THY Rebyuwer yan na yun PDF

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JESUS CHRIST AS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD The Truth  

Plato: Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man Winston Churchill: The truth is the best defense. It is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Mahatma Gandhi: Truth is the substance of all morality. It is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. Thomas Jefferson: Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society. Dictionary: “VERITAS” or Truth, according to the dictionary, is “conformity to fact or actuality; a statement proven to be or accepted as true. Philosophy: the equation of thought and thing” (adaequatio rei et intellectus). Truth resides formally, or as such, in the intellect which rightly judges a thing to be what it really is.

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Absolute Truth: is defined as inflexible reality: fixed, invariable, unalterable facts.  Knowing the absolute truth/universal truth is only possible through a personal relationship with the One who claims to be the Truth—Jesus Christ.  Jesus claimed to be the only way, the only truth, the only life and the only path to God (John 14:6).  All men are endowed with reason and freewill and therefore exercise personal responsibility. They are both "impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth." They are "bound to adhere to the truth as they come to know it, and to direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth." (DH2)  The fact that absolute truth does exist points us to the truth that there is a sovereign God who created the heavens and the earth and who has revealed Himself to us in order that we might know Him personally through His Son Jesus Christ. That is the absolute truth.  “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him with all his strength.”  “to be a human being means to come from God and to go to God.” God as Our Personal Absolute  

Just like Saint Augustine, we know in our hearts that, because God has made us for Himself, our hearts can never find rest until they rest in Him. God, according to Edward Schillebeeckx: is a personal absolute in whom is found the reason for our existence, and therefore, He is a being who gives absolute meaning to our lives.

Jesus Christ, the Ultimate Revelation of the Father

 Second Plenary Council of the Philippines: we look up to Christ as the ultimate revelation of the Father, who calls us to communion, and as the good teacher who leads us to the Father. “no mission is activated and no identity is clarified apart from Christ.”  Images of Jesus in the Gospel - The way, the truth, the life: “We, therefore, speak of Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life because it is only Christ who fully discloses to man the mystery of the Father and the Father’s love, our personal absolute.” Typology: a method of biblical interpretation whereby an element found in the Old Testament is seen to prefigure one found in the New Testament. The initial one is called the type and the fulfillment is designated the antitype Elements Tree Garden Angel Woman Man

Old Testament Tree of knowledge Eden Satan Eve Adam

New Testament Cross (Tree of Life) Golgotha Gabriel Mary Jesus

Christ: God, in a Human Way  Schillebeeckx, Christ: The Sacrament, 4: Through the mystery of Christ’s incarnation, God came down to meet man in grace so that man actually lives in a condition of active communication with the One who, in this relationship becomes the “living God” and this encounter with God takes place in an act of faith.  Schillebeeckx, Christ the Sacrament: “By becoming like us, God entered into the most abysmal sufferings of mankind, since then, no one can say God does not know what I’m suffering.”  Matthew 5: 48: Jesus revealed what is true and good about human beings: that they are created by God to be perfect like Him  John 8:1-11: When the woman caught in the act of adultery was brought to Him, Jesus did not show condemnation but only mercy and compassion. When He lovingly told the woman to sin no more, Jesus showed that people, by the grace of God, can change for the better  Luke 19:1-10: In his encounter with Zacchaeus the tax collector, he exemplified before the crowd that an act of compassion can move even the most hardened sinner. When He asked to eat dinner with the tax collector, He demonstrated that we are capable of seeing the good in others.  By becoming human...  Christ became an example for all people to follow because He manifested those characteristics that make man perfect.  Jesus Christ, through His life, words, and works, revealed how people should live their lives.  Jesus corrected the false belief that people are bad or helplessly sinful. Jesus revealed what is true and good about human beings: that they are all invited by God to be perfect like Him. The very name of Jesus, which means “the one who is to save people from their sins” also means that Jesus is “the greatest sign of God’s love for his people.”

Sequela Christi: This is the experience that we find in the responses of the disciples whom Jesus invited to follow Him as fishers of men.  In the responses of the Disciples whom Jesus invited to follow Him as fishers of men (Matthew 4:19)  Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus cast out seven demons (Luke 8:2) and who later became the apostle to the apostles.  In Saint Paul who became the apostle to the Gentiles. Following Christ entails radical conversion: forgetting oneself and committing everything to Christ.  Stripping the old self of that sinful life to take on the new white garment of Christ.  It is dying to oneself but rising again as a new person configured to Christ, no longer living one’s life for one’s own but for Christ.  Being immersed in the waters of baptism all over again and time and time again To be truly human is to be like God: that man can love, forgive, show compassion, and set aside prejudices toward others, shows that the divine is truly shared with the human. JESUS CHRIST AS THE GOOD TEACHER Certain currents of thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be the source of values (VS, 32) 

A radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgement or individualist ethic is: where the individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment which hands down categorical and infallible decisions.

