SPIRITUALITY
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bring about the power of the Gospel in his situation, he has struck at the heart of who he is and what he is about. If guilt there must be, the guilt of the pastoral minister is not his lack of private prayer but a parish where the Gospel is not preached. A recent thrust of Catholic theology has been to explore the intimate relationship between what before Vatican II often passed as opposites-Goo-Man, Church-World, Body-Soul. This type of theological reflection must be applied to the relationship of spirituality and ministry. Ministry is not isolated Christian behavior nor is it only the outward imperative of the experience of the Gospel. Using the dynamics of the spii¡ituality of Jesus it is the way back into the depths of that Gospel experience. But the laws of human awareness are at work. If the mind and the imagination of the pastoral minister is not attuned to this reality, it does not benefit him. Ironically ministry is seen as draining his spiritual life, not funding it. Hopefully an understanding of the structure of the spirituality of the pastoral minister will reverse this process. Ministry to men will be the path leading ever deeper into the mystery of God.