The Five years of Spiritual Formation
General Presentation of Spiritual Formation in Seminary
The primary mission of the Seminary is to form seminarians in the spiritual life, enabling them to respond fruitfully to the call to holiness. This formation is the privileged foundation that underpins all other aspects of their formation, creating an organic integration with their human, liturgical, theological, and pastoral development.
Spiritual formation must be rooted in the living spiritual tradition of the Catholic Church, drawing especially on the teachings of the Doctors and Masters of the spiritual life. This tradition fosters experiential knowledge of the stages of spiritual growth, with the aim of leading seminarians to union with Christ and to a loving participation in His redemptive mission. It is this formation that will equip them to lead their future flock towards holiness.
Introduction
This chapter may appear new, bold, or even unsettling due to the amount of unfamiliar material it presents. In reality, however, it contains nothing truly new; it simply draws deeply from the living spiritual tradition of the Church.
The purpose of this chapter is to lay the foundations for spiritual formation in the seminary—a formation that leads to holiness, one firmly grounded in theology (specifically a renewed spiritual theology), and one that plays a vital role in harmonising all other dimensions of formation: human, liturgical, theological, philosophical, and pastoral.
The primary task of the future priest is the pursuit of holiness, and his principal mission is to lead his flock along the same path. His understanding of the journey towards holiness is therefore central to his life; living it authentically and receiving sound discernment will enable him to accompany and guide his brothers and sisters on that journey.
This reflects the simple unfolding of grace: receiving it, understanding it, and transmitting it.
It goes without saying that this chapter is pivotal to the entire formation of the priest—and therefore central to this book.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, deep spiritual formation within the seminary is as essential to the life of the Church as adult catechesis. However, it follows from and presupposes such catechesis. It is therefore important, during the process of vocational discernment and throughout the propaedeutic year, to ensure that adult formation has been both received and lived. This helps to safeguard against a premature response to Jesus’ call—particularly when it follows too closely upon a recent second conversion, or even a first conversion.
The Church reminds us that at a certain moment in his life Jesus Calls a man in a more evident way – still it has to be discerned. Jesus enters his life in a stronger way and invites him to follow Him, on a journey which is meant to lead him to a closer union with him and to serve him reaching the fullness of love.
To answer Jesus’ Call and follow Him, the Church offers the immense treasures of its living tradition of spiritual teaching. However, a practical, clear, and fruitful spiritual formation is essential to help us respond in the most fitting way, walking in harmony with the Lord and the Holy Spirit towards the goal: union with Jesus and the fullness of love. This formation must be offered to all seminarians.
As is evident today, the academic demands placed on seminarians occupy a considerable place in their lives—often overshadowing all other dimensions of formation. This imbalance is detrimental. What is needed is not to diminish the academic aspect of formation, but to introduce a renewed and robust structure of spiritual theology—one capable of supporting the full weight of the formation journey.
Since spiritual theology currently holds only a marginal place within the broader theological curriculum, this shift may appear novel or even difficult to envision. This is precisely why this chapter is so vital: it seeks to reshape academic formation in close integration with spiritual formation. The benefit of such an approach is immense—it allows for the unification of the whole formation process.
A strong, renewed academic framework based on a greatly developed spiritual theology will profoundly impact every aspect of the seminarian’s and future priest’s life: the liturgy (both the Mass and the Divine Office), personal prayer (including Lectio Divina, the Prayer of the Heart, and closeness to Our Lady), human formation (especially in the areas of emotional and sexual maturity), and pastoral ministry. The impact will come from within, vivifying all these areas of his life.
When making choices regarding this renewed and robust spiritual formation (robust i.e. leaning on a renewed and deepened Spiritual Theology), it is essential for the Church to offer seminarians what is most common and vital among the treasures of her spiritual tradition—drawing primarily from the Mass itself. In the Holy Mass, we encounter the most powerful and nourishing spiritual food: the Word of Jesus and His Body and Blood. Spiritual formation must be rooted here.
We must also draw from the finest Catholic spiritual masters and seek to offer an uncluttered, practical, and clear teaching—one that prepares seminarians to live and minister in a hectic and fragmented world. Such formation will offer them an inner centre—a place within they know how to access and abide in—one that becomes the centre from which they later serve and guide their brothers and sisters.
