THY 4
historical person as Jesus of Nazareth.”
Lesson 1: Spirituality of Truth
Harmony with God: Called to Communion
- Even a person who refuses to acknowledge God isn’t
exempted from confronting the “whys” of life.
- “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in
this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation
is that I was made for another world. Probably
earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but
only to arouse it, to suggest THE REAL THING.” (Mere
Christianity, C.S. Lewis)
- Spirituality is our search for the “real thing” … as if
the object of spirituality is a matter of personal
preference
- True spirituality: truth of who God is
o Veritatis Splendor, 2: “The light of God's
face shines in all its beauty on the
countenance of Jesus Christ.”
A. Spirituality of Truth
- 5th century: “man is the measure of all things” -
Pythagoras
- Relativism: all points of view are equally valid even if
they’re contradicting
o Relativist society: no standards &
permanent moral values
o Truth is as fluid as the changing of an
individual’s mind or preferences
o Crisis of relativism
§ “Today, having a clear faith based
on the Creed of the Church is often
labeled as fundamentalism.
Whereas relativism, that is, letting
oneself be ‘tossed here and there,
carried about by every wind of
doctrine’, seems the only attitude
that can cope with modern times.”
(Missa Pro Eligendo Romano
Pontifice, 19 April 2005)
§ “We are building a dictatorship of
relativism that does not recognize
anything as definitive and whose
ultimate goal consists solely of
one's own ego and desires.” (Missa
Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice, 19
April 2005)
o Spirituality is our search for the “real thing”,
what is the real thing amidst relativism?
Relativism in faith
- “Jesus Christ is but one religious among others - of
the many models and ideal forms of the Absolute”
- “God, who is too great to just be contained in one
- Fundamentalism: to affirm Jesus as the Truth, the
Way, and the Life
- Cafeteria Catholicism: free to choose which of the
Church’s teachings they’ll accept, abandoning beliefs
that doesn’t suit their preference
A. Relativism in Morals
o Logical consequence of relativism in faith
o If all beliefs are true, then all actions are
good
o “If they accept the Lord and have goodwill,
WHO AM I TO JUDGE?” – one of Pope
Francis’ answers on questions about
homosexuality on his flight back to Rome
o often taken out of context and used as a
propaganda statement by Catholics who
wish to defend moral slants that do not
conform to the official teaching of the
Church.
o There’s neither good nor wrong, only
“relatively better” - “what is right is wrong
and what is wrong is right”
o “While the Church insists on the existence
of objective moral norms which are valid
for everyone… there are those in our
culture who portray this teaching as unjust,
that is, as opposed to basic human rights.”
(Evangelii Gaudium, 64)
B. Practical Relativism
o form of moral relativism; self-centered,
self-indulgent and grounded on
convenience and material security
o one accumulates and hoards wealth and
power at all costs
o “…acting as if God did not exist, making
decisions as if the poor did not exist, setting
goals as if others did not exist, working as if
people who have not received the Gospel
did not exist.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 80)
Proclaiming the Truth from the Heart of the Gospel
- Thomas Aquinas on Truth
o “Truth is the equation of mind and thing.”
(Summa Theologiae, I:21:2)
o Morally Truthful
§ When a person’s thinking
conforms to what he expresses
with words or actions
o Logically Truthful
§ When a person’s thinking
conforms to what actually exists
in reality and his judgments are
based on the same reality
 o Ontological Truth
§ insofar as they correspond to how
the Creator imagined them even
before they were made.
o Moral & Logical Truth: expressions of what
originally was just as idea
o Ontological truth: became incarnate in
Christ
§ "In fact, it is only in the mystery of
the Word incarnate that light is
shed on the mystery of man.” (GS,
22)
- Challenge: how to communicate the truth in today’s
world
A Missionary Key
- Ultimate purpose behind the transmission of truth:
salvation (Mt. 28:29)
- For the truth to be conveyed effectively (EG 35):
o genuine love for the audience, learn their
language, be immersed in their realities.
o Not to saturate with doctrines but to
concentrate in the proclamation of what
their situation necessitates, simple enough
to be understood by all without losing its
depth and richness
- Pope Francis: communicating the truth today should
not be by way of imposition but by attraction.
- Pope Benedict XVI: In the words, it is through the via
pulchritudinis – the way of beauty the others are
brought more effectively to the truth of Christ.
