1

Introduction
Our present society is a society in crisis. As a people, we
are facing different social problems, obstacles and threats.
Anywhere we go, even inside the comforts of our own homes, as
we read a newspaper, listen to the radio or watch television, we
can see different faces of this crisis: protest rallies, cases of
poverty, injustice, war, pollution, soaring prices of basic
commodities, transportation and fuel, maltreatment and abuses,
and graft and corruption, among others. However, these
problems and threats may also be viewed as opportunities for
growth and a phase in the process of transition towards
transformation.

Arroyo cites
Economic Gains

If we intend to turn these obstacles into opportunities,

we need to reflect on the kind of community that we want for
our children. Below is a list of characteristics that we envision
for the individual members of our community and the
community as a whole:
1. Alive and life-giving. It is not enough that one can do

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his daily chores and live a “normal” life. One cannot be

simply “living.” Every person has to be alive, and to be
alive is not equal to having bodily functions. It means
being “aware” of what is happening around us. An
aware person not only knows what is happening around
him. He also knows the reason why they happen and if
possible, how they happen. An alive person is life-
giving. He reaches out to others and becomes the source
of their “awareness” and life. For instance, a rich family
is alive if they are “aware” of what is happening to the
poor families in their community and they can
empathize with them. But they are can become life-
giving if they do something to alleviate their poverty and
lessen their suffering.
2. Free and freeing. We dream of a community whose free
members are not only free individuals but are
themselves instruments so that others will also become
free. Some people are free yet not freeing. For instance,
those who commit the crime of apartheid, which is
committed by those who consider themselves free but
who look down at people of other races as second class
citizens who should not possess the same rights that they
have, is an example of free yet not freeing people. This is
not the kind of free community that we envision.
3. Responsive and responsible. A responsive person
responds to the call of the signs of the times. He is not
only aware of the problems around him but he tries to be
a part of the solution to those problems. In every
moment in our life, we have a “calling” or an invitation.
A student, for example, inside the room has the “calling”
to listen, study and participate in the discussions. The
student’s response to this calling could either be a
responsible or an irresponsible one. In the macro level,
the society has a particular calling or demand from each
of its members and from God to which it should make a
responsible response.
4. Loving and lovable. It is our dream that Filipinos
become more serious in their effort to love their
neighbors as a way of following the commandment of
Christ. But not only that. We should also make

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ourselves lovable, i.e. to make it easier for other people

to accept us and love us.
5. Caring and community minded. Caring for one another
and for the whole community is a very important aspect
of the Church’s vision of a whole community of faith.
This is needed in our communities particularly because
of the Filipino mentality of “close family ties” which
causes the tendency to limit our attention to our family
members only. This is sometimes called the sakop-
orientedness of the Filipinos. We often care only for those
who belong to our sakop, or territory or those under our
power and control.

We also envision a community that:

1. speaks and listens;
2. discerns and decides together in implementing its
decisions;
3. prays and celebrates their joys and sorrows together; and
4. honestly looks at what they had done and failed to do.

It is a community where:
1. wealth is used for sharing,
2. power is exercised for service and
3. values create solidarity.

The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (1991)

summarizes this vision of a people as makatao, makabayan, and
maka-Diyos. To these three, we may add another characteristic
which is maka-kalikasan.

Therefore, what kind of a Filipino nation should we be?

PCP II (253-255) gives the following vision:

That All May Have Life

We shall have to create a free nation

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where human dignity and solidarity

are respected and promoted;
where moral principles prevail in socio-economic
life structures;
where justice, love, and solidarity are the inner
driving forces of development.

We shall have to build a sovereign nation:

Where every tribe and faith are respected;
Where diverse tongues and traditions work
Together for the good of all;
Where membership is a call
To participation and involvement
And leadership summons to generous service.

Ours will have to be a people:

in harmony with one another
through unity in diversity
in harmony with creation,
and in harmony with God.
Ours shall be a civilization of life and love.

