Religious life: sharing Jesus' passion, resurrection

"Is this life a job corps of submissive workers carrying out hierarchically assigned and supervised institutional Church tasks designed to bring all people into the Roman Catholic Church and into subjection to its leadership?"

It certainly IS if you read the above-mentioned "Vita Consecrata by Pope John Paul II" http://www.intratext.com/x/eng0099.htm (cf. especially articles 13,43,46,49,91) and interpret it falsely to be "the blueprint for modern religious life." Which, by the way, anonymous is WRONG. Vatican II's Perfectae Caritatis is, and it is MISSING from the list of "Reference Materials" on the Apostolic Visitation's website - a deliberate oversight and slap in the face to decades of energy, reflection and writing by female and male religious communities.

Further analysis of Pope John Paul II's document seems to also suggest that its more forward-looking pronouncements are also consciously being IGNORED by the entire Apostolic Visitation process (cf. articles 50,58,70,74,80,82).

A preacher ran through the streets of the city shouting, "We must put God into our lives. We must put God into our lives." An old monastic rose up in the city plaza to say, "No, sir, you are wrong. You see, God is already in our lives. Our task is simply to recognize him."
-- Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB

I believe as Sr Sandra has made hugely clear that neither Vita Consecrata nor any other vatican document has priority over the gospel for sisters or for any other Christian (even Roman Catholics). I spent 30 years as a contemplative religious sister and am grateful for that. But in the end, I left, in part because I could no longer be quiet about the state of our institutional church and its seeming blindness to the needs of all of us to hear the freeing gospel message which the Spirit calls to us to live. I am more grateful than I can say for her courage.

Huh…what did he say? My heaven is dong God's in the "hear and now"

Thank you, Sylvester. As always, it is a pleasure to read from your wisdom.

Thanks, "Sly".... I'm with you

In other words, present only one point of view? Sounds Fascist to me.
The point is, these religious, while falling back on their position as legitimate religious by legal definitions, do not embrace the whole of the substance of Canon Law.
It is not "character assassination" to point out the fawning duplicity and rationalizations in Sr. Sandra's highly publicized views.
And, by the way, sites such as this would not have an option to remain anonymous if there wasn't a good reason. Remember the Inquisition? Oh, wait a minute, that's the topic of this whole business. ;-)

Amen, amen. These "slash and burn types" are everywhere. It only takes a few vocals to upset everything. What a farce, the meeting held with the cardinal that instigated the "Visitation". Letters to Rome etc. for the past 40 years makes them sound like a majority. The real "silent majority" must rise up and say "No More". Come on good folks, who have been educated by, healed in their hospitals, counseled and lead in parishes and social justice works, rise up. Our Amerian religious women have built and sustained our church from the early 1800's. Give them a break!!! Give them the support they deserve for pete's sake. Enough already!!!! My support goes to them forevermore. The "institutional organization church" does not warrant that support $$$$$. Amen.

Ed, we laity have said "enough" many times, but only "NCR". "AMERICA" and
"COMMONWEAL" are listening.

Dear Auger, Sandra compares the execution of Jesus Christ on the Cross to the investigation of religious orders in the United States! How Sacriligious!! This is not Prophecy!

Auger, Well said "Good and Faithful servant"

Bravo, I couldn't agree more!

And nothing Martin said was right!

so on Jan. 08, 2010.

You stated:

"If the number of women religious were as great as they were two generations ago and the number of people who actually read the ncr was significant, Sister could infact incite a new Protestant Reformation and have a church named after her when she dies, because her diatribe is nothing more and nothing less than the division Martin Luther set in motionM However sister doesn't have the political establishment behind her as Martin Luther did in Germany. She only has aging.hippies singing the same old antu-authority, anti-institutional mantra. Itis sad indeed."
-------------------------------

Apparently in your mind---quantity equals quality! You refer to the numbers of women religious today---as though they are members of the infantry being sent to the front lines. The Sisters have done their task---they have educated generations of Catholics who are more than capable of assuming leadership in today's Church, "so".

