Midterm Lesson 3

The Etymology of Religion According to Fr. Joseph Galdon, SJ

What is religion? St. Thomas says that we can define religion by looking at the three classical etymologies of
the Latin word religio. The three etymologies are ligare (to bind), legere (to read) and eligere (to choose).
The Jesuit Priest, Fr. Joseph A. Galdon describes religion as simply a way a man or a woman looks at life. It is
the way that we experience life – not superficially, because religion is not a superficial outlook on life; not as a
matter of fact, but deeply and as a call to personal commitment. Religion, he says, challenges us to look at life
in a new way, to look at everything with the eyes of God. Everything is beautiful and holy if we look at it the
right way.
Religion, therefore, Fr, Galdon says, challenges us to read the world correctly. We have to see not just suffering,
pain and problems. Many of us see only the sin, the suffering, the difficulties. But the religious person finds
God in it all. It is like the student who flunks the test who says he deserves it because he has not been studying
very well. “I’ve got to do it better next time.”
Religion also challenges us to “bind” the two parts of life together. One can’t go to mass on Sunday and then
live like a pagan for the rest of the week. Let’s avoid a “split-level existence” which allows us to be holy and
good at home and then go along with all the graft and corruption that goes on in the office. Religion demands
that life be one harmonious whole—all for God and all for love.
Finally, religion demands that we “choose” God and God’s way in everything that we do. We are constantly
confronted with everything we do. We are constantly confronted with choices – some good, some bad, some
indifferent. The religious person always chooses the good, hence the Jesuit motto – “All for the greater glory of
God” which capsulizes this attitude of choice.
Always we must choose what is better and holier. Always we must choose the path of greater love. At the
difficult moment of life, Fr. Galdon advises that we have to sit down and ask ourselves: What should I do in this
situation? Where is the greater love?
What then is a religious person? He is not necessarily someone who spends all his time in church or in prayer.
He may not even be the monk in the monastery or the woman in the brown scapular who goes to mass every
day. The religious person is the one who can find God in all things, the one who can read the tangled situations
in our world today and find God in everything, The religious person is the one who can center his life on God
and find that God is the answer to everything – both the holy and the profane. A religious person is the one who
can choose clearly and simply what God wants him to do, and what God wants him to be.
Religion is not necessarily praying. Rather it is an attitude towards life – and an attitude towards love. Love that
loves even your enemy.
Source:bicolmail.net/single-post/2019/03/07/EDITORIAL-What-is-religion

