L'idée de «monde» est en train d'être repensée. Il faut repartir de l'idée d'In carnation. Le Christ est la nature humaine pleinement ouverte à Dieu. La spiritualité de notre temps est de réincarner le Christ dans le monde. La difficulté est celle d’être capables de liberté et dans cette liberté, de choisir, d'aimer, d'être « un homme pour les autres». Lorsque cela se produit, l'homme apparaît comme un Dieu. Cela suppose mort, mais aussi résurrection.

Il faut libérer l'homme et tout enseignement est libération de l'ignorance. Dieu a créé l'homme pour en faire son co-équipier et restructurer constamment le chaos. De ce point de vue il y a une mission religieuse à enseigner les matières « profanes » et un danger à abandonner cet enseignement.

Le religieux fait des vœux pour annoncer aux hommes que argent, plaisir et liberté ne sont pas la solution définitive. Ces vœux ne gardent leur sens que dans la perspective de la triple fonction de l'Eglise: prédication, service et vie commune fraternelle.

L'incarnation du Christ passe maintenant par nous, et nous ne devons pas être coupés des centres d'intérêt des jeunes d'aujourd'hui. Pour aider vraiment les plus démunis, la meilleure voie est l'éducation, mais dans son sens le plus ouvert.

Et en particulier cela pose le problème du « comment faire l'éducation religieuse»

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La idea de « mundo » necesita ser repensada. Para ello, hay que partir de la idea de Encarnación. Cristo es la naturaleza humana abierta en plenitud t DUu

La espiritualidad de nuestro tiempo debe reencarnar a Cristo en el mundo. La dificultad está en la capacidad del uso de la libertad y en ella, la ele* i Idtl tono} que nos lleve a ser «un hombre para los demás». Entonces el hombre ¡orno imagen de Dios. Esto exige la muerte de sí mismo, pero tal muerta lleve implícita la resurrección.

Hay que liberar al hombre y la enseñanza es liberación de la ignorancia.

Dios ha creado al hombre para hacerle un colaborador en la reestructuración del caos. A este respecto hay, incluso en le enseñanza «profana », une misión religiosa que sería peligroso abandonar.

El religioso formula sus votos para testimoniar ante los hombres que la riqueza, el placer, y la libertad no constituyen la solución definitiva. Estos votos ido tienen sentido ante la triple función de la Iglesia: predicación, servicio y vida i Omán.

Nosotros somos transmisores de la Encarnación de Cristo y no podemos desentendernos de los centros de interés de nuestros jóvenes de hoy. Para ayuda) eficazmente a los más necesitados, el mejor camino es la educación, pero tomada en tu mas amplio sentido.

Planteamos aquí el problema de « cómo impartir la educación religiosa ».

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What is the meaning of "The world"?

 

In order to understand the religious implications of our teaching it is necessary to take a preliminary look at the kind of " spirituality " that energizes it. Until very recently this had been a spirituality thoroughly grounded in the monastic tradition which preserved an ancient and tidily neat dualism. In brief, there existed two worlds: the world of the flesh, that conglomerate of places and things that pandered to man's lower tendencies, and the world of the spirit, the interior castle that was built up in solitude and contemplation. The world of the flesh was that composite of material concerns and business transactions which occupied every waking hour of those individuals engulfed by its pursuits. Sometimes it was necessary to enter into this world in order to deal in its commodities but such commerce always entailed subtle danger. The author of the Imitation of Christ described the uncertain feeling of spiritual erosion that resulted from contacts with the world when he said: " Every-time I go back among men, I return less a man myself." Men steeped in the values of " this world " constituted a continual threat to the spiritual lives of men in the monasteries and so, the " world " spoken of by Christ was equated with the place outside the walls. The trouble with this mentality as Edward Schillebeeekx observed was that men risked " disregarding the truly Christian value of building the world and promoting the advancement of peoples." It was an attitude dangerously close to abdication from the everyday affairs of men. Moreover, it gave rise to the isolation of religion from the workaday world; and at the same time alienated many from the institutional Church which seemed only passingly concerned with the here and now.

