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Spiritual Development
Spiritual Development
The spiritual domain of whole child education involves exploring questions of meaning, purpose, values, and beliefs. It recognizes that individuals have a spiritual dimension that goes beyond religious affiliations and encompasses their search for identity, ethics, and connections to something greater than themselves. Spiritual development fosters self-reflection, moral reasoning, and the development of personal values, contributing to a sense of purpose, meaning, and a holistic worldview.
Essential Elements of the Spiritual Domain
Essential Elements of the Spiritual Domain
Reflection and prayer: prayer is the act of calling to mind the presence of God always among us. Catholic schools help to model this act by taking out intentional time to reflect where a person is in relation to God past, present and future.
Faith, hope and love: faith is the trust that good ultimately conquers evil which leads to hope, or trust in the future. Faith and hope ultimately lead us to love what is good because we recognize its power and impact in our lives.
Forgiveness: is the act of letting go of resentment and having compassion for a person's wrongful deeds by recognizing these deeds come from a place of woundedness, ignorance and deep unhappiness. Forgiveness does not excuse wrong behaviors nor does it necessarily promote a continued relationship, but rather it frees the individual holding onto a grudge by allowing God's mercy to flow outwards from the self.
Community and communion: relationship with God is inextricably linked to relationship with others since we are all God's creation. Communal prayer, reflection, and acts of service, in addition to an individual relationship with God, is an important aspect of Christian life. The sacrament of communion brings focus to the diversity of God, both in the Holy Trinity and in the church. Fostering diversity is a vital component of a welcoming school environment
Safe and caring community: one that is free from abuse, coercion, neglect, and bullying. Every human being has the right to be safe, especially in the most frequented lived spaces, such as in schools. A caring community models the connectedness of all its community members by keeping each other accountable and addressing the fears of individuals. Such a community addresses interpersonal challenges head on as opposed to ignoring or hiding them.
Service learning: we cannot think our way to God-- we must experience God. Service allows us experience God through another person by understanding that the other person we serve is not a separate entity, but rather, another part of a body to which we, too, are connected. Students who are involved in service activities are often overwhelmed with deep feelings of gratitude, reciprocity and overall greater sense of purpose.
Stewardship of creation: challenges students to see imago Dei in all creation, including the environment. Classrooms should create sustainable practices such as water conservation, recycling and community gardens to promote a shared sense of responsibility over the earth.
Sacraments and scripture: scriptures help us to encounter the historical Jesus whereas sacraments helps us to encounter the ever present God in the now. God is beyond time thus the same approach to sacramental prayer can be taken to scriptural reading by engaging imaginative prayer, or immersing oneself in the scenes of the bible through imagination.
Character development: when students are taught, by their communities, guiding principles of love and practices on how to enact those principles, then actions reinforce thoughts and vice versa. A repeated thought and action forms stronger neural connections and deeper spiritual commitment to bring goodness into the world.
Practice Checklist
Practice Checklist
To the right is an overall checklist that details the major steps in addressing the spiritual domain of the whole child both at your school and in the classroom.
As the you develop a team and classroom practices, this checklist is designed to help you keep track of your progress and moving forward in the pursuit of whole child development.
spiritual_checklist.pdfSpiritual Practices are Whole Child Practices
Spiritual Practices are Whole Child Practices
One of the unique things the Roche Center Whole Child Framework offers is a Catholic spiritual perspective, rooted in values of Ignatian mysticism. We argue that spiritual practices often engage not only the spiritual domain, but also all domains of the whole child, which leads to a transcendent experience for the human person. Educating the spiritual being of the child is not an supplementary or optional component of education, but rather a necessary nourishment.
Social-emotional: Catholicism is highly relational to a human God and communion of saints; relationality is built from emotional awareness and vulnerability (confession, reconciliation)
Cognitive: catechesis is the building of knowledge about the Gospel story because, to engage with Jesus, we need to understand the biblical narratives
Physical: the Roche center recommends hands on approaches to spiritual practices, particularly when working with children.
