FUNDAMENTAL MERTON/CARDIJN OPTION #2
FUNDAMENTAL MERTON/CARDIJN OPTION #2
Yesterday, we observed the final Sunday of Lent, a significant milestone in the season as we now shift our focus to the impending Holy Week. This is a time to immerse ourselves in the profound narratives Jesus shared, including the parables and the Sermon on the Mount, and to grasp the profound significance of the kingdom of God in our present reality.
This is an understanding of living a moral and ethical life. Whether you are a Christian or not, the foundation is based on the greater good of humanity. For Christians, this way of life is found in the gospels, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Encyclicals of the church and writings of various scholars and mystics. The basic premise is that each person gradually develops a basic orientation of life for or against the greater good (God). Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, this fundamental direction is said to be for God if one's life is fundamentally devoted to the love and service of others and against God if one's life is essentially dedicated to self-love and self-service.
As such, the idea of a fundamental option is not new. It was reflected in St. Augustine's teaching that the human race is composed of two cities: the City of God, whose members love God even to the contempt of self, and the City of Man, whose members love themselves even to the contempt of God.
Since we humans have no control over the fact that we are made in the image of God, where we have issues and problems, what we do have control over and influence over is the likeness of God.
This is where the Fundamental Merton/Cardijn Option comes into play. Now think of the gospels, the early lives of the followers of Jesus after the Resurrection; we see the development of a way of life that reflects what it means to be a Contemplative Activist. We see people who understood what Jesus was teaching. As they understood the call, it was one of contemplation and action.
This brings us to the Merton/Cardijn Option. Through his writings as a social critic and poet, we look to Merton for our understanding of contemplation. Merton created an interfaith dialogue by helping denominations establish mutual respect through their commonalities without sacrificing their doctrinal beliefs. It's important to note that Merton's focus wasn't to sway Catholics doctrinally but to create space for conversations concerning basic human needs, such as caring for the poor, treating others with respect, and promoting justice despite their cultural differences. In doing so, individuals can become better persons, better Catholics, and better Christians. Everything we see and find in the Sermon on the Mount and in the parables.
This raises the question of how we should live in our modern world. Here, we should turn to Joseph Cardijn, best known as the founder of the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne (JOC) or Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement and for the "See, Judge, Act" method that he and the movement developed. Cardijn was also a key player at the Second Vatican Council. In 1912, Father (later Cardinal) Joseph Cardijn developed a method to train workers to evangelize the gospel message among workers during the height of the "robber baron" period of the Industrial Revolution. Cardijn understood the gospel and developed a method to adapt the teachings of Jesus to the work environment in offices and factories. Organized nationally in 1925, the Belgian bishops approved Cardijn's groups and received support from Pope Pius XI. The see-judge-act method, also known as the hermeneutical cycle, emerged before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council.
Pope John XXIII endorsed the "see, judge, act" method in his 1961 encyclical Mater et Magistra. This method has since become a formal part of Christian Social Teaching, which we refer to as Praxis.
Cardijn developed three "rules" we can apply to Thomas Merton's writings to understand contemplation and social action in the modern world. I will take the literary "liberty" of expanding on these three rules for understanding communications in our modern era.
First rule – Social initiation is based on the inquiry of understanding the Medium the message uses as a learning tool.
Second rule: The facts identified by the inquiry via the Medium used must be judged in light of principles found in Merton's teachings and the gospels.
Third rule: From ideas generated by people in a collaborative situation, we should discover the necessity of creating action plans for the community and humanity's greater good. We call this working for the Kingdom of God, which is the Medium of the message.
"Jesus does not slay his enemies and emerge triumphant. He is publicly executed, and his disciples scatter and deny knowing him. He goes to his death without resistance, but not without the agony of the garden, and most importantly, not without forgiving his executioners. When faced with an enemy, he responds with love; when faced with an offense, with forgiveness.
The kingdom of God, he proclaims, is focused on the poor and imprisoned, the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son, the outsider, and the outcast, the least among us. When God "rules" in this kingdom, the rule is ironic, unruly, unroyal: the last are first, the insiders are out, and the outsiders are in, a topsy-turvy world that makes no sense in the eyes of the world."
— John Caputo, Ph.D.