Spirituality, Christianity, Religious Life, and Formation

Pierre Ouatarra, FSC, Ph.D.

Abstract

In a secularized era that idolizes autonomy, control, and efficiency, Pierre Ouattara, FSC, Ph.D., issues a prophetic call to recover a Christian spirituality rooted in vulnerability, gratitude, and divine encounter. He highlights the postmodern separation between spirituality and religion, urging religious life to reawaken its mystical core through personal communion with God, particularly among young people. The rise of secularism has dulled the sense of transcendence, reshaping religious vocations into mere humanitarian efforts and eroding their salvific foundation. Through the lens of the Incarnation, Brother Pierre presents Christ’s embrace of human frailty as a radical affirmation of our embodied condition—an affront to secular power and a blueprint for authentic discipleship. Meekness, misunderstood as passivity, is reframed as intelligent, grace-filled resistance to evil. Christians are called to become “living crucified,” embodying radical love and accompanying others through suffering, echoing the silent agony of Christ in the voiceless and oppressed. Critiquing transhumanism’s denial of vulnerability, Brother Pierre warns of the dehumanizing effects of seeking total control over nature and ourselves. He proposes instead a spirituality that sees salvation in the childlike, in mercy, and in humility—a spirituality that welcomes limits and transforms suffering into loving testimony. Through faith’s eyes—eyes of mercy, not judgment—we are invited to encounter others as sacred. The Kingdom of God does not arrive by force but unfolds in the quiet transformation of human hearts. Witnessing through vulnerability, hospitality, and compassionate sacrifice becomes the truest form of evangelization in an age that is starving for meaning.

Full Text

Spirituality, Christianity, Religious Life, and Formation

Keywords

Spirituality, secularism, faith, transformation