Coping with Crises

I. What is a Crisis?

Crisis is from originally a Greek word having the root krino which means to separate. It is a point of time which has reached its height, which must soon terminate; it is a turning point. To be in crisis therefore is to be in that point in time which is a turning point. One has to separate or decide from one to another; from one attachment, one perspective, one point of view to another.

II. Whether it is something good or bad?

It seems it is bad because it causes pain, anxiety, anguish, a certain feeling of insecurity. On the other hand, we cannot do away with crises. It is part of growth. When a child starts to walk and starts wearing shoes, at a certain point of time, he will enjoy those shoes; but when his or her feet will grow, he/she will experience pain. This pain when it gets to its heights is a crisis. The child has reach its turning point to “separate” or decide to wear the shoes or not. If she likes the shoes very much and becomes attached to the shoes, she will continue to feel the pain. Understandably, she needs another pair of shoes. Therefore he/she has to forego the old pair of shoes for another one. But one cannot decide without undergoing this pain, this crisis.

Here we see that the crises therefore opens the door to something positive, towards growth, towards decision, towards detachment – it is something good.

III. Origin of Crises

Its origin therefore, without touching other crises which could be invented, is because we are living beings. We are all growing physically and spiritually. We cannot do away with it. One has rather to face it and confront it rather than evade it.

Other crises however comes when we have unclear goals in our life. Basically our basic goal is to know God, to love Him and to serve Him. We come to know God as students in theology not only through natural reason or to nature but also through revelation.

Pope John Paul II in his book “Be not afraid” expresses that: “Revelation is ‘God communicating him-self’. It thus possesses the character of a gift or a grace: a person-to-person gift, in the communion of persons. A perfectly gratuitous free gift which cannot be explained by anything but love.” This is on the part of God. What about on the part of man?

The Pope answered: ‘man entrusts himself to God by the obedience of faith’, one must see, if only indirectly, the thought that faith, as response to the revelation by which God ‘gives himself to man’, implies through its internal dynamism a reciprocal gift on the part of man, who in a way ‘also gives himself to God’. This gift of Oneself is the profoundest and most personal structure of faith.

To know God therefore necessarily entails loving Him and to love Him to offer one’s life for Him – as a gift so that the gift of self-revelation of God could be reciprocated. So our catechism would tell us then at the last why did God created man: is to serve Him by a sincere gift of oneself.

This is the revealed purpose of man as taught to us by the Magisterium. Now, if man deviates from this end, necessarily also he will encounter a crises. It is like having an impacted tooth or an in grown nail growing abnormally in our mount or foot. Then we feel the pain.

This is also true to a spiritual crises. When we deviate from our goal to which God has created us, that is, when we would rather love things, money or persons more than God, then inevitable we will encounter a crises in our lives. For St. Augustine, our hearts are restless. . . . as if to say, it will be always be anxious, disturbed. . . until it rests on you God.

This is also true if we unknowingly, we don’t have clear grasp of our final goals and we are stranded in temporal goals.

IV. How can to cope with crisis.

First, let us make a clarification. To cope here does not mean to remain in crisis and not being able to overcome it.

A. To renew one’s choice of God.

As we have said, crisis comes when one has unclarified, or deviated goals in ones life. One has therefore to decide. Decision means to cut, to separate, to be converted. It is a time to evaluate our values and put it straight. All other values are relative to the truth and the love of God. All things pass away, as the Book of Wisdom says, vanity of vanities. When we stick to a value which is very relative, then we meet a crises: to solve it, is again to place God as the first in our lives who is absolute has the highest absolute value. All the other values are in a sense, subservient to this highest value. The first point therefore which I would like to stress when we encounter a crises, when everything seems to crumble down is to redirect our lives to the Absolute. It is to be again converted to God. Conversion is not a one-event reality. It goes with the process of your growth.

To cope with crises therefore is to be converted. It is both a gift and an invitation to really be what we are supposed to be – to know God, to love Him and to serve Him.

Let me give you now some points in order to cope with crises, which really means some ways to understand what it means, through a crises, to be converted towards God.

B. “To become a Child”

The metaphor “becoming a child’ (Mk 1O;15; Lk 18:17) presents us one way of understanding conversion towards the overcoming of any crises:

Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it (Mk 10:15).

Without entering into the social place of children during the time of Jesus, by promising the Kingdom to children, Jesus challenged contemporary theological thinking on merit, reward and the entire patriarchal society by declaring that the child’s incapacity to earn the Kingdom was its greatest asset. Being “like a child” means one has nothing to give and nothing to show ill order to gain the Kingdom. It means a helplessness, a being without any claim of deserving or earning the Kingdom. The child has full trust to his father, on the love of his father, that whatever happens, he is confident and sure that his father will always love him. Of course, it does not mean that Jesus advocate childishness or put forward a naively romanticizing attitude towards children

The child imagery opens up a vast array of Kingdom qualities; trust, humility, obedience, a forgiving spirit, as well as a helplessness and dependence. The Kingdom “belongs” to the children in the sense that children appreciate a gift as an absolute, something which they know they could not have earned or deserved.

“Becoming a child” is the precondition to cope with crises and be converted towards a kind of entry into the Kingdom. Jesus asks those who want to follow him to take an immediate and all-important step. We are asked to abandon false values such as status, power and wealth. These values are signs of an inauthentic being, and barriers to entering the Kingdom of God. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus makes it quite clear that they are the three great barriers we have to overcome to understand Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

Conversion requires that we humble ourselves, get rid of Our self-given importance which is measured on the basis of worldly values. Rather we are asked to find our true vocation in obedient service of God. In so doing we become one with Jesus. We become his disciples “Being a child” indicates more than a change of direction. It implies a new life and a rebirth as expressed explicitly’ in this Johannine imagery:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, Amen, I say to YOU no One can enter the Kingdom of God without being born from above. Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person Once grown old he born again? Surely he cannot re-enter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he? ” Jesus answered “Amen, Amen, 1 say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God Without being born of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:3-5).