Spiritual and Religious: The Benefits of Being Both

Many people today define themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’, but is it really that easy, or healthy, to
separate spirituality and religion from one another? James Martin SJ thinks not, and in an extract from his
popular book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, he explains why religion should not be dismissed so
readily.
Everybody seems to be spiritual these days – from your college roommate, to the person in the office cubicle
next to yours, to the subject of every other celebrity interview. But if ‘spiritual’ is fashionable, ‘religious’ is as
unfashionable. This is usually expressed as follows: ‘I’m spiritual but just not religious.’ It’s even referred to by
the acronym SBNR.
There are so many people who describe themselves as SBNR that sometimes I wonder if the Jesuits might
attract more people if they gave the Spiritual But Not Religious Exercises.
The thinking goes like this: being ‘religious’ means abiding by the arcane rules and hidebound dogmas, and
being the tool of an oppressive institution that doesn’t allow you to think for yourself. (Which would have
surprised many thinking believers, like St. Thomas Aquinas, Moses Maimonides, Dorothy Day and Reinhold
Niebuhr.) Religion is narrow-minded and prejudicial – so goes the thinking – stifling the growth of the human
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spirit. (Which would have surprised St. Francis of Assisi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, St. Teresa of Ávila, Rumi
and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Or worse, as several contemporary authors contend, religion is the most despicable of social evils, responsible
for all the wars and conflicts around the world.
Sadly, religion is in fact responsible for many ills in the modern world and evils throughout history: among
them the persecution of Jews, endless wars of religion, the Inquisition, not to mention the religious intolerance
and zealotry that leads to terrorism.
You can add to this list smaller things: your judgmental neighbour who loudly tells you how often he helps out
at church, your holier-than-thou relative who trumpets how often she reads the Bible, or that annoying guy at
work who keeps telling you that belief in Jesus is sure to bring you amazing financial success.
There is a human and sinful side to religion since religions are human organisations, and therefore prone to sin.
And frankly, people within religious organisations know this better than those outside of them.
Some say that on balance religion is found wanting. Still, I would stack up against the negatives some positive
aspects: traditions of love, forgiveness and charity as well as the more tangible outgrowths of thousands of
faith-based organisations that care for the poor, like Catholic charities or the vast network of Catholic hospitals
and schools that care for poor and immigrant populations. Think too of generous men and women like St.
Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Catherine of Siena, Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa and the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King again. Speaking of Dr. King, you might add Abolition, women’s suffrage, and civil rights
movements, all of which were founded on explicitly religious principles. Add to that list the billions of believers
who have found in their own religious traditions not only comfort but also a moral voice urging them to live
selfless lives and to challenge the status quo.
And Jesus of Nazareth. Remember him? Though he often challenged the religious conventions of his day, he
was a deeply religious man. (This is something of an understatement).
By the way, atheism doesn’t have a perfect record either. In his book No One Sees God: The Dark Night of
Atheists and Believers, Michael Novak points out that while many atheist thinkers urge us to question
everything, especially the record of organised religion, atheists often fail to question their own record. Think of
the cruelty and bloodshed perpetrated, just in the 20th century, by totalitarian regimes that have professed
‘scientific atheism.’ Stalinist Russia comes to mind.
On balance, I think religion comes out on top. And when I think about the examples of the maleficent effects of
religion, I remember the English novelist Evelyn Waugh, a dazzling writer who was by many accounts a nasty
person. One of Waugh’s friends once expressed astonishment that he could be so mean-spirited and a Christian.
Think, said Waugh, how much worse I would be if I were not Christian.
Still, it’s not surprising that, given all the problems with organised religion, many people would say, ‘I’m not
religious.’ They say: ‘I’m serious about living a moral life, maybe even one that centres on God, but I’m my
own person.’
‘Spiritual’ on the other hand, implies that freed from unnecessary dogma, you can be yourself before God. The
term may also imply that you have sampled a variety of religious beliefs that you have integrated into your life.
You meditate at a Buddhist temple (which is great); participate in seders with Jewish friends at Passover (great,
too); sing in a gospel choir at a local Baptist church (great again); and go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at
a Catholic church (also great).
You find what works for you, but don’t subscribe to any one church: that would be too confining. Besides,
there’s no one creed that represents exactly what you believe.
But there’s a problem. While ‘spiritual’ is obviously healthy, ‘not religious’ may be another way of saying that
faith is something between you and God. And while faith is a question of you and God, it’s not just a question
of you and God.
Because this would mean that you’re relating to God alone. And that means that there’s no one to suggest when
you might be off track.
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We all tend to think that we’re correct about most things, and spirituality is no exception. And not belonging to
a religious community means less of a chance of being challenged by a tradition of belief and experience, less
chance to see when you are misguided, seeing only part of the picture, or even wrong.