Hierarchy of Truths
- Not all truths are of equal importance in relation to
the salvation of man
- Essential truths are the foundational truths – the
truths supernaturally revealed necessary for
salvation
- Thus, those who proclaim the Christian faith to focus
on the essential Gospel Message – on the love of
God expressed in Christ Jesus who died and rose
again (Evangelii Gaudium, 36) … build a solid
foundation of faith that will later on address the
“basic questions people have about life, death,
suffering, justice, love and sin.” (Bushman, 2000)
Lesson 2: Spirituality of Mercy
- “To hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the
poor” (LS 49).
- a Spirit-filled movement of the heart “to be merciful
just as God our Heavenly Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36)
- arises from our own experience of God’s mercy
- The spirituality of mercy lives both the corporal and
spiritual actions of mercy (1)
- These are actions that bring God’s mercy to our
neighbor especially the poor and the oppressed, all
those who are suffering (2)
- It becomes a deep spiritual experience when
forgiveness and reconciliation are offered toward
our enemies—those who have wronged us, had
caused us pain, anguish, humiliation…misery (3)
- Mercy – vocation
- The spirituality of mercy that is truly faithful to God’s
call is holistic:
o Integral: everything is connected
o Includes the natural world and isn’t merely
extended to it but embraces God’s creation
o Integral, holistic, harmonious – recognizes
kinship with the rest of creation
Throw-away Culture
- EG 53: fellow human beings
- LS 123: fellow human beings especially the poor
- LS 21 & 22: w/ nature/environment/planet
- Human beings are themselves considered consumer
goods to be used and then discarded. It is no longer
simply about exploitation and oppression, but
something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with
what it means to be a part of the society in which we
live; those excluded are no longer society’s
underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they
are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not
the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
(EG53)
Throw-away Culture Culture of Mercy (awa)
(Sawa)
Objectification Contemplation
Consumption Compassion
Maximization Care
disposal communion
Crisis of throw-away culture and its hedonistic
tendencies
- We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model
of production
- These problems are closely linked to a throwaway
culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly
reduces things to rubbish.
How does the crisis of throw-away culture result into
environmental and social degradation?
A. Throw-away culture & environmental
degradation (LS 22) - In the Philippines,
especially in Metro Manila, many LGUs have
already banned the use of plastic bags.
However, we did not change our “throwaway”
 mentality because now we are wasting paper
bags
B. Throw-away culture and social degradation (EG
53, LS 123, AL 39) - “Thou shalt not kill” .... today
we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an
economy of exclusion and inequality. This is a
case of exclusion and inequality. Today
everything comes under the laws of competition
and the survival of the fittest.
- This is hardly to suggest that we cease warning
against a cultural decline that fails to promote love
or self-giving. .... the speed with which people move
from one affective relationship to another. They
believe, along the lines of social networks, that love
can be connected or disconnected at the whim of
the consumer, and the relationship quickly “blocked”
- We treat affective relationships the way we treat
material objects and the environment: everything is
disposable; everyone uses and throws away, takes
and breaks, exploits and squeezes to the last drop.
Then, goodbye.
- Narcissism makes people incapable of looking
beyond themselves, beyond their own desires and
needs. ...adults who seek a kind of “independence”
and reject the ideal of growing old together, looking
after and supporting one another.
Indicators of Throw-away Culture
- Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii
Gaudium (2013), in his Encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015),
and in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on love
in the family Amoris Laetitia: (2016) describe the
prevailing culture that destroys life of both the
present and future generations:
o wasting of our resources fueled by
consumerism and the market economy,
o of contraception and abortion
o abandonment of the elderly and the
handicapped
o exclusion of the poor, exploitation of the
weak
o discarding of genuine relationships, of
married love and marriage vows
Spirituality of Mercy
- Pope John XXIII, at the opening of the Second
Vatican Council said that the church must use the
medicine of mercy. The Church must therefore
“proclaim the mercy of God, provide people with
God’s mercy and must allow God’s mercy to appear
and be realized in its entire life.
- Aquinas on Mercy:
o think a little more deeply about human
suffering, and about what kinds of remedies
are required. If man were only a body, then
physical suffering would be the extent of
what would cause him harm and need
healing.
o man is much more, having been blessed by
God with an immortal soul. There is a
suffering that goes beyond his body to his
spirit. There is a poverty that goes beyond a
lack of food and clothing, to a lack of
understanding, to darkness in the mind,
and confusion about how to live and find
happiness.
o St. Thomas will not hesitate to say that this
work of mercy he was engaged in, what we
call the spiritual work of instructing the
ignorant — as important and crucial as the
corporal works of mercy are — was, in fact,
the much more crucial.
o Teaching, writing, laboring in study: Aquinas
did all those with complete generosity, not
sparing himself in healing man’s deepest
suffering with the light of the Gospel.
