Page 51 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

Church Traditions for a Christian Psychology

essential. Self‐possession necessarily precedes God“ he is a person, that is to say, a subjective
self‐ donation, yet self-possession without self- being capable of acting in a planned and ratio-
donation is detrimental: “If we cannot accept nal way, capable of deciding about himself, and
the prospect of giving ourselves as a gift, then with a tendency to self-realization. As a person,
the danger of a selfish freedom will always be man is therefore the subject of work. As a per-
present” (John Paul II, 1994, p. 202). son he works, he performs various actions be-
Love originates in freedom:“Love, which springs longing to the work process; independently of
from freedom as water springs from an oblique their objective content, these actions must all
rift in the earth” (1960/1980, p. 289). For hu- serve to realize his humanity, to fulfil the calling
man persons, the essential purpose of freedom to be a person that is his by reason of his very
is love: “Love consists of a commitment which humanity. (John Paul II, 1981, n. 6)
limits one’s freedom.” “Freedom exists for the The person can never be reduced to a mere cog
sake of love” (Wojtyła, 1960/1981, p. 135). Love in the machine of production, despite the “nar-
surpasses freedom: “Man longs for love more rowly specialized, monotonous and depersona-
than for freedom—freedom is the means and lized work in industrial plants, when the machi-
love the end” (Wojtyła, 1960/1981, p. 136). ne tends to dominate man” (John Paul II, 1981,
These profound truths about the relationship n. 8; cf. John Paul II, 1991, n. 15).
between freedom and love are wondrously ex-
pressed in this eloquent passage from Wojtyła Suffering and Flourishing
the playwright in Radiation of Fatherhood Catholic psychology is a psychology of suf-
(1964/1987): For love denies freedom of will fering and flourishing, of the depths and the
to him who loves - Love liberates him from the heights, the sorrows and the joys of the human
freedom that would be terrible to have for its condition and experience. It contemplates the
own sake. So when I become a father, I am con- mystery of human despair and felicity (Wojtyła,
quered by love. And when you become a child, 1969/1979, p. 176). This understanding trans-
you too are conquered by love. At the same time cends hedonism and utilitarianism. Although
I am liberated from freedom through love, and there is overlap with pleasure and displeasu-
so are you. (p. 355) re, only persons can experience felicity and
despair: “Felicity points to the personal struc-
Vital and Vocational ture while pleasure can be related to what may
Catholic psychology is vital and vocational. Life be viewed as the simply natural structure of the
brings with it a personal project, a mission, a individual” (Wojtyła, 1969/1979, pp. 177-178).
task: “Work is a fundamental dimension of hu- Catholic psychology is a psychology of suffe-
man existence on earth” (John Paul II, 1981, n. ring, a psychology of sacrifice. It does not avoid
4). This existential task may best be understood but acknowledges and accounts for the reali-
as a personal mission or calling: “Work thus be- ty of human suffering: “Look and see if there
longs to the vocation of every person; indeed, is any sorrow like my sorrow” (Lamentations
man expresses and fulfils himself by working” 1:12, RSV). Suffering is real. Yet, suffering em-
(John Paul II, 1991, n. 6). Work is related both braced for the sake of others may become re-
to self-preservation/self-fulfillment and to the demptive suffering, as in the kenosis of Christ
common good: “More than ever, work is work (Philippians 2:5-8), the self-emptying of God,
with others and work for others: it is a matter of “a grand and mysterious truth for the human
doing something for someone else” (John Paul mind, which finds it inconceivable that suffe-
II, 1991, nn. 6, 31). ring and death can express a love which gives
Consistent with the principles of the “priority of itself and seeks nothing in return” (John Paul II,
labour over capital” and the “primacy of person 1998, n. 93). The mystery of human suffering
over things” (John Paul II, 1981, nn. 12-13, 15), reveals the depths and heights of human nature
this work is the work of a personal subject, not and motivation: „Suffering“ seems to be parti-
an impersonal object: Man has to subdue the cularly essential to the nature of man. It is as
earth and dominate it, because as the „image of deep as man himself, precisely because it mani-

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