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Friday, March 1, 2013

CFC [P.191 - 200]



It means that the Risen Christ ascended to heaven to take his place at the right hand of the Father.
       The Ascension is a salvific event for us since Christ’s return to the Father was necessary for sending the Spirit among us, and for Christ’s continued mediating on our behalf as well as for grounding our hope in our own future resurrection.

671.   What does Christ’s being “lifted up” refer to?
       In John’s Gospel Christ speaks of being “lifted up” in referring to his Crucifixion, his Resurrection, and his Ascension to heaven.

672.   Why will Christ “come again”?
       The Risen Christ will come again at the Parousia to judge the living and the dead.
       Biblical accounts of Christ’s Second Coming are written in the apocalyptic genre and must be interpreted accordingly.

673.   When will Christ’s Second Coming or “Parousia” take place?
          Christ clearly affirmed that no one knows this, except the Father. It is useless, therefore, to speculate on this “when.”


Chapter 13

Living as Disciples of Christ




What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do.
(Jn 13:15)

But only God, who created man to His own image and ransomed him from sin, provides a fully adequate answer to [man’s basic] questions. . . revealed in Christ His Son who became man. Whoever follows after Christ, the perfect man, becomes himself more of a man.
(GS 41)


 


OPENING



674. For Christians, moral living is simply “following Christ.” Yet when “morality” is mentioned, the first thing we often think about is laws, commandments, a series of don’ts, and dire punishments if we fail. But Christian Faith is more than a set of truths to be believed; it is the way of Christ which leads to life (cf. CCC 1696). It is the Gospel of Christ believed and lived which will decide our destiny as Christians. Fullness of life here on earth means that, in all the innumerable actions, events and problems of daily life, we walk with Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6).

675.     Christian moral life, then, is about the Gospel. It is about growing in love and holiness. It is the process of becoming authentically human (cf. RH 14). The Christian moral person is one who experiences the liberating and transforming presence of Christ, through the grace of his Spirit (cf. 2 Cor 3:17; Jn 8:32). From this experience, Christians commit themselves, in their moral attitudes, decisions, and acts, to the ongoing process of liberating and transforming men and women into disciples of Christ. For Christ is he “from whom we go forth, through whom we live, and toward whom our journey leads us” (LG 3). Thus “the world may be filled with the spirit of Christ and may more effectively attain its destiny in justice, in love and in peace” (LG 36). This is developed in the PCP II in terms of “social transformation” (cf. PCP II 256-74, 435-38).

676.     But we soon find that this “following of Christ” is not easy __ life is full of challenges. “From the very dawn of history human beings, enticed by the evil one, abused their freedom. They set themselves against God and sought to find fulfillment apart from God. . . . Their senseless minds were darkened and they served the creature rather than the Creator” (GS 13; cf. CCC 1707).

677.     Left to ourselves, we have no power to fulfill Christ’s command: “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Yet God strengthens us by letting us share the life of Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit received in Baptism (cf. Rom 6:4). This Spirit, in uniting us to Christ, our risen Savior, as members of his Body, the Church, liberates and empowers us with new life to respond in our daily words and deeds to God’s love (cf. CCC 1742). Thus, as disciples of Christ, mutually supporting one another through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we come to exercise responsible freedom according to God’s loving design, as grasped by our gradually formed Christian conscience.

678.     This chapter proposes the constitutive elements of personal Christian moral living: the moral agent, human persons; our basic dignity in freedom and in personal moral responsibility; governed by our conscience, the inner guide for moral growth in virtue, through the example of Christ, the grace of the Spirit, and the Father’s loving mercy (cf. CCC 1700-9).


 


CONTEXT



679. We, Catholic Filipinos, constituting more than 82% of our population, are rightly proud of our Christian faith. We are especially fond of religious processions, novenas and numerous devotions to Christ our Savior, to Mary and the other Saints. Our churches are crowded on Sundays and special fiestas. Moreover, recent religious movements in our country such as the Cursillo, the Charismatic renewal, the Focolare, and the like, have clearly shown a widespread yearning for closer union with Christ. A great number of Filipinos are seeking ways to draw closer to Christ their Lord.

680.     Yet this yearning for spiritual intimacy with Jesus often does not seem to touch the daily words and actions of some devotees. Their piety frequently fails to produce acts of loving service, forgiveness and sacrifice. How can many pious Church-members continue to act as abusive landlords, usurers, oppressive employers, or unreliable employees? Why do many graduates of our best Catholic schools turn out to be corrupt government officials, unfaithful husbands and wives, or cheating businessmen? There seems to be a serious gap between external ritual expression of Christian Faith, and authentic discipleship: following Christ in action.

