Spirituality and Social Transformation
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Transcript of Spirituality and Social Transformation
Spirituality and Social TransformationJanet K. Ruffing, RSM
Cebu, 2009
Cry, Cry ,Cry for Life
Cry, cry, cry for lifeFor the living, for the deadFor the desert, for the sea
Poisoned fish, birds with broken wingsPoets with no words
Singer without a song.
Cry, cry cry, for lifeFor the little children, fighting in the
streetsPlaying with toys, and guns and
grenadesFor mothers, weeping out of sorrow
Wondering about their children’s fate.
Cry, cry, cry for lifeFor the outcasts in their own land
From day to day, burying hundreds who die
For the refugees, exiled in diasporaOn the willow tree, hanging their harps
and sigh.
Cry, cry for lifeFor the peasants who produce our food
But go to bed with empty stomachsFor workers who keep the wheel turningBut carry heavy burdens on their backs.
Cry, cry for lifeFor the courage, for the hopeFor the forest for the stream
Bodies may die, spirit never diesIn our struggle, we burst in songs
As a new day dawns, we will shout in joy.
EATWOT Third Assembly , 1992
Spirituality of Life
• Sense of being moved by a spiritual energy to hold onto life and live it to the full
• Connectedness to God, to our human roots, to the rest of nature, to one another, to ourselves
• An experience of the Holy Spirit moving us and our communities to be life-giving and life-affirming.
• The Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. (Rom. 8.26)
Spirituality of Life
• A creative response to the cry for life, the cry for God
• Expressed in songs, rituals and symbols that show the energizing Spirit animating the community in response to God
• All existence is spiritual in indigenous spiritualities throughout the third world.
• A life of reciprocal dependence on creation• Inspires an immediate and attainable vision of
a just and peaceful world
Spirituality for Life
• A cry for life, a power to resist death and the agents of death
• The strength to go on with God in the struggle
• A quest for self-discovering, self-affirmation, and self-affirmation so that the whole human community can live fully as human beings.
Spirituality for Life
• Creates and Sustains Community
• Women’s cry for life, inclusion, dignity, equality
• The cry for balance, harmony, mutuality and reciprocity form the womb of life
• The spirit groaning to give birth to a new humanity
Spirituality for Life
• Is a spirituality which mirrors that of Jesus offering a source of justice, righteousness, compassion and solidarity– The Jesus who shares our joys and sorrows– Who undergoes sufferings with us– Who remains faithful to his mission to the cross– Who invites all his disciples to live the beatitudes
which express his particular concern for the little and least (according to society)
– Who taught that he is to be experienced and served in the works of mercy (the last judgment; what you did for the least, you did for me)
Jesus, cont.
– Who learned to include the “stranger” the “other” in his ministry and welcome the (Syrophoenician Woman)
– Who called women (from all social classes) equally into his circle of beloved apostles (Mary Magdalene– apostle to the apostles) and disciples
– Who promised his enlivening Spirit to all in the community as a result of his Resurrection
– Whose Resurrection from the dead affirmed his life, ministry, teaching, and vindicated his execution at the hands of the state.
– Whose Resurrection offers the hope and conviction that death does not ever have the last word
Filipino Context
• Extreme poverty – 85% of the entire has migrated for economic
reasons – Consequent erosion of Filipino values, especially
materialism – Challenges to family life – Vulnerability to exploitation and abuse of those who
migrate, especially women• The long-lasting effects of colonization
– Spaniards • Patterns of religion that maintained oppression• Patterns of social organization that pitted the elite
against the masses
Cont.
• Americans – Military – Economic
• Exploitation of Women and girls in the sex trade
• Widespread corruption in government and business
• Militarization and on-going civil war in the south against Muslim insurgents
Cont.