Spiritual: transcendent, higher being within and throughout us all - connection to something greater than oneself
Hands-On Practices
Hands-On Practices
As mentioned, spiritual practices tend to engage multiple domains of the whole person. When spiritual practices intentionally incorporate some physical aspect, it has the potential to engage all domains of the whole child. These are a few examples, across faith disciplines, of spiritual practices that incorporate some interactive, physical movement. The following are examples of spiritual practices, both Catholic and non-Catholic, that incorporate a physical element.
Walking Meditation
Walking Meditation
Walking in nature is known as nature therapy. Students can be encouraged to walk in silence as a group followed by a group reflection. This gives students time to individually reflect and learn about their selves so that they may share more deeply as a group. You can learn more about nature-based learning by visiting this website.
Communal Rosary
Communal Rosary
Praying the rosary in community is a great, meditative and bonding exercise. Jumbo rosaries can be made collectively using classroom materials and students can hold the rosary collectively around the room, taking turns in repetitive prayers. Follow this link to learn about how one blogger explains how to make a jumbo rosary.
Pope Francis Five Finger Prayer
Pope Francis Five Finger Prayer
The five-finger examen is a great way for students to reflect and pray while using a simplified and physical form of the Ignatian Examen. Using the five fingers helps students to better remember the steps of the Examen as well as engage the physical domain of the whole child.
Similar five finger prayer methods can be used for intention or prayers of the faithful. Students should practice these prayers in class and be encouraged to continue to use them outside of the classroom. Click here to the watch the Pope Francis' Five Finger Prayer video.
Faith Sharing Groups
Faith Sharing Groups
Engage students in small group sharing activities, in which students are prompted to reflect on deeper questions and feelings that they may be open to sharing with each other. In fostering the social domain, it is important for Catholic educators to encourage vulnerability and a deeper level of sharing. One great way to create vulnerability and sharing in Catholic school is to center the conversation around faith.
To learn more about a faith sharing guide known as Faith Feeds to start a conversation about faith, visit this link.
Ignatian Spirituality Practices
Ignatian Spirituality Practices
Ignatian core beliefs are at the heart of the Roche Center Whole Child Framework. As such, we follow in the tradition of Ignatian spiritual practices. Below are some examples
Discernment of Spirits
Discernment of Spirits
Discernment of spirits is a fascinating practice that engages all domains of the whole child. For Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations arise either from the true spirit (that which comes from God) or the false spirit (that which does not come from God). Discernment of spirits is a practice in which one can become more attuned to the feelings that arise when growing closer to God versus the deceitful, false spirit.
As children grow in their ability to perform the Ignatian Examen and their desire to be in relationship with God, they can be guided in directives to notice which spirits are moving inside of them at any given time.
Vianney Vocations has published a comic book instruction children on discernment of spirits. Learn more here.
Imaginative Prayer
Imaginative Prayer
Imaginative prayer is the practice of engaging visually with a biblical passage. For younger students, it can be helpful to act out rather than just imagine scnes from the bible, making the stories of Jesus come to life in creative and hand-on ways.
Ignatian Examen
Ignatian Examen
The Examen is a step-by-step review of the student's day, which can be done communally as a group. The Examen helps to improve emotional and social awareness throughout the day and deepen relationship with God through vulnerability.
Follow the link to listen to a self-guided Ignatian Examen for children.
Recommended Publications
Recommended Publications
Drawing God is a book by Karen Keifer and illustrated by Kathy De Wit that tells the story of a child named Emma who discovers God in the every day, ordinary things by paying attention her "warm and tingly" feelings.
Inspired by the Ignatian spirit, this story, as well as the exercises in the end of the book, guide educators in how to inspire their young students to draw God and be part of a national movement of children who are discovering and drawing God in their world.
Education in a Catholic Key 3.22.17 - pamphlet (1).pdf
This collection of 12 insightful essays brings together several of the leading voices in Catholic religious education in the United States of America as the share their vision for faith formation in the twenty-first century while engaging in dialogue with the 2020 Directory for Catechesis.shop.harvard.com/book/9780824579005Page updated
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