By imparting this interior life to the seminarian, the salt of the Gospel remains alive and sharp, capable of challenging and transforming. He also learns in a practical way what God expects of us and, so to speak, how to “trigger” the grace of God, as taught by the great spiritual masters. In this sense, the future priest must become an expert in understanding how grace works in the baptised soul, so that he may discern its presence in his parishioners and guide them to green—or greener—pastures.
On the journey to holiness, we cannot rely on a vague generalisation such as: receive the sacraments, be fervent, and serve in the parish, and you will automatically become a saint. Today, we must equip future priests with a deeper and more precise understanding of the process of sanctification.
When one hears the Lord’s call to follow Him, the spiritual tradition of the Church—especially that of Carmel—identifies five distinct stages of teaching, each corresponding to a particular phase of spiritual growth. These five stages are divided into two parts: the first three, and then the subsequent two. Their importance is paramount, as the transition between the third and fourth stages forms a kind of “bottleneck” that grants access to the final stages of deeper union with God.
Spiritual Formation
1- The Universal Call to Holiness
On 21st November 1964, the Second Vatican Council published one of its most significant documents: the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium. Chapter 5 of this document solemnly declared that all members of the Church, regardless of their state of life, are called to holiness. In many respects, this constitutes the most powerful statement of the entire Council.
Prior to this, the Church had often functioned—at least in practice—with an implicit two-tier understanding of the faithful: on the one hand, the “saved” who manage to avoid Hell, though perhaps destined for Purgatory; and on the other, the “holy”—composed largely of priests and religious. The declaration of Lumen Gentium decisively rejects this implicit division.
It is crucial to recognise that, since this is a call, it occurs in time—at a specific point in a person’s life: early, in mid-life, or even towards the end. This naturally divides one’s life into two distinct phases: before the call and after the call. Yet this raises a vital question: are we always and everywhere in a position to hear Jesus’ call to follow Him?
In this light, life before the call becomes a time of preparation—an unfolding that disposes the heart to hear Him. Catechesis and a wholehearted commitment to one’s Christian life are key conditions that clear the way for hearing Christ’s call with freedom and readiness.
The universal call to holiness has profound implications for priestly formation, and it is essential to draw practical conclusions from it. It entails three closely related requirements:
- The future priest—called by the Lord in time—must be formed to reach personal holiness.
- He must be taught, as part of his formation, the stages of growth in the spiritual life.
- He must be equipped to guide his brothers and sisters not only in basic adult Christian formation, but also in the deeper spiritual formation they will need when, in due time, they too receive the call to holiness and are invited to pursue this lofty goal.
2 – To Answer the Call: Spiritual Formation
To respond properly to Jesus’ call—to rise and follow Him—depends upon a formation that we must first receive. Our response cannot be improvised, nor can the formation itself. With this in mind, we come to appreciate the immense value of the Church’s bimillennial wisdom, which exists precisely to help us answer this call fruitfully. It cannot be emphasised enough how vital it is to draw from the richness of the Church’s tradition of formation.
This is what typically takes place when one enters religious life: formation requires a dedicated space where it can be received and lived—a place where doctrine, methods, practices, discernment, and accompaniment are passed on and supervised within a living tradition.
These considerations deeply shape our understanding of the team of formators: how they relate to one another, how they understand their respective roles, and how they contribute to the formation journey. When spiritual formation is given its rightful primacy, it necessitates a shift in method and approach. It also requires that each formator personally live this path and integrate it into their specific area of contribution—whether liturgical, theological, pastoral, human, or otherwise.
The sun of the spiritual life, so to speak, radiates outward, nourishing all other aspects of formation with its rays and fecundating them from within. The influence of spiritual formation, spiritual life, and spiritual theology on every dimension of priestly formation must therefore be carefully studied and harmoniously integrated.
3 – The Living Tradition of Spiritual Formation
In theology, we speak of the Living Tradition as one of the means by which Revelation is transmitted, alongside Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium (the living teaching authority of the Pope and bishops in communion with him). Yet it is important to recognise that the Living Tradition has many dimensions, and among them is one that is often less visible but has been profoundly active throughout the life of the Church: the Spiritual Living Tradition.
