A educação para o amor. Uma reflexão a partir de Edith Stein

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present Edith Stein's reflection on the education of the person in view of love. The process of education, according to Edith Stein, presupposes a conception of the human person, in which the ideal or goal towards which education is directed is also indicated. The author's pedagogical reflection contains, therefore, a conception of the person, created in the image of God, structured as a unity of living body, soul and spirit. The spiritual soul has the function of shaping the body, developing in the process of the formation of the person and orienting the person beyond himself, towards God. Starting from the concept of the personal nucleus, the most interior and profound dimension of the person, we can understand that the fundamental orientation of the person's life is attention to interiority, from which the person can respond to the calls that come to her from the world and from God, in an authentic and personal way. The dimension of affectivity is the capacity to becomes aware of himself and to apprehend the values which give meaning to a proper existence and to the world. Feelings, in order to be oriented to the highest values, need to be educated, especially their sensitive aspect is called to transcend itself to the spiritual apprehension of value – of oneself, of the other, of reality. Love is presented in this work as the highest feeling, by which each person is considered in his or her unrepeatable value and by which the person is also united to God. For each person is loved by God and encounter God's love within herself, as a basis for personal response. I emphasize the importance of freedom and divine grace for a personal response. The aspect of education that has shown itself as the most important in this work is the help for the person to arrive at the personal response of self-giving in love to God.