Living Spirituality - Series 2

By Peter Mudge

The study, cultivation and 'teaching' of spiritual formation in Australian Catholic schools, parishes and online environments has faced many challenges, not the least being that it has been neglected and 'gone missing' in many contexts and environments. This Living Spirituality - Series 2 volume takes the introductory topics in Series 1 further with its extension beyond spiritual foundations to a more in-depth treatment of new and timely topics.
The Living Spirituality series is unique in its capacity to propose a new approach to cultivating spiritual formation for teachers through a Quadrivial or 'Four Rivers' model (Spiritual Traditions, Narratives, Disciplines and Virtues). Following its prefacing sections, this book explores more indispensable topics in this Series 2 edition – Introduction to Christian spirituality (Part 2), Prophetic imagination and social justice, You are God's Beloved (Nouwen) and the Examen, A Spirituality of the Heart, A Spirituality of Leadership, and finally, Memento Vivendi and Memento Mori ('Remember you must live' and 'Remember you must die'). Each chapter integrates significant insights and practices from seminal figures particularly across the Abrahamic traditions. Eight teacher-friendly icons point the reader to 'Teacher Tips', 'Did you know' ideas, rich academic insights from 'Scholars Corner', as well as icons linked to spiritual profiles, symbols, biblical texts, the arts, and music. A full range of materials for ordering and subscription is at the website listed on the early pages of this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Mudge
• Release date: Aug 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9780648723998

Peter Mudge

Dr. Peter Mudge (BADipEd, DTheol, Honorary Research Associate, Sydney College of Divinity) initially taught in Catholic schools for four years, on a retreat team for one year, and then worked across four Catholic education offices in two States for twenty-four years, including two country dioceses. Peter taught tertiary online courses for a further seven years at the Broken Bay Institute/TAITE as a Senior Lecturer in Religious Education and Spirituality. He has worked as a consultant and online lecturer at the Australian Catholic University and as an academic advisor and ‘critical friend’ in R.E and spirituality across many Australian dioceses and archdioceses. He is one of the few academics researching and publishing materials directly for the use of P-12 classroom teachers of spiritual formation, for parishioners, and tertiary lecturers.  

Book preview

Commendations for Living Spirituality – Series 2

Living Spirituality, Series 1 by Dr Peter Mudge is an invaluable resource in the way that it embraces the original Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander influences and extends its coverage to Abrahamic and other traditions. It was different from anything else that I had read. I believe that it will be a great resource for teachers and students alike as it provides so many signposts that will support the development of their own spiritual formation. I am looking forward to Living Spirituality, Series 2 which promises to provide yet another fresh perspective on spirituality and the many challenges that it presents to us in terms of our understanding of how the ‘heart of Christ’ is inextricably linked to our own.

Tricia Maidens, Former Principal, Xavier College Llandilo (1999-2014), Academic Teacher and University Advisor, Western Sydney University.

Living Spirituality, Series 1 has become an essential source in supporting Catholic community members in their journey of formation. The metaphor of the four rivers has been particularly appreciated by those who have little experience in exploring their faith in recognising the rich spiritual tradition, narratives, disciplines and virtues associated with it. Sharing extracts from Peter’s work, especially in the areas of Ecological Spirituality and Lectio Divina: Sacred Reading, has led to rich discussion and moments of metanoia. As we move to a change of era, Living Spirituality, Series 2 will build upon the rich foundation that Peter has established to challenge and support individuals in and leaders of our communities to seek and enhance spiritual and religious formation through Head, Heart and Hand.

David Bourne, Teaching Educator – Mission, Project Officer – Catholic Identity, Catholic Education, Diocese of Parramatta.

Each chapter in Series 1 and Series 2 of Living Spirituality provides an opportunity to encounter the beauty of the infinite mystery of God. This is enabled by the conversation between the four Quadrivial foundations identified by Dr Peter Mudge. Be prepared though - in his usual fashion, Peter calls us through discerning questions, to go deeper at every turn: a mature spirituality requires work. In Series 2 he continues the ongoing creation of a dynamic and differentiated experience which facilitates a hospitality between the four foundations, and a companioning of each of us, as pilgrims, on a holistic, spiritual journey. The complete series (with the final Series 3 to come) acknowledges the complexity and complementarity of the interplay between religion and spirituality in a highly secularised and sometimes dislocated Australian soul-scape. A helpful, practical yet often astonishing tool for all formators, this series assists its readers by providing a map from the visible into the invisible.

Bernadette Gibson, Head of Religious Education and Spirituality, Maitland Newcastle Diocese.