Jesus’ demand of “becoming a child” expresses the necessity for us to make a new beginning, to show a new responsiveness and Openness to God and other people. We are asked to learn and re-learn the ways of God.

C. To let the Holy Spirit help you

We have received the Holy Spirit during our baptism and it is already in us. Only it is dormant. When crises comes, let us make it more active inside us. We are capable of overcoming all the crises that we met or will meet.

In the Gospel of John Jesus employs the image of a well to explain what conversion towards the Kingdom could mean from any crises.

(Jn 4:7-15 the Samaritan woman at the well). 4:7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 4:8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 4:9 * The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)

Water here becomes a symbol for the Holy Spirit who dwells in the depth of each human person. The prospect that Jesus holds out to the woman, that he could give her water that would become a spring in her, is first of all an invitation to become a disciple of his. He is saying to her, “Let the water I can give into your life.” Jesus was referring here to the Spirit that those who opened themselves to him and his words would receive.

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. “He was referring to the Spirit which those who came to believe in him were to receive. For there was as yet no Spirit, since Jesus had not been glorified (Jn 7:37-39).

Only Jesus could give the woman the life-giving water for which she was really searching. According to rabbinic teaching: ‘The disciple who is beginning is like a well that can give only water it has received, but the more advanced disciple becomes like a spring that gives living water.” Jesus is telling the woman, if you follow me you will not only be filled with life-giving water but you yourself will become a spring that will never run dry.

Conversion here means to let the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit well up from within us and bring us to life. In Luke 17:20-21 Jesus speaks about the Kingdom not as coming in signs and wonders but as the Kingdom “within us.” The early Church Fathers understood this to mean the Kingdom is within our reach; it is so close and intimate that we can take hold of it if we really want to.

The kingdom of God is among us. Conversion towards the Kingdom is conversion always towards the brother. When one stops loving, which is the real purpose for which he was made, he will encounter a crisis sooner or later.

The Holy Spirit is the third Person who is Love itself. To let him operate in our lives, in order to cope with crisis, is to plunge oneself in loving the neighbors, in the community. Love gives light and he who does not love is not in the light and therefore would be quite incapable to overcome his crises.

There is no need to search for the Kingdom as something still to come to overcome one’s own crisis. Wherever one lives the Kingdom is always within reach. Whoever cares for his/her brothers and sisters and serves them joyfully, wherever they may be, already lives in the Kingdom, it has already arrived. And therefore, he will likely to overcome his crises in due time. Here is a little story by Albert Schweitzer to illustrate the point of a man who wants the Kingdom of God:

One day while the a monk was just doing the dishes, an angel came and told him, “The Lord sends me personally to tell you your time is up, you are called to God’s eternal Kingdom.” The little brother joyfully said, “What a surprise, I am really grateful that the Lord does remember me. But, dear angel, as you can see, there are so many dishes left, I cannot just leave now. You’ll certainly agree I would be very ungrateful to my brothers here to leave all this work undone and just disappear. Perhaps the Good Lord could postpone my eternity until I am finished with this work.” The angel looked understandingly into his eyes and said, “You’re right, I’ll see what I can do for you and bring your request before the Lord.” After that the angel disappeared, and the brother finished his dishes and many other things afterwards.

One day when the brother was in the garden weeding and digging, the angel appeared again. The little brother just pointed with his hoe at all the unfinished patches and said to the angel, “See for yourself how many weeds are growing here. Can’t God’s eternal Kingdom wait just a little longer?” The angel smiled and quietly disappeared. The brother weeded the whole garden and dug up the patches and planted them anew. And many other things he did too.

One afternoon he was working in the hospital nursing the sick. Just as he was giving a drink to a patient suffering from high fever, the angel once again stood before him. The little brother spread his arms out seeking understanding, trying to catch the angel’s attention to make him see all the sick he still had to take care of. The angel disappeared instantly.

When the brother came home that evening, he lay down on his hard bed, exhausted from all the work. Then he thought about the angel and all the time he had bargained for. Suddenly he felt old and dreadfully tired. He knelt down in his cell and started praying, “Lord, could you send your angel once again now! This time he would be welcome.” Hardly had he said that when the angel was right at his side. “If you take me now, this time I’m more than ready to go with you to enter God’s Kingdom,” he said to the angel. The angel looked deep into his eyes the way only angels can -and with a smile said to the little brother, “Where do you think you have been all this time?” (A. L. Balling, Sehnsuclit nach dL’m, was bleiht, pp. 136-137)

D. To live it with Christ

The Pauline perspective sees conversion happening when Christ is taking shape in us (Eph 3.14-19). Indwelling is the endpoint towards which all conversion must be directed. Conversion means a turning to Christ and accepting salvation from him. According to Colossians all human beings are created in the image of Christ. They carry in themselves his image as their true “hidden self.” Thus we read: “The mystery is; Christ lives in you, the glory to come” (Col 1:27). From this perspective conversion means letting Christ take shape in us and leading the person from mere image into likeness.

There once was a sculptor working hard with his hammer and chisel on a large block of marble. A little boy who was watching him saw nothing more than large and small pieces of stones falling away left and right. He had no idea what was happening. But when the boy returned to the studio a few weeks later, he saw to his great surprise a large, powerful lion sitting in the place where the marble had stood. With great excitement the boy ran to the Sculptor and said, “Sir, tell me, how did you know there was a lion in the marble?” (H. Nouwen, Clowning in Rome, p.87)

Am I able to see the ‘lion’ in the marble, the image of Christ in the often formless and ugly appearances of people? Am I able to see this image of Christ, the cross in the crisis I encounter? And when I have seen it, am I willing to make it visible? Could I love Him in this crises and rise with Him? Conversion means SEEING the image in which God has created me and the reality into which he wants to transform me, and then MAKING VISIBLE what I see.

