REACTION/ REFLECTION PAPER ON FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY

“I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul”- Isaiah 61: 10

Bearing the image and likeness of God in my very being as man, the apex of all
His creation, the product of His overflowing love, beauty, goodness and power, I, whose
existence can only be fully raised according to His original plan though the merits of
Jesus Christ, His Only-begotten Son, desire and long for His intimate friendship above
all best human relationship could offer. “My heart is restless until it rests in You.”, says
St. Agustine. This is the main reason why I willingly want to have a deepening of my
understanding of God through His self-revelation in the Sacred Scriptures, side by side
with the Sacred Tradition of the Church in Her Magisterium. By submitting myself to a
scientific systematized discipline – the study about God- theology, I hope to have an
increase of faith that I may better express this faith and hope through acts of charity. I
want to be well-informed about the objective contents of our faith as handed over to us
through the teachings of the Church so that I may have a strengthening and renewal of
my relationship with God and with my brothers and sisters In Christ Jesus. If God did
not take the initiative to reveal Himself through Jesus Christ, the WORD OF GOD, the
Incarnation of God’s thoughts, will, plan and love-of HIMSELF, how can we ever relate
to Him as our Father, yet Supreme Being; Emmanuel, yet Lord of lords and King of
kings? Being the Word of God in the Bible, Jesus comes to us in two dimension,
dianoetic and dabhar. Jesus comes to us as the very message/content of the Father’s
revelation and He comes to us with innate force, compelling us to act in response to the
message we receive. God’s message of salvation and love, once received by people of
goodwill becomes agent of transformation. Conversion of heart and renewal of mind is
the expected result of our encounter with God. Once transformed and conformed to His
Will, there is no stopping the Holy Spirit to blow where He wills, that is, to prompt us and
give us the courage to perform or act upon that communal and particular calling and
mission that God wants us to do. As we study the Bible, we should always refer to the
Church Magisterium on how to interpret it the way Jesus intended it (for the Bible is but
a product of Tradition) so that we may not be led astray by our poor understanding.

I am very grateful that through theology, I can go beyond my natural innate

means to satisfy my longing to know God through logical reasoning, and simple
contemplation of the beauty and wonders of creation. I am less inclined to misinterpret
His interventions in my daily life and more clearly guided to apply my faith appropriately
in context as a Filipino Catholic according to my state of life. I accept the challenge to
study better the status of our Catholic Faith in our country in this specific era of the
millennials so that evangelization may become more and more relevant in the
contemporary world. I need to cultivate the theological virtues and supernatural gifts
given to me by the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation so that my
weak human nature may be raised to its redeemed state always. By doing so, I may
have the wisdom and fortitude to offer myself (time, talent and/treasure) to creatively
and appropriately work to remove or at least lessen the obstacles to authentic faith
among Filipinos- to battle against unbelief vs. believing, unbelief vs. doing and unbelief
vs. worshipping. There is a need to have a study on how to detect indicators of these
many forms of unbelief among Filipino Catholics which are subtly permeating the
mindset and developing an unchristian culture among millennials and Catholics in
general. But before reaching out to others, a bigger group of people, I must first become
a living witness of God’s message of salvation and love. I must always be in the state of
grace, in a very good relationship with God, with myself and with my family members. I
must do theology. I must do catechesis. I must be like Jesus. He, the perfect image of
the Father; while I, His simple glimpse of reflection.

May the Holy Spirit cast away the clouds of ignorance, pride and selfishness from
me so that I may see God more clearly and closely. By being united with the One
Triune God, I may find myself whole yet a living part of His Mystical Body, the Church.
Mother Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!