By Dr. Michael Campos, High School Religion, Theology and Spirituality Faculty
Seminar 3, Day 3: I am Chosen
Maupay nga aga!
In what is proving to be an iconic event for all three Seminars, participants welcomed the morning sun at the beach, in a reenactment of the post-Resurrection narrative from the 21st chapter of the Gospel of John. SHIFT Scholars played the roles of Jesus and his four disciples; a local family lent us their small banca (outrigger canoe) to incarnate the moment in which Jesus encountered a cohort of fishermen who could not imagine their lives outside the demands of survival. Having “seen” Peter and his friends beyond their poverty and dejection, Jesus called them to agency and conversion.
Considering humanization as foundational to spiritual practice, Sam facilitated a discussion of the sacramental theology of the Roman Catholic Church. The questions that followed reflected the diversity of participants: some focused on the philosophical framework of baptism and confirmation; others clarified catechetical concerns related to sacramental practice.
I invited the cohort to reflect on the difference between “being seen” and “being gazed upon.” The latter draws from the thought of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and theorist Michel Foucault who observed how social expectations tend to shape how we behave and self-regulate. To “be seen,” on the other hand, comes from a place of profound self-awareness. When we live in ways that align our “deepest desires” with our speech and actions, others “see” the fulness of our authenticity. In order “to be called,” we aspire first to be human.
Photos by Dr. Michael Campos, Religion, Theology & Spirituality, Faculty
Convent & Stuart Hall Travel 