This original and entertaining essay in Moral Fundamental (editorial Palabra, Madrid 2021, 150 pages), written by José Manuel Horcajo, professor of theology at the San Dámaso University of Madrid and pastor of San Ramón Nonato, in the district of Puente de Vallecas, is surprising.
The metaphor of the pilgrimage serves as a common thread to understand the meaning of human action in the light of Christian faith and human reason. From the journey to Hispania of Asterix and Obelix, through the journey of Abraham, the Exodus of Israel, the Odyssey of Ulysses, the Way of St. James, the adventures of Don Quixote, the divine comedy of Dante, or the mission of Frodo, the ring bearer..., the author helps us understand key concepts of ethics: grace, affectivity, intentionality, conscience, nominalism, utilitarianism, emotivism, etc.
With a rigorous and at the same time colloquial language, he offers many applications to practical life in order to make the doctrine of the great doctors of the Church accessible. Thus, to make clear the falsity of the pretension of autonomy and the need to be based on the original divine love: "Our freedom is either filial or it is nothing."
Another example, to understand the difference between the natural and rational human instinct and the supernatural instinct aroused by the Holy Spirit: the nun St. Angela of the Cross, who asks alms for the poor she serves in the house of her company; she receives a slap from an ill-favored gentleman; her immediate response is not the violent reaction or the legal denunciation, but to tell him: -You have already given me what is mine, now give me for my poor".
In short, an accessible presentation of the bases of human and Christian action, overcoming various theories that have led to dead ends. And all this from the centrality of the personal love of Jesus Christ as the motor, motivation and goal of the journey in holiness towards human fulfillment in this life and in eternity.
