AN EXTRA-ORDINARY DISTINCTIVENESS: Itineraries of lay spirituality in Pedro Poveda

By Elisa Estévez López

We live in societies that hunger and thirst for spirituality. Today we are witnessing the resurgence of the human being's search to give value and meaning to one's own life, and a sign of this is the demand to find spaces where to cultivate interiority, the taste for spirituality. The paths offered are very diverse. This work reflects on the lay spirituality proposed by Pedro Poveda. Some itineraries are offered in order to live the faith today in present-day societies and to be credible and audacious witnesses of the Gospel. Poveda proposes a way of being, a way of being present and committing oneself that makes visible, in daily life, the extra-ordinary distinctiveness of those who walk in the footsteps of the Risen Lord.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Narcea Ediciones
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9788427731035

Book preview

Introduction

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We live in societies that hunger and thirst for spirituality. Today we are witnessing the resurgence of the human being’s search to give value and meaning to his own life, and a sign of this is the demand to find spaces where to cultivate interiority, the taste for spirituality. The paths offered are very diverse. Among all the different kinds of spirituality (Christian, lay, that of other religions), this book reflects on some aspects of the incarnation spirituality that Pedro Poveda proposed for the lay association he founded in 1911. It does so in dialogue with the challenges posed by today’s societies, trying to reflect what is significant and relevant of the spiritual proposal of Pedro Poveda to the present moment.

We are convinced of the richness of this spirituality for many other believers and for the life of the Church. That is why we have decided to publish this work, not only for the members of the Teresian Association, but also for all those who live their faith in the midst of today’s societies, and want to nourish their experience of God in dialogue with the beliefs, values and ways of feeling and acting of contemporary societies.

The lay spirituality proposed by Pedro Poveda is modeled on the life of the first Christians, men and women who, living in the midst of the world, act as leaven in the midst of the masses, making present in society the justice that springs from faith, bound by charity, with an intrepid evangelizing spirit that links the witness of faith with its "holy fruits" (detachment, gratuitousness, humility and meekness, gentleness and fortitude, tolerance, conciliatory wisdom). With an enlightened faith, they persevere in prayer and in the Eucharistic life, as free people and as servants of God. According to the Letter to Diognetus, these first believers "living in Greek or barbarian cities, according to the lot that befell each one, and adapting themselves in dress, food and other types of life to the customs and habits of each country, show a peculiar tone of behavior that is admirable and, as everyone would admit, surprising".

Hence the title of this work is "An extra-ordinary Distinctiveness. Poveda’s invitation is that immersed among the common people, the laity should be distinguished by holiness of life, by being interiorly (...) most distinctive with the distinction of virtue; most elevated with the elevation of holiness; most distinctive with the distinctiveness of the spirit of Christ" (1916) [78]. Each of the itineraries of lay spirituality addressed in this work leads to a life that is lived according to the uniqueness of the spirit of Christ.

This volume contains the papers presented by the authors at the Seminar on Incarnation Spirituality in the light of the texts written by Poveda. The Seminar, with a duration of three years, has been held without interruption for ten years (from 2008 to 2018). The articles presented here have been discussed and contrasted with the participants in the Seminar, whose contributions have helped to enrich its content.

Among the objectives of the Seminar, we highlight the interest in: 1) deepening into the specific character of the lay spirituality proposed by Poveda, both from a theoretical and experiential point of view; 2) favoring a creative combination of the hermeneutic recovery of ancient texts and the appropriation of contemporary experience; 3) establishing a critical and interdisciplinary dialogue of Poveda’s texts with the collective key elements and codes in force in today’s societies; and 4) developing together new formulations and practices of a lay spirituality, which help to nourish and inspire a life committed to the Gospel and according to the spirituality proposed by Pedro Poveda².

In total, the work consists of eight chapters in which basic dimensions of Poveda’s lay spirituality are addressed. It is not a systematic treatise, but a partial study in which only some texts of Pedro Poveda are studied in depth in which the author reflects and develops the chosen dimensions of Poveda’s spirituality. It is, therefore, an approach to the lay spirituality proposed by Poveda.

