Person community

DTH 642 – Questions #8
How does Wojtyla explain “participation”? Give citations and explain in your own words.
First, it refers to “property of the person, a property that expresses itself in the ability of human being to endow their existence and activity with a personal (personalistic) dimension when they exist and act together with others.” Second, it refers to “a positive relation to the humanity of others.” Participation is not merely to be with others, but to interact with others in a positive way. Through participation, the man’s actions “together with others” promote the self-fulfillment of the human being as a person.
How does Wojtyla explain “alienation”? Give citations and explain in your own words.
“Alienation has relevance not for the human being as a personal subject. The human being as an individual of the species is a human being and remains a human being regardless of the system of interpersonal or social relationships.” We all know what alienation is, whether one is alienated from God or from others. In the face of alienation, we ought to act in a human way. The emphasis on our humanity should reflect our better qualities and not our worst.
What is the only relationship which “seems to deserve the name commuio personarum”? Why? “I- Thou.”
“These relationships arise in the context of the facts of human coexistence and cooperation.” Communio personarum means communion of persons; it usually refers to the Trinity. This means very little if there is no relationship between ourselves and the Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A ‘We’ is many human beings, many subjects, which in some way exist and act together. Acting “together” (i.e., “in common”) does not mean engaging in some activities that somehow go along side by side. Rather it means that these activities, along with the existence of those many I’s are related to a single value, which therefore deserves to be called the common good.
Just as the Triune God is a communion of persons, human beings also need communion with one another. In such a communion, there must be an end that is worth striving for.
Bibliography Wojtyla, Karol. Catholic Thought from Lublin, vol. 4, Person and Community: Selected Essays, New York: P. Lang, 1993.