This is
our dream.
But this dream will not be realized overnight. Obviously, we
need to go through a process of social transformation - a lifelong
process. Decades of Church social action apostolate and social
work by different organizations have helped improve our social

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condition but still a great deal has to be done.

The PCP II offers us suggestions on how to effectively
respond to the demand for social transformation. It teaches that:

The most basic and effective response . . . come

[sic] only from the very depths of our being as
disciples of the Lord, in our attentiveness to the
Holy Spirit whose movements are also to be
discerned in the events and situations of our day,
in our following of Jesus, in our fidelity to his
Gospel of Justice and Love and thus, in our
spirituality (PCP II, 262).

The PCP II suggests a way of life, a spirituality which

may be labeled as "spirituality of social transformation" as the
means towards attaining the kind of community that we
envision.

The Spirituality of Social Transformation

Spirituality may be understood as the inspiration within a

person to live a particular way of life based on his beliefs or
religious conviction. It may also refer to a person's religious or
ethical values that serve as the foundation for his actions and
decisions. Christian spirituality, on the other hand is defined by
the CBCP as the "call to all the members of the Christian
community to live and think, to make judgments and always
discern in relation to God, in the light of the Gospel, and the
teaching of the Church." In other words, it is an expression of
our fidelity to Jesus' Gospel of Justice and Love. It demands a
"radical living of what we preach, a witnessing to the radical
demands of the Gospel" (PCP II, 282). PCP II (275-282) further
describes Christian spirituality as a following of "Jesus-in-
mission" or journeying in the Spirit of Jesus. This kind of
spirituality as it is being lived out by the Filipinos may be
labeled as Filipino Christian spirituality.

Social transformation, on the other hand, may be described

as the effort to bring harmony or kaayusan (PCPII) in our society.

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It is a process that seeks to heal and liberate the society from its
social problems and injustices and transform it into a more
humane society.

Hence, Christian
spirituality of social
transformation is a
life-long task of
responding to the
challenge of Jesus'
Gospel of Justice and
Love by committing
oneself to the mission
of adjusting the social
order to the "radical
demands" of the
Christian faith.

PCP II (278-282)
enumerates the
following major
elements of the spirituality of
social transformation:
1. Enduring and intimate commitment to Jesus
Commitment to Jesus entails following his example of
commitment to love not only those who love us but even our
enemies. An important characteristic of this love is its
preference for the poor and marginalized and the recognition of
Jesus' presence among them.

2. Seeking of the Kingdom of God

Spirituality of social transformation is characterized by
continuous effort to make justice present and eliminate the
different forms of oppression that hinder the realization of the
Kingdom of God in the society.

3. Sharing the Good News joy

Jesus' Gospel is good news of hope that brings contentment
and joy to those who believe. It gives us the assurance that in
the end, goodness will prevail over evil. It gives us the joy in

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the realization that Jesus, the "God-with-us" remains with us in

the midst of sadness and joy, laughter and tears, victories and
defeats.

4. Heeding God's Word

To live the spirituality of social transformation is to discern
and follow the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures, in the
teaching of the Church and in the experience of the faithful
gathered together as a Church.

Christian spirituality of social transformation (SST) may

also be called "Christian discipleship". Living out our Christian
faith in our society should necessarily entail a social dimension
that will eventually transform the society into a just and humane
society. The Gospel has a social dimension. It is impossible to
be a real disciple of Christ while being at the same time
unmindful of the injustices and oppressions happening in the
society or worse while being the cause of injustices and
oppressions. Externally, spirituality of social transformation is
manifested in two ways:

1. Social Service
Social service is
commonly understood
as helping someone in
need. It is an action
rooted in charity and
compassion with the
intention of alleviating
the misfortune and
suffering of another
person. The corporal
works of mercy
comprises the list of
actions for social service though it is not limited to it. Thus,
social service is a response to the effects of a social problem.

2. Social Action
Social action includes efforts to correct the social

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structures and help solve the problems that perpetuate the need
for social service. Some call it social justice, action for justice or
Christian social praxis. It begins with an analysis of and
reflection on the human experience through the lens of the
Gospel and proceeds to finding and providing general
suggestions to solve the different social problems. Unlike social
service that responds to the effects of the problem, social action
responds to the cause of the social problem.