This spiritual tradition was touched upon by the Church Fathers—Origen, Dionysius the Areopagite, Gregory of Nyssa, and others—but found its principal locus of development in the monastic and eremitic life. Over the centuries, the Church has accumulated immense spiritual treasures that could fill entire libraries. While many of these are associated with particular religious orders, they fundamentally belong to the whole Church and are integral to her spiritual living tradition.
This tradition has two inseparable aspects: 1- A form of life—including a Rule, Constitutions, customs, and horarium (daily schedule). 2- A spiritual formation grounded in a “proven doctrine capable of leading souls to perfection”. In fact, the Church requires these two elements—way of life and doctrinal-spiritual formation—for the foundation and approval of any new religious institute. What can we learn from this? Above all, that this tradition is entirely oriented toward leading the person to holiness. Any serious formation in holiness must therefore draw deeply from this spiritual living tradition.
Today, it is our responsibility to identify and articulate a common foundation, a shared trunk of spiritual formation, which is valid for all: priests, religious, and lay faithful alike.
Note: If a monk or religious is given a Rule, a structured way of life, and a horarium—and if the Church sees this structure as essential to his spiritual formation and as a guarantee of growth in holiness—how does this translate today, when the Church affirms that all are called to holiness?
Spiritual formation for those who have heard Jesus’ call must include not only strong, fruitful means of growth, but also a new structure of life. This includes a renewed daily rhythm—a personal horarium—that integrates times of prayer and spiritual exercises. Such structure is not a constraint but a support, a framework for freedom in the Spirit.
Note: The immense spiritual riches of the Church too often remain hidden behind closed doors—the doors of the monastic noviciate. But it is becoming increasingly clear that we must open this “secret room”—the room of God’s secrets—first to seminarians, and then to lay people as well. After all, all are called to holiness.
4 – A Five-Year / Five-Stage Spiritual Formation
It is worth noting that this common trunk of spiritual formation has been shaped over the years by the School of Mary. Since its beginnings in 1995, and through the lived experience of formation, it has gradually developed into a complete spiritual formation programme spread over five years: an initial three years, followed by two more.
At the heart of this formation lies a foundational course: the Solid Foundations Course. It is a substantial programme—48 hours of teaching—challenging, yet deeply rewarding. Offered consistently year after year without interruption, it has proven to be a true gateway into the spiritual life and into serious spiritual formation. This course lays the essential groundwork, after which many other courses are offered to deepen what has first been presented in concentrated form.
The overall formation closely follows the five stages of spiritual growth that unfold after a person’s second conversion—that is, after truly hearing and responding to Jesus’ call to follow Him. The first three stages represent the initial progression of spiritual life, and the final two represent more advanced stages. Each stage is supported by a carefully curated set of courses designed to correspond to and support that particular phase of growth.
Contents of the Formation
The main principles guiding the formation syllabus at the School of Mary were:
– A solid and unified foundation, common to all, avoiding unnecessary complexity and resisting the tendency to divide spirituality into distinct “schools”, while still drawing essential insights from various traditions, spiritual masters, and Doctors of the Church.
– A practical and accessible teaching, aimed at real-life spiritual growth.
– A renewed understanding of Sacred Scripture, illuminating the spiritual journey through the Word of God.
– A direct, personal approach to Christ, fostering relationship over abstraction.
– A more accurate discernment of the action of the Holy Spirit, especially in the essential types of Christian prayer.
Lectio Divina and the Prayer of the Heart: To offer what is most nourishing in the spiritual life, the School turned to the Mass in a deeper way, seeking to help participants receive more fully the divine food Christ gives: His Word and His Body and Blood. This led to a strong emphasis on Lectio Divina and Prayer of the Heart (contemplative prayer), which naturally prolong the two liturgies of the Mass—the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In this way, the Mass itself became the structural model for the School’s formation.
Note: We cannot compare the spiritual formation one receives after hearing Jesus’ call to follow Him with the Fourth Part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (on prayer). While adult formation and serious personal commitment are vital prerequisites for hearing the call, the spiritual formation offered by the School of Mary goes far deeper. It is not simply doctrinal but transformative.
