The Religious Experience that Parents of the Children who Prepare for their First Holy Communion Have

Abstract

The term “experience” is an ambiguous concept, both in the colloquial and scholarly language. One of the kinds of experience is religious experience that consists in man's immediate contact with religious reality. Understanding, feeling, intuition and personal, independent encounter with sacrum are essential elements of this experience. Sociologists distinguish several indexes of religious experience: feeling of nearness of God, emotional attachment to the Supreme Being, meaning of life, sense of security, aid in everyday life, aid in difficult situations, aid in the final hour of life. In the present article religious experience is analyzed with respect to the characteristics of the period of adulthood. It is the period of life that is interesting not only from the point of view of psychology, but also of religion and spirituality. It is in this period that we witness ultimate formation of one's identity, of integration of one's real and ideal ego, of a mature personality and of mature religiousness. Hence, it may be said that the quality and intensity of religious experience in this developmental period is especially interesting. The final part of the article has an empirical character, as it concerns studies of parents of children who are preparing for their First Holy Communion. It is worth stressing that this pastoral situation has a great significance not only for the children's religious life, but also for that of their parents'.