THEOLOGY 4:

• LIVING THE CHRISTIAN VISION IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD:

Harmony with God: Called to Communion

A. Spirituality of Truth

Ian C. Ceblano

UST – Institute of Religion

HARMONY WITH GOD: CALLED TO COMMUNION

Even a person who

refuses to acknowledge
God’s existence is not
exempted from
confronting the “why”
questions of life.
“If I find in myself a desire
which no experience in this
world can satisfy, the most
probable explanation is that I
was made for another world.
Probably earthly pleasures were
never meant to satisfy it, but
only to arouse it, to suggest THE
REAL THING.” (Mere
Christianity, C.S. Lewis)
Spirituality is our
search for that
“real thing”

What is the
real thing?
 …as if the
object of
spirituality is a
matter of
personal
preference
 True
spirituality is
anchored on
THE TRUTH
of
.
Veritatis Splendor, 2

•“The light of God's face

shines in all its beauty on
the countenance of Jesus
Christ.”
 SUGGESTED ASSIGNMENT:

•How do you differentiate spirituality

from religiosity?
•Is Christianity a spirituality, a religion, or
both?
A. SPIRITUALITY OF TRUTH
 OBJECTIVES:

To describe the crisis of relativism

To demonstrate the proclamation

of the truth “from the heart of the
Gospel”
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OF
FINDING THE TRUTH IN THE
CONTEMPORARY WORLD?
Should we
consider the
action ‘heroic’ as
she ‘sacrificed’
herself for a larger
cause?
5th Century:

• “Man is the measure of all

things” - Protagoras

RELATIVISM

• All points of view are equally valid

even if they are contradicting
 In a relativist society,
there are no standards, no
permanent moral values.
•TRUTH is as fluid as the
changing of an
individual’s mind or
preferences.
Crisis of Relativism
• “Today, having a clear faith based on
the Creed of the Church is often
labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas
relativism, that is, letting oneself be
‘tossed here and there, carried about
by every wind of doctrine’, seems the
only attitude that can cope with
modern times.” (Missa Pro Eligendo
Romano Pontifice, 19 April 2005)
“We are building a dictatorship of
relativism that does not recognize
anything as definitive and whose
ultimate goal consists solely of one's
own ego and desires.”
(Missa Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice, 19 April 2005)
 Spirituality is our search
for that “real thing”

But, what is the real thing

in the midst of relativism?
 How does the
crisis of relativism
profoundly impact
faith and morals?
a. Relativism in Faith

“Jesus Christ is but one religious among

others - of the many models and ideal
forms of the Absolute”

“God, who is too great to just be contained

in one historical person as Jesus of
Nazareth.”
Relativism in Faith

• Thus, to affirm Jesus as

“the Truth, the Way
and the Life” is
FUNDAMENTALISM
Relativism in Faith

• “Today, having a clear faith based on the

Creed of the Church is often labeled as
fundamentalism.
• Whereas relativism, that is, letting
oneself be ‘tossed here and there,
carried about by every wind of doctrine’,
seems the only attitude that can cope
with modern times.” (Missa Pro Eligendo
Romano Pontifice, 19 April 2005)
 Relativism in Faith

“CAFETERIA CATHOLICISM”

One is free to just choose which of the

Church’s teachings they will accept as true
and follow, abandoning beliefs and practices
which do not suit their taste or preferences.
RELATIVISM
IN FAITH
LEADS TO
RELIGIOUS
PLURALISM
b. Relativism in Morals

• The logical consequence of

relativism in faith
• If all beliefs are true, then all
actions are good
“If they accept the
Lord and have
goodwill, WHO AM I
TO JUDGE?” –
one of Pope Francis’ answers on questions about
homosexuality on his flight back to Rome
b. Relativism in Morals

• Unfortunately, this response of the

Holy Father is often taken out of
context and used as a propaganda
statement by Catholics who wish to
defend moral slants that do not
conform to the official teaching of
the Church.
 Ironically, there is neither
good nor wrong action, only
“the relatively better”

“What is right is wrong, and

what is wrong is right.”
 “…there are those in our
“While the Church
culture who portray this
insists on the existence
teaching as UNJUST, that
of objective moral
is, as opposed to basic
norms which are VALID
human rights.” (Evangelii
FOR EVERYONE…”
Gaudium, 64)
c. Practical Relativism
(EG 80 and LS 122)
• a form of moral relativism that is
self-centered, self-indulgent and
grounded on convenience and
material security
• a lifestyle where one accumulates
and hoards wealth and power at
all costs
 c. Practical Relativism
(EG 80 and LS 122)
“…acting as if God did not exist,
making decisions as if the poor did
not exist, setting goals as if others did
not exist, working as if people who
have not received the Gospel did not
exist.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 80)
How does the Gospel lead us to the
rediscovery of the Absolute Truth?
Proclaiming the Truth from the Heart of the Gospel

Thomas Aquinas on Truth

• “Truth is the equation of mind and

thing.” (Summa Theologiae, I:21:2)
• Morally Truthful
• Logically Truthful
 “Truth is the equation of mind and thing.”
(Summa Theologiae, I:21:2)
i. Morally Truthful ii. Logically Truthful iii. Ontological Truth
• When a person’s • When a person’s • insofar as they
thinking conforms to thinking conforms to correspond to how the
what he expresses with what actually exists in Creator imagined them
words or actions reality and his even before they were
judgments are based on made.
the same reality
Moral Truth and
Logical Truth

• expressions of what
originally was just an idea
in the Great Mind that
brought it forth to
existence – God
Ontological Truth “For in him were created all
things in heaven and on earth,
• Became incarnate in the visible and the invisible,
the person of JESUS whether thrones or dominions
CHRIST or principalities or powers; all
things were created through
him and for him. He is before all
things, and in him all things
hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)
 "In fact, it is only in the mystery of
the Word incarnate that light is shed
on the mystery of man.”
(GS, 22)
The challenge,
therefore, is
how to
communicate
the truth in
today’s world.
b. A Missionary Key

• The ultimate purpose

behind the transmission
of this truth is
SALVATION
• MATTHEW 28:29
 For the truth to be conveyed effectively (EG 35):

Not to saturate with

doctrines but to concentrate
A genuine love for the
in the proclamation of what
audience, learn their
their situation necessitates,
language, be immersed in
simple enough to be
their realities.
understood by all without
losing its depth and richness
• Hence, communicating • In the words, it is
the truth today should through the via
not be by way of pulchritudinis – the way
imposition but by of beauty the others are
attraction. brought more
effectively to the truth
of Christ.
Pope
Pope Francis
Benedict XVI
c. Hierarchy of Truths

• Not all truths are of equal

importance in relation to the
salvation of humankind.
• Essential truths are the
foundational truths – the
truths supernaturally
revealed necessary for
salvation
Thus, those who proclaim the Christian faith to
focus on the essential Gospel Message – on
the love of God expressed in Christ Jesus who
died and rose again (Evangelii Gaudium, 36)
build a solid foundation of faith that will later
on address the “basic questions people have
about life, death, suffering, justice, love and
sin.” (Bushman, 2000)