebulous, changing
Prayer: Contemplative, Meditative,
New forms, changing

24. The Inter-Individual Self Adults seriously on the journey for more
Stage 5:
Conjunctive Faith
The Inter-Individual Self
Adults seriously on the
journey for more
than 20 years
Image of God:
ever-changing
Prayer is Listening and Stillness
Contemplative Lifestyle

25. Prayer is Unitive, Mystical Deep abiding Stillness
Stage 6:
Universalizing Faith
The God-Grounded Self
“The Saints Among Us”
Image of God:
Free of images,
steeped in experience
Prayer is Unitive, Mystical
Deep abiding Stillness

26. Why Faith Matters Provides avenues of introspection
Faith leads to compassion, empathy, a caring for all of life
Faith is GOOD for you! (Religious people are happier, more optimistic, generous, etc.)
Faith provides a framework, a foundation upon which to live a deep and meaningful life

27. Where are you on the journey of faith?
What are the significant experiences in your life that made you go inward and then made you connect to God?