AN EXTRA-ORDINARY DISTINCTIVENESS E-Book

Elisa Estévez López

• Herausgeber: Narcea Ediciones
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Obras fuera de la Colección
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 336

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

We live in societies that hunger and thirst for spirituality. Today we are witnessing the resurgence of the human being's search to give value and meaning to one's own life, and a sign of this is the demand to find spaces where to cultivate interiority, the taste for spirituality. The paths offered are very diverse. This work reflects on the lay spirituality proposed by Pedro Poveda. Some itineraries are offered in order to live the faith today in present-day societies and to be credible and audacious witnesses of the Gospel. Poveda proposes a way of being, a way of being present and committing oneself that makes visible, in daily life, the extra-ordinary distinctiveness of those who walk in the footsteps of the Risen Lord.

Leseprobe

AN EXTRA-ORDINARY DISTINCTIVENESS

Itineraries of lay spirituality in Pedro Poveda

Edited by

Elisa Estévez López

NARCEA S. A. DE EDICIONES

Table of contents

Introduction

BEING THE SALT OF THE EARTH: LAY SPIRITUALITY IN THE THOUGHT OF PEDRO POVEDA

Elisa EstévezLópez

Context and literary genre of the commentary on: “you are the salt of the earth”.

“Your life is one of apostolate”

Being salt of the earth: a model of lay spirituality

Being salt to season, cauterize and preserve

Paschal dynamics of being salt of the earth

Salt losing its flavor: vigilance and discernment

A final word

KNOWING, LOVING AND FOLLOWING CHRIST: INCARNATION AND PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE SCHOOL OF LOVE

Carmen Aparicio Valls

Some contextual data

The way to learn love

The incarnation of Christ and union with God

Dwelling in the wounds of christ

The “letters on zeal”

“The wounds, place of wisdom and fortitude” [190]

Main sources

What is the meaning of christ’s wounds today?

PRAYER IS THE ONLY STRENGTH CONTEMPLATIVE MEN AND WOMEN IN HISTORY

Rosario V. Moreno Rodríguez Raquel Pérez Sanjuán

The necessary prayer life

Christian prayer: Jesus, teacher of prayer

Prayer in religious traditions: dimensions of an encounter

Prayer in our time: a different perspective

STUDY AND SCIENCE AT THE SERVICE OF THE KINGDOM

Tusta Aguilar García Camino Cañón Loyes

The vision of Poveda

An anthropological program

A program of social transformation

I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE:WITH LIFE, WORDS AND DEEDS

Elisa Estévez López

A contextualized reflection on the witness to faith

It all began with an encounter

“I believed, therefore i spoke”

The true believers

Silencing the faith one professes

“Faith must be united with deeds”

To accept the consequences of believing

MEEKNESS, A CHALLENGE FOR BELIEVERS TODAY

Elisa Estévez López

A contextualized reflection on meekness

Meekness, a paradoxical way of living

In the face of anger: sweetness, affability and patience

The life of Jesus, an uninterrupted exercise of meekness

Self-love, the origin of anger

Means to acquire meekness

Forgiveness, expression of the gratuitous love of godand exercise of meekness

The present times demand the exercise of meekness

A WAY OF LIVING THE PROFESSION EMPOWERED BY FAITH

María Dolores Martín

A note on the context

The text and its contents

From our present times

Questions for reflection

“SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE”AN ASSOCIATED LAITY BONDED BY CHARITY

Arantxa Aguado Arrese

Introductory notes

Ecclesial theological framework

The chosen text: its relevance yesterday and today

Itinerary for a fruitful encounterwith the chosen text. A three-phased dynamism

SOURCES OF POVEDAN SPIRITUALITY

SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Introduction1

We live in societies that hunger and thirst for spirituality. Today we are witnessing the resurgence of the human being’s search to give value and meaning to his own life, and a sign of this is the demand to find spaces where to cultivate interiority, the taste for spirituality. The paths offered are very diverse. Among all the different kinds of spirituality (Christian, lay, that of other religions), this book reflects on some aspects of the incarnation spirituality that Pedro Poveda proposed for the lay association he founded in 1911. It does so in dialogue with the challenges posed by today’s societies, trying to reflect what is significant and relevant of the spiritual proposal of Pedro Poveda to the present moment.

