Transformation and Accompaniment: Developing Pinckaers’s Model of Moral Growth

In this chapter I will present a much-neglected account by Servais Pinckaers on the moral
change worked in us by the Holy Spirit. Following Servais Pinckaers and John Henry Newman I will first describe a way of recognizing God “in passing.” Then, I will present Pinckaers’s proposal for a model of multidimensional moral change. In reflecting on that proposal, I will point out some of the questions it raises on human freedom and grace. These I will then address with the help of Aquinas’s biblical commentaries and his theological writings. This will help answer the question: how does moral transformation, which we may describe as a “change of heart and spirit” (see Ez. 36:26), take place? Here, I will pay particular attention to charity, prudence, and the Spirit’s gift of counsel. Finally, I will offer a brief reflection on how the insights may be applied to studying moral transformation and to the practice of spiritual accompaniment. This four-step process is a way of trying to delve into increasingly deeper layers of theology, moving from Pinckaers’s intuition of how we see God at work, to a theological appreciation of Aquinas’s description of the movement of grace in the human person, and to then see how it may serve pastoral purposes.