681.     Genuine Christian piety, of course, inspires true Christian witness and service. But in the Philippines today, the challenge of authentic Christian witness demands two things: a) interiorly, that Filipino Catholics break through external ritualism and social conformism to interiorize their devotional prayer and sacramental worship deeply into their very selves (kalooban); b) exteriorly, to commit themselves to Jesus Christ and to all he stands for, in daily practice of the faith according to Catholic moral principles and the guidance of the teaching Church.


 


EXPOSITION



I. Moral Agent: The Human Person

682.     Christian moral life is simply the call to become loving persons, in the fullness of life-with-others-in-community before God, in imitation of Jesus Christ. The key to moral life, then, is the human person, considered in the light of both reason and faith. All human rights, personal and social, all moral duties and responsibilities, all virtues and moral character __ all depend directly on the answers we give to the questions: who am I as a person in community? as a disciple of Jesus Christ, in his Church? In the words of PCP II: “How to live as Filipino Christians in our situation of lights and shadows”? (PCP II 35)

683.     This “sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man” (DH 1). “The inviolable dignity of every human person. . . is the most precious possession of an individual, [whose] value comes not from what a person ‘has’ as much as from what a person ‘is’ ” (CL 37). “Hence the pivotal point of our total presentation will be the human person, whole and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will” (GS 3). But just who or what IS the human person according to reason and Christian Faith?

684.     Persons in Christ. For Christians, the answer can only be grounded on Jesus Christ himself. “In Christ and through Christ, we have acquired full awareness of our dignity, of the heights to which we are raised, of the surpassing worth of our own humanity, and of the meaning of our existence” (RH 11). “For by his incarnation, the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every person” (GS 22).

685.     Christ reveals how the essential dignity of all persons is grounded directly on their origin, meaning and destiny. We believe all persons are created by God in His image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26) through our Lord Jesus Christ, “through whom everything was made and through whom we live” (1 Cor 8:6). We believe all are redeemed by the blood of Christ (cf. Eph 1:7; Col 1:14), and are sanctified by the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14-16; 1 Cor 6:19). We believe all persons are called to be children of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:1), destined for eternal life of blessed communion with the Father, His Risen-Incarnate Son, and their Holy Spirit (cf. CCC 1692).

686.     But, despite their firm belief in these basic truths of the Christian Faith, many Catholics do not realize how these truths touch their day-to-day moral attitudes, acts and choices. Only if these credal truths are linked directly with the Filipinos’ experience of themselves as persons, will they influence their moral living. Hence, we have to relate these Christian truths to the common experience of “being a Filipino person.” Although we tend to take these characteristics of our own person for granted, we nevertheless need to become more conscious of them to gain a true knowledge of self and of our relationships to others and to God.


II. Persons in Experience

687.     Persons are open and relational by nature. No man is an island; we grow into our full selves as persons only in relating to others. We Filipinos are outstanding in this regard: it is said “Filipinos are never alone.” We realize being a person means being by others (our conception, birth, upbringing), being with others (our family, friends, neighbors, business associates), and being for others (love, service). This is how we have been created by God __ as social beings. This is how we have been redeemed by Christ __ as a people. This is how the Holy Spirit works not only within but among us as the people of God, journeying toward our common destiny in God.

688.     Persons are conscious beings, aware of themselves in their outgoing acts. We possess this self-awareness through our knowing and free willing (cf. CCC 1704-7; GS 14-17). Thus we “image” in our small way the Creator’s infinite knowing and loving. This is the basis for our moral life.

689.     Persons are embodied spirits. This stresses the unity between our “body and soul.” Our bodies are an essential part of our being human, not merely an “instrument” we “use” according to our whims. Contrary to those who look down on the body, and make it the source of all evil, Christian Faith regards the body as “good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day” (GS 14). Moreover, God the Son further dignified the body through his Incarnation __ “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). And St. Paul admonishes us: “You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within __ the Spirit you have received from God. . . . So, glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20). All our relationships with others and with God are expressed through our bodies, which are the “natural sacrament” of our spiritual depth.

