Theology II: Responding to God’s Call By Becoming Fully Human [1]

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TH121 E RESPONDING TO GOD’S CALL BY BECOMING
FULLY HUMAN

Part III: WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO BE THE PERSONS WE WANT TO BE?

Chapter 8: Where Do We Go From Here: The Virtue of Hope in the Light of

Pagbabalik-loob with Mercy and Justice

Objective: After this lesson, the student is able to detect/identify the new understanding of
ultimate destiny (death, heaven, hell, purgatory and the future creation) in the light of the
Christian vision of full humanity in line with the virtue of hope as pagbabalik-loob with mercy
and justice for all.

Introduction

We now come to the final chapter of the second in the series of the Faith Journey
towards Social Transformation. In the previous chapter, we deal with suffering and how
Jesus transcended from this. We see that our image of God affects much how we react to
suffering which is inevitable in our lives. We see that our God is a God of love and not
simply a God of power.

Are we ready now for our ultimate destiny ?

Let us SEE

Small Group Sharing

1. Using the guide questions below, discuss in a triad your perceptions/views on the
following:
a. Death
b. Heaven
c. Hell
d. Purgatory

2. Guide Questions:
a. Where/How did you get/learn these perceptions/views?
b. Do these views/perceptions change as you grow older? Why? Why not?
c. If you were to put into images your perceptions/views for each concept, how
would they look like? Discuss the meaning of your drawing/images to your
triad.
(The students are asked to draw or depict through art form their
concepts/views about the four last things)
3. The teacher can call some students to share their insights/learnings from the triad
to the class.

DISCERN

DEATH

The question of death is considered an endless query confronting every human being. It,
in fact, disturbs every answer to life’s meaning and it basically interrupts every human struggle
and hope for a beautiful future. Accompanying the issue concerning death is the possibility of
non-existence-the end of life which follows that we will all just become lifeless and burned into
ashes. Inspite of the permanence of death, however, many people still choose not to confront it,
thus making it a taboo. Because the subject of death is repressed or not faced squarely by many,
the reality of death, according to Dermot Lane, has become an object of fear and dread to the
extent that it stops people from living meaningful lives.

Death can be classified specifically as physical and spiritual.

Physical death can be understood both medically and biblically. From the medical
perspective, death is described as the total and permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions. It
happens when a person’s heart has stopped beating and the electrical impulses of the brain have
permanently ceased, thus indicating that the last evidence of aliveness has irreversibly left the
body. There are complications though that exist over this popular notion because technology
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\ today can artificially prolong or maintain life in many different ways. This, however, does not
change the fact that death is the end of life. Death then, from a secular perspective is considered
an intrinsic part of reality. This means that every living matter in this world has to die at some
point in time.

The Hebrew and Greek words for “death” both mean the deprivation or cessation of life.
For the Hebrew, “muth” means to die and this word has occurred more than 800 times in the Old
Testament. For the Greek, moreover, the word that means to die is “apothanein” which occurred
77 times in the New Testament.

Theologically speaking, death is believed to be the time that the person’s body is
separated from his/her soul –soul being the immaterial part of the human being. Ecclesiastes 12:7
relates that “after death, the physical body decays and thus is resolved into its constituent
elements.

Scripture describes death as a return to the elements from which man originally was
made. This is illustrated in Genesis 3:19 when God, in pronouncing a sentence to Adam after his
disobedience, said,” In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground…
for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” This means then that death is not the separation of
the soul from the body but the termination of one’s life which results in the decay of the body.
Since we are created out of perishable elements, our natural state then is mortality.

The Bible, on the other hand, makes a distinction between physical death and spiritual
death. A spiritual death is described as a state of being in which the human soul is separated from
God and has not been enlivened by his Spirit. Death is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis
2:17 stating, “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that
you eat from it, you will surely die.” By the time the first human beings ate the forbidden tree,
they immediately experienced spiritual death and entered into a condition in which physical death
was inevitable

There are a number of passages in the Bible that would relate to this matter. Ephesians
2:2-5 relates that before we were Christians, we were dead in trespasses and sins but God made
us alive together with Christ. Paul explains this further in Ephesians 4:18 by saying that our
spiritually deadened state is because we are being “alienated from the life of God.” In 1 Timothy
5:6, he made the contrast between physical and spiritual life more explicitly by saying that a
person was “dead even while she lives”.

