Chronicle, January 29

Lima 29/01/09.- The participants of the I Congress of Sodalit Spirituality returned to the halls of the National Museum at 6:30pm today with a renewed enthusiasm and spirit of reflection in order to begin the second day of work.

After the initial prayer Alfredo Garcia, adherent to Sodalitium Chirstianae Vitae gave a conference entitled "The human person and his relational dynamic." Before an attentive audience he developed the importance of reflection on this aspect of the human person which he emphasized as key in order to strive towards understanding him.

In his dissertation he highlighted the centrality that "the dynamism of reconciliation operated by God" has in our spirituality. Basing himself in the four relationships of the human person he pointed out that "even when he experiences different ruptures in his being, he clamors, from the depth of his selfsameness, not for a conciliation of realities that he could prescind from knowing, but, rather, for a re-conciliation that heals, transfigures and brings the relational dynamic that he discovers, albeit wounded, in his own being, to its fullest deployment."

Deepening in these concepts he added that the "source of the relational or cuadri-relational dynamic of the person is his founding and originary relationship with God, that is, his theologality." He sustained that the personal and concrete encounter with God, in the Lord Jesus "opens a new, wider and fuller relational horizon because the human creature now becomes - through the action of the Holy Spirit - a "child of God," thus entering the participation of the divine dynamism of love and of communion and projects him "towards the heights of a maximum and full human realization which man alone could never have been able to imagine."

After his conference Alfredo answered a number of questions, showing the audiences sintony with the issue.

Later on a group of Sodalit Family members presented a moving and edifying video entitled "Tu es Petrus," whose central message is the filial adherence of the Sodalit Family to the Successor of Peter as an element of our spirituality and a bond that guides us and unites us to the mission of the Church. Seeing images of how throughout history various members of the Sodlit Family, beginning with our Founder Luis Fernando, have shown their adherence to the Vicar of Christ, was certainly very moving.

During the break the participants had the opportunity to visit an interesting selection of popular art including ceramic figures and an impressive two-meter high ayacuchan retable. The photos can be seen in the exhibition gallery.

The second part of the day was dedicated to two panel presentations with the following interesting subjects: "Fundaments of trial anthropologies in Greek thought," presented by José Rey de Castro, member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae; and "Body, soul and spirit in the Sacred Scriptures," presented by Sister Carmen Cárdenas, Coordinator of the Servants of the Plan of God

José began his presentation by briefly explaining the purpose of the investigations that would be the object of the panels.
Then, embarking on his exposition, José introduced the audience to the reflections of ancient Greek philosophical thought concerning the constitutive dimensions of the person. He pointed out that evidence of a development in the notions of soma (body), psyche (soul), pneuma (spirit), nous (mind), and arche (principle) constitute a "sort of cement upon which more integral approaches to the human being and the organization of his interiority would be built," and in which qualities that connect him, from his very depths, to a "divine principle" would be thrown into relief.

He also pointed out that greek philosophy already reflects "the concern to better understand one's own interiority" and "a desire to attain happiness as a consequence of the coherence with ones own nature."

In the following exposition Sister Carmen Cárdenas led the audience through the concepts of body, soul and spirit in the Sacred Scriptures. She first developed this subject in the Old Testament, where, she indicated, a differentiation of elements can already be seen, such as for example, in the second story of the creation of man in the book of Genesis. She then pointed out that in the New Testament, without ceasing to hold a unitary vision, coexistent with a dual approach, we also discover very illuminating characteristics of a trial vision of the human being, especially in Saint Paul.

The presentation illuminated, for the clarity of the participants, saving them from frequent confusions, how in the New Testament the term "body" can be used in a corporal sense as well as in reference to the Mystical Body of Christ. She mentioned in addition that on the other hand, "the term σάρξ (flesh), passes to signifying the sinful condition of man and, therefore, body and flesh cease to be identified with each other.

Within this frame it is important to emphasize that "there is no opposition nor ontological contradiction between flesh and spirit" and that "the opposition is rather of a moral character since it designates two ways of living: that of the flesh and that of the spirit, the old man and the new man in Christ." Finally, she pointed out that Saint Paul presents a triple terminology, body, soul, and spirit, in order to refer to the human being in his integrity.

The third day of the Congress will continue with the following themes of reflection: "The human person, created in the image and likeness of God," and two panels: "The trial vision of man in some representatives of the Patristic era" and "The trial vision of the human being" in the XII and XIII century.

(The present texts are recorded extracts and cannot be considered as official versions of the expositors.)