But before pursuing this thought further let us make a brief excursion into the meaning of that elusive and highly ambiguous term " the world." Modern philology tells us there are no longer two worlds. There are at least thirteen. In point of fact, there are thirteen ways of defining the concept, the world. Small wonder that we have puzzled over the famous conundrum that admonishes us to be " in the world but not of the world."

The world that is our enemy is, of course, not a place. It is an attitude present in the minds and hearts of people. It is a complex of values that puts the " self " of man at the dead center of the universe. Self seeks its salvation, its liberation, in every conceivable area of human activity, in objects, in places, in thrills, even in thought — but never in Christ. This, according to Paul Tillich characterizes the idolatry of modern man. We may not wish to be paid-up members of this world but the fact remains that we are card-carrying affiliates; and yet, there is no hard and fast line of demarcation that separates us from the world considered in its demonic sense. We slip into it and out of it as we fall prey to its idolatries and subsequently return to our Christian senses.

However, set at opposition to this demonic world is the kingdom of God. It is the kingdom in which men look for their liberation in Christ. It is the kingdom that proclaims that there is no set of circumstances, no combination of people no new political structure whether communism, democracy, the United Nations or even the religious life that brings salvation apart from the more basic and prior affiliation that is brotherhood in Christ. That is the meaning of the words: " My kingdom is not of this world." We as witnesses of the Kingdom have a crucial message to men who have set their ultimate hope on the idolatries ol the world of non-Christian values. We have no choice but to go among them for that is precisely the call of the apostle. Apostleship means showing men the liberation we have found in professing Jesus Christ. This is bearing witness and bearing witness is meaningless unless we are in the company of men who have been deprived of this revelation.

This approach bespeaks a genuine optimism and places greater confidence in the Christian and in the Holy Spirit who works in man to help him bear witness. It believes that an encounter with " secular man " can profit "secular man" and not effect a corresponding diminution of the virtue of "religious man." Pope John led the way by extending hospitality to Alexi Adzhubei, Khrushchev’s son-in-law. The opposite attitude of withdrawal in fact betrays the somewhat Pelagian disposition of doing it all by oneself, of saving oneself by an unswerving fidelity to some purifying regimen.

 

Reincarnating Christ in the world

Incarnational theology views the Christian as a full-fledged participant in the affairs of men working to make this earth a better place In which to live. God himself established the pattern when He attested to the value of man and of life on this earth by sending His Son who " emptied himself taking the nature of a slave" and becoming man, Christ is perfect man. He is human nature fully opened to the action of God. As such, He is the goal of human existence. He is the marriage of God with His creation. Karl Rahner speaks of the Incarnation as God making most radically His own that which he created. But God can repossess His creation, the family of man, only when that family opens itself to permit this indwelling of God. The spirituality of our age is one which participates in the activities of life in order to reincarnate Christ in the world. We strive to open ourselves to the activity of God, to be as Christ, so that the Holy Spirit may work among men through us.

In a sense then, everything that is authentic development in man is religious growth. As his thought matures, as his tastes become cultivated, he develops toward perfect humanity. But the crucial test for the truly human person lies in his ability to become fully autonomous, his ability to act with freedom and in this freedom to choose love. When this occurs man appears as the image of God who operates with consummate freedom and expresses Himself in love. That is the central fact of Christianity that is the meaning of Christ. Christ is the totally free God placing His freedom at the service of love. Christ said He came " to serve, not to be served." Dietrich Bonhoeffer's famous phrase calls Him " the man for others."

The message of Christ is that the triumph of human existence is to set oneself completely aside for another. In a sense, this is a kind of death. Christ physically dies for others and His words echo in our ears " No greater love than this does man have if he give up his life for another." But the paradox of it all is that the death turns out to be the gateway to life. Christianity does not preach a death without a resurrection. " Unless the grain of seed die it does not bring forth fruit." The man who dies for others learns the meaning of life and lives.