Man’s disobedience causes him/her death. Saint Paul, furthermore, interprets this in
Romans 5:12-21 when he links the Fall of Man to the Gospel. He also asserts that death entered
the world through Adam’s sin. This is clarified further in Romans 6:23 as it declares that “the
wages of sin is death. “Physical death for St. Paul is an alien thing that was introduced into our
experience through the Fall. Physical death therefore is part of the penalty for human sinfulness.
(Martin Charlesworth, 2007)

The New Bible Dictionary summarizes mortality as the result of Adam’s sin…the penalty
therefore includes both spiritual and physical aspects. Death therefore involves the whole of man.
Physical death does not necessarily mean a permanent and ultimate extinction of the person.
Death is rather described in Hebrew 9:27 as a transfer from one state of being to another.
Christians believe we will be resurrected from the dead and will be judged according to how we
live our lives. John 5:28-29 declares that “the hour is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and will come out-- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and
those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Every person will come to life at
the resurrection and will either be assigned to “be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess 4:17) or to be
eternally “separated from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess 1:9), based on whether a person has
a righteous standing with God and is spiritually alive or not. This can be considered their final
state of being, where they will spend eternity. Each person’s condition will be established at the
end of the world when God “will judge the world in righteousness through” Jesus Christ (Acts
17:31) and “will repay according to each one's deeds” (Rom 2:6). (Cf. Matt 25:31; Rev 20:11)

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The Christian’s Attitude toward Death

For a person, however, who has no hope and expectation of spending eternity with the
loving Creator of the universe, death is something that is to be feared. Not only is there the end of
life, but there is also the fear of not knowing what really lies ahead. But we as Christians believe
that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also will we be raised. This enables us to be free
from the inner turmoil and the bondage caused by “the fear of death” (Heb 2:14-15). We also
don’t need to be distressed or grieve over our beloved fellow Christians who have died because
we have the hope that one-day we will be resurrected and reunited with them forever in the
Lord’s presence (1 Thess 4:13-17).

Saint Paul’s second letter to Timothy 2:8 declares that we also have the anticipation that
we will be rewarded with a “crown of This thought and expectation was so much in the mind of
the Apostle Paul that he actually felt it was “far better” to “depart and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23).
Living this life is surely a time to experience and know Christ, but dying will be a “gain” in that
we will in some way be with Christ in a more real and lasting way (Phil 1:21, 23). Surely
Anthony Hoekema has well said, “Death for the Christian is not an end, but a glorious new
beginning.”

For Karl Rahner, “death is the absolute null point and the absolute arch-contradiction of
existence.” (Lane, 54) This means that death is possible for everyone alive. What makes the
difference is how we approach it so that our lives here on earth will become meaningful no matter
how limited.

He suggested some elements to our approach of death.

1. The first element in our approach to death is one of humility. This means that
we have to have an attitude of acceptance about death. Our accepting attitude
is one that embraces the limitations of life and learn to appreciate the God
who allows us to enjoy the gift of living with others.

2. The second element is of hope. This means that even when we are haunted
with the darkness and destruction of death, hope must arise as much out of
these gloomy situations. Hope, however, does not remove the darkness of
death or its closure but for Rahner, hope arises only when we can find no
further resources within ourselves by which to achieve a higher synthesis. It
arises out of our sense of radical powerlessness in the face of death.

The God who created the human out of love is the same God who recreates the
human in death into a New Creation. If we have been loved into existence by
God then we can dare to hope beyond death that God will give us new life. (Lane
136)

3. The third element concerns the need for the individual to engage in a process
of decentering the self from its own isolation in order to recentre the self in its
radical relatedness with others, the cosmos and the Triune God. The central
question here would be “What is to become of me in death?” A recentred self
is one that recognizes her/his indebtedness to others. To be human, we need to
go out of our egocentric tendencies (The self: I, Me, Mine) and become
radically relational and social beings. Death challenges us therefore to move
beyond our comfort zones and realize that we are never alone in this world
and that we must exist in solidarity with one another and with God.

4. The fourth element to a more adequate approach to death is the need to

rediscover the underlying unity that exists between the living and the dead.
Only when we are able to see the link between this two realities will we be
able to let go of our human selves in a personal act of surrender to God’s
mystery and only will we be able to accept death warmly. The early Church
Fathers believed that in death there is destruction so that there could be
reconstruction. (Lane, 136)
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When we learn to face death, we will begin to appreciate that life is a gift and that every
single moment should be lived well. We will only appreciate the value of our lives and that of
others when we have already wrestled with death and have learned to accept its certainty. For
Lane, this shift of understanding is captured best in the change that takes place in the liturgical
journey from Lent to Easter when we begin with the saying “In the midst of life, we already taste
death and when Easter occurs, we say, “In the midst of death, we still live.”