Do you have children, "so"? Are you encouraging them to become Sisters, Brothers, or Priests? The numbers of men in the seminaries are not high either. I know of some dioceses that have less than 12 seminarians in their whole program. Are people like you concerned? Or are you like most blind bigots, and are only capable of pointing your finger at women religious, like Sr. Sandra, who have been gifted with the fire of the Holy Spirit, and are indeed, prophets.

You cite the numbers who read NCR as not being 'significant'? Really? Are you able to cite the numbers who actually do? Do you know that other Catholic websites in America refer quite regularily to NCR--- such as "Commonwealmagazine", "U.S. Catholic" and "America" just to name a few. And folks in other English speaking countries also read NCR---and refer to it, include the web in their articles, so that others can read from NCR as well.

Sister Sandra---does not have to wait for some future age to achieve fame. Her articles here have been praised for their brillance, accuracy and insight, both in America and abroad. Nobody is going to do that with anything that you are writing, "so"---you have nothing to offer!

Sr. Sandra is not causing divisions in the Church. This is being caused by a revival of Vatican ultramontanists, neo-conservatives and reactionaries who believe that the best way to direct the Church into the future, is to look into their rearview mirror and drive backwards.

By the way, Martin Luther was correct in the vast majority of his contentions---The Catholic Church has/can indeed make mistakes. But it took centuries and centuries for the Catholic Church to grudgingly admit that ITS abuses brought about the split in the Western Church in the first place.

Of course, "so" while you are laughing at those whom you think are "aging hippies," they are laughting at people like you who can only parrot the predictable claptrap that your programers have drummed into you. You are immature children who need security, protection, and someone to tell you what to think, what to believe. You lack experience, wisdom and depth---you are nothing but the blah-colored paint in the Pope's closet.

Dear So:
There are many answers to the big "if" in our lives. We need only to pary to The Holy Spirit to quide us to His solution on our "IF".

You completely lose me (and I suspect many others) when you insult. If you can develop a position without a personal attack it would be a greater contribution to the discussion and, clearly, a closer walk with that whom you claim to desire to follow. .

"...because her diatribe is nothing more and nothing less than the division Martin Luther set in motion." Obviously "so" you either haven't read Sr. Schneiders' articles or you have read them with bad faith. They are not "diatribe" nor divisive, they are shcolarly, founded in documents and reason. Argue her points sure but your tone and content lacks reason, appears simply emotional and destructive, surely not christian. And besides, if Martin Luther posted his "theses" today, he would likely be considered orthodox (oops, up to John Paul II, that is). Oh well, he would still be in good company.

Dear Dave,
You sound like a searcher and very interested after reading Sister Sandra excellent essays, so well done.
A word from the third world. For some of our friends who are searching and have a problem with age-old language about today’s faith I make bold to post here the translation of the introduction of a book review that I wrote last year

“Agenda Latinoamericana” and “Tiempo Axial” theological book collection have recently brought forth a very timely book published by Abya-Yala in Quito Ecuador. This is the Spanish translation from the German edition of the book by Roger Lenaers S.J., of the original in Flemish, now with the title in Spanish “A Different Christianity is Possible – Faith in the language of the modern world” (243 pages, US$7.00). The book lucked out beautifully arriving almost at the same time as NASA scientists announced finding traces of water on the planet Mars with all the tremendous possibilities that this scientific assertion implies for our terrestrial human race. Ever since the first human being set foot on the moon in 1969, almost some 40 years ago, whether we like it or not, the modern world has arrived and is here to stay. The title of the English version of the book is significant and even more enticing: “Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, or the End of a Medieval Catholic Church. “ (Gorgias Press, New Jersey, USA)

Roger Lenaers, the author writes:

“ An epochal change has come about. Human beings have discovered the autonomy of the cosmos and with it their own autonomy. With this the doctrine of faith, built as it has been on the axiom of “heteronomy” (the axiom of two worlds) has lost its validity. What was not lost was the message of faith experience through which Israel had passed and which reflected it’s this-worldly historical experience in contact with the deepest levels of reality culminating in the experience of God in the greatest of his sons, Jesus of Nazareth and continuing to be lived in the experiences which his disciples underwent with him. The expression of these experiences need no longer be transmitted in the language of heteronomy. For those who live in the modern world this transmission can only be valid within a “theonomy” (the axiom of one world) language frame.
This is the fundamental base for the necessity and justification of this book which comes down to being an essay or attempt to formulate the very same historical message but in today’s language.”

