Readers may recognize ‘saecula saeculorum’ as the final words in the Latin version of the prayer ‘Glory be to the Father’. The English translation of this phrase is ‘world without end’, a reference to eternity. Ironically, ‘saecula saeculorum’ shares its etymological root with our modern word ‘secular’. The Latin word ‘saeculum’ means ‘current age’. The former draws our attention to the hereafter and has a sacred implication. The latter focuses our attention on the here and now and – one might posit – has a distinctly non-sacred implication. Consider the word ‘secularization’.
Irony aside, the sacred and the secular are not necessarily at odds with each other. Indeed, for those who seek it, the sacred can be found within the secular. In fact, this understanding is fundamental to religiously oriented philanthropy – certainly Catholic philanthropy. How so?
In the Catholic perspective, the current age (the ‘saecula’ in ‘saecula saeculorum’) is preliminary to, and even part of, the world without end (the ‘saecula saeculorum’). This essential reality is core to the Good News of the Gospel. Jesus enlightened his followers and us with his announcements that heaven and the Kingdom of God are already within us in the here and now.
This is the ‘already-not yet’ belief in Christianity. Through the self-sacrifice of the Incarnate Son of God, we have – if we accept it – salvation, the beginning of life in the ‘saecula saeculorum’. This is the ‘already’. The ‘not-yet- is the result of the conditional challenges accepting salvation entails. Acceptance has its terms.
Because God is love he wills that we share eternal life with him. He has a plan for us to succeed in this, and each of us has a role to play in this divine plan. For us to accomplish this, however, we first have to learn about the Good News of salvation and then to discern where we fit into the divine plan. Learning about the Good News is a function of evangelization.
But, while discerning God’s plan for each of us – those enlightened by the Good News – is a responsibility, it is also something of a blessing attainable only by those whose abilities to discern are not crippled by dehumanizing poverty. This is the relevance of those searing verses in chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel which call us to attend to the needs of the ‘least of these’. The least of these include those lacking the basic requirements for human dignity, those imprisoned by addiction or loneliness, and those handicapped by ignorance of the Gospel.
What is the role of Catholic philanthropy in all this. Catholic philanthropy sees the sacred in the secular. For this reason it evangelizes. It propagates the Good News to people otherwise unaware of the salvific sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But Catholic philanthropy also promotes the material and educational wellbeing of those who have neither, for fruitful discernment of the divine plan requires a healthy frame of mind.
However, there is something else. To be successful in evangelizing and in promoting wellbeing and in discerning how to participate in the divine plan, Catholic philanthropy must be rooted in prayer. Jesus Christ is our greatest philanthropist. He saw the sacred in the secular. He also lived a life of constant prayer. With prayer Catholic philanthropy bears fruit. With prayer the Kingdom advances.
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