Maggie Senz Ruiz

To Lead is to Apachuchar Humanity

Authentic human leaders apachuchan humanity. Apachuchar or apapachar comes
from the Uto-Aztecan language of the Nahuatl and means embrace, caress, and welcome others
with the soul. To genuinely lead is to apachuchar human persons by allowing them to entirely
submerge themselves within the soul of the leader. True leaders who apachuchan humanity
eliminate worldly barriers and thus uncover their souls through a fully human nakedness, in
order to selflessly offer their completeness to others. Likewise, leaders who freely and
responsibly offer apapachos to others are capable of embracing the wholeness of humanity
through simple lives, coherent actions, and genuine experiences founded on noble love, humane
protection, consummate kindness, generous care, and altruistic acceptance.
Further, authentic human leaders who apachuchan humanity are able to stand back,
relativizing their own finites and dying to themselves (Spaemann, 59), in order to become
incommensurable and thus offer themselves in the service of interests not immediately their own,
even up to the point of self-sacrifice (Spaemann, 59). When leaders relativize their finite lives
and therefore, genuinely expand their own selves to become entirely immersed within the
uniqueness of other human persons, they become capable of love of God, which is unequivocally
expressed through love of others. Henceforth, authentic human leadership is founded on
renunciation of self and love of truth.
Renunciation of self allows human leaders to truly immerse themselves within a humble
state of transcendental subjectivity (Spaemann, 30). Through their hands and minds, human
beings overcome the state of deficiency in which they find themselves as natural beings
(Spaemann, 15); they transcend their authentic natures and selves by truly recognizing their
human vulnerability and by genuinely imitating Christs example of humility, in order to lead

humanity as transparent servants of God. Hence, renunciation of self is entirely founded on

humility; servant leaders who die to themselves (Spaemann, 59) are capable of emptying their
lives with the primary objective of embracing the nobility and goodness of humanity through
actions founded on human recognition and reciprocity.
True human leaders not only renounce to their own finite selves through humility, but
also love the truth through their continuous encounter with the real presence and eternal mystery
of God, and through the subsequent fulfillment of His kingdom on earth. Love of truth is love of
God; leaders who love the truth possess souls that move toward the enjoyment of God for his
own sake, and the enjoyment of ones self and ones neighbor for the sake of God (McCarthy,
75). Likewise, human leaders who love the truth reveal Gods love through a sincere gift of
themselves (McCarthy, 82) to others, because one finds the self through connections with
others (Komives and Wagner, 19). Genuine leadership founded on love of truth permanently
responds to the call for human unity and self-giving (McCarthy, 82), in order to truly
understand and follow Gods will.
Renunciation of self and love of truth are primarily founded on the perfection of love; in
fact, the gaze under which humans become human is the gaze of love (Spaemann, 6). Human
leaders who are capable of humbly emptying themselves and of genuinely embracing the truth of
humanity through acts of service and charity, are constantly being guided by the spirit of God
towards the genuine fulfillment of the heavenly kingdom on earth. True human leaders act
according to the eternal time of God; they remain patient in the midst of uncertainty and
confusion, in order to freely offer themselves to others through self -giving and self-sacrifice,
and to ultimately move throughout the path of humility, love and truth towards a common point

of arrival, which is God, in that transcendent fullness where the risen Christ embraces and
illumines all things (Pope Francis, 83, pg. 61).
These foundations of authentic human leadership genuinely fulfill the life and dignity of
the human person, as well as the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable in Catholic
social teaching. When human leaders renounce to their individual and finite selves, and when
they love the truth through love of God and love of others, they truly recognize that human
beings are ends in themselves intrinsically and absolutely (Spaemann, 42, 56). By standing back
and humbly relativizing their own selves through acts of transcendental love, authentic human
leaders are able to discover that the preciousness of human beings renders their lives something
holy, because dignity signals something sacred (Spaemann, 57). Authentic human leaders
embrace the entirety of humanity through conscientious, responsible, and humble actions of
service and charity. They become wholly immersed within the lives and experiences of other
human persons, in order to realize the kingdom of God on earth and hence, guide humanity
towards Gods mystery, will, and eternal presence. Moreover, human leaders apachuchan
others, by humbly recognizing their sacred lives and respecting their inherent and inviolable
dignities. When unique lives and dignities are fully recognized and respected, human leaders are
capable of encountering human perfection, nobility, and goodness in other human beings.
Besides, when human leaders empty their own selves to freely offer their lives to others
and therefore imitate Jesus Christ through humble actions of love, they are capable of
recognizing their vulnerability as sons of God. When leaders fully recognize their human
vulnerability, they understand that many human persons have become dangerously submerged
within a series of poverty traps that have impeded them from moving beyond a diminishing state
of powerlessness (Smith, 3-15). Consequently, authentic human leaders apachuchan the poor

