Part 2: My Faith

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Activity:

Group Sharing (8-9 members). Choose an online video conferencing platform for your sharing (e.g. zoom, messenger, google meet etc.)

Share your experiences of God’s graciousness when you were in high school.

Invocation

Lesson Proper:

CORE IDEAS

- The study of theology is more than just the study of doctrines and practices of the Catholic faith which have no connection to the everyday life experiences of people today (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012).
- The focus on knowing the contents of faith detached from the local circumstances of people have long been known as Neo-Scholastic methodology in theologizing.
- The theological methodology of Neo-Scholasticism can be summarized in the following:

- - Presentation of the church’s official teaching or doctrine.
  - Proofs supporting the doctrine from the Bible and leading church authorities.
  - Speculative elaboration of the doctrine
  - [Possible practical application].

- Western thought has become the norm and the basis, especially in evaluating the emergence of new cultures related to the practice of faith. Other cultures (particularly non-Western) have been subjected to suspicion and unfortunately rendered inferior.

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- Four of the sixteen documents of Vatican II are regarded pivotal (essential; fundamental). These four essential documents, namely: Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes, Sacrosanctum Concilium and Dei Verbum- are typically recognized by their Latin “titles,” which are actually the first words of the original Latin documents.

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- The first, Lumen Gentium (Light of Nations) or the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church deals with life of Catholics within the Church itself. The second, Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope) is the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. It treats the relationship of the church with contemporary situations. Sacrosanctum Concilium (Sacred Council), the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, lays out the importance, relevance and re-orientation of worship within Catholicism at the present time. And Dei Verbum (Word of God), the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, speaks about the centrality of the God-human relationship in Christian thought as well as the important role of scripture within Catholicism.
- Regarded as the most important of the four documents is Dei Verbum. It deals with the relationship between God and people as well as created realities. According to Cacho and de Mesa (2012) “within the discipline of theology, this relationship is normally articulated with two technical terms, revelation and faith” (p. 13). Revelation is the initiative of God in the relationship while faith is the human response to God’s initiative. Since they are mutual and reciprocal, we cannot understand one without the other. To speak of revelation is to presume faith that would recognize it (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012). On the other hand, to regard faith is to assume a revelation that go before it. There is no faith therefore without revelation and vice-versa.
- This relational reality of revelation-faith braces and influences the way we perceive Jesus as the Christ (Christology), how we understand the church (Ecclesiology) and what perspective we have regarding the deep meaning of life shared by God with us (Eschatology). Our interpretation of what revelation and faith are will have significant effects on the manner by which we understand the different areas of theological thought.
- Neo-Scholasticism have interpreted revelation and faith in a way that is somewhat irrelevant to the context of particular cultures. Revelation referred to God’s action of revealing supernatural truths for the sake of our salvation and faith meant the assent of our minds to these revealed truths. As a consequence, we understood Christ as being sent by the Father to reveal the fullness of truth (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012). The church’s mission was consequently understood as safeguarding and revealing all the truths entrusted to it by Christ. Lastly, the meaning of life was seen as the ownership and the living out of the truths which have been accepted.
- This rationalistic language of Neo-Scholasticism was abandoned in Dei Verbum by Vatican II and espoused the thought categories of personalist philosophy was considered to be more biblically attuned and situationally meaningful (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012). Instead of revealing of and agreeing to truths, “revelation” and “faith” begun to be interpreted in terms of personal relationship. Subsequently, the way Jesus related to people as well as how the church ought to relate to people have come to the fore in understanding Christology and Ecclesiology. Communion with God and others, as noted by Cacho and de Mesa (2012), provides the real meaning of life.
- This new realization in the theology of the church, de Mesa and Cacho (2012) remarked, “has led not only to understanding the diversity of cultural perspectives among peoples of the world, but also and more pertinently, to a comprehension of how such views impact the way we see our Catholic faith, particularly the church” (p.3).
- According to Cacho and de Mesa (2012) we have to rediscover and recover experience as a source for doing theology. The experiences of people as regards the presence of God in their lives, how God manifested Her kindness and benevolence in the ordinary circumstances of the people, and how God unrelentingly demonstrated Her great love for the people.
- The phrase “doing theology,” refers to “the process of carrying out theological reflection, articulation and action” (McKim, 1996 in Cacho & de Mesa, 2012). Today it is commonly understood and used to highlight the necessity of thinking theologically in context (Cacho & de Mesa, p.16).

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- “Theology begins with an experience of God (cf. 1 Jn. 1: 1-3) and proceeds by way of deepening such an experience through meditative (damdamin) and systematic reflection (isip). It is a reflection on our experiences in life and of life in the light of our relationship with God” (de Mesa, 2016).
- St. Anselm of Canterbury (in Williams, 2016) defines theology as, “fides quaerens intellectum” which literally means “faith-seeking-understanding.” Theology is supposed to be understood as “seeking God” to mean as an active love of God seeking for a deeper knowledge of God.