E. To think differently: “To look at reality with the eyes of Jesus”

According to the Greek word metanoia, conversion means thinking differently, looking at reality the way Jesus did. It means accepting his perspective and his frame of reference, using his “spectacles” when looking at the world and human reality.

Some years ago NASA sent into space a satellite, programmed to get as close to Mars as possible before sending pictures back to earth. The satellite reached its destination. The command was given to start taking pictures. But then they discovered a magnetic dust storm raging on Mars that made it impossible to photograph the surface of the planet. It was at this point that scientists arranged a combination of lenses and filters for the camera which made it possible to penetrate the obstacles and obtain excellent pictures of the planet and its surface.

Conversion enables us to by-pass the surface glare, to grasp the depth of reality and to see things as they really are. It helps us to discover the real nature and importance of events in the setting of God’s final plan for this world and the direction he is assigning to human history.

Being converted means being equipped with the right lenses and filters, With them in place we are able to get beneath the surface of things, to see through any dust or obstacles that hinder a clear view, and to understand and judge reality accordingly.

Conversion means ultimately accepting Jesus’ world-view. It means looking at the world through his eyes. He alone had the right view. He demonstrated through his life how God looks at human beings, at the world, at plants, at animals and at creation as a whole. Jesus revealed God as a father who goes after each one of us with loving concern and care (Lk 15), who cares for the birds in the sky and the grass in the field (Mt 6:25-35), who embraces the “little ones” and identifies with them (Mk 10:13-16).

Being converted and to overcome crises means, therefore, to having a different, but ultimately the only, correct view of reality. One who looks at the world with the eyes of faith does not see less but more. Faith is not a distortion of reality; it puts things in the right perspective. It lets me see connections and enables me to see the ultimate ground of all reality. It shows me where this turbulent and seemingly directionless world is moving. It enables me to hold on to the claim of the Bible that the jigsaw puzzle which we call history and creation can be put together into a beautiful design even if many pieces do not fit together at all in the present state of things. Just like the poor jeweler in the story, seeing the intricate pattern in the prayer rug that offered him the road to freedom, so we are challenged to look beyond the blurred images that we are often faced with.

A poor but honest jeweler was arrested for a crime he never committed. He was placed in a high and well-protected prison in the center of the city. One day, after he had been imprisoned for months, his wife came to the main gate. She told the guards how her husband, the poor jeweler, was a devout and prayerful man. He would be lost without his simple prayer rug. Would they not allow him to have this single possession? The guards agreed that it would be harmless and gave him his prayer rug. Five times daily he would unroll his rug and pray.

Weeks passed, and one day the jeweler said to his jailers, ‘I am bored sitting here day after day with nothing to do. I am a good jeweler and, if you will let me have some pieces of metal and some simple tools, I will make you jewelry. You could then sell what I make in the bazaar and add to your low salaries as jailers. I ask for little -just something to fill the idle hours and keep my skill in practice

The poorly-paid jailers agreed that it would be a good arrangement. Each day they brought the jeweler some bits of silver and metal and some simple tools Each night they would remove the tools and metal and take home tile jewelry that he had made. Days grew into weeks, weeks into months. One bright morning when they came to the jeweler’s cell, they found it empty. No sign was found of the prisoner or how he had escaped from this well protected prison.

Some time later, the real criminal was arrested for the crime the poor jeweler had been falsely accused of. One day in the city’s bazaar, long after that, one of the guards saw the ex-prisoner, the jeweler. Quickly explaining that the real criminal had been caught, he asked the jeweler how he had escaped. The jeweler proceeded to tell the amazing story.

His wife had gone to the main architect who had designed the prison. She obtained from him the blueprints of the cell doors and tile locks. She then had a design woven into the prayer rug Each day as he prayed, his head would touch the rug. Slowly, he began to see that there was a design, within a design, within another design, and that it was the design of the lock of his cell door. From the bits of leftover metal and his simple tools, he fashioned a key and escaped! (W. J. Bausch, Storytelling, p.204-205)

These images, like new lenses or new glasses are relative, but they all indicate a profound change in the person who opens himself or herself to the new reality, the breaking-in of the Kingdom of God, allowing it to determine the direction of his or her life once we experience a crisis. One’s whole attitude towards any crises and his conversion for the Kingdom of God will be different depending on whether the Kingdom is seen first as something beautiful that calls for our full attention, or whether it is first of all a call to repentance, to leave old ways of doing and living The continual awareness that Kingdom and conversion belong together is important. The preaching of the Kingdom: to total love for God expressed in the love of neighbors, is always connected with the call to turn towards it, to let its power into our lives. Since the Kingdom of God has become a reality that constantly breaks into this world and radiates into our life, encompassing all creation, the call for conversion will always accompany any crises. Conversion is, therefore, not something that happens once and for all, but a demand that asks for a continuous response. We can indeed say that whenever Jesus preaches the Kingdom, conversion which we have to decide because we have the freedom, is always an essential element of his message and he allows crises to happen to see always the essence of things.

Even sin, the greatest of all crises, must be judged in the light of the coming Kingdom of God. Sin means that we refuse to let the power of the Kingdom determine the direction of our lives. The Kingdom offered by our Lord wants to free us from the constant temptation to be our own masters and to determine the course of the world according to our own way of thinking. Only when God becomes the Lord of our whole life and the Lord of the whole universe will the fullness of the Kingdom be accomplished and we will learn to cope all crises.