690.     Persons are historical realities. We are pilgrims on-the-way, who gradually, through time, become our full selves. In exercising freedom, we decide for ourselves and form ourselves; in this sense we are our own cause. We develop as persons in discernible stages, described in great detail by modern psychology. Salvation history narrated in the Bible shows the dynamic interplay between good and evil, success and failure, within the lives of the great biblical figures. It recounts how God progressively brought His Chosen People to a clearer understanding, and higher moral vision, of their own being and of God Himself.

691.     Persons are unique, yet fundamentally equal. Despite physical differences as well as differing intellectual and moral powers, we instinctively realize that as persons, in some basic way, we are all equal. This is what our Faith explains: “All men are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God’s image; they have the same nature and origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality between all men” (GS 29). Yet, each of us is called to “image” God in a unique way __ no one can “take our place,” as it were. To each of us Christ says: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine” (Is 43:1). Thus, within the fundamental equality of all persons, we recognize the unique identity of each person.

692.     This fundamental equality of all individual persons also grounds the participation and solidarity of all peoples. “Since God the Father is the origin and purpose of all people, we are all called to be brothers. Therefore, if we have been summoned by the same destiny, which is both human and divine, we can and should work together to build up the world in genuine peace” (GS 92).


III. Human Freedom

693.     Throughout the world today there is an unprecedented drive for freedom, for breaking out of all the old structures of political oppression, racial prejudice, economic injustice, and constricting cultural mores. “The demand is increasingly made that men should act on their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not driven by coercion but motivated by a sense of duty” (DH 1). Since “the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of freedom and a force for liberation” (ITL), we recognize here “an authentic sign of God’s presence and purpose . . . for authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image within man” (GS 11, 17).

694.     But it is so easy to confuse human freedom with simply “doing what I want.” Authentic freedom is not “the right to say and do anything,” but to “do the good” (cf. CCC 1740). It is not my own individual private possession, but a shared freedom with others in community. It is not found in prejudice, deceit, or ignorance, but in truth. Christ’s words, “the truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32), set truth as both the condition for authentic freedom and a warning against “every kind of illusory freedom, every superficial unilateral freedom, every freedom that fails to enter into the whole truth about man and the world” (RH 12). “Lovers of true freedom [are those] who come to decisions on their own judgment and in the light of truth, and govern their activities with a sense of responsibility, striving after what is true and right” (DH 8). The pillars of this freedom are “the truth about Jesus the Savior, the truths about the Church, and the truth about man and his dignity(ITL, XI, 5).

695.     Freedom from Authentic human freedom has many aspects. Ordinarily we become sharply aware of the value of our freedom only when we are forced to do something against our will. Then we realize how much we long to be free from things imposed on us. But this “freedom from” all restraints can often result in following selfish inclinations or blind prejudices rather than seeking what is truly good. So St. Paul warns us:

It was for liberty that Christ freed us. So stand firm, and do not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time! My brothers, remember that you have been called to live in freedom—but not a freedom that gives free rein to the flesh. Out of love, place yourselves at one another’s service. My point is that you should live in accord with the spirit and you will not yield to the cravings of the flesh (Gal 5:1,13,16).

And St. Peter adds: “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cloak for vice. In a word, live as servants of God” (1 Pt 2:16).

696.     Authentic freedom, therefore, involves first of all freedom from everything that opposes our true self-becoming with others in community. Such, for example, are interior obstacles like ignorance, or our disordered passions, fears, personality defects, bad habits, prejudices or psychological disturbances, and exterior forces, such as violent force or even the threat of violence. These impediments to authentic freedom are commonly traced to three sources: biological, which include inherited handicaps and defects as well as external substances like drugs; psychological, or interior compulsions, including those originating in the unconscious; and social pressures such as the many economic, political, and cultural obstacles which impede the right to freedom (cf. ccc 1740)
 All these factors diminish our freedom and thus moral imputability and our responsibility (cf. CCC 1735). But the greatest single obstacle to authentic freedom is SIN. Liberation to true freedom means “first and foremost liberation from the radical slavery of sin” (Instr. on Christian Freedom and Liberation 23).