The first chapter addresses the characteristics of a lay presence in society, like that of the early Christians, inserted in social realities, which is distinguished by its holiness of life, for its ability to give flavor and heal.

The second chapter addresses the centrality of the incarnation in Poveda’s spirituality, whose full meaning can only be understood in the light of the paschal mystery. Poveda exhorts us to enter along the paths of knowledge, love and the following of Christ, whose love is only fully understood in the Crucified One.

The third chapter focuses on an essential and fundamental dimension of Christian living: prayer. The authors introduce us, through their reflection, to the meaning and effects of prayer for Pedro Poveda.

The fourth chapter delves into the importance of study in Poveda’s spirituality. In Poveda’s vision, study, along with prayer, is an irreplaceable means to achieve the ultimate goal and the program of the Work that he founded: the evangelization and dialogue of faith with science.

The fifth chapter develops Poveda’s conviction that faith in God enlivens and brings to fullness all that is human, while asking those who believe to be witnesses, with works and words, of the God who sustains, encourages and offers liberation and salvation.

The sixth and seventh chapters address some povedan virtues: the holy fruits that identify those who live them as disciples of Jesus Christ. The sixth chapter focuses on the habits and ways of being and acting that Poveda considers essential in the field of the relationship between profession, life, faith and vocation. The seventh develops the importance of meekness as a way of being, living, committing oneself and witnessing to the faith, following the model of Christ.

Finally, the eighth chapter deepens into the love/caritas that strongly binds believers in a community and strengthens them to commit themselves to the Kingdom. Poveda finds in the Trinitarian life the foundation that sustains and nourishes love.

Poveda’s texts are cited according to the numbering that appears in the volumes of the critical edition of the same. Specifically, the volumes cited are: Pedro Poveda, Obras I. Creí, por esto hablé (I believed, therefore I spoke). Critical edition and study by Mª Dolores Gómez Molleda, Madrid 2005³; and Pedro Poveda, Obras II. Ensayos y proyectos pedagógicos (Essays and pedagogical projects). Critical edition and study by Margarita Bartolomé, Madrid 2016.

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¹ Translator’s Note: In this book we make no distinction in terms of gender perspective, following the recommendation to use the masculine as generic, thus representing both genders, and without any type of discrimination.

² In all these years the team, coordinated by Elisa Estévez, has been integrated by Pilar Gascón, Mª Jesús Elejalde, Mati Carrero and Aurora Salamanca. The speakers of the different topics have been: Arantxa Aguado, Tusta Aguilar, Carmen Aparicio, Camino Cañón, Elisa Estévez, María Dolores Martín, Rosario V. Moreno and Raquel Pérez.

³ English translations can be found in Pedro Poveda, Selected Spiritual Writings Narcea S.A de Ediciones, 2012.

BEING THE SALT OF THE EARTH: LAY SPIRITUALITY IN THE THOUGHT OF PEDRO POVEDA

Elisa Estévez López

More than a hundred years ago, Pedro Poveda initiated a work of the Church, the Teresian Association, whose members had to live in the style of the early Christians, inserted in temporal realities, giving witness to the Gospel in the midst of educational and cultural structures, and linked by charity. With his initiative, he was responding to the imperative need for a dialogue between faith and science, between the Church and an increasingly pluralistic and secularized society that was demanding its autonomy¹. It thus joined other initiatives that emphasized the role of the laity in social transformation (more specifically, in the field of education, which was then the subject of acute social debate). In the face of fundamentalist and intransigent positions of beliefs, the Work of Poveda and he himself, chose to respond to aggressive secularism, showing with works and words far removed from belligerence and disqualifications, that the fullness of the human being is in Christ and that there is no opposition between faith and science².

The lay association that was taking its first steps in 1911 needed a strong spirituality, which Poveda would develop in the following years, and whose prototype had to be the first Christians, as he pointed out in 1934: The idea of taking the life of the first Christians as a model, was born with the very idea of the Work itself... [451] ³. The aim of this chapter is not a systematic exposition of the model of lay spirituality proposed by Poveda, but to focus on his commentary on Mt. 5:13: You are the salt of the earth. This is a writing of 1920, in which he reflects very well how to be in the world, being like everyone else, and at the same time, healing and giving flavor.