The Religious teacher and the secular subjects

From this point of view the implications for our teaching are clear. The most noble thing a man can do with his life is to put it at the service of others in imitation of Christ. Further, one of the most exalted forms of service is to help others to that liberation which is responsible freedom; it means to help others grow into fully autonomous human beings. But the autonomy is not an end in itself; it must be placed at the service of love. We serve our students best when we give them countless opportunities for self-development, for learning to live autonomously. School newspapers, yearbooks, student councils and sodalities work far more efficiently when they are teacher-dominated but ultimately this heavy-handedness fails to serve the students' best interests; it fails to help them emerge, to assume responsibility. The same is true with religious activities. Paradoxical as it seems, we fail to educate our students when we do not permit them the liberty to worship God freely. When we " conduct " them to Mass or other religious activities we deprive them of the opportunity of making a free response to God. God solicits the unransomed response that signifies love and to compel it is to prevent if from reaching maturity. Religious activities should be readily available to the students and they should be invited to attend, but they should be seldom, if ever, required to do so.

What is the role of so-called secular subjects in our Christian vocation of service to others? Are they simply means of drawing students into our sphere of influence so that we can teach them religion? They certainly are not. Courses in geometry, history, chemistry and English constitute the very fabric of our dedicated lives. Teaching is not only and merely an occasion for selfless sacrifice. The teacher is not simply the dispenser of intellectual commodities, cousin to the supermarket checker who also serves others. Removing the barriers of ignorance has a value in itself. God made this earth to receive the impress of man and thus to achieve its perfection.

Some think of creation as a once-for-all occurrence in which God puffed the world into existence, fully constituted, a virginal paradise for man to live in and not defile. In this view every band of highway through the scenic countryside is a livid scar, every new city a fester marring nature's beauty, every trip to outer space a wasteful and illconsidered escapade.

But God has created this world to find its full perfection through the impress of human creativity. The views of Fr. William Lynch are not sufficiently known but he sees God and man working in a free partnership. Harvey Cox in The Secular City observes that this is biblical teaching. He points out that in Genesis God creates the living things and man names them, giving them identity, and assuming stewardship over them. Therefore when man levels the God-given hills and fills the valleys with bulldozed earth, God is pleased. When man rearranges the order of molecules devising new compounds to make life more agreeable, God is pleased. Creation is an ongoing process in which the primordial chaos is constantly being re-structured, and man must take part in it.

Every improvement in man's understanding of science or of history or of English is a contribution to the work of creation. God would rather see us devise effective fertilizer than sit back and pray for good crops; he would rather see us control the clouds than pray for rain. Teachers who help students grow in appreciation of the world in which they live, who help them to new levels of understanding, lead their charges toward a contribution in creation. The physics our students learn today will serve as the base upon which will be built the aerodynamics of tomorrow which in turn will bring about more efficient travel for man. It is the attitude toward God and toward persons that is the all important ingredient in the teaching of " secular " subjects. This is the integrating factor that makes our work religious. The man who ladles out his educational broth with condescension, or who uses the students as mere repositories of his own undisputed learning defiles the educational process. On the other hand, the man who has inspired class upon class with respect for the smallest segment of creation, who has taught his students to inquire and discriminate, he is the man who has served God well. An educator's piety consists in a reverence for his subject and an enthusiasm that inspires interest. The awareness on the part of the teacher that his is a partnership with God in bringing creation to perfection is in itself a religious disposition.

It would be calamitous for the Marist Brothers to withdraw from teaching " secular " subjects. It would be a subtle admission that we are no longer interested in the whole person, in the whole of life. To expect all our confrères to center their interests and abilities in the teaching of religion is to undervalue their capacities and to compartmentalize learning. We may—and indeed, we do—need more and better teachers of religion but not at the expense of sacrificing our existing educational commitments.

 

The religious person's decision is for the service of others

The theology of creation that has been presented is suited to the lives of all teachers both laymen and religious. Let us now focus on the religious to see how he fares in the context of the foregoing ideas. The following question has been asked with increasing frequency lately: How do the Brothers differ from their fellow workers, the dedicated laymen, who teach in the schools? The answer lies not so much in what they do, for both teach in similar circumstances, but in the form of life that each has embraced.

