HOW should our attitude be toward the
world in general? It
is to love it the way God loves it.
We have to embody that attitude articulated in the gospel
of St. John: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten
Son; that whosoever believes in him, may not perish, but may have life
everlasting.” (Jn 3,16)
It definitely is not a love based on “feel-good” emotions
alone. It certainly is not a love springing from naivete, or from the
other extreme of convenience, practicality and many other worldly
values.
It’s a love that takes the world as it is, its good and
bad sides, its lights and shadows, its beauty and scars, its joys and
sufferings. It’s a love that knows the origin and purpose of the world
insofar as we are concerned.
It’s a love that carries out what God, its creator,
commanded our first parents to do: “Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the earth and subdue it…” (Gen 1,28) “To subdue the earth” does
not only mean to master and dominate it, or merely to make use and
take advantage of it, although all these go into that divine command.
In fact, we have to develop as much as possible the good potentials of
the world.
“To subdue the earth” also means that we have been given
the responsibility to keep the earth a creation of God through us. It
has to be returned to God, giving him glory since with our sin, the
world has somehow been detached from its creator.
The world comes from God and it also belongs to God. It
has to give glory to God through us. Thus, to the extent that we
manage to order the world to God, giving it its proper soul, we would
be fulfilling our responsibility toward it.
We should not therefore be afraid of the world, nor treat
it with some disparaging or merely tolerant attitude. We need to love
it, and in fact, to love it passionately, because it is there where we
engage God directly and where we fulfill the purpose of our life. It
is where we are supposed to develop and prove our love for God.
To be sure, our way to God and to heaven is through this
world. It cannot be any other way. To think that we can know, love and
serve God by separating ourselves from the world is to fall into a
false spirituality. Yes, God is supernatural and is beyond what the
world can offer. But we cannot get to him without engaging the world.
Of course, a well-established spirituality that espouses
the “contemptus mundi” has its proper place also, since it precisely
addresses that part of the world that is wrong, that needs to be
purified, that needs to be eliminated as much as possible.
Those who live that spirituality are somehow also immersed
in the world in a different way, because in their material detachment
from the world, they effect a closer spiritual closeness to the world
because of their love for God and for souls.
But for the laity who are mostly in the middle of the
world, they are not any less called to holiness and to apostolate in
their active engagement with the things of the world.
In our relation with the world, we need to learn how to
infuse the Christian spirit in it, never allowing ourselves as much as
possible to be dominated by the worldly spirit of materialism,
secularism, relativism, and many other isms.
For this the Church has articulated the social doctrine to
guide us—clergy, religious and laity. It shows us how to deal with the
world in ways proper to each one. Everyone of us, according to his own
state and possibilities, should do all he can to engage the world in
all its affairs in a Christian way.
Here are some relevant words about the Church’s social
doctrine taken from the presentation page of the Church’s Compendium
of Social Doctrine:
“To the people of our time, the Church offers her social
doctrine. In fact, when the Church fulfills her mission of proclaiming
the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his
dignity and his vocation to the communion of person. She teaches him
the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.”
This prophetic mission of the Church has to be done in a
more consistent way especially these days when we are faced with all
sorts of issues, controversies and challenges in the areas of
business, politics, environment, culture, etc.
is to love it the way God loves it.
We have to embody that attitude articulated in the gospel
of St. John: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten
Son; that whosoever believes in him, may not perish, but may have life
everlasting.” (Jn 3,16)
It definitely is not a love based on “feel-good” emotions
alone. It certainly is not a love springing from naivete, or from the
other extreme of convenience, practicality and many other worldly
values.
It’s a love that takes the world as it is, its good and
bad sides, its lights and shadows, its beauty and scars, its joys and
sufferings. It’s a love that knows the origin and purpose of the world
insofar as we are concerned.
It’s a love that carries out what God, its creator,
commanded our first parents to do: “Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the earth and subdue it…” (Gen 1,28) “To subdue the earth” does
not only mean to master and dominate it, or merely to make use and
take advantage of it, although all these go into that divine command.
In fact, we have to develop as much as possible the good potentials of
the world.
“To subdue the earth” also means that we have been given
the responsibility to keep the earth a creation of God through us. It
has to be returned to God, giving him glory since with our sin, the
world has somehow been detached from its creator.
The world comes from God and it also belongs to God. It
has to give glory to God through us. Thus, to the extent that we
manage to order the world to God, giving it its proper soul, we would
be fulfilling our responsibility toward it.
We should not therefore be afraid of the world, nor treat
it with some disparaging or merely tolerant attitude. We need to love
it, and in fact, to love it passionately, because it is there where we
engage God directly and where we fulfill the purpose of our life. It
is where we are supposed to develop and prove our love for God.
To be sure, our way to God and to heaven is through this
world. It cannot be any other way. To think that we can know, love and
serve God by separating ourselves from the world is to fall into a
false spirituality. Yes, God is supernatural and is beyond what the
world can offer. But we cannot get to him without engaging the world.
Of course, a well-established spirituality that espouses
the “contemptus mundi” has its proper place also, since it precisely
addresses that part of the world that is wrong, that needs to be
purified, that needs to be eliminated as much as possible.
Those who live that spirituality are somehow also immersed
in the world in a different way, because in their material detachment
from the world, they effect a closer spiritual closeness to the world
because of their love for God and for souls.
But for the laity who are mostly in the middle of the
world, they are not any less called to holiness and to apostolate in
their active engagement with the things of the world.
In our relation with the world, we need to learn how to
infuse the Christian spirit in it, never allowing ourselves as much as
possible to be dominated by the worldly spirit of materialism,
secularism, relativism, and many other isms.
For this the Church has articulated the social doctrine to
guide us—clergy, religious and laity. It shows us how to deal with the
world in ways proper to each one. Everyone of us, according to his own
state and possibilities, should do all he can to engage the world in
all its affairs in a Christian way.
Here are some relevant words about the Church’s social
doctrine taken from the presentation page of the Church’s Compendium
of Social Doctrine:
“To the people of our time, the Church offers her social
doctrine. In fact, when the Church fulfills her mission of proclaiming
the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his
dignity and his vocation to the communion of person. She teaches him
the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.”
This prophetic mission of the Church has to be done in a
more consistent way especially these days when we are faced with all
sorts of issues, controversies and challenges in the areas of
business, politics, environment, culture, etc.
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