CONTEXT AND LITERARY GENRE OF THE COMMENTARY ON: YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.

The consideration You are the salt of the earth [157] belongs to a set of documents, very well differentiated in Poveda’s work, which the author began to write in February 1920, concluding it in March of the same year. He wrote it at a time when the lay association he had founded was becoming firmly established⁴, and having matured himself, with the strength of God’s love, in the crucible of suffering. The documentary collection is entitled: Jesus, Teacher of Prayer. It consists of twenty-four writings in which Poveda deals extensively, first, with the theme of prayer, and then he proposes how those who have to live and act as lay people in the midst of society should live and act. He clearly states the purpose of this lay association, its program and its own spirituality. Hence, the importance of these writings of 1920.

As for the literary genre, the set of documents contains meditations, considerations and some epistolary writing⁵. Specifically, the one that is the subject of our study is a consideration, Poveda’s literary genre par excellence. He uses it mainly when he touches on matters of utmost importance, to highlight essential features of identity, modality, mission and spirit of the Teresian Association. The consideration starts with a text of Scripture that contains the central idea to be developed. The author then expounds and argues the teachings derived from it, drawing on other biblical and patristic texts. And, finally, he exhorts to live in this way, giving indications on how to conduct oneself in life.

The chosen text, written on February 25, 1920, is based on the following Gospel quotation: You are the salt of the earth. And if the salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trodden under people’s feet (Mt 5:13)⁶. His reflection has two main parts: a first one in which he develops the comparison of the life of the apostolate with the image of salt; and a second one in which he reflects on the conditions under which presence in the world ceases to be evangelizing.

This is not an exegetical commentary. Poveda is not a specialist in the Bible, but a biblical man⁷. He reads the Bible theologically and spiritually within the living tradition of the Church, from his deep believing experience. He tries to update this message for the Work he founded and, in dialogue with the Word, he outlines the lay spirituality he proposes and the features of his own identity and mission⁸.

YOUR LIFE IS ONE OF APOSTOLATE

Poveda begins his presentation with a central affirmation that cuts across all his thought: your life is one of apostolate, and the comparison he chooses is that of salt. By referring to the Association as a work of apostolate, and by describing the mission and life of its members as apostolic, of zeal, the author expresses his conviction that evangelization is the ultimate goal, the reason for being⁹ of a lay association, called to make the Gospel present in the midst of the public structures of civil society (purpose), and showing the fruitfulness of the dialogue faith-science and faith-cultures-justice (program). For Poveda, the passion for the Kingdom is not the only one that fully configures the life of the member of the Association, unifying and structuring it in an integrative way. From there it confronts other approaches to the human and opts for a life that welcomes and serves the cause of God in the midst of the world, bearing witness to it in word and deed. Hence the mission of the Association is not limited to collaborating in the emergence of a historical alternative, however good it may be, but must make possible the conditions that make possible the birth of a new creation (Rom 8). In other words, evangelization is a note of identity, inseparable from the lay character of the lay vocation and inherent to its purpose and program, which must be exercised in a special apostolate that does not consist in preaching or administering the sacraments, but in teaching, instructing, educating, in a word, in forming the young, in making Christian teachers. It is a supernatural mission, because the end that the apostle proposes to himself is always supernatural, that of sanctifying the souls entrusted to him (1919) [125].

In the second part of his writing, he returns to the apostolate of the one who is to live as salt of the earth, and he affirms emphatically: It is a supernatural mission:

All his virtue, all the fruitfulness of his apostolate is in Christ, and when he separates himself from Christ, placing his trust in creatures, in human means and undertakings, his work is no longer apostolic, it is a natural labor more or less estimable in the world, according to the gifts possessed by the one who executes it, but without any value in relation to eternal life [157].

Poveda stresses in this writing another essential aspect of his spirituality: the link with Christ, because salt does not have a taste by itself, but receives it from another¹⁰.

Those who aspire to collaborate in the transformation of history into a new creation through education, must have union with God as an essential dimension in order to understand the lay spirituality he proposes.