We are convinced of the richness of this spirituality for many other believers and for the life of the Church. That is why we have decided to publish this work, not only for the members of the Teresian Association, but also for all those who live their faith in the midst of today’s societies, and want to nourish their experience of God in dialogue with the beliefs, values and ways of feeling and acting of contemporary societies.

The lay spirituality proposed by Pedro Poveda is modeled on the life of the first Christians, men and women who, living in the midst of the world, act as leaven in the midst of the masses, making present in society the justice that springs from faith, bound by charity, with an intrepid evangelizing spirit that links the witness of faith with its “holy fruits” (detachment, gratuitousness, humility and meekness, gentleness and fortitude, tolerance, conciliatory wisdom). With an enlightened faith, they persevere in prayer and in the Eucharistic life, as free people and as servants of God. According to the Letter to Diognetus, these first believers “living in Greek or barbarian cities, according to the lot that befell each one, and adapting themselves in dress, food and other types of life to the customs and habits of each country, show a peculiar tone of behavior that is admirable and, as everyone would admit, surprising”.

Hence the title of this work is “An extra-ordinary Distinctiveness”. Poveda’s invitation is that “immersed among the common people”, the laity should be distinguished by “holiness of life”, by being “interiorly (...) most distinctive with the distinction of virtue; most elevated with the elevation of holiness; most distinctive with the distinctiveness of the spirit of Christ” (1916) [78]. Each of the itineraries of lay spirituality addressed in this work leads to a life that is lived according to the uniqueness of the spirit of Christ.

This volume contains the papers presented by the authors at the Seminar on Incarnation Spiritualityin the light of the texts written by Poveda. The Seminar, with a duration of three years, has been held without interruption for ten years (from 2008 to 2018). The articles presented here have been discussed and contrasted with the participants in the Seminar, whose contributions have helped to enrich its content.

Among the objectives of the Seminar, we highlight the interest in: 1) deepening into the specific character of the lay spirituality proposed by Poveda, both from a theoretical and experiential point of view; 2) favoring a creative combination of the hermeneutic recovery of ancient texts and the appropriation of contemporary experience; 3) establishing a critical and interdisciplinary dialogue of Poveda’s texts with the collective key elements and codes in force in today’s societies; and 4) developing together new formulations and practices of a lay spirituality, which help to nourish and inspire a life committed to the Gospel and according to the spirituality proposed by Pedro Poveda2.

In total, the work consists of eight chapters in which basic dimensions of Poveda’s lay spirituality are addressed. It is not a systematic treatise, but a partial study in which only some texts of Pedro Poveda are studied in depth in which the author reflects and develops the chosen dimensions of Poveda’s spirituality. It is, therefore, an approach to the lay spirituality proposed by Poveda.

The first chapter addresses the characteristics of a lay presence in society, like that of the early Christians, inserted in social realities, which is distinguished by its “holiness of life”, for its ability to give flavor and heal.

The second chapter addresses the centrality of the incarnation in Poveda’s spirituality, whose full meaning can only be understood in the light of the paschal mystery. Poveda exhorts us to enter along the paths of knowledge, love and the following of Christ, whose love is only fully understood in the Crucified One.

The third chapter focuses on an essential and fundamental dimension of Christian living: prayer. The authors introduce us, through their reflection, to the meaning and effects of prayer for Pedro Poveda.

The fourth chapter delves into the importance of study in Poveda’s spirituality. In Poveda’s vision, study, along with prayer, is an irreplaceable means to achieve the ultimate goal and the program of the Work that he founded: the evangelization and dialogue of faith with science.

The fifth chapter develops Poveda’s conviction that faith in God enlivens and brings to fullness all that is human, while asking those who believe to be witnesses, with works and words, of the God who sustains, encourages and offers liberation and salvation.

The sixth and seventh chapters address some povedan virtues: the “holy fruits” that identify those who live them as disciples of Jesus Christ. The sixth chapter focuses on the habits and ways of being and acting that Poveda considers essential in the field of the relationship between profession, life, faith and vocation. The seventh develops the importance of meekness as a way of being, living, committing oneself and witnessing to the faith, following the model of Christ.