The author, with more than 50 years of church service in his curriculum, writes with a tremendous sense of pastoral compassion. The Hippocratic medical oath with its first law “Don’t harm the patient” seems to be the rule of thumb for Lenaers as he relates to his believing readers. He avoids inviting today’s “Christian young people” to accompany him, since for them the church has become insignificant and of little importance. Lenaers rather directs his attention to those middle aged people, who with a background of solid faith which they love are nevertheless constantly questioning and searching, trying to square up their faith with their thinking and acting in today’s modern world.

This is not just “Oh, another book” of general Roman Catholic theology, but rather a radically different cosmological vision, offered without footnotes or bibliography of famous authors, nor does it carry the “Nihil Obstat” or “Imprimatur” (Latin for “Nothing against it” and “Ok for getting published”) of ecclesial or religious authorities. To this effect the author simply writes: (pg.12) “… an idea hasn’t more truth or plausibility simply because it has been expressed previously.”, and then asks: “Why should an author be forced to explain things that he has been reading and working through over such a long period of time? [Lenaers is writing now well over 80 years of age]. Very often this working through has gone on in such an unconscious manner that not even the author himself remembers who gave him this idea or who planted the seed for a new way of understanding which seed later sprouted. That’s why this author prefers to recognize and thank here all those, -- living or dead, remembered or having drifted off into oblivion -- whose thoughts and sentiments this author has inherited and now interprets anew.”

We can walk down the road of the birth of modern scientific achievements, beginning with the German Johann Gutenberg who around 1450 invented printing from movable type, the Polish/Prussian astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who “turned the world up-side-down,” the German Johann Kepler, the Italian Galilei Galileo, the English Isaac Newton, and of course the inevitable Portuguese Christopher Columbus “whom the new world discovered”. This was the great 16 th century enlightenment which laid the corner stone for the Scientific Evolution upon which Lenaers builds his visionary structure of today. During thousands of years up to this precise point in our history, just some 500 years ago, cultures, teachings, customs, myths and legends, politics and religions of all sorts with all their paraphernalia, were all constructed upon what at that time, was the very but very solid axiom of two worlds, the heteronomy.

1) this world “down here below”, flat, broad, ample, the recognized center of all creation and the human habitat, firmly planted upon sturdy columns with the vaulted sky or firmament above housing the sun, the moon and the stars, with clouds sprinkling their rain or snow;
2) the other world “way up there”, the reflection of this world down here below, the dwelling place of the gods and goddesses who also reflected human customs, good or evil, but always enjoying multifaceted powers much beyond those of human beings, “supernatural powers.”

Everybody believed in this “heteronomous” two world set up. But simply everybody, including Alexander the Great, Polybius, Plotinus, Homer, Plutarch, Socrates. Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Tullius Cicero and his Marcus Junius Brutus, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Pontius Pilate as also the Jews Joseph and Mary and their son Jesus of Nazareth, the women and the men apostles, women and men saints including Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul and all the popes and bishops. Just everybody had their two feet solidly planted on this heteronomy world, including the women and men who inherited to us the Bible and the Koran, historians like Flavius Joseph, emperors like Constantine and Charlemagne, Chief Seattle and the indigenous nations to the north, Montezuma and the Aztecs, the Mayan nation, the Incas, the Guaraní, the great translators of the Bible like Saint Jerome and Martin Luther, the Holy Fathers of the Christian Church and the editors and participants in the great Ecumenical Councils of Christianity beginning with Nice in 325 up to that of Trent in 1560, as they drew up dogmas and hunted heresies, condemning and excluding with great authority.

