THY 4 - “God, who is too great to just be contained in one

historical person as Jesus of Nazareth.”

Lesson 1: Spirituality of Truth
- Fundamentalism: to affirm Jesus as the Truth, the
Harmony with God: Called to Communion Way, and the Life
- Cafeteria Catholicism: free to choose which of the
- Even a person who refuses to acknowledge God isn’t Church’s teachings they’ll accept, abandoning beliefs
exempted from confronting the “whys” of life. that doesn’t suit their preference
- “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in A. Relativism in Morals
this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation o Logical consequence of relativism in faith
is that I was made for another world. Probably o If all beliefs are true, then all actions are
earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but good
only to arouse it, to suggest THE REAL THING.” (Mere o “If they accept the Lord and have goodwill,
Christianity, C.S. Lewis) WHO AM I TO JUDGE?” – one of Pope
- Spirituality is our search for the “real thing” … as if Francis’ answers on questions about
the object of spirituality is a matter of personal homosexuality on his flight back to Rome
preference o often taken out of context and used as a
- True spirituality: truth of who God is propaganda statement by Catholics who
o Veritatis Splendor, 2: “The light of God's wish to defend moral slants that do not
face shines in all its beauty on the conform to the official teaching of the
countenance of Jesus Christ.” Church.
A. Spirituality of Truth o There’s neither good nor wrong, only
- 5th century: “man is the measure of all things” - “relatively better” - “what is right is wrong
Pythagoras and what is wrong is right”
- Relativism: all points of view are equally valid even if o “While the Church insists on the existence
they’re contradicting of objective moral norms which are valid
o Relativist society: no standards & for everyone… there are those in our
permanent moral values culture who portray this teaching as unjust,
o Truth is as fluid as the changing of an that is, as opposed to basic human rights.”
individual’s mind or preferences (Evangelii Gaudium, 64)
o Crisis of relativism B. Practical Relativism
§ “Today, having a clear faith based o form of moral relativism; self-centered,
on the Creed of the Church is often self-indulgent and grounded on
labeled as fundamentalism. convenience and material security
Whereas relativism, that is, letting o one accumulates and hoards wealth and
oneself be ‘tossed here and there, power at all costs
carried about by every wind of o “…acting as if God did not exist, making
doctrine’, seems the only attitude decisions as if the poor did not exist, setting
that can cope with modern times.” goals as if others did not exist, working as if
(Missa Pro Eligendo Romano people who have not received the Gospel
Pontifice, 19 April 2005) did not exist.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 80)
§ “We are building a dictatorship of
relativism that does not recognize Proclaiming the Truth from the Heart of the Gospel
anything as definitive and whose - Thomas Aquinas on Truth
ultimate goal consists solely of o “Truth is the equation of mind and thing.”
one's own ego and desires.” (Missa (Summa Theologiae, I:21:2)
Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice, 19 o Morally Truthful
April 2005) § When a person’s thinking
o Spirituality is our search for the “real thing”, conforms to what he expresses
what is the real thing amidst relativism? with words or actions
o Logically Truthful
Relativism in faith
§ When a person’s thinking
- “Jesus Christ is but one religious among others - of conforms to what actually exists
the many models and ideal forms of the Absolute” in reality and his judgments are
based on the same reality
 o Ontological Truth - These are actions that bring God’s mercy to our
§ insofar as they correspond to how neighbor especially the poor and the oppressed, all
the Creator imagined them even those who are suffering (2)
before they were made. - It becomes a deep spiritual experience when
o Moral & Logical Truth: expressions of what forgiveness and reconciliation are offered toward
originally was just as idea our enemies—those who have wronged us, had
o Ontological truth: became incarnate in caused us pain, anguish, humiliation…misery (3)
Christ - Mercy – vocation
§ "In fact, it is only in the mystery of - The spirituality of mercy that is truly faithful to God’s
the Word incarnate that light is call is holistic:
shed on the mystery of man.” (GS, o Integral: everything is connected
22) o Includes the natural world and isn’t merely
- Challenge: how to communicate the truth in today’s extended to it but embraces God’s creation
world o Integral, holistic, harmonious – recognizes
kinship with the rest of creation
A Missionary Key
Throw-away Culture
- Ultimate purpose behind the transmission of truth:
salvation (Mt. 28:29) - EG 53: fellow human beings
- For the truth to be conveyed effectively (EG 35): - LS 123: fellow human beings especially the poor
o genuine love for the audience, learn their - LS 21 & 22: w/ nature/environment/planet
language, be immersed in their realities. - Human beings are themselves considered consumer
o Not to saturate with doctrines but to goods to be used and then discarded. It is no longer
concentrate in the proclamation of what simply about exploitation and oppression, but
their situation necessitates, simple enough something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with
to be understood by all without losing its what it means to be a part of the society in which we
depth and richness live; those excluded are no longer society’s
- Pope Francis: communicating the truth today should underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they
not be by way of imposition but by attraction. are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not
- Pope Benedict XVI: In the words, it is through the via the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
pulchritudinis – the way of beauty the others are (EG53)
brought more effectively to the truth of Christ. Throw-away Culture Culture of Mercy (awa)
(Sawa)
Hierarchy of Truths Objectification Contemplation
- Not all truths are of equal importance in relation to Consumption Compassion
the salvation of man Maximization Care
disposal communion
- Essential truths are the foundational truths – the
truths supernaturally revealed necessary for
salvation Crisis of throw-away culture and its hedonistic
- Thus, those who proclaim the Christian faith to focus tendencies
on the essential Gospel Message – on the love of
God expressed in Christ Jesus who died and rose - We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model
again (Evangelii Gaudium, 36) … build a solid of production
foundation of faith that will later on address the - These problems are closely linked to a throwaway
“basic questions people have about life, death, culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly
suffering, justice, love and sin.” (Bushman, 2000) reduces things to rubbish.

