It has been aptly said that those who forget their past do not know who they are. This is what we will address in this article, concisely, recalling the foundational event of the faith, especially in two highly significant dimensions or fields. These are the educational and cultural spheres, and that of social formation/action, in line with Pope Leo XIV, who published the apostolic letter Designing New Maps of Hope , commemorating the “60th anniversary of the conciliar Declaration Gravissimum educationis, on the extreme importance and relevance of education in the life of the human being” (n. 1).

As social sciences, spirituality, and theology have shown, any charism and religious-prophetic spirit, inspired by faith, always runs the risk of having the institutional framework—essential for embodying and energizing this prophetic charism—stifled and perverted by the charismatic (spiritual) core that gives meaning to the institution, such as an educational one. The dynamics of preservation or security at all costs, of prestige, power, and wealth (being rich), can extinguish and manipulate the charism and foundational spirituality that nourish educational, training, university, or cultural institutions. History, thought, and the Church’s own Magisterium—for example, the Second Vatican Council—teach us this.

In this sense, when spirituality and mission, along with their educational institutions, are not rooted in the human and social spheres—such as culture, politics, and economics—then we find ourselves engulfed in pathologies and ills. This occurs when spirituality and mission fail to engage with marginalized communities, peripheries, and the margins; with liberating and transformative causes of peace and justice, and with the poor (the impoverished, oppressed, excluded, and victims). All this evil and idolatry of power and the pursuit of success, prestige, and money (or possessions) is the sin of the world, or worldliness, as Pope Francis also taught us. All of this is, if possible, even more serious if it were to happen to spirituality and mission, with its faith-inspired education, since faith is what characterizes it, its essence, and its founding charism.

Life, mission, and spirituality, as revealed in Jesus, have their heart in this incarnational dynamism of seeking God in all things, of being contemplative in action, in the service of faith and liberating justice with the poor, in affective fidelity to (feeling with) the Church, and in dialogue with cultures and religions. The spiritual and educational being nourished by faith is defined, through following (being a companion) of Jesus in the Church, by this service and pursuit of the most universal good in love and with evangelical poverty, living out a commitment of solidarity for liberating justice with the poor of the earth. This stands in opposition to the idols of power and wealth, to the immorality and dehumanization of being rich, which is anti-Gospel.

From a faith-based perspective, this implies service, a choice, and a commitment to ideals, peaceful struggles, and projects that embody these causes of solidarity and liberating justice for the poor. It involves seeking out all kinds of channels and means (spiritual and cultural, social, political, and economic) that make possible this fraternity and the most universal good: the integral promotion and liberation of the poor. This is the missionary-prophetic dynamic: the proclamation and transformation in fraternal love, reconciliation, peace, and justice for the poor; and, synergistically, the liberating denunciation of all evil and injustice, of every reality, relationship, and institution—law, system, or social structure (such as politics and economics)—that causes domination and oppression, inequality, and social or global injustice.

Therefore, as Popes like Francis and Leo are highlighting and testifying, the primary place to live and bear witness to the faith is the community or civil society, the simple and humble people, the poor; and not the elites or privileged of any kind. Indeed, it is through the transformative agency of the people and the poor, through their struggles, causes, and emancipatory projects, through their integral development and liberation, that one truly (authentically) becomes a witness to the Gospel and the faith; spirituality and mission acquire credibility. And, to understand or spiritually embrace this, one need only read and contemplate or meditate on (embrace in faith) the life of the incarnate God in the Word of God, in the Gospel of Jesus, the Kingdom of God and its justice toward the poor; with its profound followers, such as Francis of Assisi, Saint Dominic, and Ignatius of Loyola.

In these sources and places, as can be seen, lies a wealth of spiritual, anthropological, and ethical wisdom, just as the saints, doctors, and teachers of the faith did. This makes possible an education and formation that is:  integral, encompassing all dimensions of the person, such as reason and emotion, contemplation and action (social, the struggle for justice), mysticism and politics… with the promotion, global development, and empowerment of individuals, communities, and the poor, their lives, dignity, and rights; interdisciplinary, mediated by cultural and scientific disciplines such as philosophy, the humanities, and the social sciences; and contemporary, with its universal, global reach in the era of globalization that continues to this day. Indeed, faith gathers and embraces all that is beautiful, wonderful, and true in our increasingly interconnected and globalized world. It welcomes the echoes and cries of individuals, communities, and the poor, of popular, social, and civic movements. This is a globalization of solidarity and peace, of justice and sustainable development, against the neoliberal globalization of capital, war and ecological destruction.