As Lenaers affirms clearly, today’s modern world is autonomous.
Science speaks to us of the cosmos where our earthly planet is just an almost infinitely small, ephemeral part.. Some 150 years ago Charles Darwin began speaking about an “evolution” occurring in this cosmos, which apparently seems to get along quite well without overt support or interference from some other heteronymous world. Christians, convinced that God continues to exist, today reclaim their right to belong to a theonymous world where God does exist. Nevertheless the entire religious apparatus plus ecclesiastical language continues to speak about the presence of God in the ancient (prior to the year 1600) heteronymous mode, based on the presumption of the existence of another world, “heteronomy”.

The road down which Lenaers guides us leads through the theonymous world, focusing upon ancient dogmas under the theonymous lens and clothed in the language of our modern day. As we pointed out above, Roger leads us with an extraordinary pastoral compassion so as not to “break off a bent reed nor snuff out the wick of a flickering lamp.” (Matt. 12, 20)

For Lenaers (pg. 80) creation is the “self revelation” of God.

In the axiom of the heteronomous world, creation is seen as the painting of an artist or the statue of a sculptor, the masterly building of an architect. The umbilical cord is cut between the artist, the sculptor, the architect and the production so that they are separated, can be sold or even destroyed.

In the axiom of the theonymous world, creation is like the dance being executed by an artist, or the aria being sung by a tenor, or the solo being coaxed from the strings of a Stradivarius violin, or the delicate verbal patterns flowing from the mouth of a poet. Creative activity is self-revelation maintained in existence. Our cosmos is the limited “self-expression” of the inexhaustible being of God.

(pg. 103) “If there is anything that with every right can be called “the good news” (“Gospel”), it is that the original mystery and foundation of all being has been manifested in Jesus as God-with-us and not as God-with-Israel as had been done previously. This mystery is the driving energy directed towards the welfare and salvation of all humanity in its evolutionary development and not just towards a chosen people. This mystery is made known in Jesus as love, and that this love is not just any kind of sentiment, but rather a creative action. And finally those who follow Jesus will surely reach their salvation.”

Making use of an old German saying about his reflections, Lenaers tells us: “Who says A must also say B.” And so consistent with this logic, he leads the reader down the road of the message of faith in the theonymous idiom. Here we will just glance over several themes (from a total of 19) from the table of contents of his book:

3. Exit and abandonment of ancient ecclesial myths. The crisis of the Church as a consequence of the ancient axiom.

4. The Sacred Scriptures as source of faith. A book of testimonies, not of oracles.

5. The umbilical cord of our faith. The treasure of Tradition.

8. The corner stone of our doctrine of faith. Jesus Christ – man and God in one being?

10. An inverted pyramid: Mary, the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God.

11. Believe that Jesus arose from the dead? Or believe that he lives?

12, Whole wheat bread instead of chocolate candies. Is there life after death?

13. The world of signs. The sacraments as ritual observances.

18, To whom will we turn? The prayer of petition, intercession and listening.

19, A new formulation of an ancient creedal symbol.

I would like to tie up the review of this highly recommendable book on a very personal note. In my recent electronic correspondence with the author, Roger Lenaers, he confessed to me his deep sorrow as he recognized that in his native Flanders, where at one time the “Catholic Religion” flourished, today it is seen as insignificant by the majority of the new generation. I had confided to him my own personal experience of 80+ years, that in my immediate family, one brother and four sisters, all of whom were brought up as strictly practicing Roman Catholics In the USA between the years 1920 and 1950, today of 37 grandchildren of our very Catholic parents at the most 4 still “practice” the Catholic Religion. I look upon this book of Lenaers as a “life saver” for many of us who still cherish with a deep love our Catholic faith and have the firm desire to hang on to it as the most precious gift we have received, to maintain it with love, respect and that rational vision that our modern world of today expects of us.

Apart from the “immoral price” the US editors are charging (the words to me by the author, the 85 year old Austrian Jesuit priest) the book is well worth reading, re-reading and reading again. It puts into modern language for us young catholic believers of today (I am only 82 years old) the truths we learned when youngsters and often have not had the opportunity or perhaps have not taken the time and effort to frame into our modern language. Read it and you’ll understand better the reasons that lead us to say “I believe in Jesus” and celebrate in community with the joy of the Spirit and feel at home in our world of today

Justinian Liebl
Managua, Nicaragua
Sept. 2, 2008

Dear David,
A word from the third world. For some of our friends who are searching and have a problem with age-old language about today’s faith I make bold to post here the translation of the introduction of a book review that I wrote last year.