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- According to Cacho and de Mesa (2012) “the mutual interaction between human experience and the gospel makes it possible to start theologizing from either human experience or from the Gospel.
- In a theological reflection, there are two poles that serve as bases, namely: Judeo-Christian Tradition; and Contemporary Human Experience.
- The pole on Judeo-Christian Tradition prompts us of what is passed on to us through generations. This Tradition (from the Latin verb “tradere” which means “to transmit or to hand over”) is a passing on of life, a point which Vatican II already indicated: “Now what was handed on by the apostles includes everything which contributes to the holiness of life, and the increase in faith of the People of God, and so the church, in her teaching, life, and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all that she believes” (Dei Verbum, art.8).
- This heritage progressed from faith in Jesus as the Christ, who himself was a Jew. This shows that part of our religious legacy was significantly influenced by Jewish religious tradition. For this reason our Holy Bible includes Jewish scriptures which we usually refer to as the Old Testament. It earned a distinct character though, as noted by de Mesa and Wostyn (in Cacho & de Mesa, 2012) as it was understood in the light of faith in Jesus Christ by different communities of Christians coming from diverse cultural circumstances.
- According to de Mesa and Wostyn, the church’s teachings which had become detached from human experiences for quite some time in history created a crisis in theology (de Mesa & Wostyn, 1990 in Cacho & de Mesa, 2012).
- Every experience is interpreted reality and people may perceive the same reality and read it otherwise (Cacho & de Mesa, p. 18).
- Culture, de Mesa (2016) argues can be “a source to understand and probe deeply into the mysteries of faith” (p.329). Culture is defined, in Cacho and de Mesa (2012) and de Mesa (1991) as the integrated system of beliefs, values, customs and institutions which binds society together and gives it a sense of identity, dignity, security and continuity.
- Mercado (1994) even noted that culture and religion are inseparable because one is a part of the other. It is the deepest and most spontaneous interpretation, people do, to make sense of reality, most especially religious reality.

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- The dialogue or interaction between the two poles is mutual yet critical. It is mutual in the sense that each of the poles benefits or draws its richness from the other, but serves also as a corrective to the other’s drawbacks that is why it is likewise critical.

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- de Mesa (2016) noted that:

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- There may be elements in the Tradition which are contrary to what promotes the well-being of the people today. This may call for a re-reading of the biblical texts using other lenses in order to critique those elements which hinder life from flourishing.
- The various theologies like: inter-religious theologies, gender-sensitive theologies, liberation, and ecological theologies, etc. which developed after Vatican II are the results of the mutual interaction of the Judeo-Christian Tradition and contemporary human experiences.
- In the birthing or emergence of a particular theology each of the two poles draws and utilizes the potential of one another as well as how each pole laid bare the deficiency in the other.
- In the midst of every theology, there is likewise the interweaving of experience, culture and language. There is no “raw” experience. Every experience is necessarily an interpreted experience, although at times it is merely implicit (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012).
- Of the most opulent source of interpretation of reality is culture which we almost certainly need to grapple with. Inseparably linked to culture is language. It is the fundamental path or the starting point in understanding a particular culture. It is the “voice of the culture speaking in its own terms” (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012, p.25).
- Language, de Mesa argues is “the rich resource for understanding culture from within” (de Mesa, 2016, p.108).

- Any given theology therefore as a way of understanding our relationship with God is a cultural interpretation of it. It is rooted in a particular culture and expressed in the language of that culture. As Filipinos, we have our distinct experience of this God who is a source of “ginhawa” in moments of troubles and tribulations, a relief in our experience of pain and suffering, a fellow sufferer. And as source of “ligaya” and “katiwasayan ng buhay” in our experiences of achievements and triumphs.
- It is possible for us Filipinos to call our understanding of our Catholic faith by other name. One option, if we take our cue from the Filipino culture may perhaps be “mabathalang aral.”
- Aral” since this is what we endeavor to learn from our experiences in life. Lessons learned from such experiences (mga aral na napulot sa karanasan) are closely connected to Filipino thought. A customary catchphrase we attach to accounts of experiences in the Filipino culture is “sana kapulutan ng aral.”

- In Filipino vernacular jargon, “kailangan pulutin ang mga aral.” In this context we can compare the “aral” to the call extended by Jesus’ parables to his listeners. They are invited to think about the story, from their own ends and to make their own resolutions.
- Relevant stories are narratives one can truly learn from and are therefore worth listening to. Vermundo Miranda (in Cacho & de Mesa, 2012), a Filipino bible scholar says it profoundly, “ito ang kwentong may kwenta” (p.27).
- The aral in mabathalang pag-aaral refers to a lesson from and for life drawn from our experience of God. The “aral” would be equivalent of what we call in English as “theology.” Consequently, we can use the adjective “mabathala” (divine) from the local root word for Deity, Bathala. Filipino theology can be referred to as “mabathalang aral” and the activity as well as the process of doing theology can be called “mabathalang pag-aaral” (Cacho & de Mesa, 2012).

- There is no explicitly Christian term for God just in case some would object to such usage of Bathala- referring to the supreme god of pagan Filipinos. The words used by Western Christians for God are merely ordinary words in their culture as denoting to the supreme being. For instance the Greek term θεός, the Latin term deus, and the Spanish dios all refer to the English word “god.”
- Faith must take root in the matrix of our Filipino being so that we may truly believe as Filipinos. But for this to happen, the Gospel must be presented with tools, methods and expressions coming from culture itself. It must be accepted within a person’s cultural heritage (PCPII, art.72, in Cacho & de Mesa, 2012, p.29)

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Assessment: In groups of 6-7 members, compose a song using the Filipino language (Tagalog or Kapampangan) which synthesizes the main ideas you learned from this lesson. You may adapt a tune of a popular song but change the lyrics. Record your composition and submit it in Canvas as a video file. Kindly proceed to assignment section for the details of submission.