Fraternal love, charity—which is constitutively social and political and inseparable from the commitment to justice for the poor—is realized in the struggle against the current global ideologies that dominate the world today. These are neoliberalism or global neocapitalism and the remnants of collectivist communism (collectivism), as the Church’s social doctrine (CST) demonstrates through critical and insightful analysis, revealing their inherent individualism, lack of solidarity, and economist, their inhumanity and injustice. Service to faith and justice essentially and vitally involves fighting against these immoral and unjust ideological and economic systems, which place capital, the idols of the market, and profit above life, dignity, and human rights. This is what theology, CST, and, in dialogue with the social sciences—all crucial for a mature, serious, and coherent faith—teach us, each from its own specific perspective.

As we have already indicated, this approach seeks to find the channels or means to historicize the most universal good and justice for the poor, so that these values ​​become embodied, real, concrete, transformative, and liberating. Thus, dialogue and critical debate with sociopolitical ideas, ideologies, and philosophies are crucial in order to embrace all that is good and true that they have contributed. These include the values ​​or principles of autonomy, freedom, and democratic participation (first-generation human rights), which lie at the heart of the humanist-liberal traditions. These are the values ​​that economic liberalism or neoliberalism, capitalism, has perverted and betrayed with its possessive individualism and its economic and mercantile materialism. Also, important are the values ​​of solidarity, equality, social and international justice, empowerment, and the integral promotion and liberation of the poor (second-generation social rights), which are at the heart of the labor movement and social humanisms of a self-managed or democratic nature. And that collectivist communism, or collectivism, stifled or distorted, with its bureaucratic and elitist statism, with its crass, productivity materialism. All of this has been very clearly understood by the philosophical, theological, and spiritual current of communitarian personalism, a new integral humanism inspired by faith that has contributed so much alongside Catholic Social Teaching.

Thus, an indispensable means of achieving justice for the poor is the welfare state, or rather, the social state governed by the rule of law, a product of the dedication, solidarity, and commitment of workers’ and apostolic movements, such as the Young Christian Workers (JOC), the Catholic Action Workers’ Brotherhood (HOAC), and the Workers’ Movement (MO) or the Vox (VO) in Spain. Faced with the constant attacks of neoliberalism/capitalism on the social state, its pillars must be secured and promoted. These include decent work, a humane and just labor system where the life, dignity, and social rights of workers come first. This includes a fair wage for workers and their families, workplace safety and hygiene with humane working hours compatible with family life, democratic participation and co-management of companies, and so on. A fair tax system is also essential, where those who have more—the wealthiest and most powerful, capital and corporations with their profits, economic, and financial operations—contribute and pay more to the public treasury, eradicating immoral tax havens and other forms of tax fraud. Quality social policies and public services. That is, the quality of education and culture, healthcare and medical/pharmaceutical treatments, social services, housing and infrastructure or facilities; with basic services such as electricity and energy, water, and transportation, which cannot be commodified. Social science also shows us this.

This social state governed by the rule of law, based on universal solidarity and social effectiveness, must be global, with a cosmopolitan democracy, without borders or barriers, in order to achieve this solidarity-based, just, peaceful, and ecological globalization. Fair (responsible) trade and consumption coupled with global disarmament. Ethical finance and banking, a financial-banking system at the service of the real economy for the promotion of employment and sustainable development, with fair and social credit; in opposition to the current casino-like, speculative, and usurious financial capitalism. This is what the current popular or social movements have shown us, rooted in liberation, thought and spirituality, to which educators, teachers, and witnesses rooted in faith have contributed so much. And whose legacy and testimony are a light (a beacon) for updating or renewing all this educational and formative wealth in the social sphere that we have observed.