Where Are We Going? Our Shared Humanity, Technology, and the Gift of Disability
Where Are We Going? Our Shared Humanity, Technology, and the Gift of Disability
Publish Date: 2026-06-22 07:01:00
Source Domain: www.wordonfire.org
Most of us live very predictable lives. From the time we awake to when we return to our beds at night, we typically know where we’ll be going and what we’ll be doing. Our lives often follow a numbing routine until weekends or holidays arrive, and we can divert our attention to leisurely pursuits that refresh us for our return to the grind of our workaday world.
Many of us find comfort in our daily habits and routines. As William James wrote, “Habit is the enormous flywheel of society.” But what if our habits get broken or if certain habits become damaging to our physical or spiritual health or blind us to opportunities for spiritual growth? Sometimes our routines can also cause us to be unaware or uncritical of developments in society or culture that creep in upon us unawares—developments that may threaten us, our families, or the world more broadly. Our routines may undermine what it is that defines us and the reality of who we are as human persons. We are living in such times.
Aquinas wrote that “a habit is a quality difficult to change, according to which a thing is well or badly disposed, either in regard to itself or to something else” (Summa theologiae 1-2.49.1) The habits of our spiritual lives are either dynamic and responsive to the needs around us (well-disposed) or complacent (badly disposed). If we notice that our habits are stifling our spiritual alertness to the needs of those around us or to troubling events in our culture, maybe it’s time to ask ourselves, Quo vado? “Where am I going?”
The International Theological Commission (ITC) recently challenged us with that question in a three-year reflection (2022–25) on Vatican II’s pastoral constitution, Gaudium et Spes, in commemoration of its sixtieth anniversary. They named their publication Quo Vadis Humanitas? Thinking through Christian Anthropology…