- Mercy: A Fundamental Issue for the 21st century
o The term mercy is present and fundamental
in the Bible and in the Koran as well. Both
holy books talk of God almighty and
merciful. For the moment being it can be
left open whether the same term, mercy,
has the same meaning in the Bible and in
the Koran. (Cardinal Walter Kasper)
o Mercy indicates in the direction of gratitude
for an unmerited gift and unmerited grace,
in the Hebrew language chesed, which in
the Bible also can be used for what in
English means mercy. But the Latin
misericordia has a deeper emotional
meaning than a feeling of compassion. It
says: to have a heart (in Latin cor) for the
miseri, for those who are in misery and
therefore are miserable.
o In Biblical and in Christian Augustinian
language the heart (cor) is the center of the
human person and the seat not only of the
emotions, but of conscience, determination
and responsibility. Thus, misericordia is not
only passive emotional compassion but
acceptance of active responsibility for the
miserable; it touches with the heart and
also with the hands, opens them to help
and moves the legs to be present where
help actually is needed.
o In the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the
Mount he called happy the gentle, the
merciful, the peacemakers, not the
 persecutors but those who are persecuted
(Matt 5,1-11).
- Living “the primacy of mercy” (MV 7, MetM 1
a. “Culture of care” as antidote to the double
degradation brought about by the
throwaway culture (EG 193, LS 231, AL 191)
§ Laudato Si’ mentioned the word
“care” 35 times, while
“stewardship” only twice. The
subtitle of Laudato Si is in fact on
“care for our common home”.
From “stewardship” we notice a
shift to “care”. Hence, there is a
shift from duty-based ethics to a
virtue-based ethics of “care.”
o Cardinal Turkson, president of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace:
o “Good stewards take responsibility and
fulfill their obligations to manage and to
render an account. But one can be a good
steward without feeling connected. If one
cares, however, one is connected. To care is
to allow oneself to be affected by another,
so much so that one’s path and priorities
change.
b. Revisiting the works of mercy today
o Let us not fall into humiliating indifference
or a monotonous routine that prevents us
from discovering what is new!
o Let us ward off destructive cynicism! Let us
open our eyes and see the misery of the
world, the wounds of our brothers and
sisters who are denied their dignity
o Let us recognize that we are compelled to
heed their cry for help! May we reach
out to them and support them so they can
feel the warmth of our presence, our
friendship, and our fraternity! May their cry
become our own, and together may we
break down the barriers of indifference that
too often reign supreme and mask our
hypocrisy and egoism!
- Unleashing the creativity of mercy (MetM 18-19)
o The Church today needs to tell of those
“many other signs” that Jesus worked,
which “are not written” (Jn 20:30), so that
they too may be an eloquent expression of
the fruitfulness of the love of Christ and of
the community that draws its life from him.
Two thousand years have passed yet works
of mercy continue to make God’s goodness
visible.
Lesson 3: Spirituality of Communion
The crisis of individualism
- Economic, political, socio cultural, ecological
- LS 162: “Men and women of our postmodern world
run the risk of rampant individualism, and many
problems of society are connected with today’s self-
centered culture of instant gratification.”
Effects and Consequences of Individualism
- Isolates man from one’s true fulfillment
- The world is torn apart
- extreme individualism often leads to the idea that
one’s personality is shaped by his or her desires,
which are considered absolute. (Relatio Synodi, 2014
in AL 33).
- It has led to a loss of a sense of solidarity with and
responsibility for others. (MetM 18)
- personalism opts for authenticity as opposed to
mere conformity. While this can favor spontaneity
and a better use of people’s talents, if misdirected it
can foster attitudes of constant suspicion, fear of
commitment, self-centeredness and arrogance. (AL
33)
- Freedom of choice that lacks noble goals or personal
discipline, it degenerates into an inability to give
oneself generously to others. (AL 33)
Antidote to Individualism
- Spirituality of communion that communion which
heals, promotes and reinforces interpersonal bonds
(cf. EG 67)
Meaning & nature of the spirituality of communion
- heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity
dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able
to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters
around us.
- ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith
within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and
therefore as "those who are a part of me". This
makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to
sense their desires and attend to their needs, to
offer them deep and genuine friendship.
- ability to see what is positive in others, to welcome it
and prize it as a gift from God: not only as a gift for
the brother or sister who has received it directly, but
also as a "gift for me.”
- to know how to "make room" for our brothers and
sisters, bearing "each other's burdens" (Gal 6:2) and
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.