Spirituality of Social Transformation and Christian Mission

The spirituality of social transformation is an essential

part of the mission of the Church, i.e. of all of us who form the
Church. Our mission is first of all a continuation of the mission
of Christ. But what is the mission of Christ? The passages
below would give us a better picture of Jesus’ mission.

Mk. 1:15 – He said, this is the time of

fulfillment; the kingdom of God is at hand.
Change your ways and believe the Good News.

Mk. 2: 5, 11-12 – When Jesus saw the faith

of these people, he said to the paralytic, "My son,
your sins are forgiven . . . Rise, take up your mat
and go home." The man rose and, in the sight of
all these people, he took up his mat and went out.
All of them were astonished and praised God
saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Lk 4:16-21 – When Jesus came to Nazareth

where he had been brought up, he entered the
synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did. He
stood up to read and they handed him the book
of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus then unrolled the
scroll and found the place where it is written:
‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has
anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to
proclaim liberty to captives and to give new sight

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to the blind; to free the oppressed and announce

the Lord’s year of mercy.’ Jesus then rolled up
the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down,
while the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed
on him. Then he said to them, ‘Today these
prophetic words come true even as you listen.

Mt. 5:23-24 – So, if you are about to offer

your gift at the altar and you remember that your
brother has something against you, leave your
gift there in front of the altar, go at once and
make peace with your brother, and then come
back and offer your gift to God.

We have been taught that Christ became a human person

and he dwelt among us in order to fulfill His mission to save us.
But how did he do that? How did he save us? The
contemporary and the most common answer is: Jesus saved us
by dying on the cross. Is this a correct answer? Yes. But then
again, it is only half correct. Although we may read in 1 John
4:10 that: “And this is love, not that we love God but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins”, to
believe that Jesus Christ
To believe that Jesus Christ
became human just to “die
became human just to “die for
for our sins” is missing the
our sins” is missing the whole
whole point of incarnation. point of incarnation.
In the life of Jesus, we can see that he was totally
involved in the life-situations of the people around him. He
cured the sick, he fed the hungry and he forgave the sinners. He
laughed with them and cried with them. Evidently, Jesus did
not come only for spiritual reason or only for the salvation of the
souls. He did not say to the sick: “I have come only for the
salvation of your soul. Pray so that when you die, your soul will
go to heaven.” Nor did he say to the hungry people: “Pray,
when you die, you’ll go to heaven.” Instead he cured and fed
them. The whole life and works of Jesus, therefore, is a concrete
expression of his mission. His mission is a mission for liberation
and his ministry is a liberating ministry. He liberates people from
any form of evil and oppression.

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He came to save us, that is perfectly correct. But to say

that “saving us” meant only dying on the cross is incomplete. In
between his birth and his death, Jesus lived a life evident of his
promised salvation.

Christ’s mission of bringing salvation to us does not,

therefore, entail only his dying on the cross but also proclaiming
that the Kingdom or Reign of God is here and to bring good
news to the poor, the beggars, the slum dwellers; to proclaim
release to captives and to victims of injustices; to bring health to
the blind, deaf, dumb, sick;
liberty to the oppressed and
announcing the jubilee year of
the Lord (which is understood
as restoration of land,
cancellation of debts and
release of slaves-cf. Lev. 25).
This was the mission of Christ
– the salvation he brought to
us.

But still, some people

tend to believe that Jesus’
mission was purely religious
and that he did not involve
himself in economic, political
and socio-cultural matters. For
better clarity, let us look into
the Scripture and see how
Jesus criticized the religious people of his time (cf. Gonzales &
Gutierrez, 1994 p. 3).
a) Jesus criticized cultic worship, divorced from love of
God and neighbor (Mt. 5:23-24).
b) Jesus criticized a legalistic understanding of the
relationship between God and man (Mk. 2:27; Mt.
21:13).
c) Jesus criticized the religious elite of his time – the
pharisees, doctors of the law, and priests who used
religion for their own selfish reasons. The strongest

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words of Jesus were certainly directed to them (Mt.

