ALFONSO LOUIS F.

HUERTA
4th year Discipleship stage
St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Is a personal religious relationship present in your life?

Answers:
1. Beyond superficiality, I become aware that I am more than people think about me, of
what I looked like, of my stature and my abilities. I became aware that other people are
not the parameters of who I am. There is a Greater being in which I can derive my
personhood and it’s transcendental and that is what we call the Absolute Thou.

2. God is not far or apart from my life and not a farfetched Being. In this relationship it
made me understand that the Absolute Thou is like someone who has a special part in my
life and that is being a friend or a family member. He is always present even if I am
happy or sad. He is always present in my life, the Absolute Thou never was in my life.

3. It helps to realize that even though I feel the world turn its back against me, there is this
friend who will always stay at my side willing to listen to my rants, frustrations and
stresses in life. He is always available whenever I need Him.

4. The demand is I must always thank Him. Not because the Absolute Thou demands it. But
I feel the necessity to pray because of what He’s done in my life. I remember when I got
depressed, I felt the necessity to invest more time in praying because I need Him most
during the darkest days of my life.

5. It draw me to respond faithfully with His call. Though there are a lot of alternatives the
world is offering and too often I entertain some of it and it makes me frustrated. but my
response always draws me to say Yes to his call.

6. It is easy to talk about this personal relationship with God. Because God is not a
farfetched being, God in our daily basis can be our friend, the best of our friends in which
the content of our daily conversation with others.

Inferring to the article, describe impersonal religion. Cite an example or two to support your
description.

Impersonal religion means that one did not acknowledge being with the Absolute Thou.
For example of this is I may be filled with fear in a cemetery. Though fear or the feeling of
vulnerability can fit to John Smith’s description of religious experience but still it did not posses
a personal dimension, a relationship with a Divine Person. In the same way, we might feel
vulnerable “so what now?” Do we meet a Divine person in that experience? If not then it is an
impersonal religion.
ALFONSO LOUIS F. HUERTA
4th year Discipleship stage
St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Is personal religion more common than impersonal religion? Why do you say so?

During these times I can say that impersonal religion is more common. Because of how
majority of us act. Given a certain situation such as attending the needs of those who are more in
need. During the height of the pandemic this situation was too obvious. A lot of people are
concerned to the needs of others because of the upcoming election. Though the act in itself is
religious but still it is impersonal because they’ve done those things without an encounter to the
absolute Thou that must be the source of their motivation and inspiration in helping not the
incoming election.