To understand the spirit of this formation in the context of priestly formation, one might describe it as being situated somewhere between the university classroom and the retreat chapel—or, perhaps more fittingly, the noviciate room of a monastery. It seeks to unify the theological, spiritual, and experiential dimensions of formation, forming not only minds, but hearts and lives.
The Spiritual Journey
The Gospels themselves can be seen as the embodiment of a formative journey—a three-year path in which the Lord gradually leads His disciples into deeper purification, understanding, communion, and transformation. From the first call on the shores of Galilee (if we don’t count the years of preparation with John the Baptist some received) to the events of the Passion, Resurrection, and Pentecost, the Gospel narratives present a real process of spiritual growth. Mark offers us the confession of the Lord’s divinity by the Centurion as the goal of the journey, a major milestone in our growth. John offers a more structured journey of growth in a form of a “ladder” of purification which leads us from the first sign to the major Sign the Lord performs (the opening of the Jesus’ side), a total of 6 plus 1 signs of growth. An incredible journey. Over these years, the disciples are not only instructed but purified, tested, and drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus, culminating in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and their mission to the world.
In this way, Christ Himself reveals that spiritual growth is gradual, ordered, and transformative. He does not rush His disciples, nor does He leave them unchanged. Rather, He walks with them, speaks to them, corrects and consoles them, preparing them step by step for their share in His Paschal Mystery and the life of the Spirit. (see this very important book or articles)
Similarly, the years spent in the seminary are not simply years of study or external preparation. They are a privileged time for spiritual growth—a time for interior formation, transformation, and progressive configuration to Christ. The seminary is not merely a place of instruction, but a school of discipleship, echoing the very pattern that Christ traced in the lives of the first apostles.
It is essential to view the years of seminary formation as an invitation to undertake a true journey of spiritual growth. This path of interior transformation typically unfolds over five or more years, not merely as a succession of academic stages, but as a progressive maturation in the life of grace. The term “year” in this context should not be understood strictly in terms of an academic calendar, as though each stage of spiritual teaching were automatically completed within a twelve-month period. Rather, it serves as a framework—a helpful indication that spiritual growth is not incidental to formation, but central to it.
Each phase of formation is designed to correspond, not rigidly but organically, to the stages of spiritual development. It offers appropriate teaching, guidance, and support adapted to the interior disposition of the seminarian. The real “measure” of progress is not the number of years completed, but the degree of spiritual maturity attained at each point. Thus, the seminarian is called to take personal responsibility for his growth, cooperating freely with grace. He is not merely passing through a system, but being shaped from within according to the image of Christ. It is also important to recognise that the pace of spiritual growth varies greatly from one person to another. Some may remain in a particular stage for several years, while others progress more swiftly. This variation depends on many factors, including the generosity, courage, determination, perseverance, and resilience of each candidate. Grace is always offered, but the response to that grace—both in freedom and fidelity—shapes the path forward.
To a certain extent, it is helpful for the seminarian, under spiritual accompaniment, to have a sense of where he stands on this journey. Not as a means of comparison or self-evaluation, but in order to better address the specific needs and demands of each stage. The action of the Holy Spirit varies in modality and intensity according to the soul’s disposition. Being aware of one’s present stage allows for a more conscious and fruitful cooperation with that action, so that the seminarian does not simply pass through formation externally, but interiorly grows in conformity with Christ. (see this article)
It is indeed true that, since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has strongly re-emphasised the universal call to holiness. As the Council affirmed, “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium, §40). This awareness is now deeply present in priestly formation, where seminarians are consistently reminded that their vocation is rooted in baptism and oriented towards holiness.
Yet, at the same time, there remains a significant gap in our understanding and transmission of the actual dynamics of spiritual growth. While the call to holiness is affirmed, there is often little guidance on the stages of the spiritual life, how to discern them, or how to cooperate with grace in order to advance. Some even hesitate to speak of these things in detail, feeling that to map out such stages is to interfere with God’s mysterious work, or to reduce the action of the Holy Spirit to a human system. Others express concern that such attentiveness may foster excessive introspection or self-focus, which could be spiritually harmful.