697.     Freedom for. But this freedom from is obviously directed towards a second freedom, the more important “freedom for.” Beyond being liberated from all the obstacles to authentic freedom is the freedom for growing as full persons and children of God, sharing in the life of Christ our Liberator through his Spirit. It is the freedom found in authentic love. Of this many-sided freedom we treat only of the personal dimension here; its social dimensions are explained in the next chapter.
       Two levels of the individual person’s “freedom for” stand out: 1) the freedom of choice by which I direct my moral acts, and 2) the fundamental freedom of my very self. In the first level, we have the freedom to choose to act in this or that way, to do good or evil. But by consistently choosing to do the good, we gradually become free loving persons, the second level (cf. VS 65-68). This shows how our personal “freedom for” is both a process and a task. Through our free choices, striving to overcome the obstacles from within and without (task), we gradually grow (process) towards authentic, mature fundamental (self) freedom.

698.     Freedom of the Children of God. The goal of this process and task of personal freedom is “to be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Christ has freed us by giving to everyone the power to conquer sin and to recover the meaning of our freedom and so attain the good and accomplish our calling as children of God (cf. CCC 1741). Freedom “to attain the good” simply means to “act as Jesus did” __ to “mirror in life the Fatherhood of God as the Father’s adopted sons and daughters in Jesus, the Son, and through Jesus’ indwelling Spirit. Promised by Christ, the Holy Spirit is within us creating space for our freedom and making us alive. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17; cf. CCC 1742).

699.     Thus it is the power of Christ’s Spirit within us that liberates us from sin, the law and death (cf. Rom, chap. 5), for a life of loving service of our fellowmen, wherein we find our true selves by imitating Christ Jesus, our Lord. For “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22f).

700.     Exercise of Responsible Freedom. But how do we learn to exercise our freedom responsibly? As Christians, we come to know what is moral good in the light of the Gospel and human experience. “For faith throws a new light on everything and manifests God’s design for our total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions that are fully human” (GS 11). This “new light” regarding our moral life works through our conscience, “the most secret core and sanctuary of a man, where he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths” (GS 16). Moral conscience is the expression of the divine law, defining what is good and what is evil. It impels us to do the good and to avoid evil. It judges our behavior, approving what is good, condemning what is evil” (cf. Rom 1:32; CCC 1778). Thus, it is our conscience that indicates for us how, in our daily thoughts, words and deeds, we are to love God and our neighbor.

IV. Conscience

701.     For most Filipinos, conscience is understood as a kind of inner voice (tinig ng budhi) which guides us in our moral life. This can mean our basic tendency toward the good, the “voice always summoning us to love the good and avoid evil.” More concretely it refers to applying objective moral norms to our particular acts: “the voice of conscience can, when necessary, speak to our hearts more specifically: do this, shun that.” As such, conscience acts as “the proximate norm of personal morality” (VS 60) for discerning good and evil (cf. CCC 1796).

On our part, we perceive and acknowledge the imperatives of the divine law through the mediation of conscience. In all our activity we are bound to follow our conscience faithfully, in order to come to God, for whom we were created (DH 3).

To obey conscience is “our very dignity; according to it we will be judged” (GS 16; cf Rom 21:15f).

702.     A common misunderstanding arises here. How can I be free if I am “bound,” morally obliged, to follow the moral law and dictates of conscience? This complaint is based directly on the misconception of freedom as “doing what I want.” Our built-in tendency toward self-centered use of freedom is so deep that only the liberating grace of God can help us work against this abiding inner effect of original sin (cf. GS 17).

703.     The truth is that freedom of conscience carries with it a corresponding duty to respect the same freedom in others. Each person has the right, original in human nature, to be recognized and respected as a free and responsible being (cf. CCC 1931; GS 27). Moral obligation, then, far from destroying authentic freedom, pertains only to our free thoughts, words and deeds, and guides them toward true, genuine freedom. Whenever we try to free ourselves from the moral law and become independent of God, far from gaining genuine freedom, we destroy it.
       Vatican II admirably captures this apparent paradox of freedom and moral obligation co-existing: “God calls us to serve Him in Spirit and in truth. Hence we are bound in conscience but stand under no compulsion . . . we are to be guided by our own judgment and to enjoy freedom(DH 11).

704.     Formation of Conscience. But our conscience is not something “automatic.” It is gradually shaped through all the many and complex factors that enter into our growth to Christian maturity. Family upbringing, basic education and catechesis in the Faith, our cultural attitudes and values, the friends we grow with in school, and the larger social environment of the community __ all influence the development of conscience. Crucial to correct understanding of our conscience is its essential relational dimension. Our ongoing moral experiences, within which our consciences gradually take shape, are never isolated, but rather always involve countless interactions with parents, guardians, relatives, friends, neighbors, teachers, religious and priests, within the social groupings of family, school, parish and community.

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