Finally, the eighth chapter deepens into the love/caritas that strongly binds believers in a community and strengthens them to commit themselves to the Kingdom. Poveda finds in the Trinitarian life the foundation that sustains and nourishes love.

Poveda’s texts are cited according to the numbering that appears in the volumes of the critical edition of the same. Specifically, the volumes cited are: Pedro Poveda, Obras I.Creí, por esto hablé (I believed, therefore I spoke). Critical edition and study by Mª Dolores Gómez Molleda, Madrid 20053; and Pedro Poveda, Obras II. Ensayos y proyectos pedagógicos(Essays and pedagogical projects). Critical edition and study by Margarita Bartolomé, Madrid 2016.

1 Translator’s Note: In this book we make no distinction in terms of gender perspective, following the recommendation to use the masculine as generic, thus representing both genders, and without any type of discrimination.

2 In all these years the team, coordinated by Elisa Estévez, has been integrated by Pilar Gascón, Mª Jesús Elejalde, Mati Carrero and Aurora Salamanca. The speakers of the different topics have been: Arantxa Aguado, Tusta Aguilar, Carmen Aparicio, Camino Cañón, Elisa Estévez, María Dolores Martín, Rosario V. Moreno and Raquel Pérez.

3 English translations can be found in Pedro Poveda, Selected Spiritual Writings Narcea S.A de Ediciones, 2012.

BEING THE SALT OF THE EARTH: LAY SPIRITUALITY IN THE THOUGHT OF PEDRO POVEDA

Elisa EstévezLópez

More than a hundred years ago, Pedro Poveda initiated a work of the Church, the Teresian Association, whose members had to live in the style of the early Christians, inserted in temporal realities, giving witness to the Gospel in the midst of educational and cultural structures, and linked by charity. With his initiative, he was responding to the imperative need for a dialogue between faith and science, between the Church and an increasingly pluralistic and secularized society that was demanding its autonomy1. It thus joined other initiatives that emphasized the role of the laity in social transformation (more specifically, in the field of education, which was then the subject of acute social debate). In the face of fundamentalist and intransigent positions of beliefs, the Work of Poveda and he himself, chose to respond to aggressive secularism, showing with works and words far removed from belligerence and disqualifications, that the fullness of the human being is in Christ and that there is no opposition between faith and science2.

The lay association that was taking its first steps in 1911 needed a strong spirituality, which Poveda would develop in the following years, and whose prototype had to be the first Christians, as he pointed out in 1934: “The idea of taking the life of the first Christians as a model, was born with the very idea of the Work itself...” [451]3. The aim of this chapter is not a systematic exposition of the model of lay spirituality proposed by Poveda, but to focus on his commentary on Mt. 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth”. This is a writing of 1920, in which he reflects very well how to be in the world, being like everyone else, and at the same time, healing and giving flavor.

CONTEXT AND LITERARY GENRE OF THE COMMENTARY ON: “YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH”.

The consideration “You are the salt of the earth” [157] belongs to a set of documents, very well differentiated in Poveda’s work, which the author began to write in February 1920, concluding it in March of the same year. He wrote it at a time when the lay association he had founded was becoming firmly established4, and having matured himself, with the strength of God’s love, in the crucible of suffering. The documentary collection is entitled: “Jesus, Teacher of Prayer”. It consists of twenty-four writings in which Poveda deals extensively, first, with the theme of prayer, and then he proposes how those who have to live and act as lay people in the midst of society should live and act. He clearly states the purpose of this lay association, its program and its own spirituality. Hence, the importance of these writings of 1920.

As for the literary genre, the set of documents contains meditations, considerations and some epistolary writing5. Specifically, the one that is the subject of our study is a consideration, Poveda’s literary genre par excellence. He uses it mainly when he touches on matters of utmost importance, to highlight essential features of identity, modality, mission and spirit of the Teresian Association. The consideration starts with a text of Scripture that contains the central idea to be developed. The author then expounds and argues the teachings derived from it, drawing on other biblical and patristic texts. And, finally, he exhorts to live in this way, giving indications on how to conduct oneself in life.