The Co-essentiality Between the Institutional and Charismatic Dimension of the Church

Introduction

On the vigil of Pentecost Sunday, of the Year of the Holy Spirit in the immediate preparation for the Great Jubilee Year, lay movements were the protagonists of an extraordinary meeting with the Holy Father in St Peter’s Square. Exactly one year later, Pope John Paul II, recalling that moment, emphasized once again that the ecclesial movements and new communities “constitute a true gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church at the close of the millennium and one of the new signs which emerged from Vatican Council II.” The Pope added: “The Pentecost ‘98 meeting has produced invaluable fruits. It has given rise to a great number of initiatives aimed at nurturing a sense of communion within the movements and ecclesial communities, and at increasing collaboration among them, with the local Church and with the parishes.” The Holy Father invited everyone to thank the Lord “for this promising springtime in the Church, so rich in hope” and he said he was sure that the programmed meeting for June would contribute “towards its further development”^[1]

It was here that he also announced the Pontifical Council for the Laity’s initiative to organize a Congress focusing on the topic, ‘Ecclesial Movements and New Communities and the Bishops’ Pastoral Care.’ The Pope believed that it is precisely from this collaboration between the new entities and the Church’s hierarchy that the Christians’ “missionary impulse” in “a secularized world,” largely depends; it is based on “a radical experience of faith in Christ, an experience which is expressed in prayer, unity and proclamation” of the Good News.”^[2]

This calls to mind Encyclical Letter by Pope John Paul II Tertio Millennio Adveniente, wherein he already forwarded some ideas regarding what the Holy Spirit is working in this century: The Church cannot prepare for the new millennium “in any other way than in the Holy Spirit. What was accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit ‘in the fullness of time’ can only through the Spirit’s power now emerge from the memory of the Church.” (Encyclical Letter by Pope John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantem, 51)^[3]

The Spirit, in fact, makes present in the Church of every time and place the unique Revelation brought by Christ to humanity, making it alive and active in the soul of each individual: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).

To prepare therefore the Great Jubilee Year he wrote in the same encyclical that: “The primary tasks of the preparation . . . thus include a renewed appreciation of the presence and activity of the Spirit, who acts within the Church both in the Sacraments . . . and in the variety of charisms, roles and ministries which he inspires for the good of the Church.”^[4]

At the end of this millennium, we cannot deny the presence of the movements in the Church. It is said that the new ecclesial movements and communities, are not anymore a phenomenon but a reality. It is as if the Church discovers a new treasure and she is still in awe what would be the value of it.

It is also said that the second of this century is not anymore the winter but the springtime of the Church. Thanks to these new manifestations of the Holy Spirit through the ecclesial movements and new communities.

Co-essentiality of the Institutional and Charismatic Dimension

There is a need therefore for a theological locus to situate these movements. What theological schemes should we build for them? Pastorally parish priests could face problems and difficulties in as much as these movements have new features and sometimes do not fit to their pastoral programs.

One could think of the binomials and polarity between the institutional church and the charismatic church; between Christology and pneumatology; between hierarchy and charisms; between the particular and universal church; between the apostles in the church and the prophets in the church, etc. The formulation however purports a certain tension, even if it is healthy, between the two, which sometimes are considered polarizing dimensions in the church.

John Paul II, instead, on the occasion of Pentecost 98, underlined that the institutional and charismatic dimensions “are co‑essential to the divine constitution of the Church founded by Jesus, because they contribute together to rending present the mystery of Christ and his salvific work in the world.”^[5] They contribute, although differently, to the life, renewal and sanctification of God’s People.

Its significance and implications

The Pope refers, in his address, to the ecclesiological vision outlined by the Second Vatican Council. He said: “With the Second Vatican Council, the Comforter recently gave the Church, which according to the Fathers is the place “where the Spirit flourishes” (CCC n. 749), a renewed Pentecost, instilling a new and unforeseen dynamism.”

“Whenever the spirit intervenes, he leaves people astonished. He brings about events of amazing newness; he radically changes persons and history. This was the unforgettable experience of the Second Vatican Council during which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the church rediscovered the charismatic dimension of one of her constitutive elements:

In fact, the dogmatic constitution of the Church, Lumen gentium, teaches in n. 4 that the Holy Spirit guides the Church . . . “and gives her a unity of fellowship and service. He furnishes and directs her with various gifts, both hierarchical and charismatic,” and n. 12 further specifies: “It is not only through the sacraments and Church ministries that the same Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the People of God and enriches it with virtues. Allotting his gifts ‘to everyone according as he will’ (1 Cor. 12:11). He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks or offices advantageous for the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the words of the Apostle: ‘The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit’ (1 Cor. 12:7).”

From its origins and then unceasingly throughout the centuries, the Church has always experienced that she is generated and built up, at the same time and in providential synergy, by what the Council calls “hierarchical gifts”, constituting the institutional dimension of the Church, and by what the Council defines as the “charismatic gifts”, constituting its charismatic dimension. Both dimensions are in answer to the promise that the risen Lord made to the apostles before ascending to heaven, as the guarantee of the effectiveness of their mission in the world: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19‑20).^[6]

Therefore it is the same Holy Spirit which is the origin and dispenser of both hierarchical gifts and charismatic gifts. “There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries distributes his different gift for the welfare of the Church” (cf. 1 Cor 12:1-11).

Among these gifts stands out the grace given to the Apostles. To their authority, the Spirit himself subjected even those who were endowed with charisms (cf. 1 Cor 14). Giving the body unity through himself and through his power and through the internal cohesion of its members, this same Spirit produces and urges love among the believers.” (LG, n. 7)^[7]

The institutional aspect of the church, which ultimately is concretized in and by Holy Orders, ultimately also come from the Holy Spirit. In fact, those who are normally ordained to the sacred orders, first of all experienced a call from the Holy Spirit and the church founded through the Pentecost, only affirms and confirms it. Now, if Sacred orders, the hierarchical gifts, come from the same Holy spirit, the same source of charismatic gifts and expresses itself in history through ecclesial movements, pastorally, the ordained minister would immediately find a unifying instinc if not a nostalgia towards them, finding in them the imprint of the same Holy Spirit that he received sacramentally in ordination. In the same way, members of new ecclesial movements and communities have to be instinctively one with their pastors because the hierarchy is also coming from the Holy Spirit.

