Christians are called to be perfect and attaining perfection resembles the passage from childhood to adulthood. Scripture draws this analogy. For example, St. Paul exhorts us to become “to full-grown men, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13-16)
Of course, we might succumb to temptation and refuse to grow up in our spiritual life. We need to think seriously, therefore, about what Christian maturity means and the dire dangers of shirking it.
In this interview Fr. John Gavin SJ discusses Christian maturity and recommends some of the best books on the subject.
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What do you mean by Christian maturity? The Scriptures often use the Greek word teleios (perfection) to describe growth in the spiritual life. For instance, Christ says “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This word continues to be used by the Fathers of the Church and beyond. They speak of Christian perfection.
I emphasize that the metaphor of maturation is also involved. In fact, teleios can also mean maturity. That implies that one has an underlying nature and is growing into something. An apple tree does not mature into a peach tree. There is an end for which it is formed. We see the same thing in the Christian life. We are growing into the fullness of our human nature, as created by God. However, in Christ we are also destined for a greater maturation and growth: into what the Fathers of the Church called theosis, deification. This an intimate union with God.
We see this in the Scriptures too. For instance, in Ephesians 4, Paul calls for this growth and maturation into the fullness of humanity in God.
So, by Christian maturity I mean not only growth into the fulfilment of our human nature, but more significantly, the gifted full maturation of who we are meant to be through union with Christ.
Some listeners might not capture the association between perfection and maturity. Perfection in Greek and Latin also means complete or fully grown. Does talk of Christian maturity capture certain nuances or have certain advantages that the concept of perfection does not, besides the ones you have already mentioned? Yes, it does. I would like to recover the image of maturity, which has never been completely lost, not only because it is used by the Fathers but also because growth is an essential part of any created being. As St. Irenaeus and others teach, we are not complete when we come into being. Rather, as human beings we are called to be formed through the exercise of our freedom and responsibility. We do not mature in the way an apple tree does. We make choices and respond in love. Hence, the image of maturation also captures the significance and absolute need for divine grace.
We cannot attain our end and full maturation by ourselves. Rather, it needs to be gifted by God. The notion of maturity conveys the full sense of our ongoing growth into God. Hence, the title of my book. I have taken that title from St. Paul and St. Basil the Great. It takes in both our responsibility and our freedom, but also the divine giftedness of Christian maturity. It brings out both elements. We think of maturation as one’s growth from infant to adult. In a way, this is what takes place in our responsible but gifted maturation in Christ.
Normally when we talk about maturity nowadays, we refer to psychological and emotional maturity in a more general sense. What distinguishes Christian maturity from psychological and emotional maturity? Christian maturity is not entirely separate from those elements. We are embodied. Every aspect of our humanity is taken up in maturation. Our psychological and emotional growth can obviously be shaped by the gift of grace and by the responsible decisions that we make as Christians following Christ.
However, what really distinguishes Christian maturation is the supernatural end that is gifted to us. The root of teleios, the Greek word that means both perfection and maturity, is telos, which means end or fulfilment. We find this word in Aristotle, who uses it to designate a thing’s coming to its proper fulfilment or end. Christian maturity, however, is a supernatural end. It cannot be brought about by purely natural processes. Hence, psychologists cannot bring us to this end, even though they might be an aid. Rather, we attain it through an intimate relationship with Christ and what he has won for us on the Cross and gives us in the sacraments. This is what distinguishes Christian maturity from emotional or psychological maturity.
In some cases, those struggling with mental illnesses or an addiction may be maturing more in a Christian sense than someone who does not have those issues. They may be attaining it through their struggle and Christ’s gift. The world’s measures for psychological and emotional maturity do not coincide exactly with those for Christian maturity.
“Maturation is no longer possible once we abandon the idea that we grow within a particular nature and in our relationship with others but believe instead that we can constantly define our end for ourselves."
There is some evidence that young people in the West are not maturing as early and easily than former generations. Is this the case and does it pose a pastoral challenge? I think this is the case. I work with young people. I teach in an undergraduate college in the United States. We see this, not just in young people, but in modern culture in general.
One reason is that our culture has abandoned the idea that we humans have a nature and an end. Instead, we believe that we define ourselves and our end. Maturation is no longer possible once we abandon the idea that we grow within a particular nature and in our relationship with others but believe instead that we can constantly define our end for ourselves.