The chosen text, written on February 25, 1920, is based on the following Gospel quotation: “You are the salt of the earth. And if the salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trodden under people’s feet“ (Mt 5:13)6. His reflection has two main parts: a first one in which he develops the comparison of the life of the apostolate with the image of salt; and a second one in which he reflects on the conditions under which presence in the world ceases to be evangelizing.

This is not an exegetical commentary. Poveda is not a specialist in the Bible, but a “biblical man”7. He reads the Bible theologically and spiritually within the living tradition of the Church, from his deep believing experience. He tries to update this message for the Work he founded and, in dialogue with the Word, he outlines the lay spirituality he proposes and the features of his own identity and mission8.

“YOUR LIFE IS ONE OF APOSTOLATE”

Poveda begins his presentation with a central affirmation that cuts across all his thought: “your life is one of apostolate”, and the comparison he chooses is that of salt. By referring to the Association as a “work of apostolate”, and by describing the mission and life of its members as “apostolic”, “of zeal”, the author expresses his conviction that evangelization is the ultimate goal, the reason for being9 of a lay association, called to make the Gospel present in the midst of the public structures of civil society (purpose), and showing the fruitfulness of the dialogue faith-science and faith-cultures-justice (program). For Poveda, the passion for the Kingdom is not the only one that fully configures the life of the member of the Association, unifying and structuring it in an integrative way. From there it confronts other approaches to the human and opts for a life that welcomes and serves the cause of God in the midst of the world, bearing witness to it in word and deed. Hence the mission of the Association is not limited to collaborating in the emergence of a historical alternative, however good it may be, but must make possible the conditions that make possible the birth of a new creation (Rom 8). In other words, evangelization is a note of identity, inseparable from the lay character of the lay vocation and inherent to its purpose and program, which must be exercised in “a special apostolate that does not consist in preaching or administering the sacraments, but in teaching, instructing, educating, in a word, in forming the young, in making Christian teachers. It is a supernatural mission, because the end that the apostle proposes to himself is always supernatural, that of sanctifying the souls entrusted to him” (1919) [125].

In the second part of his writing, he returns to the apostolate of the one who is to live as salt of the earth, and he affirms emphatically: “It is a supernatural mission”:

“All his virtue, all the fruitfulness of his apostolate is in Christ, and when he separates himself from Christ, placing his trust in creatures, in human means and undertakings, his work is no longer apostolic, it is a natural labor more or less estimable in the world, according to the gifts possessed by the one who executes it, but without any value in relation to eternal life” [157].

Poveda stresses in this writing another essential aspect of his spirituality: the link with Christ, because salt does not have a taste by itself, but receives it from another10.

Those who aspire to collaborate in the transformation of history into a new creation through education, must have union with God as an essential dimension in order to understand the lay spirituality he proposes.

This was expressed again in 1925 in a commentary on the biblical text, “I am the vine, you are the branches” [210]. In it, he reflects on the indispensable union with God of those who aspire to live with evangelical fruitfulness (“fruits of eternal life“, as opposed to the branch that “dries up” and is good for nothing but to be thrown away). He does not hesitate to affirm: “the measure of your fruits will be this union with God” (1928) [260].

BEING SALT OF THE EARTH: A MODEL OF LAY SPIRITUALITY

The image of salt is very suggestive, and with it Poveda illustrates how he understands a lay life, “a life fused with that of the people, with their sufferings, their anguish, their hopes and dreams, and a ‘healing’ life of the divine”11. Both dimensions are essential for those who, according to their lay vocation, have to be God’s presence inserted in public and civic structures. The image of salt speaks of sharing the ordinary conditions of life of the men and women of our world, and of being leaven in history (cf. LG 31), giving flavor and healing. But Poveda’s affirmations also provide an essential key to understand this way of being companions on the journey with other men and women, and how to collaborate in the construction of the human: looking at the broken, grief-laden, wounded realities12. The transforming key of being in the world starting from below is closely linked in Poveda to his first insertion into the dusty roads of the caves of Guadix. The work of the Academies and the interest in training teachers cannot be fully understood if it is not related to that experience that definitively marked his life and made him an expert in solidarity with humanity. The mediations will change, but not the profound conviction that the human is recreated from below, following the Son who became incarnate out of love13.