Both, the hierarchy and the movements are the tangible expression of the gift, par excellence, which the risen Jesus pours over the Church so that she may continue his same mission: the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hierarchical and charismatic gifts are gifts of the Holy Spirit‑Gift.

Through the first, the Holy Spirit objectively guarantees the presence of Jesus who gives himself to the Church, through the Word and Sacraments, generating and nourishing her as his spouse, other himself (cf. Eph. 5:25). We can cite the Eucharist as only one example of Jesus’ self-giving to the Church in all its objective reality, which is also its culminating point.^[8]

Through the charismatic gifts, on the other hand, the same Spirit opens the subjectivity of believers – that is, their minds and hearts, their entire existence – so that they become capable of receiving, of penetrating and of bringing to full effectiveness of life and holiness the objective gift of Christ which they receive from the Word of God and the Sacraments, announced and celebrated by the ordained ministers. They are normally given to a single person, but in such a way that they can “be shared by others in such ways as to continue in time a precious and effective heritage serving as a source of a particular spiritual affinity among persons,” to the advantage of the entire Church^[9]

The objective charism and the subjective charism are therefore co‑essential in identity and in the mission of the Church. They express and realize the spousal rapport that subsists between Christ and the Church. Christ continues to give himself in the Spirit to the Church his Bride through the Word and the Sacraments. And the Church, Bride of Christ, formed by the charismatic gifts she receives from the same Holy Spirit, gathers, generates and increases within herself the Christ given to her through the Word and Sacraments, by living the new commandment of mutual love and by loving all brothers and sisters.^[10]

If there is a difference in the way in which the objective charism and the subjective charism are given by the same Holy Spirit to the Church, it consists in the fact that, in the first case, this gift is objectively guaranteed by Christ’s faithfulness to the Church (for example, Jesus in the Eucharist becomes present independently of the subjective holiness of the minister). Whereas in the second case, the Holy Spirit is received and accepted only when whoever is called to receive the subjective charism and to live it, conforms his or her life to Jesus the one mediator for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church. The objective and subjective charisms, therefore, are essentially in relationship with one another.^[11] One cannot be without the other.

Authenticity of Ecclesial Movements

Another question hangs over us. How would we determine the authenticity of these movements, especially those are yet on the process of being approved by the church?

First, let us recall the Document Christifideles Laici, 30 which says: “it is always from the perspective of the Church’s communion and mission, and not in opposition to the freedom to associate, that one understands the necessity of having clear and definite criteria for discerning and recognizing such lay groups, also called “Criteria of Ecclesiality”.

The following basic criteria might be helpful in evaluating an association of the lay faithful in the Church:

— The primary given to the call of every Christian to holiness, as it is manifested “in the fruits of grace which the spirit produces in the faithful” and in a growth towards the fullness of Christian life and the perfection of charity.

– The responsibility of professing the Catholic faith, embracing and proclaiming the truth about Christ, the Church and humanity, in obedience to the Church’s Magisterium, as the Church interprets it. For this reason every association of the lay faithful must be a forum where the faith is proclaimed as well as taught in its total content.

— The witness to a strong and authentic communion in filial relationship to the Pope, in total adherence to the belief that he is the perpetual and visible center of unity of the universal Church, and with the local bishop “the visible principle and foundation of unity” in the particular church, and in “mutual esteem for all forms of the church apostolate”.

The communion with Pope and bishop must be expressed in loyal readiness to embrace the doctrinal teachings and pastoral initiatives of both Pope and Bishop. Moreover, church communion demands both an acknowledgement of a legitimate plurality of forms in t he associations of the lay faithful in the Church and at the same time, willingness to cooperate in working together.

- Conformity to and participation in the Church’s apostolic goals, i.e., “evangelization and sanctification of humanity and the Christian formation of the people’s conscience, so as to enable them to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into the various communities and spheres of life.”

- A commitment to a presence in human society, which in light of the Church’s social doctrine, places it at the service of the total dignity of the person.^[12]

Perhaps the basic criteria of the authenticity of any movement is from the definition of the same by Cardinal Joseph Razinger: “Movements are born from a charismatic leader or personality or personality; they form concrete communities which by force of their origin, re-live the Gospel in its entirety, and without hesitation they recognize the church their reason of life without which they could not continue to exist. The essential criterion then is the rooting itself in the faith of the church. Whoever does not share the apostolic faith cannot lay claim to apostolic activity.”^[13]

The grace of discernment

The members of the hierarchy, sacramentally configured to Christ, are called to be signs and instruments of him – they act, in fact, in persona Christi Capitis Ecclesiae (Cf. PO 2; LG 10) – so that he may give himself to the Church his Bride. As pastors of the Church, they also have the grace and duty to receive with gratitude, to discern the authenticity of the charismatic gifts and to regulate their orderly use in accordance with their specific sphere of competence: that of the universal Church for the Pope, and that of the particular Church for the Bishops united in collegial communion with him (cf. LG 12).

Furthermore, inasmuch as they themselves are members of the Church, Bride of Christ, the ordained ministers are called to be open and to welcome the gift of Christ. Consequently, the charismatic gifts can help them to live their lives as Christians and also to exercise their ministry more fully in conformity to the heart and mind of Christ.

In their turn, “true charisms – these are the words of the Pope ‑ cannot but aim at the encounter with Christ in the sacraments” and to live a “trusting obedience to the Bishops, the successors of the Apostles, in communion with the Successor of Peter,” according to the words of Jesus: “Who hears you hears me” (Lk.10:16).