Living Spirituality is aptly named as it will assist RE teachers in Catholic schools in their work of understanding some of the spiritual traditions within Catholicism and how these may be simply introduced and offered to their students. This book identifies the richness of the Christian story through its significant mentors in spirituality, its spiritual disciplines and the virtues for living that Christianity proposes. Furthermore, Aboriginal spiritualities, the wider Christian tradition, the Abrahamic religions and Eastern religions are included that attest to the spiritual quest in the human experience. The array of resources and ideas in Series 1 and 2 will prompt educators to consider further development of this area of their work. The fruits of Peter Mudge’s study are received with gratitude. Significant conversation and further study can hopefully be generated from this unique publication.

Jane McDonald, Religious Education Coordinator, St Mary Star of the Sea College, Wollongong.

Series 2

Peter Mudge

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A Developing Bridging Networks Publication

Baulkham Hills, NSW

2020

First published in Australia by Developing Bridging Networks in 2020

Formatted by Planetary Records. Printed and formatted by Snap Printing, Suite B3, 12-14 Solent Circuit, Norwest Business Park, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153

Copyright © Peter Mudge 2020

This book is an abridged version of the Series 2 subscription chapters that appear on the Living Spirituality site listed on opening pages of this Ebook. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author via the above site.

The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the external site and email addresses included in this book are correct and up to date at the time of going to press. The author and publisher are not responsible for the content, quality or continuing accessibility of the sites. Readers are encouraged to Google the relevant authors and topics should a link be broken.

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to reproduce copyright material in this book. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyrighted material. The author and publisher apologise for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful if notified via the above site of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition of the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, copyright © 1989 and 1990 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations from the Documents of Vatican II and from papal documents by Pope Francis and others are from St Paul Book and Media. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Qur’an citations are taken from: Ali Unal (2017). The Quran with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English. Paris: Feedbooks. Copyright free. Used with permission. Kindly supplied by ISRA, Auburn, NSW, Australia.

The author and his company acknowledge the Darug nation and its individual Burramattagal and Toongagal clans as the Traditional Custodians of the land that we live and work on. We are committed to the journey towards Recognition, Equality, Justice and Reconciliation.

Cover and front matter design by Snap Printing. Formatting by Planetary Records.

Written, Edited and Privately Published by Peter Mudge.

ISBN 978-0-6487239-9-8

This book has been registered with The National Library of Australia, Pre-Publication Data Service. Its publication details appear on the Libraries Australia and Trove sites. Copies can be borrowed through the National Library of Australia, the State Library of NSW, Macquarie St, Sydney; and the library at the Sydney College of Divinity, Macquarie Park, NSW.

eBook PDFs by Snap Printing, Norwest NSW, Planetary Records, and P. Mudge, DBN. The eBook version of this publication will be listed for sale on the Living Spirituality site. This is listed above.

Mudge, Peter. Living Spirituality: A Quadrivial or ‘Four Rivers’ Model for Spirituality – Series 2. Snap Printing, 2020.

Copyright © Peter Mudge 2020. All rights reserved.

Cover image: Adi Nes, Christ. © Adi Nes 2009. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Used with permission.

Dedication

Some of the wise sayings that capture the spirit of this book are – ‘I think a spiritual journey is not so much a journey of discovery. It's a journey of recovery. It's a journey of uncovering your own inner nature’ (Billy Corgan); ‘We survive by telling stories’ (Umberto Eco); and ‘Just as the windmill needs the wind, so does the human person need the breath of God’ (Dutch proverb).

I dedicate Living Spirituality – Series 2 to my family and spiritual ancestors who first formed me, to my own family of Gwendoline, Christopher and Nicola (+), and to my many supportive colleagues in religious education, spiritual formation and theology who continue to guide and inspire me, especially Michelle Jones, Dan Fleming, Rachelle Gilmour, Mike Foley, Antoinette Collins, +Noel Connelly SSC, David Hall FMS, Kevin Treston, and many others too numerous to be named. You know who you are. Thank you all.

By the same author

The most recent work by Peter Mudge is: Living Spirituality – Series 1 (2019)

He has co-authored:

Living Religion (5th Edition) 2016, Living Religion (6th Edition) 2021

Out of the Desert, Religious Education for Secondary Students (Books One to Four, Years 7-10) 1997 to 2000

He has written 50+ journal articles and contributed chapters to numerous collections including:

Justice, Mercy, and Well-Being (2020); Moving from Theory to Practice: Religious Educators in the Classroom (2019); Wondering about God Together: Research-Led Learning & Teaching in Theological Education (2018); Religious Education in Australian Catholic Schools: Exploring the Landscape (2017); The Routledge International Handbook of Education, Religion and Values (2013); and International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing (2009).

Finally, he has self-published a two-part convict family history on his mother’s side in 2019:

The ‘Conduct Record’ and Life and History of George Phelps (1818-1864);

as well as a longer history for each side of his family tree, all stored in the State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney:

A History of the Mudge Family – 1300ff (2002)

A History of the Phelps Family – 1800ff (2002).