Let’s consider a person who wants to follow Jesus Christ on her own. Perhaps she has heard that if she follows
Christ she will enjoy financial success – a popular idea today. Were she part of a mainstream Christian
community, though, she would be reminded that suffering is part of the life of even the most devout Christian.
Without the wisdom of a community, she may gravitate towards a skewed view of Christianity. Once she falls
on hard times financially, she may drop God, who has ceased to meet her personal needs.
Despite our best efforts to be spiritual we make mistakes. And when we do, it’s helpful to have the wisdom of a
religious tradition.
This reminds me of a passage from a book called Habits of the Heart, written by Robert Bellah, a sociologist of
religion, and other colleagues, in which they interviewed a woman named Sheila, about her religious beliefs. ‘I
believe in God,’ she said. ‘I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith
has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.’
Even more problematic than Sheilaism are spiritualities entirely focused on the self, with no place for humility,
self-critique, or any sense of responsibility for the community. Certain ‘New Age’ movements find their goal
not in God, or even the greater good, but in self-improvement – a valuable goal – but one that can degenerate
into selfishness.
Religion can provide a check to my tendency to think that I am the centre of the universe, that I have all the
answers, that I know better than anyone about God, and that God speaks most clearly through me.
By the same token, religious institutions need themselves to be called to account. And here the prophets among
us, who are able to see the failures, weaknesses, and plain old sinfulness of institutional religion, play a critical
role. Like individuals who are never challenged, religious communities can often get things tragically wrong,
convinced that they are doing ‘God’s will.’ (Think of the Salem witch trials, among other examples.) They
might even encourage us to become complacent in our judgments. Unreflective religion can sometimes incite
people to make even worse mistakes than they would on their own. Thus, those prophetic voices calling their
communities to continual self-critique are always difficult for the institution to hear, but nonetheless necessary.
In his own way, Ignatius exercised a prophetic role by asking Jesuits not to seek high clerical office in the
church – like that of bishop, archbishop or cardinal. In fact, Jesuits make a promise not to ‘ambition’ for high
office even within their own order. In this way, Ignatius not only tried to prevent careerism among the Jesuits,
but also spoke a word of prophecy to the clerical culture of church in his time.
It’s a healthy tension: the wisdom of our religious traditions provides us with a corrective for our propensity to
think that we have all the answers; and prophetic individuals can moderate the natural propensity of institutions
to resist change and growth. As with many aspects of the spiritual life, you need to find balance in the tension.
Religion provides us with something else we need: stories of other believers, who help us understand God better
than we could on our own.
Isaac Hecker was a 19th-century convert to Catholicism who became a priest and founded the American
religious order known as the Paulists. He may have summed it up best. Religion, said Hecker, helps you to
‘connect and correct.’ You are invited into a community to connect with one another and with a tradition. At the
same time, you are corrected when you need to be. And you may be called to correct your own community –
though a special kind of discernment and humility is required in those cases.
Religion can lead people to do terrible things. At its best, though, religion modifies our natural tendency to
believe that we have all the answers. So despite what many detractors say, and despite the arrogance that
sometimes infects religious groups, religion at its best introduces humility into your life.
Religion also reflects the social dimension of human nature. Human beings naturally desire to be with one
another, and that desire extends to worship. It’s natural to want to worship together, to gather with other people
who share your desire for God, and to work with others to fulfil the dreams of your community.
Experiencing God also comes through personal interactions within the community. Sure, God communicates
through private, intimate moments – as in prayer or reading of sacred texts – but sometimes God enters into
relationships with us through others in a faith community. Finding God often happens in the midst of a
Midterm Lesson 3
community – with a ‘we’ as often as an ‘I.’ For many people this is a church, a synagogue or a mosque. Or
more broadly, religion.
Finally, religion means that your understanding of God and the spiritual life can more easily transcend your
individual understanding and imagination. Do you imagine God as a stern judge? That’s fine – if it helps you
draw closer to God or to become a more moral person. But a religious tradition can enrich your spiritual life in
ways that you might not be able to discover by yourself.
Here’s an example: One of my favourite images of God is the ‘God of Surprises,’ which I first encountered in
the novitiate. My own idea of God at the time was limited to God the Far Away, so it was liberating to hear
about a God who surprises, who waits for us with wonderful things. It’s a playful, even fun, image of God. But I
would have never come up with it on my own.
It came to me from David, my spiritual director, who had read it in a book of that same title, by an English
Jesuit named Gerard W. Hughes, who borrowed it from an essay by the German Jesuit Karl Rahner.
That image was amplified when I read the conclusion of one of the great modern spiritual novels, Mariette in
Ecstasy. Ron Hansen, an award-winning writer who is also an ordained Catholic deacon, penned the story of the
religious experiences of a young nun in the early 1900s, loosely based on the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the
French Carmelite. At the end of the story, Mariette, who has left the monastery many years before, writes to her
former novice mistress, and assures her that God still communicates with her.
 