Lesson 2: Spirituality of Mercy How does the crisis of throw-away culture result into
environmental and social degradation?
- “To hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the
poor” (LS 49). A. Throw-away culture & environmental
- a Spirit-filled movement of the heart “to be merciful degradation (LS 22) - In the Philippines,
just as God our Heavenly Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36) especially in Metro Manila, many LGUs have
- arises from our own experience of God’s mercy already banned the use of plastic bags.
- The spirituality of mercy lives both the corporal and However, we did not change our “throwaway”
spiritual actions of mercy (1)
 mentality because now we are wasting paper are required. If man were only a body, then
bags physical suffering would be the extent of
B. Throw-away culture and social degradation (EG what would cause him harm and need
53, LS 123, AL 39) - “Thou shalt not kill” .... today healing.
we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an o man is much more, having been blessed by
economy of exclusion and inequality. This is a God with an immortal soul. There is a
case of exclusion and inequality. Today suffering that goes beyond his body to his
everything comes under the laws of competition spirit. There is a poverty that goes beyond a
and the survival of the fittest. lack of food and clothing, to a lack of
- This is hardly to suggest that we cease warning understanding, to darkness in the mind,
against a cultural decline that fails to promote love and confusion about how to live and find
or self-giving. .... the speed with which people move happiness.
from one affective relationship to another. They o St. Thomas will not hesitate to say that this
believe, along the lines of social networks, that love work of mercy he was engaged in, what we
can be connected or disconnected at the whim of call the spiritual work of instructing the
the consumer, and the relationship quickly “blocked” ignorant — as important and crucial as the
- We treat affective relationships the way we treat corporal works of mercy are — was, in fact,
material objects and the environment: everything is the much more crucial.
disposable; everyone uses and throws away, takes o Teaching, writing, laboring in study: Aquinas
and breaks, exploits and squeezes to the last drop. did all those with complete generosity, not
Then, goodbye. sparing himself in healing man’s deepest
- Narcissism makes people incapable of looking suffering with the light of the Gospel.
beyond themselves, beyond their own desires and - Mercy: A Fundamental Issue for the 21st century
needs. ...adults who seek a kind of “independence” o The term mercy is present and fundamental
and reject the ideal of growing old together, looking in the Bible and in the Koran as well. Both
after and supporting one another. holy books talk of God almighty and
merciful. For the moment being it can be
Indicators of Throw-away Culture
left open whether the same term, mercy,
- Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii has the same meaning in the Bible and in
Gaudium (2013), in his Encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015), the Koran. (Cardinal Walter Kasper)
and in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on love o Mercy indicates in the direction of gratitude
in the family Amoris Laetitia: (2016) describe the for an unmerited gift and unmerited grace,
prevailing culture that destroys life of both the in the Hebrew language chesed, which in
present and future generations: the Bible also can be used for what in
o wasting of our resources fueled by English means mercy. But the Latin
consumerism and the market economy, misericordia has a deeper emotional
o of contraception and abortion meaning than a feeling of compassion. It
o abandonment of the elderly and the says: to have a heart (in Latin cor) for the
handicapped miseri, for those who are in misery and
o exclusion of the poor, exploitation of the therefore are miserable.
weak o In Biblical and in Christian Augustinian
o discarding of genuine relationships, of language the heart (cor) is the center of the
married love and marriage vows human person and the seat not only of the
emotions, but of conscience, determination
Spirituality of Mercy and responsibility. Thus, misericordia is not
only passive emotional compassion but
- Pope John XXIII, at the opening of the Second
acceptance of active responsibility for the
Vatican Council said that the church must use the
miserable; it touches with the heart and
medicine of mercy. The Church must therefore
also with the hands, opens them to help
“proclaim the mercy of God, provide people with
and moves the legs to be present where
God’s mercy and must allow God’s mercy to appear
help actually is needed.
and be realized in its entire life.
o In the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the
- Aquinas on Mercy:
Mount he called happy the gentle, the
o think a little more deeply about human
merciful, the peacemakers, not the
suffering, and about what kinds of remedies
