Are Catholics Spiritual or Religious?

This Sunday's readings can be found here.

Have you ever heard someone say “I consider myself more spiritual than religious” or “I am a spiritual person, not a religious person”?  There is a temptation today to see some sort of opposition between spirituality and religion.  Many people are interested in different kinds of spiritualities but some reject religion as almost a bad thing — as if it threatens or impedes spirituality.  To be able to respond to this apparent contradiction, we need to define “spirituality” and “religion.”

“Spirituality” refers to a person’s relationship with God.  It is deeply personal, individual and interior.  “Religion”, on the other hand, is an external, social phenomenon that has profound roots in the human personality.  Lots of people want to consider themselves “spiritual” rather than “religious” because they fear that religion gets in the way of their personal relationship with God.  Sadly, this can be true of more than a few Christian sects.  Some of these fear Catholic Christianity in particular because they think it stifles their interpretation of the Bible.  A “Me and Jesus” spirituality is more appealing than “belonging to the Catholic Church” — or any church for that matter.  Another reason these kinds of people fear religion (in this case, Catholicism) is because being “religious” means living according to moral precepts and being subject to an authority outside oneself.  Sadly, they see the Catholic Church as not only being an obstacle to spirituality but also to their conception of freedom.

What is awesome about being Catholic is that we are both 100% spiritual and 100% religious.  In the Catholic Church, there is no contradiction between these two dimensions of our faith.  In fact, spirituality and religiosity complement each other.  As regards spirituality, we must have a deep, abiding relationship with Jesus Christ as the Lord of our life and as our dearest friend.  This is expressed in our personal prayer, devotions, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  And yet, because man was not created to be alone, we express our faith “religiously” when we come together to praise God as members of His holy Church at holy Mass!  Without sounding too hokey, I think it is fair to say that Catholicism is not just a “Me and Jesus” spirituality but rather a “We and Jesus” community.

As members of Christ’s Body, the Church, God gives us everything we need to live through, with and in Jesus Christ.  However, He knows we are weak, we struggle with our own sins and broken relationships, and we cannot do anything without Him.  In the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Unity, our Lord wishes to sacramentally unite His sacred flesh with our weak flesh in order to keep us faithful to Him in our thoughts, words and deeds; to keep us close to Him in our spirituality and united with each other in holy religion; and to speak to us tenderly as our God and dearest friend.