Poveda justifies, right at the beginning, the reason for choosing this comparison and not that of light: “it fits better... to the humility of your mission and the silence with which you carry it out”. His statement is better understood in the light of other texts of the same year. Fifteen days earlier, in his consideration of prayer as the only strength, Poveda reveals data of the concrete situation that the Work was going through in 1920:

“The difficulties from within and the dangers from without, together with the persecutions of some and the fears of others, bring discouragement to the spirit of the most hardened” [153].

A few days later, he writes to make clear his conviction that Jesus Christ is the only foundation of the being and mission of the Work. With this certainty firmly rooted, he did not hesitate to affirm that for this reason “we are not discouraged by the lack of material means, nor by the small number, nor by the humility of the few of us who have come together to carry out this undertaking” [168].

Beyond the knowledge of the circumstances that the Work was going through at that historical juncture, the context in which they are inserted offers evangelical key elements of great depth.

Poveda’s view of weakness, difficulties and conflicts does not remain closed in on itself, in a movement that can only produce sterility. The invitation that he makes to these women and that resounds with force is to trust in God14, in the strength that is received by opening oneself to his love in prayer15. He does not desist from the enterprise they are embarked on because he is convinced that God always sustains and that the difficult circumstances they are going through are an opportune time, a time of grace in which to rehearse the undisguised Gospel in its marginality and poverty. Hence his insistence that it is not position, talent, riches, the prudence of the flesh, in short, “something human”, that sustains and makes bold an Association called to collaborate in the task of liberation and salvation that Jesus Christ has entrusted to the Church. This is not the time for regrets, nor for nostalgia, nor for inhibition, but rather to walk as befits the vocation we have received, and this is the basis of unity of spirit16.

Touching our own and others’ vulnerability is an invitation to see the kenosis and the abasement of the Servant, who gave himself freely and gratuitously for love, to be salt and leaven in history17. Poveda is convinced that effectiveness does not come from human means –although they are necessary and indispensable–, but in reflecting and making Christ transparent.

But, in addition, when he affirms that salt fits better with “the humility of your undertaking” and “the silence with which you carry it out”, he alludes to the lay modality that he wants for the members of the Association. At the present time, the Work has a large group of professional women, of firm and enlightened faith, who give testimony of good work in their jobs. It also has many Academies. The Association and the founder himself have also already experienced persecutions and suffering. But in this way Poveda underlines his conviction of a lay presence “fused” with the life of the people, which relies on the only one who can sustain it, God himself; of a lay presence that bears witness to postpone everything human, always putting God first in their living and doing. On the other hand, the work they do is only through individual presences in schools and teacher training colleges, and in the Academies that are emerging in many Spanish provinces, but without being noticed, except for the holiness of life in the exercise of their profession.

Throughout his reflection, the author explains the image of salt.

An existence interwoven with humanity

The image of salt evokes, in the first place, its function as a seasoning that is not seen, not noticed, but is there and can be distinguished. Applied to the way of being and acting with the Spirit of Jesus in the world, it points to real and concrete participation in the “ordinary conditions of family and social life” (cf. LG 31), to being in the reality of things through concrete historical mediations. He urges us not to live “disconnected” or “self-absorbed”, ignoring the great concerns, problems, desires and achievements of humanity, either out of ignorance, or because we do not have the epistemological tools to decipher the changing historical coordinates, or because of indifference or passivity, or by preferring the old securities to involvement in the ‘chiaroscuro’ of the paths of social transformation, or by living a comfortable life that does not run the risk of meeting the eyes of those who are different, strangers and foreigners, of those who are on the margins.

In the comparison of salt, the centrality of the incarnation in Poveda’s lay spirituality resounds, the source of inspiration of “true humanism” (1915) [74], which has no other model than Jesus himself, who became a servant and embraced the existence of all humanity, becoming like us and taking as his own our fragile clay, even more, making our negativities his own, becoming involved with our vulnerability, our sin and our deaths (cf. Phil 2:7). The invitation to be salt of the earth is, therefore, a provocation to be incarnated in the various realities in this way, without reducing the demands of a life that, like that of Jesus, is exercised in the gaze offered and received, and in contact with people and situations, in order to attend to them and love them with solicitude. It is also an invitation to allow oneself to be captured and affected by persons and situations, even more, to allow oneself to be transformed by being touched in the center of one’s being by the word, the need, the desire or the wound of the other. In this way, the lay vocation expresses all its radicality: to offer contemporary women and men the face of Christ, our brother.