HEAVEN and HELL

It is not surprising that Christians and non-Christians alike believe in the afterlife. Even if
our lives extend beyond our graves, there is always that question about the kind of future that
awaits on the other side. The various views about heaven, hell and even purgatory are some of the
proposed answers to the question.

Before we will discuss further the Christian notion of heaven and hell, let us have a
glimpse of what the other cultures and religions have to say about these.

ISLAM

The Moslems view heaven as a paradise for people whose good works have outweighed
the bad as taught in the Quran. Heaven is described as a garden where the faithful lie upon
couches in a climate-controlled environment surrounded by “bashful, dark-eyed virgins, chaste as
the sheltered eggs of ostriches.” They will drink from crystal goblets and silver vessels as
“immortal youths” hover about them looking like “scattered pearls.” The believers will be clothed
in green silk and brocade and will wear silver bracelets, and they will “drink a pure draught”
drawn from Allah’s own source as a reward for their striving and patience.

The Quran often describes hell as “an evil resting place” and the “Fire.” Fire, here
however, is just the beginning of the torment in hell because the fire is like a wall enclosing the
wicked, and when they cry out, they are showered with water as “hot as molten brass,” which
scalds their faces. It can get worse. The unbelievers wear garments of fire and are lashed with
rods of iron and if they try to escape they are dragged back and told to “taste the torment of the
Conflagration.”

HINDUISM

Eastern religions don’t really have notions of heaven like those in the West. Instead, they
usually offer some kind of release from illusion and suffering in the present world. The Hindu
Upanishads which are philosophical portions of the Veda and are considered Hinduism’s oldest
sacred text declare that our actions connect us to this world of appearances, which is in fact
illusory. It is only the Brahman that is considered the ultimate reality which transcends our
sensory experiences. Unfortunately, we are not very aware of the Brahman and we act according
to our illusions. This action (karma) then causes us to participate in the cycle of death and rebirth,
which is called samsara, which is difficult to escape. It is only when one gets to escape from
one’s ignorance and realize that he/she is the Brahman him/herself will one be released from the
cycle of death and rebirth. Hinduism describes hell as traditionally a continuation of life on earth
called samsara, which is the endless cycle of death and rebirth that is the result of our ignorance
of the ultimate reality of the universe. It also means “to wander across,” as in lifetimes. Samsara
is the result of karma or actions taken in this life that will determine the nature of one’s rebirth
and the caste one is born into.

BUDDHISM

Buddhism advocates that suffering is caused by desire which is the desire to have and the
desire to be. This desire is called tanha, or a burning that keeps us caught in the web of illusion
that is our ego. The Buddha taught that desire is a flame that burns us, causes suffering, and keeps
us tied to the cycle of death and rebirth because the flame continues burning into the next life.
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What we hope for is Nirvana, or the extinguishing of that flame, which is also the end of
suffering. One of the factors that influences the soul’s ultimate location is the dying itself. A
good death tends to push the soul toward enlightenment, while a bad death can move it toward
rebirth in the world.

Filipino Folk Christianity

Most Filipino tribes believed in life after death, and the widespread belief was in a
heaven for the good and a hell for the bad. Heaven and hell were generally thought to be divided
into different levels, through which the soul could move by gaining merit. Some tribes believed
that souls went to different places according to how they died. In many regions of the Philippines,
it was thought that people had more than one soul; sometimes three souls, sometimes two. Of the
two, the good soul went to heaven and the bad one went to hell or remained on earth. Some tribes
still believe that if a child is born close to the death of a family member, the child will receive a
part of the dead person’s soul. Ancestor worship was also practiced, with the spirits of the
ancestors remaining on earth or visiting the living

Christian Notions/View of Heaven and Hell

Dermot Lane ascribes that while the Christian doctrine of heaven has its roots in the
Jewish Scriptures, it basically acquires its particular notion in and through the mystery of Christ.
There are a number of images in the New Testament that depict the life and destiny of Jesus
Christ. These images convey the meaning of heaven.