“Agenda Latinoamericana” and “Tiempo Axial” theological book collection have recently brought forth a very timely book published by Abya-Yala in Quito Ecuador. This is the Spanish translation from the German edition of the book by Roger Lenaers S.J., of the original in Flemish, now with the title in Spanish “A Different Christianity is Possible – Faith in the language of the modern world” (243 pages, US$7.00). The book lucked out beautifully arriving almost at the same time as NASA scientists announced finding traces of water on the planet Mars with all the tremendous possibilities that this scientific assertion implies for our terrestrial human race. Ever since the first human being set foot on the moon in 1969, now some 40 years ago, whether we like it or not, the modern world has arrived and is here to stay. The title of the English version of the book is significant and even more enticing: “Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, or the End of a Medieval Catholic Church. “ (Gorgias Press, New Jersey, USA)

Apart from the “immoral price” the US editors are charging (the words to me by the author, the 85 year old Austrian Jesuit priest) the book is well worth reading, re-reading and reading again. It puts into modern language for us young catholic believers of today (I am only 82 years old) the truths we learned when youngsters and often have not had the opportunity or perhaps have not taken the time and effort to frame into our modern language. Read it and you’ll understand better the reasons that lead us to say “I believe in Jesus” and celebrate in community with the joy of the Spirit and feel at home in our world of today

If you are sincerely interested in this book covering your existential searching on our RCC faith today please contact me at: «justliebl.yahoo.com»

Justiniano de Managua

Sorry David, my current e-mail is «justliebl@gmail.com» My yahoo mail has recently been hacked.

Justiniano de Managua

Give Us "Barabbas" - The Son of the Father:
Do you suppose the crowd was misunderstood? Or, was the crowd playing out the final act in the sacrificed lamb/scapegoat scenario? What Jesus did was work to end the system of scapegoating, but the church has re-instituted it by making women scapegoats.
But Sr. Sandra doesn't recognize this and rallies women and especially women religious to remain in the position of the scapegoat.
Of course, this works wonderfully for the all-male hierarchy, having such a huge workforce willing to promote their agenda, especially when these women gain prominence in church institutions. History repeats itself as long as women are willing to lead others to the slaughter and are revered in their special role as "religious" for doing so.

Dear Ray Carl,

Did you evn read these essays? If you did, why would you be asking why???

"If the Sisters would have simply answered the questions this would all be over and the Vatican Bureaucracy would have their data." This is what "Ray Carl", whomever that is, writes. "Data"? Even though there is no blatant vulgarity or facile hatred apparant, the assumption that these women are recalcitrant and that "data" is what is sought or that a benign "census" is the intention is a travesty of commentary honesty.

One can ignore the malignancy of outright bigotry as obvious or the irreconcilability of blatant misogyny,or the sickness of sanctimonious confusion of stupidity for piety but these words are like the lard words that allow the horridly obese concepts of hate to slide through the filters of decency. History is full of them - "if only the '----' kept to their place...". Even in this corner of virtual irrelevancy they should be addressed.

Ray Carl on Jan. 08, 2010.

You stated:

"How can it be that these women religious, the mature, prayerful, educated women religious could complain so very much about the Vatican asking them a few questions? No, the Vatican cannot steal their land. No, the Vatican cannot steal their money. Any first-year student in Canon Law can tell you that. If the Sisters would have simply answered the questions this would all be over and the Vatican Bureaucracy would have their data. We wouldn't be wasting a breath on it today. I suspect that some of these religious were just waiting for some excuse to become victims and thus be in a position to cry bloody murder against the hierarchy they disagree with theologically. I'm not saying some of the sisters don't have a point, but I don't think this is the way to make it. It comes off as very petty."
--------------------------------------------------

To simply comply---to continue to cave into the Vatican Bureaucracy---is to continue to "enable" a system that is power-hungry, and demeaning. It would be like a battered-wife giving in to an abusing husband and say, "Oh, this was all my fault--that he is like this."