A balanced approach is needed. On the one hand, it is essential to acknowledge that the work of sanctification is always God’s initiative and remains, in part, a mystery. It demands trust, surrender, and faith. On the other hand, if the Holy Spirit has raised up great spiritual masters—such as St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross—who, through deep experience and fidelity, were able to describe the stages of the interior journey and offer practical guidance, then it would be unwise to ignore such a gift. Their teaching is not meant to control or reduce God’s work, but to help us recognise and respond to it more fruitfully.
The value of this wisdom lies in how it is used. When approached with humility and discernment, it can illuminate the path, support the work of grace, and guard against illusion or stagnation. For this reason, the accompaniment of a wise, prudent, and well-formed spiritual director remains of great importance. As Pastores Dabo Vobis reminds us, spiritual accompaniment is not a luxury, but a necessary element of formation: “Spiritual direction… is a valuable aid in discerning the movements of the Spirit and in ensuring fidelity to the call of God” (PDV, §66).
At each stage there are important elements at stake. Our growth implies that we move from a human way of dealing with Jesus and with our spiritual life, to a divine way. These stages are very visible in the Gospel to the connoisseur (see this very important book or articles).
Mapping the journey of growth of spiritual life belongs to God’s Revelation. He is the one who shows us that there is a journey of growth. Starting from the narrative of Abraham’s call, through Joseph in Egypt, Moses in the Desert, Joshua in the promised land and Solomon building the temple we have here a majestic and foundational revelation of the existence of a journey, a pedagogy, a growth, challenges, transformation, and first and foremost, a clear goal to reach: the Dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, his indwelling in the Holy of the Holies and the Worship of God in the Temple.
Acknowledging the fact that the spiritual journey is part of God’s Revelation is of absolute importance. We find the same truth in the Gospels: first the Lord calls his disciples, He invites them to follow Him on a sacred and transformative journey which leads them to the deepest purification when He undergoes his Passion, and Death. His Resurrection, forty days of preaching, Ascension and Pentecost are further cornerstones of their growth and new capacity to become his witnesses and heralds of the Gospel.
The journey of growth differentiates us from the Angels. They are purely spiritual being, while we have flesh, and we live in time and our decision to be with God is a long repetition of acts which lead to a transformation. God creates us without asking us our permission, but He will not save us without our collaboration. In this sense, in time, in stages, through real transformative growth we are “co-authors” of our sanctification, the process and the journey of receiving his Redemption,
If the Bible has this main structural spinal cord, i.e. the journey of growth, it is for a clear purpose to help us on our journey, guide us and offer us all the support we need to reach God: to be united with God and to reach the fullness of love – and there is no greater love than loving our brothers in Jesus, with Jesus, the way He loved us. As we saw above, in the Bible we find history, time, narratives placed in a specific moment in history. The measure of this history of salvation is time, our time, the time of our personal clocks. But if we carefully examine the interior of the Bible’s message and structure, we can easily find another “time” so to speak.
In fact, the real flow of “time” in the Bible is not “our time”, not “time” as we know it, but it is another “time” within “our time”: the transformative journey. Each unit in it is a step ahead in our transformation in Jesus. The Lord speaks to us in time and space and shows us a journey, a parable or a form of speech to tell us about his time, about the way He measures things: their degree of transformation. His time is Eternity, and our journey is to go from the mere clock-time to his eternity through a transformative process where we enter increasingly into his time.
Therefore, the journey of transformation itself is what He points to. As mentioned above, the parable or symbol He uses looks like a journey in time and space: from Abraham’s Call at Ur of the Chaldeans, to Jerusalem with Solomon inaugurating the Worship in the Temple in the Presence of God dwelling in it. As we see, it is not only a journey in space and time, it is a real journey of transformation: He explains to us the meaning of each step. To take just one example, a Father of the Church exegete, commentator and catechist of the early centuries, Origen, saw it very clearly (see his Homily 27 on the book of Numbers).
Of course, mentioning this new measure and its units, growth and stages does not mean that we are negating the existence and use of our time. Far from it. In a more decisive and final way, through the Incarnation, God’s wisdom uses our time to communicate his grace to us, hence the absolute necessity to have an initial correct perception of our time: the liturgical year. Our spiritual life is rooted in years, seasons, weeks, Holy Week, Sundays, Great festivals (Christmas, Easter,..), special tides (Advent, Lent, Easter) where we receive the entire mystery of Jesus, in mouthfuls so to speak, “grace upon grace” (John 1).
