lesson V a call to community

2. “Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are different ministries, but the same
Lord. And there are different results, but the same
God who produces all of them in everyone.”
1 Corinthians 12:4:
What is St. Paul telling us in the verse?

3. 1 Corinthians 12: 7-8: “To each person, the manifestation
of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. For one person it
is given a message of full wisdom, while the another
person the same Spirit gives a message full of
knowledge….gives faith to one person while the another
person he gives the power to heal…the power to work for
miracles… the gift of speaking God’s message…”
What are these gifts intended for? Are these different
gifts only for your own benefit? Why or Why not?

4. How can I make use of these gifts for creating a
community?
The basic standard is pursuit of the common good;
characterized by the defense and promotion of justice;
inspired and guided by the Spirit of service; imbued with
the love of preference for the poor and that empowering
people be carried out both as a process and as a goal
towards a better community.
Catholics must try to infuse into the political order the
overall value of solidarity, which urges “the active and
responsible participation of all in public life.(CFC#1163)

5. Christian Filipinos today face a major
responsibility in working to build a just society.
We are called to bear witness to the human and
Gospel values that are intimately involved in the
economic, social and political areas of activity.
Why my attachment in the community is
indispensable?

6. The fact that human beings are social by nature
indicates that the betterment of the person and the
improvement of society depend on each
other.…humanity by its very nature stands
completely in need of life in society.
Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World

7. The very nature of human beings is that they are
communal creatures. They live and grow in
community. The dignity of the person makes
sense only in the context of the person's
relationships to others in the community. Human
dignity can only be realized and protected in the
context of relationships with the wider society.
How we organize society -- economically,
politically, legally -- directly affects human
dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow
in community.

8. Everyone has an obligation to contribute to the good
of the whole society, to the common good. For, if we
are serious about our commitment to the dignity of
the human person, we must be serious about
humanizing the social systems in which the person
lives.
To be a Christian means to acknowledge that all
persons are called to be adopted son/daughters of
the Father in Christ Jesus. Thus filial love of God
our Father calls for loving service of our fellowmen
(CFC 275)

9. The nation is witnessing a loss of commitment to
the social order, a declining willingness to sacrifice
one's immediate selfish interests for the good of
the wider society.
In our culture and our time, individualism is a
dominant and sometimes rampant cultural
force. Contemporary society is characterized
by a radical separation of private life and
social life.

10. SIN like pride, selfishness, greed and hatred come to
infect habitual patterns of human interaction. This produces
“sinful social structures” which can harden into institution.
(PCP II)
Terrible effects of sinful social structure are seen in the
uncared for
Malnourished street children
The misery of the jobless and homeless
The crimes , graft and corruption
Continued widespread violation of basic human rights

11. We are often diverted from doing good and
spurred toward evil by the social circumstances in
which we live….Disturbances at a deeper level
flow from human pride and selfishness, which
contaminate even the social sphere. When the
structure of affairs is damaged by the
consequences of sin, we, already born with a bent
toward evil, find there new inducements to sin,
which cannot be overcome without strenuous
efforts and the assistance of grace (GS 25)

12. In the face of this rampant individualism, Catholic social
teaching insists that we are all radically social. It promotes
a vision in which community plays a central role. As the
Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians:
“The body is one and has many members, but all the
members, many though they are, are one body; and
so it is with Christ. It is in one Spirit that all of us,
whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, were baptized
into one body.... If one member suffers, all the
members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all
the members share its joy. You, then, are the body of
Christ. Every one of you is a member of it.”
(I Cor 12:12-27)