FUNDAMENTAL COMMITMENT

“FUNDAMENTAL COMMITMENT” is a term used by the National Catechetical Directory of the Philippines (NCDP) to signify our “Moral Standing Before God”.

It is called “Fundamental” because it lies at the resource of all our individual acts. And it is a “Commitment” because it is not inborn, not determined by nature and birth, but is gradually formed through our daily moral acts.

According to the said Directory “We gradually become what we morally are by what we morally do.” It further states that “Normally, we come to recognize what our fundamental commitment really is, through our habitual way of acting, the patterns of our moral behavior.

The question I ask myself is: “What is our habitual way of acting?”.

The Directory says that there are only two habitual ways of acting, namely:

1. Self-Centered: a life orientation toward self-sufficiency.

2. Other-Directed: a life of self-giving in loving service of God and neighbor.

I would term the first as “SELFISHNESS” and the second as “UNSELFISHNESS”.

“Selfishness” is, I believe, the essence of SIN. It is too much concern on how to please oneself rather than on how to please God and others.

“Unselfishness” is, on the other hand, the essence of LOVE. It thinks first of God – on how to please Him by doing His Holy Will. It thinks second on how to promote the welfare of others. It is actually a giving of oneself, what one can do or can be in order to serve God and one’s neighbor.

These two ways of acting are the results of one’s exercise of the Gift of Freedom. Our choices or decisions, however, are to a large extent based on our moral convictions. Hence, it is of paramount importance to have strong convictions on how we view the “Mystery of Life” on earth.

The Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC-293) states that “the evil in the world is not some ‘problem’ to be solved, but a ‘mystery’ to be faced. Three faces of evil – fate, sin and death – can never be answered by any rationalistic ‘head knowledge’. What alone is effective is a vibrant spiritual life of believing, hoping and loving God, our Father Almighty, through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, in their indwelling Holy Spirit.”

Life on earth is, indeed, a great Mystery which we can never fully understand. It is for this reason, I believe, that God, in His infinite Goodness, sent His only begotten Son, JESUS CHRIST, to enlighten and empower us with His HOLY SPIRIT so we could exercise our gift of freedom to make decisions that are “Other-Directed”, a FUNDAMENTAL COMMITMENT to love and serve God and our neighbor.

by: Salvador 'Buddy' Cagurangan

June 27, 2010