Foreword

One freezing July evening some years ago, I crammed with a host of other locals into the rundown shed next to the tearooms in our village. Ostensibly, we were all there to enjoy a display of art created by members of the neighbourhood art group. In truth, I was mostly there to be seen by, and to see the works of, the woman who, in addition to being an artist, runs our waste management facility; it was my way of asking her forgiveness for accidentally dumping household rubbish into the recycling skip.

And on another freezing day, this one not so long ago, a January day in New York City, I unexpectedly found myself at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was the meeting place designated by a publisher I had come to the City hoping to see. He brought along his wife, with whom I felt at home in less than a minute, and their friend, who happened to be the co-founder of one of the world’s largest companies. I spent the whole time trying to figure out if it was all really happening.

To read Living Spirituality - Series Two was to visit yet another kind of art gallery, this time in book form. True, the pages of the book abound with a variety of works of art, both traditional and contemporary; many of them are unique, insightful creations, composed by the author himself. But I mean more than that. And what I mean has three layers.

First, the Met seemed to be an infinite array of variations on different themes. For a while, I found myself immersed in Ancient Egypt. I was afforded manifold glimpses into this mysterious world: a sphinx, a temple, jewellery, statuettes of cats, masks – more than I could possibly take in. And then I was in the realm of medieval art, where, just to begin, I’m sure I was in the presence of hundreds of distinctive presentations of the crucifixion. My local art gallery possessed the same characteristics, albeit on a wholly different scale. There was the collection of landscapes, each depicting familiar sights in individual ways, the diverse portrayals of local flora and fauna, and the abstract paintings, in which our neighbours vulnerably disclosed emotional depths and long-buried traumas. 

In the gallery that is Living Spirituality - Series Two, Dr Peter Mudge takes a variety of important themes, holds them up for us like diamonds, and contemplates them from a breathtaking diversity of perspectives. His ‘Quadrivial Model’ of spiritual formation allows him to do this. The confluence of spiritual traditions, spiritual narratives, spiritual disciplines and spiritual virtues means that any one theme is considered with remarkable breadth and depth. So, for example, the focus of Chapter Three is ‘You are God’s Beloved’ and The Examen. At one moment we are exploring the life and spirituality of the great Henri Nouwen, next we turn to the largely unknown, and utterly fascinating, story of the connection between Nouwen and Fred Rogers (Mr Rogers, from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood), soon after, we are thoroughly introduced to the discipline of the Examen of Consciousness, then, following a discussion of a captivating photograph, we are led to ponder the virtue of courage, and, more specifically, what it means to have the courage to live the ‘eucharistic life.’

Unlike the Met or my local art gallery, Peter Mudge deliberately facilitates our processing of the bounty of material at hand by offering opportunities for personal reflection and practical response. This wide-ranging, yet deeply contemplative, exploration of critical themes makes Living Spirituality - Series Two an eminently helpful resource book for teachers, parishioners, lecturers, and all others concerned with the process of spiritual formation. It is difficult to think of another work that is as comprehensive and participatory as this book.

The second way in which reading Living Spirituality is like visiting an art gallery has to do with the kind of experience that Peter Mudge manages to make possible. As systematic as I tried to be in that rundown shed and at the Met, one is inevitably led by a different kind of logic in an art gallery. To quote The Little Prince (as the author does in Living Spirituality), Walking in a straight line one cannot get very far. We are allured by some pieces and ignore others; some works stretch us beyond our comfort zone, others comfortingly confirm what we’ve always known, while still others seem to speak a foreign language. And the experience changes from visit to visit. The same me in the same room at a different time would be attracted to different works, and find new pieces meaningful.

Living Spirituality - Series Two has been created such that the reader can get very far by not walking in a straight line. And as they pick up the book again and again, they will travel great distances by alternative routes. Take a classroom teacher, for instance. At one time they may be drawn to one of Peter Mudge’s guided meditations, finding it just what they need for personal or group enrichment; on another occasion, one of the spiritual profiles may fill a gap in their knowledge base; and a further visit to the book may yield interreligious insights that help the teacher deepen their understanding of others in their community. The thorough indexes with which Living Spirituality is furnished go a long way to enabling this entering into the text through different doors at different times.

Finally, I came away from both my local gallery and the Met knowing myself to be somehow transformed by the rich treasury in which I had been immersed. To cite The Little Prince again, It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Despite my ulterior motives for being at the neighbourhood exhibition, and my sense of being overwhelmed by the company I was with at the Met, my deepest self had drunk deeply of the truth, goodness and beauty expressed by the various works of art.