• The negative effects of globalization• Widespread corruption in government and public life• Ecological Degradation • Popular movements of reform people power I and II
– Learning and practicing strategies of non-violence– Hope for political and social reform (still unrealized)
• Church’s commitment to become a Church of the Poor– Commitment to lay participation– Church sponsored base ecclesial communities
• New appreciation for indigenous peoples• Women’s desires for an end to gender discrimination in
both church and society
Spirituality that Does Justice
Church Teaching“Action on behalf of justice and participation
in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as constitutive dimensions of the preaching of the gospel, or, in other words, of the church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation”
1971 Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World
Faith-filled Citizenship
• Responsibility of citizenship is not to the state but to the civic order and to fellow/ sister citizens (the common good)– Will defend a fellow/sister citizen against injustice at
the hands of the state– Reads “the signs of the times”
• Recognizes greed, manipulation, bullying, cheating, violence
• Witnesses to truth rather than just collaborate• Can criticize one’s own society as well as support
it.
Citizen Mystic
• A fact (I am a citizen by birth)
• A moral imperative (I ought to behave like a good citizen)
• Good Citizenship requires:– Altruism– Self-Transcendence
• Rejection of ego-ism • Overcoming prejudices
Overcoming Prejudices
• Transcend origins: Our very sense of self, at first, unconsciously embodies the prejudices of our own culture.
• Shift the self from center to margin• Spirituality of solidarity
– With fellow citizens (especially not our own class)– With all of humankind
• Mature believers recognize:– Commitment to ethical citizenship– Commitment to practice of the Gospel as well as
piety
Prayer
• Required to support a faith that does justice• Returns to the Gospel over and over again, reflecting
on it “contextually”• Cultivates a personal relationship with Jesus that
sustains the suffering entailed in work for justice• Sustains a grounding in the experience of God’s
presence (however, we pray) that keeps us connected to God’s Spirit acting in us
• Involves communal reflection on the situation and prayer for mutual support
Social Structure of Grace
• Individuals bring a self shaped by relationships and social forces to interpersonal encounters
• We experience God precisely in groups– This experience illuminates signs of the kingdom of God
already present and at work in our communities and world– It also manifests the darkness and sin of our social order and
calls us to social transformation
• We experience God in a privileged way in the poor
How to Do This in a specific Context?
Social Sin and Social Grace
• Experience of God always occurs within history and within a network of social relationships.
• Thus, it will also have social effects that are humanizing and liberating– Structures that promote human dignity– Characterized by justice– Promote individual acts of goodness– Empower spiritual life within and works of mercy for the
community– Marked by the evident gifts of the Spirit
Denis Edwards
Theological Perspective
• What is Social Sin?
• What is Social Grace?
Social Sin
• also takes place within a social history and social relationships
• Its effects are: – oppression, – dehumanization, – violence, – and often under conditions of massive
poverty, premature death
Social Sin
Refers to: 1. Structures that oppress human beings,
violate human dignity, stifle freedom, impose gross inequality
2. Situations that promote and facilitate individual acts of selfishness
3. The complicity or silent acquiescence of persons who do not take responsibility for the evil being done.
Experience of God in the Poor
An experiential insight has emerged with this option for the poor in liberation theologies.
When the privileged (wealthy, education, powerful, etc.) relate to and begin to take the side of the impoverished masses, they often encounter a surprising grace.
The Poor
Tend to receive them in such a way that they recognize their common humanity and God/ Christ is experienced in this exchange, solidarity with, and accompaniment of the poor.
A New Way of Loving Emerges
Experience of God in the Poor:Darkness and Light
DARKNESS• Experience of a guilty conscience• Our helplessness before the power of oppression• Loneliness and failure
LIGHT• Gifts that come with the poor• Experience of solidarity and otherness in struggle for justice• Experience of taking action that makes a difference
Both the experiences of darkness and of light can be Ignatian Consolation leading to greater faith, hope, and love.
What Happens to the Poor in Response To this New Experience of Solidarity and Accompaniment?
• Hope• A witness to their suffering, accompaniment• An opportunity to reflect and tell their story• May experience beginnings of empowerment
to change their own situation• May notice how their situation is connected to
other suffering persons• ???????? What is your experience????