For Poveda there is no doubt that this is how the first Christians lived, men and women “employed by the State, occupying various posts and living in the midst of the world” (1934) [451], who displayed “a holy freedom to do good, not fearing censure, nor what the worldly will say” (1920) [154]. They are the paradigm of a lay life that is nourished by the Gospel and bears witness to its faith in word and deed, without allowing itself to be overcome or annulled by the fear of discredit, mockery, persecution and martyrdom.

It is necessary, however, to point out a second characteristic of salt: it is recognized by its flavor. If for Poveda it is essential to be inserted in social realities, it is no less important to distinguish oneself. Once again, his source of inspiration is the early Christians whose life, identical to that of Christ18, stands out for its “holy fruits” (1925) [210].

A good translation of “being salt of the earth” is “to deal with the world and to be inwardly strangers to the world” (1933) [391]19. As the Letter to Diognetus already expressed in his time with respect to the first Christians20, for Poveda the members of the Association must be “like everyone else”, they must pass “unnoticed”, and be “like the common people”, but they must be distinguished by the “holiness of life”, they must be “interiorly (....) most distinguished with the distinction of virtue”; most elevated with the elevation of holiness; most distinctive with the distinctiveness of the spirit of Christ”21, they are to be among those who walk according to the flesh, but do not militate according to the flesh22.

A countercultural presence

Poveda understands Christian existence as a paradox: “like everyone else, but different”. The conjunction of two apparently contradictory statements is disconcerting, and invites us to think and look for a deeper meaning that is not evident at first glance. Poveda’s understanding of a life in the midst of the world is paradoxical and, therefore, points to a countercultural way of being and of committing oneself, as was in many cases that of the first Christians. This is, undoubtedly, an indispensable key to every Christian vocation and, of course, to the lay vocation.

The frontier character of the lay vocation proposed by Poveda today does not lie so much in reaching where others do not reach, but in clearly marking with his lifestyle, his educational and formative commitments, his publications.... the countercultural character of the Gospel, the affirmation of a series of values that cannot be renounced in a Christian and Teresian life: the justice that springs from faith, the primacy of the last, the forgiveness of enemies, the renunciation of power, the obsession for prestige and possessions, and careerism as a way of facing existence.

The invitation is to ask oneself which aspects of relational life, family, work, etc., are paradoxical, that is, they raise questions without imposing their meaning or continue to publicly invite other people to enter into a deeper dimension of their human and Christian reality, or if rather “being like those of our class and condition”, a false translation of being lay has annulled this perspective of the horizon of life and mission of the laity. In short, it is an invitation to daily exercise in discernment and to ask oneself if where the laity is or where it wants to be, it is salt of the earth and, therefore, those who from other existential stakes look, listen, etc., “find something that perhaps they are unable to explain, but that satisfies, consoles and encourages them” (1920) [157].

Christian and Povedan identity

A particularly relevant aspect in his reflection has to do with the way of making explicit, without imposing, the offer of life and happiness that from faith in Jesus Christ orients and gives meaning to all educational and cultural activities, including citizenship. For Poveda, what distinguishes is the “sanctity of life”, the “spirit of Christ”, that is, faith in a personal God who enlivens and calls to fullness all that is human. He certainly thinks of a presence that is capable of inspiring values in society, but his idea goes beyond that. He considers it essential to make present the God in whom they believe and to be witnesses of a Presence that sustains, encourages and overflows, supported by a commitment to reality, which makes present the justice of the King. Being believers in society is not reduced to manifesting and putting into practice a series of ethical principles, however excellent they may be, but to expressing who gives total meaning to life; nor is it limited to relegating faith to private spaces.

