Nature of the Human Person:

Pakikipagtagpo sa Banal
I. What is Man?
- Creatura
- “Capax totius Entis”

II. Paanong Magpakatao?

- Magmahal (Marcel)
- “umibig, umibig at umibig pa rin”
- This is the Virtus Essendi
- This power should overflow into action.

“Sapagkat ako’y tao… kaya’t kaya kong mangahas, kaya kong magmahal,
kaya kong magtaya.”

“At sa kaduluduluhan ng buhay, tayo’y magiging hindi Diyos, kundi

malista anthropos ---taungtao.”

III. Some More Characteristic of Man

- Embodied Spirit
- Unique
- Oriented to goodness
- Gifted with Conscience

Existential Experience of a Human Person

The Actual Experience of a Human Person

“MAN as TRAVELLER, as Pilgrim.”

- St. Thomas Aquinas

…on a Journey back Home.

Aling Letty Trinidad
- 47 years old
- tubong Dagupan, Pangasinan
- may isang anak (“Botchog”)
- Mag-lilimang taon na siya sa London bilang isang OFW

Mga amo ni Aling Letty sa London:

● Scott
● Clarise
● Cindy
● Josh

“Napakabait ng mga amo ko hindi nga nila ako tinatrato bilang isang
katulong kundi parang isang kapuso’t kapamilya na rin. Sa katunayan
para ko na ring mga anak sina Cindy at Josh. Ang tawag na nga nila sa
akin ay “Mommy Nanny”. Masaya ako rito.

Napakatatag naman ng Filipino community dito sa London. Nagkikita-kita

kami tuwing Sabado (day-off) para mag-misa at mag-salu-salo. Sa
katunayan, “secretary-treasurer” na nga ako ng samahan namin dito.
Sadyang, at “home” ako kapag kasama sila.”

“Pero, kahit na ok ako rito, di ko pa rin maalis na mangulila ako sa aking

pamilya. Lalo na tuwing Pasko o birthday ng anak ko. Kahit na tanggap
na tanggap ako rito, parang gusto pa ring umuwi ng puso ko. Para
bagang hindi pa rin kumpleto ang saya ko dahil hiwalay ako sa aking
pamilya. Iba pa rin talaga kapag ika’y nasa sarili mong tahanan kapiling
ang mga mahal mo sa buhay…”

Paboritong awitin ni Aling Letty

- Babalik ka rin

Our experience as human persons is similar to this…

● Embodied Spirit
● Oriented to Goodness
● Unique
● Conscience

- Kinailangan umalis ni Aling Letty sa kanyang tahanan at tumungo

sa ibang bayan para makipagsapalaran.
- We as creatures of God are also launched into existence. We
leave our “home” and venture into this journey called life (to
dare, to risk and to love.)
 - Sa kanyang pagpunta sa ibang bayan, nakita nating hindi nag-iisa
si Aling Letty.
- Nakidaupang-palad si Aling Letty sa kanyang kapwa-tao (sa
kanyang mga amo), sa lipunan (Filipino Community) atbp.
- Hindi rin tayo nag-iisa sa ating paglalakbay-buhay.
- Dikta ng ating kalikasan bilang tao ang makibahag sa iba.

Different Relationships: to others (kapwatao), to society, to

material things
- Oriented towards people (No man is an island)
- ”Agere Sequitur Esse” (A non-acting, noncommunicating being is
equivalent to no being at all)
- “Kung wala kang pag-ibig, talagang walang-wala ka!”

- kung babalikan natin si Aling Letty, makikitang minahal niya sina

Cindy at Josh
- She nurtured fellow human beings like her own children.
- Nagmahal siya.

Ganitong-ganito rin ang tawag sa atin bilang Tao.

Magpakatao = umibig, umibig at umibig pa rin

Our human role in our journey through this material cosmos is to work
on it as collaborators with God to make it a more fit place for nurturing
human persons as images of God.

“Pero, kahit na ok ako rito, di ko pa rin maalis na mangulila ako sa aking

pamilya. Lalo na tuwing Pasko o birthday ng anak ko. Kahit na tanggap
na tanggap ako rito, parang gusto pa ring umuwi ng puso ko. Para
bagang hindi pa rin kumpleto ang saya ko dahil hiwalay ako sa aking
pamilya. Iba pa rin talaga kapag ika’y nasa sarili mong tahanan
kapiling ang mga mahal mo sa buhay…”
“…sabik na sabik na akong umuwi. Makakauwi rin ako, pangako.”

“Our hearts will remain restless until it rests in You.”

“Sapagkat nilikha Mo kami upang sa Iyo ri’y makauwi, kaya’t hindi

mapapalagay ang aming puso hangga’t hindi namamahinga sa Iyo.”
- St. Augustine of Hippo
Sadya ngang ang tunay nating tahanan ay tanging sa piling Niya lamang.

It follows that the only point for God to create a material universe must
be to create it for human persons, as a gift for them to understand,
appreciate, and manage wisely and so get to know themselves and the
Giver behind it all,

and thus finally find their way back home, by a wise journey through
this world as a stepping stone, to loving communion with God from
which they came in the first place.

Indeed, our whole journey as a human person is fuelled ultimately by

our relationship with God.

God himself has entered His own story by taking on a human nature like
ours in Jesus to show us how best to walk this difficult journey, to heal
our wounds along the way, and to become what we ourselves cannot
pull-off…

“Our hearts will remain restless until it rests in You.”

 ARISTOTLE: TECHNE ARETE MESOTES
Ang pagpapakatao ay isang gawain

Ang lahat ng gawain ay may TELOS, may tinutunguhan.

Ang telos ng isang tao ay EUDAIMONIA (kaligayahan)

EUDAIMONIA: KALIGAYAHAN
1.) Aliw ng Laman?
2.) Pag-Ipon ng Kayamanan?
3.) Papuri ng Kapwa?

“Sapagkat binibitin ang tao sa aliw o sa kwarta o sa pagkukuro ng mga

iba, at ang kanyang katauhan ay nababara sa PAGKABITIN.”
- Ferriols

Upang makamit ang EUDAIMONIA: KALIGAYAHAN

● Kailangan ng paggawa o techne.
● Hindi basta ordinaryong paggawa—
● Kailangan ng galing sa paggawa - ARETE

“Arete is highest level of excellence a person or a thing can achieve in

the area it was created for.”
Halimbawa 1:
ARETE ukol sa Pera:

Sobrang gastador ←—--------------------> Sobrang kuripot

Ang taong nagsisikap mabuhay sa arete ng kwarta, ay hahantong sa

PAGITAN ng gastador at kuripot.
MESOTES

ARETE ng TAO BILANG TAO

Ang EUDAIMONIA ay nakasalalay sa pagsasagawa sa

ARETE ng TAO BILANG TAO.

“Arete is highest level of excellence a person can achieve in the area it

was created for.”

Ano ang iyong natatanging ARETE BILANG TAO?

Halimbawa 2:
Arete bilang Tao:

Your The Worlds

Greatest ←—---------------------------------------------> Greatest
Joys Need

YOUR VOCATION.
YOUR CALLING.
YOUR ARETE.
MESOTES
 THE 5 LOVE LANGUAGES
What is your love language?

The Five Love Languages: (Gary Chapman)

● The Love Languages are different for everyone.
● It depends on how a person expresses one’s love.
● It is important to understand the love language of our loved
ones and to “speak” in their own language.

1.) Gifts
- Expressing one’s love and emotions through meaningful
gift-giving.
- The ‘gift’ may not be of great value but must be a
symbol of love & an expression of your deep knowledge
of your beloved.

2.) Quality Time

- Not just spending time but GIVING TIME: giving 100% of
YOUR attention by listening, talking, doing things
together.

Ex: In a Relationship: Shopping With your G.F. (and enjoying it!)

3.) Acts of Service

- Doing tasks (simple or hard) out of genuine concern &
love to make the person happy.

4.) Words of Affirmation

- Done through verbal compliments and recognition of
one’s accomplishments.
- Kind, encouraging, humble words.
 5.) Physical Touch
- An appropriate gesture that expresses your love
Ex: A hug or pat on the back of your loved one can brighten his or her
day.

The 5 Love Languages

What is YOUR love language?
 HUMAN FREEDOM
Growing in Freedom
Being Human, Being Free

Extreme Notations of Freedom

Freedom as Determinism:
license to do ←—-----------------------------------> B.F. Skinner,
“doing anything Sigmund Freud
I want”

Philosophical View of Freedom:

acting freely as a person-in-community

Part 1: Freedom &

Moral Obligation

Freedom is Relational

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

- Stan Lee

● Because we are relational, we have moral obligations.

● Moral obligations protect and uphold (rather than destroy) our
true freedom.
● Moral obligations are expressed in our laws. (e.g. Natural Law,
Decalogue, civil laws).

“Those who claim their [freedom], yet altogether forget or neglect

 to carry out their respective [moral obligations] are people who build
with one hand and destroy with the other.”
- Pope John XXIII

Part 2: Freedom From &

Freedom For

Freedom From
- Not freedom from moral obligations but from everything that
hinders us from acting in a truly human & loving way.

● Interior Threats
- fear, ignorance, passions, psychological or physical
disability, vices (negative habits).

● Exterior Threats
- violence or threat of violence, social pressure, poverty,
influence of media, etc.

For the Christian, the greatest obstacle to true freedom is SIN!

“Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.”

- (Jn 8:34)

In the OT, freedom meant “freedom from” the acts and attitudes that
could destroy the community of God’s people.

Freedom For:
- Freedom has a purpose and direction!

● St. Ignatius: “The goal of our lives is to praise, love, and serve
God.” (First Principle and Foundation)
● It is “doing the good as persons-incommunity.”
 ● True freedom is more than “not sinning” but loving! (Love is a
verb, is a doing word.)

In the NEW TESTAMENT, Christ taught the primacy of love.

True freedom is not “doing anything I want” but “doing the good,”
following the loving example of Jesus Christ!

Experiencing Freedom
Free Choice Fundamental Freedom

Other terms “freedom of choice”; “fundamental option”;

“free acts” “character”

in individual acts; in the kind of person

Basic Experience freedom as “doing” we become;
freedom as “being”

Time Frame made in the here and formed over time

now

Mutual Relationship
Free Choice & Fundamental Freedom
 Person of Conscience Ring of Gyges

An ideal DYCI graduate is a person of CONSCIENCE…

1.) they strive to reflect and discern the GOOD AT ALL TIMES.

“The ultimate measure of your character is the things that you do or do

not do when no one is looking.”

2.) They have the COURAGE to do what is GOOD, even at the risk of
being unpopular.
3.) They influence other students to do what is good through his
own example.

Reality Check: “Madaling sabihin, mahirap gawain…”

We cannot do all these alone…

God himself has entered His own story by taking on a human nature like
ours in Jesus to show us how best to walk this difficult journey, to heal
our wounds along the way, and to become what we ourselves cannot
pull-off…