In the homily of the Holy Father, n. 8 The Council wrote in clear words: “Those who have charge over the church should judge the genuiness and proper use of these gifts, through their office not indeed to extinguish, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good (LG n. 12).

In his message to the participants of the said recent Seminar for Bishops on the ecclesial movements and new communities, last June 16-19 1999, John Paul II stressed the need for lay people in the missionary role of the Church.

The essential point for the Bishops, according to the Pope, is “to know how to elicit a lively missionary impulse from the laity is indispensable for the Church as she prepares to cross the threshold of the third millennium.”

In reference to the pastors, John Paul II wrote, “Dear brothers in the Episcopate! From you, whose task is to discern the authenticity of the charisms, and to decide on their just exercise in the context of the Church, I ask for paternal magnanimity and charity and a broad vision as regards these realities, because every work of man requires time and patience for its adequate and indispensable purification.”

“I am convinced, venerable brothers,” continued the Holy Father, “that your careful and cordial disposition, making possible opportune meetings for prayer, reflection and friendship, will in turn make your authority not only more pleasing but more exacting, your pointers more efficacious and incisive, and the ministry conferred on you to evaluate the charism in order of ‘common usefulness’ more fruitful. Your first task, in fact, is to open the eyes of your heart and mind to recognize the multiple ways the Spirit is present in the Church, to reflect on these and to lead them to unity in truth and charity.”

Pastorally, this also re-echoes what the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines decreed: “priests should welcome, encourage, and support these renewed communities, whenever they could be led into the mainstream of parish and diocesan pastoral priorities and programs. When properly guided they draw attention to the continuing presence, power, and activity of the Spirit in the Church and in the world.”^[14]

Conclusion

I will conclude with the words of appeal of the Pope to the Cardinals and Bishops present in the seminar in Rome last June 16-19, 1999: “In the course of my meetings with the ecclesial movements and new communities, I have repeatedly stressed the intimate connection between their experience and the reality of the local Churches and the universal Church, of which they are a fruit and, at the same time, a missionary expression. Last year, at the world congress of ecclesial movements, I publicly stated ‘their disposition to put their energies at the service of the See of Peter and of the local Churches.’ In fact, one of the most important fruits generated by the movements is, precisely, knowing how to free a lively missionary impulse in so many lay faithful, men and women, adults and children, something indispensable for the Church as she prepares to cross the threshold of the third millennium.”

“However, this objective is reached only when ‘they integrate themselves with humility in the life of the local Churches and are cordially welcomed by the bishops and priests in the existing diocesan and parish structures,’” he continued. “What does this mean in concrete terms for the apostolate and pastoral action? How do we receive this special gift which the Spirit is offering to the Church at this moment in time? How do we receive it in its full extension, in its fullness, in all its dynamism?”

John Paul II encouraged the Bishops in their mission as pastors of the Church. “To respond adequately to these questions is part of your responsibility as pastors. Your great responsibility is to not allow the gift of the Spirit to be in vain but, on the contrary, to make it even more fruitful in the service of the entire Christian people.”^[15]

---

^[1]Regina Coeli, 23 May 1999.

^[2]ibid.

^[3]John Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 44.

^[4]Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 45.

^[5]John Paul II, Address to half a million members of ecclesial movements from around the world gathered in St. Peter’s Square, May 30, 1999. “L’Osservatore Romano”, n. 22, 3 June 1998.

^[6]Piero Coda, The Charisms and Co-Essentiality. Talk given to the participants of “Speyer 1999 Meeting: Towards Communion among Lay Movements and new Ecclesial Realities”, June 7-8 1999, Speyer, Germany.

^[7]ibid.

^[8]cfr. Pierro Coda, loc. cit.

^[9]Christifideles Laici, 24.

^[10]ibid.

^[11]ibid.

^[12]“The fundamental criteria mentioned at this time find their verification in the actual fruits that various group forms show in their organizational life and the works they perform, such as the renewed appreciation for prayer, contemplation, liturgical and sacramental life, the reawakening of vocations to Christian marriage, the ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life; a readiness to participate in programs and Church activities at the local, national and international levels; a commitment to catechesis and a capacity for teaching and forming Christians; a desire to be present as Christians in various settings of social life and the creation and awakening of charitable, cultural and spiritual works the spirit of detachment and evangelical poverty leading to a greater generosity in charity towards all; conversion tot he Christian life or the return to the Church communion of those baptized members who have fallen away from the faith.” Christifideles Laici, 30.

^[13]cfr. Talk of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger given during the World Congress of Ecclesial Movements, Domus Pacis, Rome, May 27, 1998 (unofficial translation).

^[14]PCP II, 612.

^[15]John Paul II, Message to Bishops and Ecclesial Movements, Seminar on “Ecclesial Movements and the New Communities in the Pastoral Care of Bishops” Rome, June 16-19, 1999.

Who are the Laity?

The term ‘laity’ is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church. That is, the faithful who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.”[1]

They are all Christ’s faithful, since they are incorporated into Christ through baptism and constitutes the Peopls of God.[2] The Second Vatican Council, however, opened itself to a positive vision and asserts “the full belonging of the lay faithful to the Church and to is mystery. At the same time it insisted on the unique character of their vocation.”[3]

However, they, . . . “ought to have an ever clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church”[4]

Incorporation into Christ through faith and Baptism is the source of being a Christian in the mystery of the Church. This mystery constitutes the Christian’s most basic “features” and serves as the basis for all the vocations and dynanism of the Christian life of the lay faithful (cf. Jn 3:5). In Christ who died and rose from the dead, the baptized become a “new creation” (Gal 6:15; 2 Cor 5:17), washed clean from sin and brought to life through grace.