You were correct to name the Vatican a bureaucracy. It is a clanky, out-moded, out-dated system that is incapable of understanding, nevermind guiding people of today. And Sr. Sandra and others are correct in confronting it.

Land and money?? The sisters are selling their land and paying out all their money to fund retirements and old age, and giving away the rest to needy organizations. Do you really think sisters care about material things?

The reality is that the sisters had to act en masse. The LCWR member communities either had to all answer the questions or all refuse. Regardless of which they chose, acting as a group will mean that any action by the Vatican will affect them all. If the Vatican were to find the answers faulty, or the refusal to answer the questions at fault, how can the Vatican possibly respond?

If the Vatican finds the communities at fault, then the bishops would be obligated to "do" something (impossible given the long relationships involved) OR expel each of the communities from their dioceses. Sure the sisters would keep their land/money, what little is left, but if they continued to "be" sisters, then they would be at risk for excommunication. Do you see why this is so ridiculous? Vatican II is more than 40 years ago. Sisters who have been living their entire lives in a way that was okay until now are going to be forced out? I don't think so. This is so illogical, and would play so badly to American Catholics that it's not worth it.

The reality is that the Vatican can do nothing now that the LCWR has acted in unity. Anything the Vatican does will be against all the LCWR and any punitive action will fracture the American Catholic church. With European Catholics lukewarm at best, Benedict cannot afford to alienate the American church or fracture it more than it already is.

What will likely happen, given that Benedict's hands are tied now with the block action of the LCWR, is that a couple of communities of sisters will be singled out and sacrificed as "punishment," and all this will go away. The tragedy will be the group that gets singled out. But Benedict cannot afford to act against the entire LCWR.

I congratulate the LCWR on their ability to stand up for the perfectly acceptable vision of religious life over the past 40 years, and unintentionally highlight the failure of the Vatican to divert attention from the problem of abuse by priests and the failure of bishops to act.

Tom we wpould be better to put our trust in Our Blessed Mother as a spiritual mother than Sister Scgneider who is a fallible human being

"Sister's premise about patriarchy as the root of all evil was both simplistic and reductionistic,her use of scripture was fundamentalist, and her argument was circular (because all things male are evil...",RobertG writes.

Dear RobertG: Interesting turn of phrase and observations. I would refer you to the "Letter to the bishops of the catholic church on the collaboration of men and women in the church and in the world". This document authored by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and promulgated with the blessing of Pope John Paul II merits your judgment more so than does Sr. Schneiders' essays. In fact Ratzinger states that men n-e-e-d the mitigating dimension of women to protect them (the male hierarchy and men in general) from their tendency towards violence in their naturally ordered position of authority (again, in the church and in the world). This is "patriarchy" at its fullest. He describes the nature of women (in the church and in the world) as subservient based upon "fundamentalist" interpretation of scripture; bad logic: radical feminism is man-hating, therefore feminism is bad. Patriarchy which excludes women is "b-a-d"; patriarchy which "punishes" women for demanding equality and respect and "investigates" and "visits" in unctious duplicity is "evil". Given that it originates with the institutional patriarchy...well.

Faith, Evolution & Justification: The Roman Catholic Church and subscribing Lutheran Churches have articulated a common understanding of justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ. In their respective histories their churches have come to new insights. In the New Testament, righteousness and justification are given diverse treatments; chief among these is the justification of sinful human beings by God’s grace through faith (Rom 3: 23-25) which came in prominence in the Reformation period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Declaration_on_the_Doctrine_of_Justif...

The correlation of justification and evolution is undeveloped. Certain observations can be made that point to convergences of thinking. In Christian belief ultimate justification for everyone derives from the life and death of Jesus Christ in submission to the divine plan (also reflected in nature’s patterns). The divine plan requires not just the assent of faith but also the committed living of what is assented to. Even as Jesus willingly gave his life, so is willingness assented to in righteous, justified living. If nature’s pattern corresponds to the divine plan, justification in the order of nature also is reflected in nature’s pattern, what is “symbiosis.”