1. In Matthew 25-31-46, heaven is described as the coming reign of God announced

by Jesus himself. This reign of God means the establishment of the right
relationships in this life and which will be fulfilled in the next life thereafter.
2. In John 17:3, heaven is depicted as eternal life which is described in terms of
knowing God and Jesus Christ whom God sent.
3. Heaven is also likened to the wedding feast (Matthew 25:10) and the experience
of having a vision of God (Matthew 5:8).
Lane explains that each of these images is mediated by the relationship we have
with Christ who is believed to be the way, the truth and the life.

On this note, heaven then is about being in a personal communion with the paschal
(Easter) Christ. Furthermore, the later writings of the New Testament speak about “the new
heaven and the new earth” as well as the “New creation”.

Heaven can also mean the world brought to its final glory in and by God’s saving love.
This is the heart of Jesus’ proclamation regarding the Kingdom. As Matthew puts it, the Kingdom
of Heaven does not refer to a different place where God rules. Jesus announces that the Kingdom
of God is at hand and exhorts the people to open up their hearts. For Jesus, the Kingdom of God
is present among us and Christian believers may see the contours of this Kingdom wherever men
and women allow the sacrificial love and justice so evident in Christ’s life to shape their own
lives. The life of heaven, that is, the kingdom of God has already begun in the grace of Christ
which constitutes the believing community.

Lane would affirm this by saying that according to Christian eschatology, heaven is about
participating in the eternal life of God in and through the glorified humanity of Christ. It is also
about communion with one another and the world in God through Christ mediation.

John Sachs relates that heaven and hell are not really “places” at all but they are
theological ways to describe our personal relationship with God as it reaches its final end and
destiny. Saint Augustine reiterates this by saying that God is our final place. Jesus Christ then is
God’s final self-communication to the world as its own deepest fulfillment.

The root of much thinking about the idea of hell would bring us back to the Jewish
Scriptures as well as from the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. These expressions of hell
would include divine punishment, retribution, justice and judgment.

With Judaism, for example, the dead were confined to a shadowy nameless existence in a
place called Sheol which existed underneath the earth opposite to the heavens above. It developed
gradually to the notion that God would reward the just and punish the wicked at the end of life.
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This led to a division of Sheol into two levels-one for the just in paradise and the other for the
wicked in Gehenna.

Sachs comments that while the New Testament is full of images and parables about the
kingdom of God, there are only few that depict about hell. These are found in the following:
1. Matthew 25:31-46-The Parable of sheep and the goats
2. Matthew 25:14-30-The Parable of the Talents
3. Matthew 3:29, Matthew 12:32- The Reference to the Unforgivable sin against
the Holy Spirit which carries eternal guilt
4. Matthew 5:25-6- A view which seems to qualify the eternity of hell.

The Traditional view about hell emphasizes the reality of eternal punishment stressing the
pain that results from freely choosing to cut oneself off from the love of God. While Jesus did not
mention the factual existence of hell, Sachs reminds us, that Jesus’ words and parables pointedly
tell us that hell is a deadly possibility for the unrepentant sinner. Sin means turning away from
God and the life with God for which we were made. Hell then could be understood as a final
fixation of sin. It is our being self-centered. We sin when manifest hatred, pride, greed, and when
we grow into hardened radical self-isolation and rejection of God.

If heaven is viewed as God’s creating, sustaining and transforming action brought to its
fullness, hell on the other hand could be viewed as “anti-creation” on our part, being the creatures
who refuse God’s life and love. When we therefore accept and love God, then we experience
heaven. On the other hand, to reject God is to experience hell. Heaven and hell are very important
Christological concepts which describe the life of the risen, glorified and Jesus and the world’s
participation and rejection of it. (Sachs, 98)

Zachary Hayes resonates that the concept of heaven and hell are not on the same level.
Heaven is a metaphor that elicits an awareness of the reality that definitive salvation
accomplished in Christ which is offered by the loving, saving will of God towards the whole of
humanity. Hell, however, expresses the possibility that a person can close himself/herself to
God’s grace by choosing isolation instead of communion with God. For Karl Rahner, hell is an
intrinsic effect of our decisions. This means that hell is not a place of punishment prepared by
God for the disobedient ones but rather it is our self-destruction when we choose to remain in sin.
Hell then is “in “us, not the other way around.

PURGATORY

Dermot Lane explains that the Purgatory as an eschata, or one of the last things is a very
good example of the theological principle lexorandi, lexcredendi. This Latin phrase means the
law of prayer (the way we worship) and the law of belief (the way we believe). This goes to show
that our liturgical practice influences our belief.