Therefore, only through accepting the richness in mystery that God gives to the Christian in Baptism is it possible to come to a basic description of the lay faithful.[5]

What is the Nature Church to understand better who are the Laity?

Vatican II was known to be the council of the Church. It is necessary to have a right understanding of the Church in order to understand who are the laity. To answer the question where does the Church comes, what is the Church and where is she going, the Church is presented in the Lumen Gentium, as it came from the Trinity, and journeys towards a Trinitarian fulfillment of history.[6]

Before Vatican II, there was an accentuation of hierarchical and pyramidal aspect of the Church. Yves Congar says regarding this matter, “the Church was presented . . . as an organized society, constituted by the exercise of those powers invested in the Pope, the bishops, the priests.”[7] After Vatican II the Church was presented as as mystery of communion of the Trinity

The Trinitarian origin of the Church is presented by describing the economy of salvation: the finality of the most free and hidden, i.e., the gratuitous and ineffable plan of the Father is the elevation of mankind to the participation of the divine life in communion with the Trinity: “the eternal Father, with a most free and hidden plan of wisdom and goodness, created the universe and decreed to raise mankind to the participation of the divine life.” (LG, 2).

. . . After original sin the Father still wishes to be in full communion with man. . .

The unity of mankind with God and of men and women among themselves fulfilled in the reconciling action of the Incarnate Word, is actuallized historicaly in the Church and will be fulfilled in glory: “He planned to assemble in the Holy Church all those who would believe in Christ. Already from the beginning of the world the foreshadowing of the Church took place. She was prepared for in a remarkable way throughout the history of the people of Israel and by means of the old covenant. Established in the final era, the Church was made manifest by the outpouring of the Spirit. At the end of the times she will achieve her glorious fulfillment. Then as maybe read in the Holy Father, all just men from the time of Adam from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect will be gathered together with the Father in the universal Church.” (LG, 2). This affirms that the Church in its visible and historical form is the sacrament that is the sign and chosen instrument, of the divine plan of the unity which stretches from the creation to the parousia. In other words the Church is the historical participation in the Trinitarian unity, the actualization began under the veil of the signs of salvation which springs from the divine initiative, the mystery of the sacrament “of the intimate union with God and the unity of the whole human race.” (LG,1).

The church is the sign and sacrament of this trinitarian unity. She is structed inher communion according to the image and likeness of the Trinitarian communion. (LG, This self definition of the Church maintains its distance both from uniformity and from all divisive discord. (cf. LG chaptes II – IV).

The plan of God is that “the whole human race might become one People of God , from one body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit.”This intention of the Creator will only be realize”when all who possess human nature, and have been generated in Christ through the Holy Spirit, gazing together on the glory of God, will be able to say ‘Our Father’.[8]

The Common Priesthood and the Ministerial Priesthood

The principal sign of the Church as presented in the documents is that it is a sacrament of unity. We can understand better the laity in relation first to the Church as this communion especially its special link with the hierarchy. They are related to with one another in a reciprocal ordering of one priesthood to another. LG says: “Through they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless ordered to each other. Each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.”[9] This specificity of the priesthood of the ordained ministry cannot be defined as a greater intensity (essense in scholasticism would mean all ways of existence, and this exaggerates the difference and cannot be accepted in the light of Vatican II which clearly sees each priesthood ordained to each other) or a lesser intensity since the ordained priesthood is seen within the total context of the wider ministeriality of the Church. But rather, on the basis of the participation of all the baptized in Christ’s priesthood, which is the foundation of the unity prior to any distinction.

The ministry of the ministerial priesthood does not exhaust the ministry ofthe Church, rather the ordained ministry – of bishop, presbyter or deacon – because it acts in persona Christi capitis[10] i.e., in so far as it is a ministry of communion and unity, refers and relates to all the other members of the body to the varied charisms and services. The ordained ministry is a ministry of synthesis but it is not a synthesis of all ministry.[11]

What is the MISSION of the Laity?

This plan of God for the church “points to the missionary character of the community of disciples. The Church is a communion in a state of mission. It is so from our very nature as a Church having “its origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”[12]

The apostolate is all activity directed to the goal for which the Church was founded: to spread the kingdom of Christ to the glory of God, enabling all men to share in redemption, and enter into a relation with Christ. The Christian vocation, by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate (AA, 2).

Our Missionary Vocation in the Philippines

For the Church in the Philippines, in this only country in Asia with a predominantly Catholic population, should be a missionary Church. Pope John Paul 11 spoke with special clarity when he said to the Philippine Bishops, “ There is no doubt about it: Philippines has a special missionary vocation to proclaim the Good News, to carry the light of Christ to the nations. “ While it is true that the Church has a mission towards Philippine society, it has also a very definite mission to the other peoples of Asia (PCP II, 106)

God is launching the Filipinos into a new age of mission. We need to be open, daring and thankful.(PCPII, 107)

A growing awareness of the missionary potential of Filipino migrant workers abroad has also dawned upon us. (For economic reason, wave after wave of Filipinos have sought work in other countries. There they witness through their religiosity and piety whenever this is possible for them. Many are the stories of the positive effects of their faith witness on others). Pope John Paul II told Filipino overseas workers in 1987. “Indeed in Europe you are called to be the new and youthful witness of that very faith which your country received from Europe many generations ago.”[13] This witnessing must be strengthened through various ways such as an appropriate catechesis before they go forth to other appropriate catechesis before they go forth to to her lands. We also need to provide pastoral and social care for them and their families. In that way their spiritual and material welfare is served, their rights protected and their faith strengthened (PCP II, 108).