A number of disciplines, grouped under the name behavioral sciences, have rightly drawn attention to many kinds of psychological and social conditionings which influence the exercise of freedom VS, 33. Some people going beyond the conclusions which can be legitimately drawn from these observations, have come to question or even deny the very reality of freedom. Alternative Ethical Systems 

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Eudaemonism describes that widespread belief that pleasure and happiness in this world is the only good; pain and sorrow the real evil. Whatever therefore helps to achieve temporal well-being and success is morally right. The aim is to maximize personal gratification and happiness, through pleasure, comfort and good material living standards. Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham advocated the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Every action is judged in relation to this end. John Stuart Mill emphasizes the quality of the good achieved in the end while Jeremy Bentham emphasizes the quantity of those who will benefit from the achieved good. Ethics of self-perfection, self-actualization or self-realization: The ultimate purpose of human life is to realize one's true self and authentic personality. This verges on individualism, tending to devalue the world and others, while emphasizing one's own development. Man's purpose is to grow, even exuberantly and rankly,

realizing as many potentialities as possible, having as many wonderful experiences as possible. - Nietzsche: it is man’s internal drive for greatness and creativity. For centuries, it has been suppressed by Christianity - Heidegger: Da-sein is the term used by Heidegger to refer to being which understands its own being. Da - sein is a conscious being, and is the kind of consciousness which belongs to human beings. 

Ethics for its own sake, with an emphasis on moral duty Principles of Kantian Ethics - “An act must be done from obligation in order to have moral worth.” - “An action’s moral value is due to the maxim from which it is performed, rather than to its success in realizing some desired end or purpose.” - “Obligation is the necessity of an action performed from respect for law.”

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Relativism, Emotivism, Subjectivism Relativism: denies the existence of a universal human nature and universal moral norms, binding on all persons at all times. Even where a particular moral stance is considered valid in the majority of cases, "conscience" or feelings may permit exceptions to the "norm". Emotivism: the doctrine that all evaluative judgements and more specifically all moral judgements are nothing but expressions of preference, expressions of attitude or feeling, insofar as they are moral or evaluative in character. Subjectivism: holds that moral judgements are equivalent to statements about the psychological states or attitudes of those who utter them. Joseph Fletcher’s Situation Ethics: the only appropriate response to real ethical dilemmas. It values individual freedom, puts people first and acknowledges the genuine diversity of circumstances.  All situations are always relative.  Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love: nothing else at all.  Only the end of love justifies the means, nothing else. Social Darwinism The human being is a result of natural selection and evolutionary genetic mutation. Man has progressed because of the survival of the fittest. Therefore, to support the weak and less able is to threaten the evolutionary process. It easily leads to racism - less favored races who have not evolved so successfully as others (e.g. Aryans), should be discouraged from breeding.

Truths revealed to the Rich Young Man -

That it is not enough to follow the commandments externally. That it is not important to be attached to material things. That it is essential for us to be free from material possession to freely follow Jesus

1. Jesus opens up the faithful to the sacred scriptures - “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:17 - Jesus brings the question about morally good action back to its religious foundation (VS, 9): THE DECALOGUE.

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In the “first tablet” of the Law, Jesus teaches us that God is the beginning and end of our life. - Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 - Jesus definitively confirms the Decalogue and proposes them as the way and condition of salvation. VS, 12 - The “Second Tablet of the Law” commands us: “you shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and your mother; also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19: 18- 19). These commandments are summarized by Jesus’ command to His disciples: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19; cf. Mk. 12:31). - Jesus brings God’s commandments to fulfillment. Jesus shows that the commandments must not be understood as a minimum limit not to be gone beyond, but rather as a path involving a moral and spiritual journey towards perfection (VS, 15). - Christian moral vocation: to commit ourselves through the power of Christ’s redeeming grace to the progressive overcoming of the evil of sin in and around us – a personal human reaching out in loving service to others – rather than simply avoiding sin or shrinking from evil. (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. New National Catechetical Directory for the Philippines) Jesus reveals the Father’s Will - Three-fold yeses covering the three dimensions of human life: 1. the intra-personal 2. the inter-personal 3. societal must be grounded on the fourth foundational, integrating… 4. Yes to God. - The Christ Jesus that we proclaimed among you…was never Yes and No. With him it was always yes, and however many the promises God made, the yes to them all is in Him. That is why it is through Him that we answer Amen to the praise of God. NNCDP, 285 - This demands a radical change of heart, a real conversion, manifested in a triple yes to self, others, and society, and grounded in the ultimate yes to God, overcoming the “No” of sin. Jesus teaches about moral action - To go to the heart of the Gospel’s moral teaching and grasp its profound and unchanging content, we must carefully inquire into: • Meaning of the question asked by the rich young man in the Gospel • Meaning of Jesus’ reply, allowing ourselves to be guided by Him. Jesus sheds light on man’s lofty vocation - The first and ultimate vocation of man is communion with God and there is only one way to respond to this calling: Jesus Christ - The basic motivation for following Christ in moral action is, of course the Blessed Trinity: The eternal Father’s love for us, manifested pre-eminently in Jesus’ Paschal Mystery, and the Holy Spirit sent into our hearts who enables us to fulfill Christ’s own command: Love one another as I have loved you Christ is always present to His church

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Christ empowered the Church to proclaim, without fear of error, faith and morals. The Church must always be deeply conscious of her duty in every age to examine the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the Gospel. The Church as the People of God among the nations, while attentive to the new challenges of history and to mankind’s efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers to everyone the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus and his Gospel. JESUS CHRIST AS THE ONE WHO SHEDS LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

The Human Person: Biological Perspective -

A bipedal primate belonging to the genus homo, particularly homo sapiens. Opposable / prehensile thumbs (grasping tools). More defined frontal lobe Larger cranium. 3% DNA difference from apes.

