Truly in essence, this call to holiness is really a call to spirituality. Spirituality refers to the practices and beliefs that individuals or groups hold with regard to their relationship to God – or the Divine, if that word is safer for you. It was not always so: in days of yore the word “spirituality” had an objective meaning that had little to do with the warm-fuzzy that tends to pass for spiritual life in today’s market. In the fifth century we first encounter the Latin word spiritualitas, which referred to the quality of life imparted by the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Christ. There was an increased reflection upon the role of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification, and it began to be taught that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Old Testament (OT – Isaiah 11:2-3) were specifically given to believers at baptism/ chrismation, as were the gifts of the Spirit mentioned by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 12). Spirituality was an area of theological speculation.

During the Middle Ages the word “spirituality” was used in a variety of ways, but with a narrowing of application from broader theology to “spiritual life” or “spiritual exercises,” so that by the twelfth century, “spiritual life” came to be seen as identical with interior religion and the devotional practices that fostered it. Later on, Christian writers began to use terms such as “ascetical theology” or “ascetic life.” The Greek word askesis means to be in training, and asceticism meant something very active.

The word “spirituality” was formerly used in a specifically Christian sense, but today it is applied to all kinds of religious feelings and practices that are the opposite of Christian teaching. Think about how many times people will tell you that they are into spirituality but not religion. Practitioners of witchcraft like to talk about their spirituality, as if they were doing the same kind of thing that the desert fathers were doing; after all, it is all spirituality. The word has become devalued so much that there are authors who write on “spirituality and sex and cooking.”