Deepening in the human person and his communion with Fr. Serretti

Lima 09/12/14, (Sodalit News – Peru). Seeking a greater depth in the study and understanding of the identity of the human person, the editorial Life and Spirituality (Vida y Espiritualidad) conducted the conference ‘Person and communion of persons’ under the responsibility of Fr. Massimo Serretti, professor of Dogmatic Theology in the Pontifical Lateran University.

Fr. Massimo Serretti began his conference with a historical perspective mentioning some details about the diverse conceptions different ancient cultures had concerning the human person, highlighting the value that the Christian culture had and still has until today about the subject. Fr. Serretti said that “the anthropologic paradigm was reformulated by Christian thought through the light of Revelation and the experience of what it means to be human that the Incarnation and Resurrection of the Son made possible”.

As a first contribution that Christian thought brought to this reality of the human person, Fr. Serretti said that this reality of the human person is founded upon “the fact that the Creator thinks and creates every man as he is and this means that He establishes with every man a unique and irreplaceable relationship”. He also explained that as a characteristic of current thought, a loss of the ability to give a real support to the personal dignity of the human person, having taken away its theological basis, naturalizes man more and more to the point of equating him to other animal species, differentiating him merely by his peculiar attributes.

A bit later on, Fr. Massimo Serretti explained that the characteristic of communion that man has is explained “in the Trinity where the mystery of the human person is found”. With this, the priest highlighted that “in order for a relationship to exist, there must exist a ‘someone’ that enters into relation; therefore, the human person precedes any relationship and this occurs beginning with a personal subject that finds itself fully in act. From this it is deduced that the communion of persons is something very important but that it comes after the person in and of himself that comes to be seen as cause and beginning of communion”, he added.

Fr. Serretti concluded the conference responding to several questions that the ones in attendence had, resolving some doubts and deepening even more in the subject matters that interested the public.

Fr. Massimo Serretti is a doctor in Philosophy and Theology, professor of Dogmatic Theology in the Pontifical Lateran University and of the History of Religious Thought in the University of Urbino. He also teaches Theological Anthropology in the Superior Institute of Religious Studies John Paul II in Pesaro, Italy. He has published numerous books and articles.

You can see the conference of Fr. Massimo Serretti in Spanish here: