Spirituality of Social Transformation

Spirituality
• as the inspiration within a
person to live a particular
way of life based on his
beliefs or religious
conviction.
• a person's religious or
ethical values that serve as
the foundation for his
actions and decisions.
Christian spirituality
• The call to all the members
of the Christian community
to live and think, to make
judgments and always
discern in relation to God,
in the light of the Gospel,
and the teaching of the
Church.
 Social transformation
• the effort to bring
harmony or kaayusan
(PCPII) in our society.
• a process that seeks to
heal and liberate the
society from its social
problems and
injustices and
transform it into a
more humane society.
 Christian spirituality of social
transformation
• a life-long task of responding
to the challenge of Jesus'
Gospel of Justice and Love by
committing oneself to the
mission of adjusting the
social order to the "radical
demands" of the Christian
faith.
• also called Christian
discipleship
 Elements of the spirituality of social
transformation

1. Enduring and intimate commitment to Jesus

Commitment to Jesus entails following his example of
commitment to love not only those who love us but
even our enemies. An important characteristic of this
love is its preference for the poor and marginalized
and the recognition of Jesus' presence among them.
 
  
2. Seeking of the Kingdom
of God
Spirituality of social
transformation is
characterized by continuous
effort to make justice
present and eliminate the
different forms of
oppression that hinder the
realization of the Kingdom
of God in the society.
 
3. Sharing the Good News joy
Jesus' Gospel is good news of hope that brings
contentment and joy to those who believe. It gives us
the assurance that in the end, goodness will prevail
over evil. It gives us the joy in the realization that
Jesus, the "God-with-us" remains with us in the midst
of sadness and joy, laughter and tears, victories and
defeats.
 
 
4. Heeding God's Word
To live the spirituality of social transformation is to
discern and follow the will of God as revealed in the
Scriptures, in the teaching of the Church and in the
experience of the faithful gathered together as a
Church.
 External manifestation of spirituality of social
transformation
 
1. Social Service
• commonly understood as helping someone in need.
It is an action rooted in charity and compassion
with the intention of alleviating the misfortune and
suffering of another person. The corporal works of
mercy comprises the list of actions for social service
though it is not limited to it. Thus, social service is
a response to the effects of a social problem.
 
  
2. Social Action
Social action includes efforts to correct the social
structures and help solve the problems that perpetuate
the need for social service. Some call it social justice,
action for justice or Christian social praxis. It begins with
an analysis of and reflection on the human experience
through the lens of the Gospel and proceeds to finding
and providing general suggestions to solve the different
social problems. Unlike social service that responds to the
effects of the problem, social action responds to the cause
of the social problem.
  Why do Christians have a social mission?

• Because we have the mission to continue the mission

of Christ.

What is the mission of Christ?

• To save mankind.

But what kind of salvation does Jesus offer to

us?
   Jesus saved us by dying on the cross for the
forgiveness of our sins.

1 John 4:10 : “And this is love, not that we love God

but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
expiation for our sins.”
  
But to believe that Jesus Christ became human just
to “die for our sins” is missing the whole point of
incarnation.

He came to save us, that is perfectly correct. But to

say that “saving us” meant only dying on the cross is
incomplete. In between his birth and his death, Jesus
lived a life evident of his promised salvation.
Jesus was totally involved in the life-situations of the
people around him.
• He cured the sick, he fed the hungry and he forgave
the sinners. He laughed with them and cried with
them.
• He criticized cultic worship, divorced from love of
God and neighbor (Mt. 5:23-24).
• He criticized a legalistic understanding of the
relationship between God and man (Mk. 2:27; Mt.
21:13).
• He criticized the religious elite of his time – the
pharisees, doctors of the law, and priests who used
religion for their own selfish reasons. The strongest
words of Jesus were certainly directed to them (Mt.
23:23).
 Evidently, Jesus did not come only for spiritual reason
or only for the salvation of the souls. The whole life
and works of Jesus is a concrete expression of his
mission. His mission is a mission for liberation and his
ministry is a liberating ministry. He liberates people
from any form of evil and oppression.
   Thus, the mission of Jesus is not only spiritual (to
save us from our sins). His mission is very much
relevant and related to the economic, political, social,
and cultural realities.

Preaching and participation in

economic, socio-political and
cultural realities
   As Christians we should
follow the example of Christ and
stand for what is true and just.
We cannot be neutral. We
need to make a choice. The
expression of our faith should
always be preferential, never
neutral. And this faith can only
be expressed and must be
expressed through our social,
economic, political, and cultural
involvement here and now.
Social transformation is the social mission of every
Christian. It is a constitutive dimension of the
preaching of the Gospel. It can be described as the
Church’s mission to help make justice and love present
in our society for the redemption of the total person,
that is, all the aspects of human life, be it socio-
political, economic, cultural or spiritual, from all forms
of oppression. Just like the mission of Jesus, the
Church's social mission is three-fold: Kingly, Priestly,
and Prophetic