The essential continuity of life evolved "from within" the cosmic continuum is an insight more consistent with nature’s pattern and God’s plan than belief that ignores evolution, whether intentionally or unintentionally. In evolution, the consistency and continuity of symbiotic nature better correspond with the unitary understanding of the Cosmic Christ. Like Jesus, The Christ, and in imitation of his living and giving, we are justified. In the altruism of expending our lives “for other” we are bonded in love, affectively and effectively, with the anointing of the Cosmic Christ, and, we participate in spirit and in substance in divine purposes for life, which correspond to the common good.

As every person is a member of the One Body of the Cosmic Christ, each shares in and contributes to the justification of the One Body in faith and assent. The mindfulness of faith and assent is a free determination of the individual as to the manner of faith understanding and committed assent. Truth is that grace received is commensurate with grace conferred on others in altruistic love. Jesus is the clarified, justified exemplar of self-giving in service to others.

In Jesus the Cosmic Christ is the revelation of God’s plan, consistent with nature’s symbiotic pattern. The body of the Cosmic Christ is self-reflective humankind, ascendant in the awareness of divine grace and openness conferred by birth on every person. Scripture expresses divine pleasure in creation, which God pronounces to be “good?” Goodness is conveyed as the divine inheritance of the Cosmic Christ.

Life and evolution are a seamless fabric; they co-identify with each other. What can be said of one can be said of the other by analogy. We are life, evolution is life; we are conscious, evolution is conscious; we are justified by evolution, evolution is justified by us; we are justified by faith, evolution is justified by faith. If humankind is in the order of Nature’s Pattern and God’s Plan, then evolution is in Nature’s Pattern and God’s Plan.

Ongoing justification is essentially the ongoing “evolution of symbiosis.” If right questions are asked, right answers can be found. Justification is an interpersonal process of probing, testing, proving and consenting to appropriate answers. The work of justification is the work of faith and “science” (scientia: knowledge). The grounds from which science proceeds are proven convictions (faith) established by experience and reflection.

Faith is not the divergent creeds of religious ideologies (generally identified as “religion”), but is the conviction of truth based on deliberate intuitions into natural experiences. The learning process of science is an ongoing challenge and process of intelligence, reason, faith, which open insights into nature’s character and working; in other words, it opens us up to understanding ourselves.

The continuity of evolution, symbiosis, faith and justification, is the essential continuity of cosmic/ Earth-life, the essential matrix in which humankind and life’s ecological network indwell together. Inescapably, the continuity of evolution enjoins all life, all substance/ energy, by the same laws that govern cosmic wave/ particle dynamics. Each new life is an original optic fiber in the continuity link of the past, the present and the future.

Justified living is the consciousness of self-reflection that intentionally weaves together words, insights and purpose; consciousness is the illumined process of justified reason; conscience is the justified choice of actions that serve interpersonal relationships and interests of common sustainability.

If religious/ political prejudice misdirects faith and reason in their joined work, i.e., in the functioning of mutuality, complementarity and subsidiarity, people and civilizations are alienated and handicapped from ever achieving the full measure of human potential. The cultural alienation of women as patterned in Western Christianity has reached a zenith of intolerance that can no longer be ignored because of the global injustices caused by it. Only the women of the world can bring to bear the insights needed to challenge the status quo of “religious” alienation. We are witnessing here a hopeful beginning.

Informed assent to the goodness of creation is assent of faith in “The Christ”, cosmic and personal; but it is more than assent, it is the intentional commitment of personal living to God's Plan and nature’s pattern of essential symbiosis. Life’s symbiotic trajectory provides for physical diminishment and death as one is expended in the altruism of prospering others in the Mystical Body of the Cosmic Christ. As members of the One Body, the One Christ, each shares in the justification of the One Body, in faith expending self in will, whit and word.

The “justification of faith doctrine” is deepened in understanding the cosmic pattern of evolution and human conformity to God’s Plan and nature’s pattern of intensional/ intentional symbiosis. Justified living is an obligation not only of people belonging to Religious Communities rather it is the divine expectation that pertains to every person. Justification is the process that harmonizes the human with the divine, religion with civility.

http://www.justifiedliving.gather.com/nature
http://www.secondenlightenment.org/The%20Evolution%20of%20Symbiosis.pdf