23:23).

It is clear therefore, that Jesus’ mission is very much

relevant and related to the economic, political, social, and
cultural realities.

What then is the mission of the Church today?

The Church considers her mission as a continuation of the

liberating mission of Christ. The document “Justice in the World”
published by the Synod of Bishops in 1971 teaches that the
Church has received from Christ her mission which entails the
right and duty to proclaim justice on the local, national and
international level, and to denounce instances of injustice when
the fundamental rights of a person and his very salvation
demands it (JW 18). The
Church, therefore, has a With her social teaching the
specific mission to the Church seeks to proclaim the
society – a social mission. Gospel and make it present in
This mission is a constitutive the complex network of social
dimension of the Church and relations (CSDC, 62).
an expression of the
Church’s religious mission. Specifically, this mission gives the
Church the duty and authority to teach and interpret the
message of the Gospel to the present context and thereby guide
and assist all people in the pursuit of their total kaginhawahan or
salvation (many Filipino theologians prefer to use the term
kaginhawahan from kaligtasan in translating salvation to Filipino).
Obviously, this calls for an examination of the constantly
evolving or changing problems that confront modern human
beings both as individuals and as social groups.

Gaudium et Spes speaks of this mission and says that out

of the religious mission of the Church comes a function, a light
and an energy which can serve to structure the human
community according to the Divine Law (G.S.,42). Only by
remaining loyal to this mission can we say that we have
continued the work begun by Christ. We cannot remain neutral
or remain deaf to the cry of those who are victims of oppressions

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and injustices. As Christians we should follow the example of

Christ and stand for what is true and just. We cannot be
neutral. We need to make a choice. The expression of our
faith should always be preferential, never neutral. And this
faith can only be expressed and must be expressed through
our social, economic, political, and cultural involvement here
and now.
Jesus Christ

Three-fold Mission of Jesus

Kingly Priestly Prophetic

(Service) (Prayer/Worship) (Proclamation)
Towards Towards a Towards peace
founded on truth, built
integral deeper according to justice,
human relationship integrated by charity,
development with God practiced in freedom

Social transformation is a
constitutive dimension
Mission of Every Christian
of preaching the Gospel.
(Priestly, Kingly, Prophetic)
Social
transformation is the social mission of every Christian. It is a
constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel. It can be
described as the Church’s mission to help make justice and love
present in our society for the redemption of the total person,
that is, all the aspects of human life, be it socio-political,
economic, cultural or spiritual, from all forms of oppression.
Just like the mission of Jesus, the Church's social mission is
three-fold: Kingly, Priestly, and Prophetic. This gives her not
only the duty to guide the people towards a deeper spiritual life
but also the duty to make peace and development present here
and now. Peace here is to be understood as not simply an
absence of war but as the presence and reign of truth, justice,
charity, and freedom. Development, on the other hand, is
integral human development, i.e. encompassing all the strata of

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the human existence, be it social, economic, political, cultural,

and environmental.

III The Four Steps in the Cycle of Christian Social Praxis

The Church, in her effort to live out the spirituality of

social transformation, follows the four-step cycle of Christian
social praxis (some call it social action; pastoral action; or action
for justice). It is a four-step method that follows the see-judge-act
tradition and develops into a spiral movement – a cycle that
repeats the whole process and yet at the same time develops
from the previous one and moves forward.

1. Experience
Experience is the
first step or moment in the 44 11
Action
Action Experience
Experience
cycle of Christian social
praxis. Here, we ask the
questions: “Whose
Prayer
experience is being
considered?”; What is the
experience all about?”;
“What do the people 33 22
Theological
Theological Social
Social
feel?” ; “How do they Reflection
Reflection Analysis
Analysis
respond?”
This step is the
foundation of all Christian
social praxis and it calls into consciousness the experiences of
individuals and communities.