Soul: is defined as “primus actus corporis physici organici”. It is the first act of a physical organic body. As such, it is the principle of life. Any being, therefore, that manifests life and thereby performs vital operations have a soul, or in the language of some philosophers, any living being is a besouled being. Hierarchy of Being (Scala Naturae) 1. God 2. Angels 3. Humans: rational soul – operations: growth, nutrition, reproduction, sensation, locomotion, intellection, volition 4. Animals: sensient soul – operations: growth, nutrition, reproduction, sensation, & locomotion 5. Plants: vegetative soul – operations: growth, nutrition, & reproduction 6. Minerals OPERARI SEQUITUR ESSE: operation follows being Operations 1. Nutrition: the creature’s life is conserved. It is a vital operation which transforms food into nutritive substances by the process of metabolism and the ability to assimilate these nutritive materials to the different parts of the body 2. Growth: augmentation and refers to the operation by which living beings acquire by nourishment the quantity characteristic to it (motis a minore ad majorem quantitatem). It is a result of the assimilation of food. It is the vital operation then by which, for example, the baby increase in size and obtain the development characteristic of the species to which it belongs 3. Reproduction: a new organism is generated from a previous organism (origo viventis a principio vivente conjuncto in similitudinem naturae). It is the vital process whereby living beings, after reaching maturity, perpetuate their species.

4. Sensation: manifests the capacity to perceive accidental properties of things. 5. Locomotion: manifests the capacity to move from one place to another. 6. Intellection: considered as an immaterial operation because its object is the idea which is an immaterial presentation of reality. 7. Volition: immaterial operation and its object is the idea which is immaterial because it is a movement consequent upon the immaterial apprehension of the intellect. The Human Person: Aristotelian-Thomistic View -

Capax Dei (Capacity for God): an individual substance of a rational nature (Individua Substantia Naturae Rationalis) Obediential Potency: natural facility given by God to us, enabling us to know God. That is to say that the human mind is in obediential potency to the knowledge of God

Human Person in Experience (CFC 687-692) Open and Relational by Nature -

Social and gregarious by nature We are being by, with, and for others. Trinitarian in origin. Social well-being and Common Good. God is the source and fulfilment of all human persons’ relationships.

Conscious Beings -

Possess self-awareness through our knowing and free willing. We “image” in our small way the Creator’s infinite knowing and loving. Reason understands the order of things and recognize the voice of God.

Embodied Spirits -

Stresses the unity between our Body and soul. Hylemorphic Body: The matter; essential part of our being human; not merely an instrument that we use according to our whims; good and honorable. Soul: the form; the nature or essence of a thing; the unifying principle and forms one unique human being.

Historical Realities -

Pilgrims on-the-way. We are our own cause. Live in the middle of “Now and Here.” Dynamism in moral reflections

Unique yet Fundamentally Equal Despite differences in physical, intellectual and moral powers, we are all equal: -

Same nature and origin and same divine calling and destiny; Each of us is called to “image” God in a unique way; Within the fundamental equality of all persons, we recognize the unique identity of each person.

Understanding the Meaning of Dignity in Relation to Man In the light of Christian revelation, it was understood that all persons, endowed with inviolable dignity, are: -

Created by God in His image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26) through our Lord Jesus Christ, “through whom everything was made and through whom we live” (1 Cor 8:6). Redeemed by the blood of Christ (cf. Eph 1:7; Col 1:14); and are sanctified by the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14-16; 1 Cor 6:19). Called to be children of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:1), destined for eternal life of blessed communion with the Father, His Risen-Incarnate Son, and their Holy Spirit.

1. Created in the Image and likeness of God. Of all visible creatures only man is: 

Able to Know and Love His Creator: created with Intellect and Freewill: to recognize the voice of God to “do good and avoid evil.” Hence, referred to as Moral Being.  Willed by God for its Own Sake - Irreplaceable and Nonsubstitutable: human beings are not objects of use or means to an end. We must treat our fellow human being as equals. - Called to Responsibility and Stewardship: according to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si, both man and woman are equally ordered to "subdue" the earth.  Called to Share, by Knowledge and Love, in God's Own Life - Destined to be in Communion with God > Pilgrims on the way 2. Redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ. - "You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers...with the precious blood of Christ.” - Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in the fo...