Bro. John Raymond F.

Montejo, SDB Personal and Family Ethics

“What/Who is the Human Person”
What is the human being? Among the many creatures in the world, the human being is
one of them, and like them, is sustained and nourished with his interaction with the rest of the
creation. With the complexities of his physical and physiological makeup, he is far superior to
the rest of the creation because of his endowment of intellect and will by which he is able self-
reflect and make choices and decisions for his own good or for the good of his fellow human
being. Human beings can also take care of the rest of the creation and profit from them for his
sustenance and development.
Being a social creature, the human being also lives with his kind, his kindred, among
whom he identifies himself and proposes governing rules and norms in dealing and interacting
with his own kind. With his fellow beings, he strives to reach some ideals, and developments are
achieved by working together with the others. Conflicts are resolved from within a group and
among certain groups in various ways, which were barbaric and primeval at first but eventually
became capable of diplomacy and in a peaceful way.
With his intellect, the human being is able to progress in various fields that the other
created beings could not achieve or do and he is able to exploit the rest of nature for this end.
His intellect also gives him the capacity to search for something that is a drive from within and
that which is beyond what the senses can perceive. This is so because a human being also has a
soul, a spirit which longs as well to interact with its own kind. This leads me then to answer the
second question.
Who is the human person? The intellect and the will that I have mentioned above are
both faculties of the human person which is given to him for his use and this gives him the
ability to choose for himself and it is accompanied with freedom, a faculty which is not given to
any of the rest of the creation. With this freedom and with his spiritual dimension, the human
person searches for a connection with the transcendent, with the spiritual, with the divine. We
may rightly call this as a holy longing. This is so because the human person is a created being
and is inclined to connect with his Creator. His personhood is derived from the person of his
Creator, who, according to Scriptures, has created him in His image and likeness. The human
person, as he is a social being in the material world, is also a social being in the spiritual realm.
Hence, his desire to be connected to the Divine will always be present until it is satisfied and
fulfilled.