Poveda will develop this aspect extensively in the consideration Creí, por esto hablé (I believed, therefore I spoke) (1920) [158], written a few days after “Sois la sal de la tierra” (You are the salt of the earth) (1920) [157]. In this text he insists on the importance of “manifesting the faith”, of “speaking” and “not being silent”, of “confessing the truth that they profess”, “confessing Christ”, leaving behind “prudence misunderstood”. A writing that requires a rereading and reinterpretation in the current context of a society that affirms its autonomy and defines itself as plural in beliefs, values and ways of facing existence; but also many years after the Second Vatican Council, in which a commitment was made to overcome the apologetic and triumphant ecclesiology of Vatican I, and an engaged dialogue with the world was promoted, while at the same time the foundations were laid that would redefine the role of believers in society. In the spirit of Vatican II, Paul VI, in his encyclical Ecclesiam Suam 72, clearly expressed the Church’s relationship with the world as a dialogue.

Poveda not only speaks of coherence between speaking and doing, between discourse and praxis −which would already be a lot− but he interweaves all his discourse with the unavoidable requirement of bearing witness to the option of meaning that interweaves the whole life of the members of the lay association founded by him. In his words resounds the purpose of the Association: to evangelize through cultural realities, making explicit the seed of transcendence that inspires its being and its mission, always consistent with the praxis of justice, mercy and forgiveness inherent to the Christian faith, and exercising a continuous discernment on how to do it.

BEING SALT TO SEASON, CAUTERIZE AND PRESERVE

For Poveda it is not possible to be in a reality without carrying it and being in charge of it23. In his reflection he insists on the practical dimension of the lay commitment with reality (to take charge of reality) and in his firm disposition to flavor and heal (to carry reality), although some terms express his understanding and appreciation of the situation of his time (to be responsible for the reality).

Well aware of the situations that men and women of his time are going through, Poveda focuses his gaze on the world in need of integral health, that is, of salvation. In his mind and heart the evil and suffering they suffer resonate, but also the causes that trigger them. Poveda has before his eyes the de-humanization24 produced by “the world, the devil and the flesh” [157]. It does not escape his notice that there are ways of thinking, feeling and acting that do not generate life in abundance for individuals and groups (cf. Jn 10:10). At other times, he is even more explicit about the need to know and understand the situation in order to give an adequate response25, to let reality speak and affirm its existence, not by covering it up or masking it.

Poveda’s reflections on study and the need for science for the mission are illuminated from this and other texts in which Poveda insists on the practical and ethical dimension. Study is a means that aims to “create spaces for human life to grow –to open roads to life– and so that in it the Kingdom of God may gain ground of true fullness for all”26. In Poveda’s school, the exercise of intelligence, of reasoning, of critical understanding of reality, is an exercise of discipleship, and therefore, it leads to understand reality and to commit oneself decisively with it in the style of Jesus27. Study is “a truly committed experience, of service to those who need us most28”, hence Poveda came to say in 1933:

“I consider as a mistake the excessive eagerness to surround the young student with all kinds of comforts and to isolate her from all contact with the poor and needy humanity”.

“Solidarity, says Arantxa Aguado, affects study and fills our search for attention, respect, listening, collaboration, patience and joy. The intellectual task and the disposition of the heart towards the forms of justice that our world needs harmonize well in the Povedan charism and in the vocational identity that should always distinguish us”29. Science placed at the service, ultimately, of life and the dignity of all human beings, and as an effective tool in a world where cruelty, contempt, lies and concealment silence the reality of millions of men and women.

Functions of salt

Poveda points out three functions of salt: it serves to season, cauterize and preserve. This way of being and acting as salt is the life and mission of the members of the Association, which must reach, therefore, their relationships, their profession, their involvement in society; in short, the program they have to carry out. A few days later Poveda refers to the mission with an equally rich image: “you must elevate all that you touch”, which he understands as “to console”, “to teach”, “to enlighten”, “to sanctify”, “to heal” and, in short, “to edify all “30.

The first task of a lay mission is to season, a verb that means “to season the food”, “to put things in the point and maturity they should have”. What is this “maturity” for Poveda, and how does he ultimately conceive the fulfillment of the human?