And here on our own land is a vast field of mission related to he Filipino-Chinese apostolate. Less that 20% of the Chinese in the Philippines have had some effective evangelization. The progress made in evangelizing through the educational and pastoral work of the Filipino-Chinese apostolate is a great encouragement. We need to intensify this. But we must look beyond our shores and take note of the missionary opportunities posed by the contacts that our Filipino-Chinese brothers and sisters have with East Asian Chinese communities, including the People’s Republic of China whose openness to religion remains fluid. We need to provide encouragement, support, and personnel to this important mission (PCP II, 109).

Inter-Religious Dialogue

Mention of the Chinese communities which usually have syncretistic beliefs consisting of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist elements brings up the necessity of inter-religious dialogue in thee task of evangelization.

We recognize the fact that Muslims make up a a significant portion of Filipinos, though constituting less than 5% of our country’s population. They are, however of special importance for at least two reasons: (1) our history as a Christian people has pitied us against them in a long series of religious conflicts, and lowland Filipino still suffer today from its psychological and cultural effects. And (2) we are part of the Asian region and Asia contains the bulk of the world’s Islamic countries. We need, therefore, to take a close look at inter-religious dialogue as an imperative of mission.

Far from being opposed to evangelization, “Inter-religious dialogue is a part of the Church’s evangelizing mission.”[14] On our part, this dialogue must be premised on the fact that: (1) salvation in Jesus Christ is offered to all; (2) God makes Himself present in many ways . . . to entire peoples through their spiritual riches”; (3) “the Church is the ordinary means of salvation” and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation.[15]

Given these basic religious convictions, we have to appreciate inter-religious dialogue as a way of seeing in our brothers and sisters of other faiths “a ray of the truth which enlightens all men.”[16] This task demands two movements on our part, the first towards a deeper knowledge and appreciation of our faith, and the second towards openness in understanding the religious conviction of others. “Dialogue is based on hope and love and will bear fruit in the Spirit.”[17]

Theological and Spiritual Prerequisites for the Mission of the Laity

The success of the lay apostolate depends on the laity’s living union with Christ: nourished by spiritual aids, especially active participation in the liturgy but not separating union with Christ from their ordinary conditions of life. Neither family concerns nor other secular affairs should be irrelevant to their spiritual life. Only by the light of faith and meditation on the word of God: can one always and everywhere recognize God, seek his will in every event, see Christ in everyone, relative or stranger ,and make correct judgments about temporal things. In the pilgrimage of this life those with faith live in hope: hidden with Christ, free from enslavement to wealth, dedicated to the impovement of the temporal order in a Christian Spirit. Impelled by Charity: they do good to all men, express the spirit of the beatitudes in their lives, neither depressed by the lack of the temporal goods, nor inflated by their abundance, in humility seeking to please God rather than men, ready to leave all things for Christ’s sake, and suffer persecution for justice sake.

The spiritual life of the laity should take its particular character: from their married, family, single or widowed state, their health, and their professional and social activity. They should develop their qualities and talents and use the gifts received from the Holy Spirit. The laity who are members of associations or institutes should adopt the special spiritual life proper to them as well. They should value: professional skill, family and civic spirit, and the virtues of honesty, justice, sincerity, kindness and courage. The perfect example of lay spiritual and apostolic life is the most Blessed Virgin Mary.[18]

Mission to Communion

Communion with Jesus in the Church “which gives rise to the communion of Christians among themselves is an indispensable condition for bearing fruit: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). And communion with others is the most magnificent fruit that the branches can give: in fact, it is the gift of Christ and His Spirit.

“Communion and mission are profoundly connected with each other,they interpenetrate and mutually imply each other, to the point that communion represents both the source and the fruit of mission: communion gives rise to mission and mission is accomplished in communion.[19]

The mission of the Church flows from her own nature. Christ has willed it to be so: that of “sign and instrument… on unity of all the human race.” (LG 1). Such a mission has the purposed of making everyone know and live the “new” communion that the Son of God made man introduced into the history of the world. . . . In this context of Church mission, . . . the Lord entrusts a great part of the responsibility to the lay faithful, in communion with all other members of the People of God.[20]

Precise Vision of the primordial bond between particular and Universal Church

“The particular church does not come about from a kind of fragmentation of the universal Church, nor does the universal church come about by a simple amalgamation of particular Churches. But there is a real, essential and constant bond uniting each of them and this is why the universal Church exists and is manifested in the particular Churches. (For this reason) the Council says that the particular Churches “are constituted after the model of the universal Church; it is in and from these particular churches that there come into being the one and unique Catholic Church (LG, 23).

The same Council strongly encourages the lay faithful actively to live out their belonging to the particular Church, while at the same time assuming an ever-increasing “catholic” spirit: “Let the lay faithful constantly foster” – we read in the Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People – “a feeling for their own diocese, of which the parish is a kind of cell, and be always ready at their bishop’s invitation to participate in diocesan projects. Indeed if the needs of the cities and rural areas are to be met, lay men should not limit their cooperation to the parochial or diocesan boundaries but strive to extend it to the inter-parochial, inter-diocesan, national and international fields.(AA, 10)

The Laity and the Temporal Affairs

By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will… It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.[21]

The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the matters involves discovering or invent in the means for permeating social, political and economics realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church.[22]

The diversity of ministry in the Church Christ gave the apostles and their successors the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling. But the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic and royal office of Christ They exercise a genuine apostolate by their activity in behalf of bringing the gospel and holiness to men, and on behalf of penetrating and perfecting the temporal sphere of things through the spirit of the gospel.

The laity are the leaven in the world.The right and duty of the laity to the apostolic derives: from their union with Christ, and their baptism and confirmation. They are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord himself. The sacrament nourished that charity which is the soul of the apostolate. One engages in the apostolate: through faith, hope and charity, which the Holy Spirit diffuses in the hearts of all members of the Church.The responsibility of working to make the message of salvation known and accepted is laid on all Christians.[23]