 persecutors but those who are persecuted Lesson 3: Spirituality of Communion
(Matt 5,1-11).
The crisis of individualism
- Living “the primacy of mercy” (MV 7, MetM 1
a. “Culture of care” as antidote to the double - Economic, political, socio cultural, ecological
degradation brought about by the - LS 162: “Men and women of our postmodern world
throwaway culture (EG 193, LS 231, AL 191) run the risk of rampant individualism, and many
§ Laudato Si’ mentioned the word problems of society are connected with today’s self-
“care” 35 times, while centered culture of instant gratification.”
“stewardship” only twice. The
subtitle of Laudato Si is in fact on Effects and Consequences of Individualism
“care for our common home”.
- Isolates man from one’s true fulfillment
From “stewardship” we notice a
- The world is torn apart
shift to “care”. Hence, there is a
- extreme individualism often leads to the idea that
shift from duty-based ethics to a
one’s personality is shaped by his or her desires,
virtue-based ethics of “care.”
which are considered absolute. (Relatio Synodi, 2014
o Cardinal Turkson, president of the Pontifical
in AL 33).
Council for Justice and Peace:
- It has led to a loss of a sense of solidarity with and
o “Good stewards take responsibility and
responsibility for others. (MetM 18)
fulfill their obligations to manage and to
- personalism opts for authenticity as opposed to
render an account. But one can be a good
mere conformity. While this can favor spontaneity
steward without feeling connected. If one
and a better use of people’s talents, if misdirected it
cares, however, one is connected. To care is
can foster attitudes of constant suspicion, fear of
to allow oneself to be affected by another,
commitment, self-centeredness and arrogance. (AL
so much so that one’s path and priorities
33)
change.
- Freedom of choice that lacks noble goals or personal
b. Revisiting the works of mercy today
discipline, it degenerates into an inability to give
o Let us not fall into humiliating indifference
oneself generously to others. (AL 33)
or a monotonous routine that prevents us
from discovering what is new! Antidote to Individualism
o Let us ward off destructive cynicism! Let us
open our eyes and see the misery of the - Spirituality of communion that communion which
world, the wounds of our brothers and heals, promotes and reinforces interpersonal bonds
sisters who are denied their dignity (cf. EG 67)
o Let us recognize that we are compelled to Meaning & nature of the spirituality of communion
heed their cry for help! May we reach
out to them and support them so they can - heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity
feel the warmth of our presence, our dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able
friendship, and our fraternity! May their cry to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters
become our own, and together may we around us.
break down the barriers of indifference that - ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith
too often reign supreme and mask our within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and
hypocrisy and egoism! therefore as "those who are a part of me". This
- Unleashing the creativity of mercy (MetM 18-19) makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to
o The Church today needs to tell of those sense their desires and attend to their needs, to
“many other signs” that Jesus worked, offer them deep and genuine friendship.
which “are not written” (Jn 20:30), so that - ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it
they too may be an eloquent expression of and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for
the fruitfulness of the love of Christ and of the brother or sister who has received it directly, but
the community that draws its life from him. also as a "gift for me.”
Two thousand years have passed yet works - to know how to "make room" for our brothers and
of mercy continue to make God’s goodness sisters, bearing "each other's burdens" (Gal 6:2) and
visible. resisting the selfish temptations which constantly
beset us and provoke competition, careerism,
distrust and jealousy.
- must be cultivated and extended day by day and at
every level in the structures of each Church's life.
o i.e. The theology and spirituality of
communion encourage a fruitful dialogue
between Pastors and faithful: on the one
hand uniting them a priori in all that is
essential, and on the other leading them to
pondered agreement in matters open to
discussion.

Communion in difference (AL 139)

- Keep an open mind. Fraternal communion is

enriched by respect and appreciation for differences
within an overall perspective that advances the
common good. We need to free ourselves from
feeling that we all have to be alike.
- A certain astuteness is also needed to prevent the
appearance of “static” that can interfere with the
process of dialogue.
- The ability to say what one is thinking without
offending the other person is important. Words
should be carefully chosen so as not to offend,
especially when discussing difficult issues.