In his faith vision of reality, Poveda is aware and concerned that many men and women have not yet discovered, in the words of Ortega, “their authentic being”31, so that they can choose wisely their own way of doing, being and living together, in the heart of a community of destiny that extends throughout the universe. Poveda notes that this is lacking in his milieu and evaluates it with the qualifier of “unsavory”, thus alluding to what “lacks taste or barely has it, or has it badly”. In other words, he notes that something is missing in order to speak of the fullness of what is human and, in some cases, it will be because it has not been discovered or has barely been tried, and in others, because the path and the means to achieve it have been wrong.

The task of seasoning has then to do with the question of meaning, inherent, in Poveda’s view, to every educational and transformational task32. Poveda understands that it is necessary to accompany the process of growth and the emergence of new subjects, capable of facing the challenges of each historical moment from positions of solidarity, fairness and inclusivity. But, in addition, it is necessary to “bring to their spirit a persuasion that seasons their whole life” [157]. What is this persuasion that has the capacity to fill their whole life with meaning?

In Poveda’s educational principle, helping each subject to ask himself who he is and what he is going to do with his life, that is, to ask himself, through dialogue and personal reflection, what is the meaning of his existence, and to learn to enjoy, to love and to live with meaning, is framed in a Christian anthropology. The instruments and human and technical resources that Poveda would devise are at the service of the aims of the educational and humanizing action he proposes and, ultimately, at the service of “true humanism” which for him has its root in the incarnation: “the human perfected and divinized, because it was filled with God” (1915) [74]. He is convinced of this (“if you could see how convinced I am of it” [74]), that is, he lives it in first person, and so he transmits it.

On more than one occasion Poveda questions whether the answers given to reality are really “giving flavor”. In 1922 he would ask his collaborators (in this case referring to boarding schools):

“Is the work of zeal that should be done in your house being done? Because if everything is done well, but zeal for the salvation of the souls living in our boarding schools is neglected, we would have to say that the spirit of our Association does not live in them” [183].

Poveda assumes that work is done with “zeal”. Therefore, the challenge is aimed at assessing how “this work of zeal for salvation” is being carried out, that is, if it is done as “it should be done”. Not everything goes, even if it is well done, even if it is done seriously and brings benefits to the subjects and to the community.

In fact, Poveda establishes a distinction between “good” and “zeal for salvation”, which can be very enlightening today, when some consequences of the process of secularization are still felt among many believers. It is, therefore, a question that needs to be clarified, that is to say, a question in which discernment must be exercised.

On the other hand, the task of bringing meaning is closely linked to that of generating hope, something that society needed at the historical moment Poveda lived, but also, and perhaps more pressing, in our present societies. “We must live in faith and hope", Poveda affirms, “while the time of recollection arrives” (1932) [374], and this always rests on God, on his grace: “all hope is from God, through God and in God” (1929) [297].

Secondly, evangelization in the midst of the world passes through cauterizing, whose meaning is “to restore the blood of wounds” and cure other diseases with “cautery”. Poveda has before him “the sores and wounds of humanity” and his words invite us today to ask ourselves: what are the open veins of our contexts? And how can we contribute to the healing of today’s societies through faith-science dialogue?

His approach to what is corrupt and needs the “best precaution”, that is, to be tackled effectively, is based on Poveda’s concern to overcome a way of understanding the construction of civil society, which does not respond to the Gospel criteria, and which also causes social evils. But, in addition, Poveda places before his collaborators the suffering reality of humanity and understands that those who have to live in a Christian way in the midst of society cannot ignore or remain indifferent to the suffering of the world, that is “ the world of God “33.

In his words, his deep social concern can be heard, always present in the horizon of his work, embodied in very concrete options in that stage and in others34, and more than once socially recognized. Approximately one month before he wrote this text (January 22, 1920), an article appeared in “La Regeneración” in which the following is highlighted: “(...) the Teresian Boarding Schools, fulfilling the initiative of their founder, educate and instruct for the teaching profession, more the poor, the humble, the orphans, the destitute, than the wealthy. There are social works that, hidden and silent, carry out missions of great value “35. To listen to the wounds of humanity, to enter into contact with them, “as a lesser god that demands justice, right and encounter”36, necessarily enters the horizon of Poveda’s educational and humanizing thought and practice.