Moreover, there is an interpersonal element and relationship in the distinct calling that is a vocation. A vocation implies that someone is calling us. It implies a relationship. No maturation can take place if I am my own vocation and my movement in life is simply towards whatever I call out as my desire and have it echo back to me. This is reflected in our culture today.
According to the Fathers of the Church, this is what happens with the demons. I am not claiming that everyone is in a relationship with the demonic but that demons are angels who reject God as their end. They even reject their vocation. To be an angel is to be a messenger. They reject who they are when they turn from God and try to self-define themselves. As a result, the arts and literature depict demons as amorphous. They have no form. They are not growing into anything. They are condemned to never mature. Theirs is the greatest temper tantrum of all time. They are raging against what should be their greatest fulfilment, happiness, and end. We see elements of this in our modern culture, in people both young and old: this despair for lack of full maturation in Christ.
What prompted you to write Growing into God: The Church Fathers on Christian Maturity? What prompted me was noticing how the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church use again and again this metaphor of maturation—whether physical or psychological—but apply it to our spiritual growth toward our supernatural end in God: theosis (deification). I also realized that, given the crisis in modern culture, which affects the young especially, we need to recover and emphasise this image in evangelizing and speaking about growth in the Christian life. It is very applicable to our world today.
In Growing into God, you distinguish various pillars of Chirstian maturity. What are these pillars? The first I look at is form and finality. We have a specific, supernatural, gifted end in God. The recovery of the form, which gives our nature and person their shape, comes through our finality in Christ. He both reveals and realises this in himself, in his death, Resurrection, Ascension, and union with the Father and the Spirit.
The second pillar is virtue and character. Just as the first pillar takes in grace, Christian maturity’s giftedness, the second and the third take in our freedom and growth in virtue.
Virtues for the Fathers of the Church are not just perfections of our nature. They also reflect what they call divine characteristics. Here, they draw on Platonist thought, but also rework it, because Christ is the exegete of the virtues. He shows us what they are. To grow in the virtues, therefore, such as mercy, one that Gregory of Nissa emphasises, is to grow in the divine likeness. It is to grow from the image of God, in which we are made, into the divine likeness.
The last pillar is vocation and mission. Again, this involves our free will. Our response to the divine call also gives shape to our personal life. This begins with the divine call received in baptism, something we do not take into account enough. However, there are also the other vocations on which the Fathers write, especially marriage, priesthood, and the monastic life. These vocations also shape and form as we mature through our response to a call from God.
These are the primary pillars that I emphasise in the book.
You distinguish four figures of Christian adulthood: the Witness, the Teacher, the Servant, and the Fool. Are these different ways of living Christian maturity or is each of us called to embody all four facets in various ways and degrees? We are called to embody each facet in various ways and degrees. Some persons, on account of their vocation and particular gifts, embody one more than the others.
In our own way, however, we are all called to be witnesses: martyrs, if not by blood, by the way that we live out our baptismal promises.
We are all called to be teachers in some way or another. Augustine says that one does not actually own something, such as the faith, until one gives it away. We are all called to express our faith in our particular vocation and way of life.
Maybe the fool is the surprising figure here. However, if we live out our faith to the fullest, the foolishness of the cross will become evident in us and in the world’s eyes. St. Paul describes this. The fool is one who abandons himself fully to Christ and does not follow the dictates of the wisdom of the world but those of the gift. The fool looks especially toward the poor, the needy, and to overturning of the values of the world. This is what we hear in Mary's Magnificat. That is the foolishness that I am talking about here. It is a transformative stance in the world because it a stance in Christ.
Is there a reason you focus mainly on the writings of the Church Fathers when it comes to Christian maturity rather than canvas later spiritual authors? I turn especially to the Fathers of the Church because, for starters, that is my own field but also because they are theologians, preachers, and teachers from the first seven centuries of the Church.
To borrow from Hans Urs from Balthasar, they are figures who do theology on their knees. The majority of them are saints. Though the idea of Christian maturation is not lost in later generations, they capture it in particular ways. So, it worth going back and seeing what they have to say about it. Doing so can be an awakening for us Catholics, who live in the modern age. Their perspective has a perennial value. They lived so close to the formative years of the Church and the councils. They are a rich font of wisdom and holiness.
“In this movement from the Old Testament into Christ and beyond, we can see the various stages of our own spiritual growth "
1.
The first book you have chosen is St. Irenaeus of Lyon’s On the Apostolic Preaching. This narration of salvation history appears to be a catechetical work or an overview of Scripture rather than a treatise on the spiritual life. Why is it a good entry point into the subject of Christian maturity?
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