Human Person as a Dignified Human Person as a Dignified BeingBeing

Someone said…

We are three persons:

• The person I THINK I AM,

• The person YOU THINK I AM,

• The person I REALLY AM.

Who are we really?

Genesis 1:26, 27

• “God said, ‘let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves…”

• “God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.”

A. Human Being: The Image of God

What does it mean to be an image of God?

To be an image of God means…

• the climax of God’s creative activity…

• We are God’s images!

• An “IMAGO DEI”

To be an image of God is…

• To affirm the sacredness of the human person’s dignity even before any human accomplishment.

To be an image of God is…

• Called to live out our imagehood.• We first receive love and in return

we love in imitation of the love we have been given.

Thus…

• To be an image of God is a summon to live out the fullness of our gifts by moving out of ourselves and entering the world of others in good relationships.

Thus… WE ARE CALLED…

• to be a co-creator, sharing in God’s royal activity of life-giving, justice-doing, and peace-making.

B. Body-soul unity

Embodied spirits

We are embodied spirits

•Each person is composed of body - soul.

•The Lord God formed man out of clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so

man became a living being. (Gen. 2:7)

Both are essential components of beingINTEGRATED HUMAN PERSONS

BODY• Clay of the ground• We relate with

others through our bodies

• Material• Limited

SOUL• Breath of life• Spiritual powers

(reason, intellect, will)

• Spiritual• Transcendent

Human body

• Is not a simple accessory but rather as something integral in our becoming person.

– We need our bodies , and our being when we relate with others.

We have human needs

• Our need for material things is obvious

• Material things have subtle affect on our health and behaviour

• These needs could be transcended as values.

Thus…

• If our relation to things is ordered rightly, we recognize that our values comes not from our possessions but from our being a creature of God.

C. Human: Relational being

Remember ME Guys?

• To be a human person is essentially and necessarily to be directed to others.

• No man is an island!

My personal existence consist of ME and the

OTHER in relationship.•Capacity to receive love,•Capacity to reciprocate love in order to maintain a

meaningful relationship

• Time is measured by the hour.

• Weight is measured by the pound.

• LIFE is measured through our RELATIONSHIPS.

THUS…As relational being

• Our moral choicesmoral choices and actions must be affirming the value of the community and must promote a life-giving and life-sustaining co-existence.

D. Historical being

• Being human means being historical

• Take advantage of each opportunity of the present in the overall journey to full human development.

• able to integrate the past with the present in order to move well into the future with a sense of integrity and sense of direction.

THUS…as historical being our…

• Moral acts are seen in their total context which includes the future effects or consequences.

E. Equal yet uniquely original

EQUAL

• All are created in the image and likeness of God

• All are endowed with the same rational soul and possess the same nature and origin.

UNIQUE

• Different from one another

• Original

• Different ways of responding to issues

• Respond to issues according to our capacity and subjective conditioning.

As unique yet equal beings

• We are morally called to respect each other, to continue seeking that which will make life more human rather than harboring our disagreements to the detriment of the society.

Summing up…

What does it mean to be a Dignified Human Person?

Made in the image and likeness of God

Intelligent Free

Being of Moral worth Has inviolable rights

And recognizedTo be

respected

Unity of body and soul the subject

of one’s own moral acts

Always an end, never as means

What kind of Anthropology?

Human Person

Human Being

Must have developed exercisable cognitive capacities or abilities

Not all human beings are persons

Has of itself NO moral significance

Difference ?

All human beings are persons!

There should be no

distinction between a

human being and a human

person.

Never to be considered as a means or

object of use.

Just treatment is due to all human beings by virtue of their humanity.

•“IT IS A LAW OF HUMAN LIFE, AS CERTAIN AS GRAVITY TO LIVE FULLY, WE MUST LEARN TO USE THINGS AND LOVE PEOPLE… NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.”

DALAI LAMA

If we want to be authentic,

To be our true selves,

We need to place ourselves before God who knows us fully well.