WE need to expand our understanding
of our human
development. Our problem now is that that term is often restricted to
mean economic development only, or at best, some social, political or
cultural development. Sorry, but it does not go far and deep enough.
Obviously, the elements and factors that go into these
aspects of development are already bewildering and exacting. But
common sense alone would tell us we should not get stuck there. These
aspects, while indispensable, do not capture our over-all dignity and
stature. They do not give the whole picture.
Such understanding of development would lack its radical
foundation and ultimate purpose. It can have colorful and stimulating
moments, but in the end it would just be going in circles, with all
the probability of going bad and dangerous.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI told us how development should
be understood in his encyclical “Caritas in veritate” (Charity in the
truth). In the first place, he reminded us that development is not
just a purely human affair.
Development is a God-given vocation, both a divine gift
and our responsibility, the arena where the interacting love between
God and man and the love among us in God are played out.
It’s not just a product of the brilliance of some people,
no matter how extraordinary that brilliance may be. It cannot be
pursued by simply using human means, no matter how practical and
convenient they are.
The fullness of both faith and our sciences has to go into
it. The requirements of both piety and pragmatism, sanctity and
competence have to be met. Not one or the other, but both. It should
be a holistic development, not a reductive one.
We have to avoid the extremes of the pietistic and
spiritualist approach on the one hand, and the purely secularized and
pragmatic approach on the other hand.
The former led us to the anomalies of unhealthy
clericalism in the past, with some vestiges of it still remaining in
the present. The latter has grounded us on a certain
law-of-the-jungle, dog-eat-dog world of Godless pragmatism now raging
in today’s society.
Ok, this is easier said than done. Still, with our wealth
of experience and knowledge gathered through the years, I’m sure we
have better insights and tools to effect the ideal way to achieve
genuine and integral development.
We just have to be hopeful and optimistic, slowly but
steadily putting into action those things we think can help achieve
this kind of development. We may have to go through the mess of the
trial-and-error approach, we may be heckled and taunted, but we just
have to move in the most prudent way we can.
Yes, it’s true that when I’m with priestly company,
there’s still a tendency to get simplistic, idealistic and moralistic
with respect to world problems, often not giving due consideration to
the realities of things.
But I also note a growing improvement in this area. More
clerics are now more sensitive to the distinctions between the ideal
and the actual, and more respectful of the legitimate autonomy and
differences in temporal matters while pursuing the ultimate eternal
goal of man.
The same when I’m with laypeople immersed in business and
politics. There’s still a lot of secularized attitude, where God and
religion hardly enter into their calculations.
Still, I can see a growing number of them learning how to
integrate faith into their earthly affairs. There may be awkwardness
and incompetence, but I think a trend in this direction can be seen in
many places. We just have to sustain it and make it gain momentum.
There’s a need to clarify the true nature and scope of
human development. And the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave us abundant
ideas.
When he, for example, talked about what constitutes
“decent work”, he said:
“It means work that expresses the essential dignity of
every man and woman in the context of their particular society,
-“work that is freely chosen, effectively associating
workers, both men and women, with the development of their community,
-“work that enables the worker to be respected and free
from any form of discrimination,
-“work that makes it possible for families to meet their
needs and provide schooling for their children, without the children
themselves being forced into labor,
-“work that permits the workers to organize themselves
freely, and to make their voices heard,
-“work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one’s
roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level,
-“work that guarantees those who have retired a decent
standard of living.”
Let’s try to listen to the Pope in our journey toward
integral development!
development. Our problem now is that that term is often restricted to
mean economic development only, or at best, some social, political or
cultural development. Sorry, but it does not go far and deep enough.
Obviously, the elements and factors that go into these
aspects of development are already bewildering and exacting. But
common sense alone would tell us we should not get stuck there. These
aspects, while indispensable, do not capture our over-all dignity and
stature. They do not give the whole picture.
Such understanding of development would lack its radical
foundation and ultimate purpose. It can have colorful and stimulating
moments, but in the end it would just be going in circles, with all
the probability of going bad and dangerous.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI told us how development should
be understood in his encyclical “Caritas in veritate” (Charity in the
truth). In the first place, he reminded us that development is not
just a purely human affair.
Development is a God-given vocation, both a divine gift
and our responsibility, the arena where the interacting love between
God and man and the love among us in God are played out.
It’s not just a product of the brilliance of some people,
no matter how extraordinary that brilliance may be. It cannot be
pursued by simply using human means, no matter how practical and
convenient they are.
The fullness of both faith and our sciences has to go into
it. The requirements of both piety and pragmatism, sanctity and
competence have to be met. Not one or the other, but both. It should
be a holistic development, not a reductive one.
We have to avoid the extremes of the pietistic and
spiritualist approach on the one hand, and the purely secularized and
pragmatic approach on the other hand.
The former led us to the anomalies of unhealthy
clericalism in the past, with some vestiges of it still remaining in
the present. The latter has grounded us on a certain
law-of-the-jungle, dog-eat-dog world of Godless pragmatism now raging
in today’s society.
Ok, this is easier said than done. Still, with our wealth
of experience and knowledge gathered through the years, I’m sure we
have better insights and tools to effect the ideal way to achieve
genuine and integral development.
We just have to be hopeful and optimistic, slowly but
steadily putting into action those things we think can help achieve
this kind of development. We may have to go through the mess of the
trial-and-error approach, we may be heckled and taunted, but we just
have to move in the most prudent way we can.
Yes, it’s true that when I’m with priestly company,
there’s still a tendency to get simplistic, idealistic and moralistic
with respect to world problems, often not giving due consideration to
the realities of things.
But I also note a growing improvement in this area. More
clerics are now more sensitive to the distinctions between the ideal
and the actual, and more respectful of the legitimate autonomy and
differences in temporal matters while pursuing the ultimate eternal
goal of man.
The same when I’m with laypeople immersed in business and
politics. There’s still a lot of secularized attitude, where God and
religion hardly enter into their calculations.
Still, I can see a growing number of them learning how to
integrate faith into their earthly affairs. There may be awkwardness
and incompetence, but I think a trend in this direction can be seen in
many places. We just have to sustain it and make it gain momentum.
There’s a need to clarify the true nature and scope of
human development. And the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave us abundant
ideas.
When he, for example, talked about what constitutes
“decent work”, he said:
“It means work that expresses the essential dignity of
every man and woman in the context of their particular society,
-“work that is freely chosen, effectively associating
workers, both men and women, with the development of their community,
-“work that enables the worker to be respected and free
from any form of discrimination,
-“work that makes it possible for families to meet their
needs and provide schooling for their children, without the children
themselves being forced into labor,
-“work that permits the workers to organize themselves
freely, and to make their voices heard,
-“work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one’s
roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level,
-“work that guarantees those who have retired a decent
standard of living.”
Let’s try to listen to the Pope in our journey toward
integral development!
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