Engaging the world

IN fact, it is not only to engage the world, but also to
love it, and as one saint would put it, to love it passionately. We
need to have the proper attitude toward the world as it is, with all
the good and evil that it has, with all its original beauty it still
has and the ugly deformations it now suffers.

            As can be gleaned from Christ’s prayer before his passion,
we are in the world though not of the world. We are not supposed to be
taken away from it, but neither are we supposed to be worldly, that
is, to live in the world as if there is no God, as if the world is our
ultimate domain whose developments, without reference to a God-given
law, would comprise the rule that would govern us.

            Obviously, we need to be most discerning and prudent so as
not to get confused and lost. But we have to start with a healthy
attitude toward it. We have to avoid being fundamentally negative
about it, treating it as nothing other but a place of sin, of
disorder, or where we can do absolutely anything without any reference
to God.

            To be prudent in our dealings with the world is never an
excuse to be indifferent to it. We may have to separate ourselves from
the world from time to time—all this as a matter of prudence given the
limitations of our human condition—but we need to be immersed in the
affairs of the world.

            We need to understand the true nature and character of the
world, its origin, its purpose, its history, etc., so that we would
know the intrinsic relationship we have with the world.

            We cannot limit ourselves to seeing it merely in its
physicality alone, nor in the twists and turns of its historical and
cultural development, nor in its exciting social, economic and
political aspects, nor in the highs and lows of its arts and sciences.

            We have to see it first of all from the point of view of
our faith that reveals to us how it came from its creator, what
designs its creator has for it, what to expect from it. This is the
basic parameter to use in framing the whole business of how to engage
the world.

            For sure, the world did not just come to exist
spontaneously. It came with a purpose. And the purpose ultimately is
for our own proper development. Everything else in creation, in the
universe, is actually made for our own good, we who are the
masterpiece of God’s creation.

            From here, we can already see the range and scope of our
own personal, social, spiritual development. We have to understand
that our growth toward maturity and perfection has to go along with
the range and scope of whatever developments there are in the world.

            That’s because the world is one important and
indispensable locus where God and us meet. God speaks to us through
the events of the world. He certainly may approve or disapprove of the
happenings there.

            This is not to mention that with his providence, he is
always governing and guiding the world to its proper end. And we need
to cooperate in that providence, since we have been created in his
image and likeness, and as such, have been made also as stewards of
the whole of creation.

            We need to be more aware of this truth about ourselves in
relation to the world, since we tend to ignore it or to take it
lightly, and thus fail to correspond fully to our duties. Especially
these days when there simply are a proliferation of new hot-button
issues, not to mention the usual problems we have like poverty,
injustice and the like.

            Even if one is given a certain charism and vocation that
leads him to separate himself from the world, as is the case of some
hermits, monks and other religious, contemplative persons, he should
understand that that charism and vocation of his is meant for the for
the good of all men and women all over the world.

            His isolation is simply a tactical element in his life,
not meant to isolate him from the things of the world, but rather to
immerse him, in some mysterious ways, in the world’s affairs.

            For most of us, though, we are meant to live in the middle
of the world. We just have to be aware of our duty to bring Christ and
his message to it. This is how we can properly engage and love the
world.