and vulnerable; they embrace them and offer them their human souls and beings, in order to
guide them towards a path of hope, truth, and ultimate encounter with Gods will.
Enrique Senz Lozada is an authentic Colombian human leader, who has been able to
renounce to his individual self by relativizing and emptying his finite life, in order to love the
truth through love of God and love of others. He has been able to apachuchar humanity by
recognizing the sacred lives and inherent dignities of the most poor and vulnerable in various
regions of Colombia. According to Enrique, an effective leader constructively influences human
persons as authentic individuals and as genuine members of the human community throughout a
humble life example. This positive influence founded on example is likewise founded on a series
of qualities or traits, including life coherence, proactivity, optimism, transparency, integrity,
simplicity, and mercy. Precisely, he believes that every leader should possess coherence; this
means, every leader should always think, proclaim, and act conscientiously and righteously, on
the basis of human morality and integrity.
Additionally, Enrique mentions that as a leader, he encourages creative and critical
thinking in those human persons he leads by providing them with lifetime challenges, and by
allowing them to discover new and innovative paths of life. He also states that he communicates
his core values through humble, conscientious, responsible, and coherent actions of love, faith,
and righteousness; he has permanently become and given an authentic life witness to other
human beings. Besides, he encourage others to communicate their core values by creating spaces
for dialogue, with the primary objective of allowing for a unique and free manifestation of
beliefs, and for encouraging others to open their inner lives towards the entirety of humanity. As
well, when he encounters differences among human persons, he builds consensus through the

identification of genuine talents, competencies, and abilities, in order to put them at the
disposition of the accomplishment of one common good or shared goal.
Enrique believes that the biggest challenge facing leaders today is the loss of values
within the human society, due to materialism, egoism, and individualism. Furthermore, he
expresses that one mistake that he witnesses leaders making more frequently than others is the
lack of coherence; some leaders do not act according to their teachings, proclamations, and
promises. He also states that individualism, destructive ambition, and egoism are behaviors that
have derailed leaders today. In addition, he emphasizes the importance of renouncing to oneself
to become an authentic leader capable of listening, motivating, guiding, and loving others in their
wholeness as human beings and in their sacredness as dignified persons, throughout love of God
as the primary foundation of leadership as a multidimensional human sphere.
To truly realize the authentic significance of human leadership, human beings must be
able to apachuchar the entirety of humanity. They must critically think, ethically decide, and
responsibly contribute to the development of a human society, in which its individual members
are capable of renouncing to their own selves by emptying their genuine lives towards the
fulfillment of others needs. Human leaders must die to themselves (Spaemann, 59), in order to
relativize their own interests and finites, and ultimately reach the truth, which is God and which
is truly attained through the eternal love of the heavenly Father and through love of others
founded on self-giving and self-sacrifice. Similar to Enrique, human leaders must stand back and
humbly offer their lives to others, especially to the most poor and vulnerable of humanity. They
must responsibly contribute to the fulfillment of Gods kingdom on earth through authentic
ministries of service, love, faith, hope, and solidarity.

References
Komives, Susan R., and Wendy Wagner. Leadership for a Better World Understanding the Social
Change Model of Leadership Development.2nd ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
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McCarthy, David Matzko. The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching: Its Origins and Contemporary
Significance. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2009. Print.
Smith, Stephen C. Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works. 1. Publ. ed. New York:
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Spaemann, Robert. Essays in Anthropology: Variations on a Theme. Eugene: Cascade, 2010.
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