Similarly, reading Living Spirituality - Series Two is an inherently transformative experience. True, as the reader takes in the many variations on the various themes, some will resonate and prove more useful than others, and this will depend on the lived experience that the reader brings to the text.  Yet every encounter with the book will unfailingly open and nourish new depths within us. Living Spirituality is about a quadrivial approach to spiritual formation. Dr Peter Mudge has the gift of making that spiritual formation a reality within us, even as we read about it.

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Dr Michelle Jones

Presentation Sisters Lecturer, Theology

BBI – The Australian Institute of Theological Education

How to use this book (Part 2)

Note and Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that some chapters in this book contain words and images of people who have died.

This compact book is designed for ‘hands on’ people working in the area of ‘spirituality’ or ‘spiritual formation’, such as teachers, students, adult educators, parishioners and online  students and educators. It is not an academic book in the strict sense but rather a book that employs straightforward, practical language which in turn is supported by solid academic references. It summarises the views of key authors as well as citing them directly. The book points its readers in the direction of what I consider to be the best sources so that they can locate these and apply them. In so doing, it indicates some of the most apt references for teachers and senior students. Each chapter, topic, and even feature box, represent ‘the first floor’ for readers to investigate inside a fifty-storey building. All such topics are ‘nested’ like Russian babushka or matryoshka dolls – they lead to other topics-within-topics to be explored further.

What is described below is, in my view, the most effective way to derive the maximum benefit from this book. It contains explanations that guide teachers and their students, adults and parishioners, online lecturers and their students, in ways to engage with each section.

Four Symbols for the Quadrivial Model of Spirituality

At the beginning of each chapter you will see the graphics reproduced on the next page. These are the elements that constitute the ‘Quadrivial Model’ on which this book is based. Quadrivial not only means ‘four parts’ but ‘four rivers or pathways flowing together’. I would argue that these are the four foundations of the spiritual (and religious) life:

The acronyms within the graphics stand for:

ST = Spiritual Traditions: The first foundation of the spiritual life are its traditions, which in an interfaith context range across the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with the principal focus on Catholic Christianity. Occasionally references are made to Eastern religions such as Buddhism, and also to Celtic Christianity. The chapters also make frequent reference to both the Eastern and Western Church traditions within Christianity (e.g. St Augustine of Hippo and St Gregory of Nyssa), and to various Christian denominations or variants such as Anglicanism and Quakerism. This is to assist schools in addressing similarities, especially between the Abrahamic traditions, and to lead students towards ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, an important aspect of Pope Francis’ preaching and activity, and that of many recent popes and church leaders.

SN = Spiritual Narratives. The second foundation of the spiritual life, this refers to stories that can be found within the relevant traditions, such as the stories of the Bible, Julian of Norwich, Ephrem the Syrian or Thomas Merton. They are listed in this section but also threaded throughout each chapter. Sadly, such narratives are often left out in school syllabi and programs, or otherwise reduced to bullet points – born, died, etc. This is comparable to associating the equivalent of a ‘1965–2012’ descriptor to each spiritual writer without considering the contents of the em-dash, which is the spiritual substance or essence of their lives and contribution. It’s ignoring ‘the main game’!

SD = Spiritual Disciplines. The third foundation of the spiritual life incorporates the spiritual disciplines or practices which sustain the contemplative life in its day to day activities. These include: lectio divina, the Jesus Prayer, breathing meditation, interpretation of selected scripture passages, mindful walking, mantra prayer, journalling, the Examen, and many more. All are simple to teach and practise. Sometimes we make such practices too erudite and complex.

SV = Spiritual Virtues. The fourth and final foundation of the spiritual life includes, at least initially in Series 1, the better-known virtues such as mercy, compassion, service, docility and gratitude. However, the ‘standard list’ doesn’t normally accommodate what Spencer (2010) refers to as ‘the quieter virtues’. These he identifies as: discernment, innocence, authenticity, modesty, reverence, contentment, generosity, and ‘shouting softly’!

And perhaps often left out of conversations on virtues are other important contenders such as humility and, the most important of all according to the Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart (c.1260 – c.1328), the virtue of detachment. Each of the elements of ST, SN, SD to SV will be addressed at some point in every chapter. This section is designed to broaden readers’ understanding of ‘the virtues’ and provide concrete ways in which to practise them.

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The Eight Feature Boxes

The reader will also encounter eight other important symbols in the form of ‘feature boxes’. However, all eight symbols are not included in every book chapter (due to brevity) but they are included in the longer parallel version, which is the online, subscription version of that chapter. The first feature box is called ‘Teacher Tip’. This provides the spiritual formation teacher with a thought, question or idea on how to apply the ideas under discussion or how to apply the Quadrivial Model in general. These are supplemented throughout each chapter with regular sections entitled: Personal Reflection and