The Jewish and Christian Scriptures depict the practice of remembering the dead in
prayer. This, in fact, is given liturgical expression in the early centuries of Christianity during the
Eucharistic celebration. It was not until the thirteenth century though that the doctrine of
Purgatory was given formal ecclesial expression by way of response to this ancient Christian
practice.

There is, however, no direct, explicit evidence in the Scripture regarding the existence of
Purgatory. What we do find are some few references to the practice of praying for the dead. An
example would be in 2 Macc. 12:42-5 which recounts how Judas Maccabeus took up a
collection…and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering to make atonement on behalf of
Jewish soldiers who died in battle carrying idols which were forbidden by law. This text implies
that the prayer and sacrifice for the dead will help to deliver these soldiers from their sins.

Hayes explicates that it is a common religious conviction that human beings are
responsible for their actions and must render an account before God. Our Scriptures connect
judgment with Christ’s return. This reflects then that our decisions and actions are significant and
must be seen in terms of our relation to Christ. Related to judgment is the notion concerning
purgation.

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Lane claims further that purgatory is about finalizing a process or better, completing the
divine-human relationship already decisively initiated by God in this life through grace and only
gradually accepted from a human point of view in this life.

He stipulates that the question about when Purgatory takes place is one that allows
different answers. Some of which are the following:
1. Purgatory can take place in this life through penance, prayer and good works;
2. Purgatory happens in death. (Others believe this and this seems to be the
emerging view.) It could mean that everything happens in death itself, that the
purification in Purgatory is an aspect of death itself and can be made
intelligible in the light of different characteristics of death itself. For Rahner
and others, the process of re-integration and transformation required in the
fundamental option for God takes in death itself.
3. What is less popular today is the view that Purgatory takes place some “time”
after death.

Consistent with the second view is the presence of a shift among theologians from seeing
Purgatory as a place to a moment of personal and transforming encounter with the love of God.

For Rahner, the Church teaches that the perfection of the human person is first of all an
act of God’s grace which takes place in time. Whatever difficulty that arises during this process is
due to the lack of harmony between God’s intention and the fundamental option of the person.
This means that the kind of life one lives comes to maturity in death. He, acknowledges however,
that the finality of human decisions in death doesn’t mean that all the dimensions of human
reality are integrated into this decision. This means that the process of integration may continue
after the person dies. It is here then that the process of integration can be supported by the prayer
of others to help achieve that perfection.

This notion is supported by theologians Von Baltazar and Joseph Ratzinger. They view
this process as a preparation for the person to meet God to commune with all the saints. They
emphasized the personal encounter with Jesus, the Lord, in death. For Ratzinger, purification is
effected through nothing other than the transforming power of the Lord who melts our closed
hearts and burns it free so that it would fit well into the living organism of His body. Purification
does not actually mean that something is laid on the human person from the outside but it is an
intrinsic aspect of the transformation necessary for us to become capable of existing in Christ, in
God, and in unity with the saints. We have to remember, though, that this transforming element
of our encounter with Christ transcend earthly time measurements. This means that we don’t
exactly know how long the process would take.

More important in any understanding of Purgatory is an awareness coram Deo (before

God) of how much we need to change and be changed in this life in death in virtue of the infinite
love and mercy of God, especially as this has been manifested in Jesus as the crucified and risen
one. The unconditional love of God offered to humanity in Christ calls forth in this life and in
death a personal response that involves a purging conversion and transformation. That response is
ultimately one of being configured to the crucified and risen Christ both in this life and death.
Furthermore, anyone who is in touch with the ambiguous dispositions of the human self and who
has at the same time some sense of gracious forgiving love of God will hardly find it difficult to
accept that eternal life with God will require a radical transformation and adjustment in the life of
the individual. It is this transformation and adjustment that is the issue in the doctrine of
Purgatory. (Dermot Lane, 143)

THE FUTURE OF CREATION

Many of us have a very vague understanding and view of what is going to happen after
we die. Questions like What’s going to happen to the world or Does this material world going to
be destroyed haunt every one of us.

Lane assumes that our individual destiny is tied up with the destiny of the whole
humanity and that therefore questions about creation will influence the way we approach
questions about human destiny. Our human destiny, he elaborates, does not only confine to issues
concerning death, heaven, hell, judgment and/or purgatory. The Eschaton of Christ is supposed to
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be the primary focus of eschatology as the present reality and future promise. *Eschaton is a
Greek term which means the final event in the divine plan or the end of the world. He proposes
that the future of creation can be seen in the light of the Christological doctrines of the
incarnation, the resurrection, the Parousia and the Cross.