This was expressed again in 1925 in a commentary on the biblical text, I am the vine, you are the branches [210]. In it, he reflects on the indispensable union with God of those who aspire to live with evangelical fruitfulness (fruits of eternal life, as opposed to the branch that dries up and is good for nothing but to be thrown away). He does not hesitate to affirm: the measure of your fruits will be this union with God (1928) [260].

BEING SALT OF THE EARTH: A MODEL OF LAY SPIRITUALITY

The image of salt is very suggestive, and with it Poveda illustrates how he understands a lay life, a life fused with that of the people, with their sufferings, their anguish, their hopes and dreams, and a ‘healing’ life of the divine¹¹. Both dimensions are essential for those who, according to their lay vocation, have to be God’s presence inserted in public and civic structures. The image of salt speaks of sharing the ordinary conditions of life of the men and women of our world, and of being leaven in history (cf. LG 31), giving flavor and healing. But Poveda’s affirmations also provide an essential key to understand this way of being companions on the journey with other men and women, and how to collaborate in the construction of the human: looking at the broken, grief-laden, wounded realities¹². The transforming key of being in the world starting from below is closely linked in Poveda to his first insertion into the dusty roads of the caves of Guadix. The work of the Academies and the interest in training teachers cannot be fully understood if it is not related to that experience that definitively marked his life and made him an expert in solidarity with humanity. The mediations will change, but not the profound conviction that the human is recreated from below, following the Son who became incarnate out of love¹³.

Poveda justifies, right at the beginning, the reason for choosing this comparison and not that of light: it fits better... to the humility of your mission and the silence with which you carry it out. His statement is better understood in the light of other texts of the same year. Fifteen days earlier, in his consideration of prayer as the only strength, Poveda reveals data of the concrete situation that the Work was going through in 1920:

The difficulties from within and the dangers from without, together with the persecutions of some and the fears of others, bring discouragement to the spirit of the most hardened [153].

A few days later, he writes to make clear his conviction that Jesus Christ is the only foundation of the being and mission of the Work. With this certainty firmly rooted, he did not hesitate to affirm that for this reason we are not discouraged by the lack of material means, nor by the small number, nor by the humility of the few of us who have come together to carry out this undertaking [168].

Beyond the knowledge of the circumstances that the Work was going through at that historical juncture, the context in which they are inserted offers evangelical key elements of great depth.

Poveda’s view of weakness, difficulties and conflicts does not remain closed in on itself, in a movement that can only produce sterility. The invitation that he makes to these women and that resounds with force is to trust in God¹⁴, in the strength that is received by opening oneself to his love in prayer¹⁵. He does not desist from the enterprise they are embarked on because he is convinced that God always sustains and that the difficult circumstances they are going through are an opportune time, a time of grace in which to rehearse the undisguised Gospel in its marginality and poverty. Hence his insistence that it is not position, talent, riches, the prudence of the flesh, in short, something human, that sustains and makes bold an Association called to collaborate in the task of liberation and salvation that Jesus Christ has entrusted to the Church. This is not the time for regrets, nor for nostalgia, nor for inhibition, but rather to walk as befits the vocation we have received, and this is the basis of unity of spirit¹⁶.

Touching our own and others’ vulnerability is an invitation to see the kenosis and the abasement of the Servant, who gave himself freely and gratuitously for love, to be salt and leaven in history¹⁷. Poveda is convinced that effectiveness does not come from human means –although they are necessary and indispensable–, but in reflecting and making Christ transparent.

But, in addition, when he affirms that salt fits better with the humility of your undertaking and the silence with which you carry it out, he alludes to the lay modality that he wants for the members of the Association. At the present time, the Work has a large group of professional women, of firm and enlightened faith, who give testimony of good work in their jobs. It also has many Academies. The Association and the founder himself have also already experienced persecutions and suffering. But in this way Poveda underlines his conviction of a lay presence fused with the life of the people, which relies on the only one who can sustain it, God himself; of a lay presence that bears witness to postpone everything human, always putting God first in their living and doing. On the other hand, the work they do is only through individual presences in schools