GROWTH AND MATURITY

Marriage is the most serious partnership ever entered. There is such a thing as marrying at the right time. For marriage to really work, a man and woman should know what is expected of them, and should

have the capacity to fulfill the expectations. Therefore marriage requires a sense of MATURITY.

Meaning of Maturity

Maturity- is that stage of growing up when a person may be described as “grown up”, an adult or of age.

It is with maturity that a person sufficiently develops powers of the body and mind to understand the implications of what he or she wants.

In doing so, one calls to mind the important and serious steps in life in order to make necessary decisions.

Maturity is identified as “Christian” when the person intending to make decisions and take action does so based on the perspective and principles of the Christian faith, assisted by grace.

Therefore, a mature person who is a Christian and acting the Christian way.

Factors affecting/influencing Maturity

If one wants to become a better or mature person, an effective friend, spouse, or parent, one has to know how one’s personality is affected by the factors that may influence it positively and negatively and how one could help it grow and develop in the desired direction.

4 Factors affecting growth and maturity

1. Heredity- a characteristic transmitted genetically from generation to generation

From our parents, both sets of grandparents and other relatives up to the ascending lives we inherit our basic personality traits; physical, emotional, and intellectual qualities strengths and weaknesses.

These form the basis or the seeds of the emerging distinctiveness in a person. What we are going to be like will be the result of what we know about ourselves, what we want to change or not to change in us, and what we can or cannot be altered.

We can help ourselves form a mature Christian personality.

2. Environment- all the conditions, circumstances, and influences surrounding and affecting the development of person or group of people.

It is not easy to assess how much and to what degree we are or may be influenced by other people, especially when we are unconscious that it is taking place.

We are continuously being “conditioned” by the people around us. The influences may be visual, verbal and may be positive or negative in nature. Their impact on us depends on many causes.

Examples:

The projected example comes from people we love, believe and trust. When something is entertainingly and desirably shown or presented with convincing impact.

3. Education- the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, character, etc. by formal schooling, teaching, and training.

The careful choice of our education and the decision of parents for younger children who cannot make their choices, provides is with the opportunity to be inculcated with the right knowledge and influence contributive to the correct development of the personality, apart from important subject matter in the curriculum taught by the book.

Unless the school is a Christian Catholic, the Christian dimension in formal education is missing. Learning to be a normal well- adjusted young Christian persons with the ability to meet different

situation, makes decisions and act on them means learning to be mature, to accept responsibility, face reality, be independent, satisfy psychological needs and have healthy interpersonal relationships.

All these add up to preparing for a healthy and mature life.

4. The gift of Grace- the unmerited love and fervor of God toward a person. It is the divine influence acting in a person to make the person pure, morally strong, etc. Help given to a person by God.

Moved by grace, a person turns towards God and away from sin. (CCC 2018) Sanctifying grace is the gift of His life God gave us… infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of

sin and to sanctify it. (CCC 2023) with our cooperation we can be transformed not only into better persons, but at the same time better

Christians. Our cooperation with Him must be present.