Incarnation

The doctrine of Incarnation is considered as the theological center of Christianity.

It serves as the fulfillment of creation, the realization of the inner dynamic and
orientation of Hebrew understanding of creation. Reincarnation brings us to the belief
that God became human in Jesus by being the Word that was made flesh. With this
comes the notion that God assumed not only the particular humanity of Jesus but also the
flesh of the whole humanity.

Karl Rahner describes this aspect of incarnation by saying that it is the beginning
of the divinization of the world as a whole because “God lays hold of matter when the
Logos (Word) becomes flesh. Lane adds that laying hold of matter means that the matter
in question is always part of the cosmos (universe). This follows then that the human
beings relate to the earth and the earth is related to the cosmos because God in Christ has
assumed in principle the whole of material creation. This, in turn, is linked to the Hebrew
theology of creation which sees the human as the offspring of the earth, that is, and earth
creature, an earthling or grounding. (Lane, 187).

The incarnation, furthermore, commits to the whole of humanity is the flesh of

Jesus and to creation in virtue of the fact that the humanity of Jesus is just like any other
human being, the cosmos which is in a state of self-conscious freedom. Since Jesus is a
child of the cosmos, Lane acknowledges, that there is an important sense in which we can
say God has taken hold of the whole of creation in Jesus. This means that the God who
created heaven and earth as well as the God who created the human as an earthling is the
same God who became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth as a child of the cosmos.

Vatican II speaks of a fundamental reality that exists between the Incarnate Word
and the rest of humanity. It proposes that this solidarity between God and humanity must
be extended to the whole of creation in the light of a renewed cosmocentric anthropology.
Cosmocentric anthropology emphasizes that there is a close connection between humans
and the earth. The human being described as “clay grown tall.” In other words, we are
earthbound and we cannot be understood without going back to our cosmic origin. We
are cosmic-based center of awareness. Just like Jesus, we have a cosmic history. We
therefore belong to the earth.

It is through the unity between God and the human Jesus of Nazareth that helps
shed light to the claim that creation indeed has a future.

Resurrection

The bodily resurrection of Christ is a central theme of the New Testament. Saint
Paul in 1 Cor. 15 teaches that we will receive our resurrection bodies as Christ returns to
earth. This applies to both the living and the dead. Jesus’ bodily resurrection points us in
the direction of the transformation of the material into a New Creation .The body that’s
resurrected is described as “glorious” which no longer be subject to the influence of
disease, decay and death. This body will receive eternity and will not perish. For Rahner,
the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the beginning of the transformation of
the world and in this beginning the destiny of the world is already (in principle) decided
and has already begun. This serves as a great hope and expectation for all the Christians
as it indicates the destiny of all human beings and the future of creation. It also assures us
that material creation is included in the plan of God for salvation which is already a
preview of future of creation.

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Rooted in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the Christological symbol of
the empty tomb. This symbol indicates that the material reality of the body of Jesus has
experienced transformation that is resurrection. Both the empty tomb and the bodily
resurrection of Jesus specifically indicate that material creation does have a future
destiny. The Eucharist then serves as the symbolic link between the resurrection of Jesus
and the future transformation of creation. It represents the ongoing transformation of the
material reality while waiting for future glorification of creation.

Parousia

The Greek word parousia means“coming” or “a presence.” Primarily, as a

christological symbol, this refers to the second coming of Christ. This is part of the
Nicene Creed that talks about Jesus Christ who will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead. It is about the public manifestation of the completion and perfection
of the work of Christ embracing the history of humanity and the world. (Lane,189)

Lane presents several theological functions of Parousia within the Christian

vision. Specifically,
1. It highlights the finality of God’s work and salvation;
2. It points up the social character of salvation; and
3. It reminds us of the place of creation within salvation.

The Cross

The cross serves as the key to the future of creation. Matthew highlights the link
between creation and the Cross in his cosmic interpretation of the death of Jesus when he
made use of the expressions darkness over earth, the tearing of the veil in the temple, the
shaking of the earth, the renting of rocks and the opening of the tombs (Matthew 27:45-
53). Lane elaborates that the future of creation in God’s plan is cruciform that is,
involving the paschal process of death and resurrection, of disintegration and re-creation.
The reality of death that embraces the future of the individual is also a kind of reality that
embraces the future of creation. The Cross of Christ is a necessary and realistic reminder
that humanity’s future and creation both sad and joyful.