We try to be formed and held and kept by him, but instead he offers us freedom. And now when I try to know
his will, his kindness floods me, his great love overwhelms me, and I hear him whisper, Surprise me.
My image of the God who surprises and the God who waits for surprises came from three Jesuit priests and the
religious imagination of a Catholic writer.
In other words, that idea was given to me by religion.
Overall, being spiritual and being religious are both part of being in relationship with God. Neither can be fully
realised without the other. Religion without spirituality becomes a dry list of dogmatic statements divorced from
the life of the spirit. This is what Jesus warned against. Spirituality without religion can become a self-centred
complacency divorced from the wisdom of a community. That’s what I’m warning against.
This is an extract from The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin SJ (HarperOne, 2010).

I AM AN URIAN (The Urian Spirituality and URIAN Core Values)

URIAN SPIRITUALITY

Fr. Saturnino Urios University, a catholic diocesan school founded by Fr. Saturnino Urios of the Society
of Jesus, has its own distinctive spirituality or way of relating to God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Urian Spirituality is inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus and
fashioned after the example of St. Joseph, patron saint of the Diocese of Butuan.

Inspired by the example of St. Ignatius, Urian spirituality is integrative – it seeks to find God in all
things. It is founded in the conviction that our loving and personal God is actively present in everything — in
our workplace and our relationships, in our families and friends, in our struggles and successes, in the
magnificent beauty of creation and in the mundane details of day to day existence.

Urian spirituality is apostolic. It seeks to form a community of disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. It
strives to know Christ more clearly in order to love him more dearly and to follow him more faithfully. It
attempts to contribute to the mission of Jesus to preach the reign of God by witnessing and living out the values
of faith, hope, love, justice and forgiveness.

Urian spirituality is incarnational. It seeks to embrace the world as Christ embraced it through his
incarnation and his cross. It calls Urians to be a presence of the incarnate Jesus in the context of Caraga with its
Midterm Lesson 3
concrete struggles of peace and justice, respect for the dignity of human life, preservation of the integrity of
creation and empowerment of indigenous peoples.

Urian spirituality epitomizes generosity. The total self-giving of St. Ignatius for God’s greater glory
bids Urians to respond generously to academic, socio-cultural and spiritual challenges in our context. Following
St. Joseph’s self-effacing kindness, Urians are called to let the light of Christ shine to others through their self-
donation and commitment to pursue excellence without self-glorification, only the confidence that God’s grace
suffices.

Urian spirituality is discerning. A constant process of dialogue between self, others, God and the world
characterizes Urian spirituality. To be attuned to God’s will in the everyday life calls us to be contemplatives in
action. Through prayerful discernment we are challenged to configure our hearts to the heart of the Good
Shepherd ever mindful to the last, the least and the lost among us.

THE IDEAL URIAN

The ideal Urian is a person whose love for life is fundamentally rooted in his/her religiosity, commitment to
truth, love of country, the national and indigenous heritage,
as an agent of change. In his/herself, the Ideal Urian is mature, honorable and just, respectful, prudent, and
peace-loving with a firm sense of direction. The Urian ideal reflects this love for life in his/her basic orientation
to serve others, with a preferential sensitivity towards the poor and the needy and Mother Earth. As such,
she /he is a person dedicated to building communities and the dare of the environment. As a person of Culture,
she/he is open-minded, innovative, creative and
resourceful, a scholar, indeed skilled in his/her field of expertise on behalf of social transformation and
development.
 
CORE VALUES
The Core Values of Fr. Saturnino Urios University spring from the cultivation of the Kingdom-gospel values of
love for others, especially the poor, the needy and the Mother Earth, Justice, Freedom, Truth, Peace and a deep
sense of the sacred/religiosity.
U - nity and community life, collegiality and subsidiarity in administration and management;
R - eligiosity and a deep sense for God, celebrated in the liturgy and actions on behalf of justice and peace; and
responsibility as readiness to respond to the Call of the Times;
I - ntegrity and commitment to truth, academic freedom, research, professionalism, and industry;
A - ltruism as being for others, love as other-oriented, with a preferential option for the poor, the needy, and the
care for the Integrity of Creation;
N - ationalism and democracy, pride in the Filipino/a and indigenous heritage, commitment to national
independence, and community building for social transformation and development.

URIAN PRAYER
 
O GOD,
BY WHOSE GRACE YOUR SERVANT,
FATHER SATURNINO URIOS
ENKINDLED WITH THE FIRE OF YOUR LOVE,
BECAME A BURNING AND SHINING LIGHT IN YOUR CHURCH;
 
GRANT THAT WE MAY BE AFLAMED
WITH THE SPIRIT OF LOVE AND DISCIPLINE,
AND WALK BEFORE YOU AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT;
 
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD,
Midterm Lesson 3
WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU,
IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
NOW AND FOREVER, AMEN...