2. Social Analysis
After being conscious of the experience, the next step is
to analyze and examine the causes, probe consequences,
delineate linkages and identify actors. It is like looking at the
situation from afar and asking the question: “What’s behind all
this?”

3. Theological reflection

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The third step is the theological reflection. At this

moment, the questions we ask ourselves are: “What is the role
of my faith regarding this issue?” and “What does my faith tell
me to do?”

The analyzed experience is seen in the light of the living

faith, scripture, Church social teaching and tradition. It is not
simply a reflection on what one must do but rather the element
of Christian faith is added,: “As a Christian, what must I do?";
"What does the Bible say about the problem?”; “Can I identify
some statements of the Church made by a pope, a council or a
group of bishops that can be applied to this problem?”

4. Action
This step is the actual living out of one’s mission to God
and to the society. After analyzing the experience and reflecting
on it in the light of faith, the individual or the community makes
a plan of action.

Here, we ask the questions: “What can we as a group or

as individuals do about this problem?” “What resources do we
have to help us with our plan of action?” “What is the first step
we should take?”

This last step is the goal of the social teaching of the

Church, i.e. to lead us Christians to a life of involvement for
justice, love, unity, peace, and integrity of creation.

This action will bring about new experiences which in

turn need to be analyzed and reflected upon in the light of faith
and will consequently lead to another action and new
experiences. Thus, the cycle continues.

But it should not be forgotten that throughout the four

steps, prayer is an important element. A Christian should not
forget his prayer life. That is why all the steps should revolve
around prayer.

The Need for Conversion

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Finally, the task of the Church is to lead the people to

conversion (metanoia/change of heart). Change of heart is
indispensable in any genuine and lasting social transformation.
Just like the Apostles, each of us is being called by Jesus to a
change of heart. We can see an example of this change of heart
in the call of the disciples and the conversion of Simon Peter in
Lk. 5:1-11 which involves three important elements: realization
of one's sinfulness, a new and deeper understanding, and a
radical response.

1. Realization of one's sinfulness. The new experience

of Peter in Luke 5:1-11 led him to a realization of his own
sinfulness. Christians of today should realize their own
sinfulness and unworthiness before the Lord. Christians have to
realize that sinfulness is the root cause of our social problems.

2. A new and deeper understanding. This involves

seeing the world in a new way which includes:
a. a more holistic and deeper understanding of the
problem of poverty and social injustice,
b. the recognition of the reality and evil effects of
social sin that causes much of the pain in the
world.

3. A radical response. It means a radical change in

lifestyle, vocation or way of life. This calls for two responses:
a. personal response – an introspection on one’s
attitudes, lifestyle, status, etc. and changing one’s
values and priorities;
b. political response – becoming an agent of social
transformation.

The PCP II reminds us also that this conversion and

social transformation is not just one moment of definitive
change. It is a lifelong task, striving from the less perfect to the
ever more perfect, from death to life, from life to ever fuller life
(PCP II, 275).

This is the mission of the Church today. This is our mission.

Thus, we may join the bishops in saying:

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Scrutinizing the ‘signs of the times’ and seeking the

meaning of emerging history, while sharing the
aspirations and questionings of all those who want to
build a more human world, we have listened to the
Word of God that we might be converted to the
fulfilling of the divine plan for the salvation of the
world (Introdution to Justice in the World).

Summary

1. The Church envisions a community that is makatao,

makabayan, makakalikasan and makaDiyos.
2. Spirituality of social transformation is a way of life that
responds to the challenges of the Gospel by committing
oneself to the mission of adjusting the social order to
the radical demands of the Christian Faith. It may also
be called Christian discipleship.
3. The mission of the Church today is a continuation of
the mission of Jesus Christ thus every Christian is being
called to imitate His liberating ministry.
4. Social transformation is a part of the mission of the

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Church. It is a constitutive dimension of the preaching

of the Gospel.
5. In fulfilling her mission to the society, the Church
makes use of a four-step cycle of Christian social praxis
based on the see-judge-act tradition. The four steps are:
experience, social analysis, theological reflection
reflection and planning or action.

Responding to the Call of Justice and Love