We have said that the most crucial test of a man focuses upon his ability to use his freedom. It is his ability to choose. When he acts responsibly, when he chooses what is right, he is most uniquely human and a friend of God. Thus, the religious makes a decisive choice; he chooses to place himself at the service of others as a condition of life and at whatever cost. He chooses to live in a fraternal organization that symbolizes this condition. Simply by being a member he has set himself on the side of service before all men.

 

Union under authority is strength in the apostolate

The religious has become convinced of two things. First, that by acting corporately with other men he can be a more effective Christian force than if he were acting singly as a layman. Secondly, that he has banded together with other religious men so that his charity may be projected toward a more limited few.

Let us take the first instance, the religious as a more effective force when working within the framework of a community. The community can plan, coordinate and execute an apostolic activity assigning men of special competence where needed on a scale and with an efficiency that an isolated group of dedicated men could not normally rival. A religious community has economy, mobility and permanence. Superiors who receive the authority to mobilize this group must be aware of the tremendous ability for marshalling a force for good that lies within their power. Obedience for superiors is a curious phenomenon. It consists first in the realization of the magnitude of a man's surrender of his precious right to self-determination. Secondly, it consists in utilizing wisely the manpower pool that lies at the superior's disposal in a manner that will effect the most good among men and open every door to possible achievement for the religious entrusted to his charge. It consists in striking the delicate balance between permitting maximum freedom for the individual to pursue his apostolic energies and in judging whether an individual's free exercise of responsibility will interfere with the total forward motion of a given community's Christian work.

Studying the second conviction of religious we realize that they have banded together to develop their capacities to the maximum in order to place these at the service of others. The bond that seals their union is fraternal, the charity that characterizes their everyday work is fraternal. However, the most pronounced form of the layman's charity is conjugal. It consists in a deep and absorbing love of wife and children. The layman centers his love on the family that has received his commitment; and while this commitment by no means rules out fraternal charity, it does create a priority. Wife and children come first. Nevertheless, the layman must still cope with the challenge of Christ: " If you love those that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do that? (Matt. 5:46).

Religious vow to accept this challenge. They choose to live out the revelation that brotherhood in Christ is a deeper and more fundamental bond than the family relationship. They choose to respond to Christ's question " Who is my mother; who are my brethren? " by saying in their lives " He who does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me." It is a sign of the establishment of the kingdom, the only form of interpersonal relationship that is guaranteed perpetuity; for in heaven there will be " no marrying or giving in marriage " but all will be related to God through Christ.

 

The Religious movement and the realities of life

In short, religious say to men who seek their salvation in money, in pleasure, or in liberty " these things hold a limited salvation; they are not the final solution; they do not constitute full redemption." Lay people who use these things in their proper perspective say the same thing—but in a different way. Religious are demonstrators whose lives say to those that know them: Salvation ultimately resides in the family of God, in the brotherhood of Christ. That is why a religious community that does not witness to the full charity that is a brotherhood in Christ is a scandal. It asserts " this is the answer " but proves conclusively that it is not. The vows, then, are not good because they are hard. They are good because they say something to modern man. They are still good when they are easy, but they are no good when they say nothing.

The early Church looked upon itself as having three functions: kerugma or proclamation of the good news, diakonia or service to one's fellow man and koinonia or fellowship in community. It appears that the Marist Brothers as well as many other communities of religious fulfil the last two of these functions admirably. They serve their fellow man willingly and at times with an heroic patience. When they return to their rooms in the evening it is often with the exhaustion of a full day of self-giving. They also display the koinoniac function of the Church, witnessing to parents and students that a life in fraternal charity, no matter what its difficulties, can produce a community of men who live together in Christian peace.

But what needs to be tackled at this moment in history is the Church's proclamation of the good news of salvation. This must be proclaimed not in the terminology of theological propositions nor in the stilted phraseology of textbooks but in the concrete language of everyday life. Put more specifically, teaching Christianity today means telling students where poverty lies, where inequity lies, where injustice lies, where prejudice lies, and it means inviting them to work toward their alleviation. It means showing them what the issues are and to use the metaphor of the day " where the action is."