Creation therefore does have a future and that future is one that brings
transformation. It is necessary for us to know, however, that we do not exactly know how
this transformation of the cosmos will take place.

This new creation is not basically a repeat of first creation which was creatio ex
nihilo (creation out of nothing). It is instead part of creatio ex vetero (creation out of the
old). This means that what is taken up, transfigured and transformed in the New Creation
is the old creation in all its potential to reflect God’s glory. Consequently, the first
creation is redeemed and transformed in the New Creation.

This New Creation is the product of the working of the Holy Spirit. Genesis 2:7
narrates that it was the breath of God, the Spirit of God that brought life into the dust of
the earth. It is the same Spirit of God that continually holds creation together throughout
history.

The salvific work of God in recreating the world because it is flawed like
humanity involves a process of destroyed or broken down in death before it passes a

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transformation to become a New Creation. There is therefore a need for disintegration so
that there will be reintegration thus recreation will happen.

The Virtue of Hope

The human person is a self transcending being and the experience of self-transcendence
manifests itself in a variety of different forms: human estrangement, incompleteness and the
reality of death. The act of hope is an act of trust and self-surrender to the direction implied
within the experiences of self-transcendence. Hope is about allowing ourselves to be drawn in the
direction of self-transcendence in the expectation that we will not be disappointed and in the
belief that there is a source animating the movement of the human spirit. (Lane, 64)

Christian hope brings with it specific elements that enter into the very meaning of
what hope is all about. Lane specifies that Christian hope is founded on the preaching and
praxis of Jesus concerning the reign of God. Consequently, the reign of God is
understood to have been established in principle through the death and resurrection of
Christ. The centerpiece of hope therefore is the paschal mystery of the death and
resurrection of Jesus.

Because it was founded on preaching and praxis of Jesus, Christian hope

embraces both the present and the future. This means that the hope of Jesus is imminent
and transcendent, prophetic and apocalyptic.

What can we hope for then? Michael Scanlon as quoted by Dermot Lane said that
we must reply with justice, peace and the integrity of creation in this life as well as in the
eternal life which gathers up the work of justice, peacemaking and the preservation of
creation. Christian hope includes the cultivation of creation and humanity in this life as
well as in eternity. Justice is best exemplified by Jesus and we, as his followers are
expected to do the same by treating others justly.

It is only when we are aware of our rootedness with our Creator that we will be
able to hold on to that Christian hope. This means that we need to go back to our
authentic selves –pagbabalik loob for us to be able to learn how to treat others as our
fellowmen/women. Since God lives in our loob, it is imperative then that we have to
reach our inner selves. This is conversion.

Albert E. Alejo speaks of pagbabalik loob as not just the turning away from the
crooked path or coming home from being lost/a strayed but it is really being rooted once
again to our being authentically good selves. It is a return to the image from which we
were formed. When we are able to do so, it is easy for us to deal with one another as our
very own. It is not hard for us to forgive and respect anyone who has done us wrong. It is
easy for us to offer hope to one another.

The virtue of mercy is very central in our being Christians. James Keenan gives
four instances that would highlight this virtue.
1. The parable of the Good Samaritan depicts the love for neighbors as the
definitive practice of mercy. This story is basically not a story about how we
should treat others but it is really the story of how Jesus Christ loved us and
treated us. We are then called to imitate the actions of the Good Samaritan
because it is by doing so that we can give hope to others too.
2. Mercy is seen as the condition for salvation. Matthew 25 stipulates that we are
saved by the kind of actions we are performing. Our practice of mercy
measures our judgment.
3. Our entire theological tradition is expressed in terms of mercy. This means
that we should be willing to enter into the chaos or difficulties of others for us
to respond to their needs. We can do this by attending to our sick brothers and
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sisters, listening to someone who is in need of our attention or smiling at
someone, a stranger at that.

This speaks of a God who created us out of the chaos of the universe and
giving all of us the chance to enjoy the world’s grandeur. It also speaks of
Christ who enters into the chaos of death which is an occasion for us to hope
for resurrection as he has promised.