Without changing our time and our actual perception of our time, blessed and transformed by the Incarnation of God, it is important to add to it this essential dimension of spiritual growth: transformation, degree of transformation, stages of growth. In this sense, we even enter more deeply into our normal time —already blessed by the Incarnation and the mysteries of Jesus— and we discover another degree or quality to it. So, we end up understanding that our actual time is an open window constantly offering access to graces to us, which in turn engenders transformation and follows a paved way for us extending from our time to God’s eternity.
St. Thomas Aquinas famously said that Eternal life starts here on earth by the reception of God’s Grace. We are now just not only acknowledging this truth but also seeing what the grace of God engenders in us: a real transformation which increases God’s life in us. In this sense Eternity gains day by day a firmer footing in our heart and soul.
The focus now turns to not only the hours, days and years but to the “degree of transformation into God” and to its stages. Normal time, through the grace of God, is not only transfigured by the Incarnation of God and his dwelling among us till today, but time indicates another measure added to it: our degree of change by God’s grace. It is as if between God and us, there is a journey of transformation, a line where each unit transcends the previous drawing us closer to God, transforming us into Him. The distance between us and Him, the measure of growth becomes the degree of transformation, the degree of our new likeness to God.
Throughout the twenty centuries of Christianity, many authors have paid attention to this aspect and dedicated their lives to it: the search for God, and the transformative journey which leads us to the union with Him. When St. Athanasius writes the life of St. Antony the Great, the father of all monks, he shows us his journey, venturing always deeper into the desert, searching for God, until he reaches his final solitude in a cave where he dwells. The image used is not the one of an ascension but is of venturing deeper into the desert, moving from a Coenobitic style of life (being formed in a community near the Nile) to a Hermitic life, hidden in a cave in a mount.
St. Gregory of Nyssa will use Moses’ Ascent into Mount Sinai to show us the journey (see his book: Moses’ Life). St. John Climacus will present spiritual life as an ascent of a ladder which leads us to God (think of Jacob’s ladder): The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Dionisius the Pseudo-Areopagite will show us the earthy and heavenly hierarchies as a journey of Growth. St. Bonaventura will show us the itinerary of the soul to God (see his book). Many saints and great masters will talk to us about the journey: Pope Gregory the Great, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, William of St. Thierry, St. Catherine of Sienna, etc. Finally God sends us the great ones: St. Teresa of Avila (Interior Castle) and St. John of the Cross (Spiritual Canticle and Living Flame of Love).
Historical note: Dionisius the Pseudo-Areopagite became very rapidly the authority in such a matter and reigned from the Middle Ages till the middle of last century. Like many great Christian authors of his time (4th-5th Century) he took on board the common teaching found amongst the Greek philosophers and in Jewish mysticism, and he Christianised it developing the doctrine which states the existence of three stages of growth: purification, illumination and union. Despite the existence of other options to understand and model the journey of growth, Dionisius’ authority and teaching mostly remained unchallenged for centuries – he was thought to be a disciple of St. Paul (mentioned in the Acts of the Apostle 13:34) in charge of conveying to us the wisdom which St. Paul did not write about in his letters but only alluded to:“Brothers, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, bus as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able, even now.” (1Cor. 3:1-2) Similarly, the letter to the Hebrews was thought to convey this teaching, namely: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)
In the late sixties some authors (K. Rahner) seeking to understand the journey upset this tripartite division. More recently, Fr. Laurent Touze presented a study of how recent research presents the spiritual journey (Laurent Touze, “Come la ricerca contemporanea presenta la crescita spirituale”, in Mysterion, Anno 10 Numero 2 (2017)). After the implosion of the late sixties and the following years, it seems that we are coming back to a more “traditional” version of the journey. The reasons for the “implosion” and the new context (sciences and theology) have not yet, in my humble view, achieved a satisfactory deep assessment and results. Plus, some phenomena like St. Therese’s trial of faith and Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s journey (see here) have not yet received appropriate assessment and “placements” on the journey as the traditional ways express it.
(This topic will be developed further in the next chapter.)