If there appears to be precious little concern for religion among our students is it because our presentation is too bookish, too divorced from life? The world they live in is the world of draft-card burning, of war in Vietnam, of sex selling, of movie selection, of birth control discussion, of segregation demonstrations. These are the stories that boil off every TV set at night. If our religious classes prudently pass over these issues, they say to the students that we live in another world that the world of religion is narrow, confined to a discussion of Mass and the Sacraments. Religion becomes isolated from everyday life. Yet Christ can only point out the deviations of modern society through people such as us, people who know what is, so to speak, His mind. However devastating the thought, we are the only means available for Christ to re-incarnate Himself here and now. Christianity can only proclaim its message through men steeped in its faith.

 

True Christianity means involvement

This leads us to the social implications of our teaching. There is mounting discussion of Marist activity in more strictly social spheres such as the care of youth in underprivileged areas, work with maladjusted children and a more direct apostolate to the culturally deprived in places such as the inner city. These proposals arise because there are many in our midst who have become convinced that to be a Christian is to become involved. They are correct in this judgment. They are correct when they say that we cannot convince our students to participate in the religious issues of our day if we ourselves only quarterback them from the security of the teacher's desk. There is no doubt that a Brother personally involved in the Civil Rights movement would carry more meaning to his students if he spoke about human rights from the conviction of experience.

But thrust up against this very valid observation is the daily regimen of the high school teacher. His unromantic round of classes and extra-curriculas cannot put him " where the action is." He faces a massive practical problem.

 

Education: an essential factor in social uplift

This leads us to two thoughts. The first is that if we wish to help the culturally deprived in this country and at this point in history, the most strategic way to do it is through education. If we help repair their homes, if we give them food, if we bring them clothes, if we bind up their wounds, we are helping them to a very limited liberation. They remain dependent and unable to reach full autonomy. Education is the decisive resource that will ultimately dislodge them from their ghettos; education will lead them to make a contribution to society. It seems that our corporate Christian concern should be less interested in getting out of education than in getting education to those who need it most. Our training and group competence is in education. If we wish to channel these talents into the most productive areas the answer is not to abandon them. It is to use these talents in determining how we can carry our educational potential into the crisis areas of American life.

This might mean organizing a research arm that can appraise with balance and accuracy where our resources can be most profitably used. It might mean studying carefully whether we should implement our Christian educational objectives in differing structures. We can no longer assess Catholic education simply in terms of Catholic institutions. We might ask whether the conducting of high schools exhausts the possibilities open to us. We might ask whether leadership workshops, guidance and reading centers, student retreats, young adult programs, evening theology schools and public education present valid structures within which we might serve the Church. Perhaps we might, for example, work with an educational agency in choosing to educate children of great potential who are now submerged in slum areas. Getting to where " the action is " means getting our educational contribution to where it is most needed and we can do this with greatest efficiency, not as separate entities, but corporately.

The second thought is that teaching religion consists in communicating a life to be lived, not propounding a set of doctrines. It is making the students aware of God's invitation to share the divine life with them. It is leading them to a commitment to a Person. The question needs to be asked: Can this be done best within the formal classroom framework? Are lessons, examinations and grades the best tools in leading students to the full Christian life? Have we made a mistake by giving religion equal class time in an effort to enhance its status and by so doing admitted that it is just another subject? Could we make better Christians in informal discussion sessions unencumbered by the impedimenta of tests and marks? Careful study must be given to this question.

 

The christian spirit should permeate all tasks

In summary, it seems that the Christian educator today is looking for two virtues: participation and integration. He wants to be part of what matters in the world, he wants to teach, to counsel, to moderate activities and he wants these things to be religious. He seeks an integration that validly consecrates these and all other " secular" tasks. But the integration comes only through the man. There is no Christian physics; there is only the Christian physicist. His work is to teach physics well and to incarnate Christ in the personal relationships involved in teaching physics well. The death to self demanded by Christianity takes the unromantic form of checking laboratory experiments or riding the subway with a track team. Yet these events constitute the very fabric of student life and Christ can only reach these moments of a student's life through us. And we can only reach Him through them. Karl Rahner sums up this view of life well when he says " the maturest form of love of God is had when man can find God in creatures and creatures can be found in Him."