Mercy is very important because it is through practicing this that we experience

God. When we show mercy to others, we then become imitators of that Good God who
treat each other fairly. Alongside with mercy is the virtue of justice. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church states that justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and
firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue
of religion." Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish
in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to
the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is
distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his
neighbor. We are then called not to be partial to the poor or defer to the great. We have to
judge our neighbors in righteousness.

We need to grow in our love with God and our neighbors. We are but pilgrims in
this material world but our everlasting life depends so much on how we live our lives
here on earth. There is always that hope that at the end of this journey we will be united
with the one who created us. We need to help each other to become worthy citizens of
God.

The human person is radically relational in nature. The social self is very important in the
construction of primordial hope. Hope naturally arises from within the person but only as a result
of an encounter with the exterior world of human beings. Gabriel Marcel states that “Hope is only
possible on the level of us (agape). It does not exist on the level of the solitary ego.”Hope is
animated by stories of others which enlarge our little world through the power of imagination.
We need others in our journey towards meeting our final destiny with Christ.

Summary:

1. The question of death is considered an endless query confronting every human being.
It, in fact, disturbs every answer to life’s meaning and it basically interrupts every
human struggle and hope for a beautiful future.

2. Death can be classified specifically as physical and spiritual. The Hebrew and Greek
words for “death” both mean the deprivation or cessation of life. Theologically
speaking, death is believed to be the time that the person’s body is separated from
his/her soul –soul being the immaterial part of the human being.

3. Every person will come to life at the resurrection and will either be assigned to “be
with the Lord forever” (1 Thess 4:17) or to be eternally “separated from the presence
of the Lord” (2 Thess 1:9), based on whether a person has a righteous standing with
God and is spiritually alive or not.

4. Anthony Hoekema has well said, “Death for the Christian is not an end, but a glorious
new beginning.” For Karl Rahner, “death is the absolute null point and the absolute
arch-contradiction of existence.”

5. It is not surprising that Christians and non-Christians alike believe in the afterlife.

The Moslems view heaven as a paradise for people whose good works have
outweighed the bad taught in the Quran. In Hinduism, it is only the Brahman that is
considered the ultimate reality which transcends our sensory experiences. Most
Filipino tribes believed in life after death, and the widespread belief was in a heaven
for the good and a hell for the bad.

6. If heaven is viewed as God’s creating, sustaining and transforming action brought to

its fullness, hell on the other hand could be viewed as “anti-creation” on our part,
being the creatures that refuse God’s life and love.
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7. The Jewish and Christian Scriptures depict the practice of remembering the dead in
prayer.

8. The doctrine of Incarnation is considered as the theological center of Christianity. It

serves as the fulfillment of creation, the realization of the inner dynamic and
orientation of Hebrew understanding of creation.

9. The body that’s resurrected is described as “glorious” which will no longer be subject
to the influence of disease, decay and death. This body will receive eternity and will
not perish.

10. The Greek word parousia means“coming” or “a presence.” Primarily, as a

christological symbol, this refers to the second coming of Christ.

11. The cross serves as the key to the future of creation. Matthew highlights the link
between creation and the Cross in his cosmic interpretation of the death of Jesus when he made
use of the expressions darkness over earth, the tearing of the veil in the temple, the shaking of the
earth, the renting of rocks and the opening of the tombs (Matthew 27:45-53).

12. The act of hope is an act of trust and self-surrender to the direction implied within the
experiences of self-transcendence.

13. Mercy means that we should be willing to enter into the chaos or difficulties of others
for us to respond to their needs.

ACT

Write a 3 paragraph reflection paper on the title Where Do I go from here?

Name : Andres, Jouberlyn Grace______________________________

Time : MWF (9:00-10:00 am) _______________________________
Date : April 4, 2020_______________________________________

Where Do I Go From Here

Guide Questions:
a. As a Christian/Catholic, are your views about the four last things changed after taking
Theology 2? Why? Why not?

b. Knowing that our life here is impermanent, how would you make your earthly life
worth living?
I’m not going to waste my time. I’m going to do things that I must do, I will show
to the ones that I love how much I really love them because when I’m dead, I
can’t show my appreciation to them. I gonna prove to those who are doing wrong
things that they must change. I will overcome all the obstalcles I will encounter
with the guide and grace of God. And of course showing God, that I am following
his commandments.
c. Where do you think will you be going when you die?
At first I know in myself that I am going to Hell, because of the sins that I’ve done but one
person told me that I will not go there even I have all the sins in world because it is not the
basis of His judgement but on my belief and faith in God.

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