LUMEN FIDEI - II

Part 1: The Introduction or Prelude (1-7)

The first section is not sub-titled but the purpose is very simple, a presentation of the encyclical's situation, background and the context that necessitates the theme.

Pope Francis explicitly places on record with gratitude the contribution of Benedict XVI in the encyclical and says that he has merely added his contribution to the "fine first draft" prepared and handed on by his predecessor(7). And he underlines the occasion that serves as the backdrop of the encyclical - the year of faith proclaimed, again, by his predecessor to commemorate the 50th year of the initiation of the great Vatican Council II, which he calls rightly, "Council of Faith" (6). 

The term 'light' in the theme 'Light of Faith' does not serve an aesthetic end, but it brings out essentially the quality of faith that the Church wants at this juncture to underscore - the illumining nature of faith! The Modernity has found this light childish and only for the weak and the ignorant. It is here Nietzsche is quoted as skeptically suggesting to his sister, "if you want peace of soul and happiness, then believe, but if you want to be a follower of truth, then seek" (2). It is as if to suggest that faith and seeking are two opposed dimensions of human knowing. And as a result of this, "humanity renounced the search for a great light, Truth itself, in order to be content with smaller lights which illumine the fleeting moment yet prove incapable of showing the way" (3). This is the context within which the light of faith is presented by the Church as a guiding beacon. 

The teaching founds itself on the conviction that "once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim" (4) and declares that "faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for building our lives" (4). Faith is a light, both from the past and from the future. From the past, because it is inspired by the foundational memory of the life and death of Jesus Christ. From the future, because Christ has risen and he draws us to life, to life eternal (4).

Presenting these as the fundamental premises for us to position ourselves, the encyclical proceeds to bask in the light of faith, from the past and from the future. (to be contd.)

THE MAN, THE MESSAGE, THE MESSENGER...

7th July, 2013: 14th Sunday in the Ordinary Time  

The history of salvation is one long process by which the Almighty has continually tried to reveal to humanity, who God is and what human beings are in relationship to God! As the letter to the Hebrews declares it clearly, "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son", the Son who personified Godhood, yet participated in the humanity to the full. One who was like us in everything except sin. He was a Man, a Man who was the Incarnate Son of God. And when he set about to reveal God to us, he revealed in terms that no one else had done so far and no one else could do thenceforth. 

He was the Lord, not the Messiah in the sense that the Jews of his time wanted, but the Lord of the Cross and the Lord of Consolation! He came to bring Consolation to the last, the lost and least... as Isaiah promises in the First Reading. He said, I came to call the sinners, ate with them, moved with them, worshiped with them and spoke to them of the boundless forgiving love of God and gave them an immense consolation. That was his mission, as Luke says 'the consolation of Israel'(Luke 2:25). But that was not all, he was also the Lord of the Cross! The mission of liberation, the act of salvation, the moment of consolation, he accomplished through the Cross! It is not just about the wood on which he hung pouring out his last drop of blood and water, but the whole life - a life filled with rejections and ridicules, contradictions and conflicts, plotters and traitors! That is the life he chose for himself, suffered but remained faithful to his mission - that of announcing the Reign of God! 

That was his Message - the Reign of God! The message of hope and light to the humanity. While there is so much of Crisis and Cruelty, so much of Selfishness and Pride, so much of Injustice and Pain, the message of the Reign of God- assures happiness, serenity, fullness of life, justice and prosperity. All this on condition that we place God first and foremost. A situation where humanity adheres to God, listens to God's will and strains itself to take God's project forward. This Message is first to be Received by us, that is welcomed in our hearts and lived in our days. Not just receiving but the Message has to be Recounted, that is passed on to the others. And that is what Jesus was particular about! When his disciples accepted his message, he did not stop with that he sent them forward, to go and to announce, to recount their story of having found the Messiah, their experience of having tasted the Reign in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Messengers, those whom he sent were not just to announce in words but primarily through their lives. And that is why Jesus gave them so many directions as to how to conduct their lives; he forms them into his model of discipleship - characterised by Total Dependence on God and Utmost Respect for Human Liberty. The Church today carries out the same mode of evangelisation - total dependence on God and utmost respect for human liberty. The Messengers were first of all asked to be the Medium, that is they were to be worthy of the message that they carried. Secondly, they were asked to be the message itself! As Jesus who came to reveal God and he was God himself, we are today called to manifest Christ to the World and be like Christ ourselves.

We are the Messengers today, who are first of all called to listen to the Message that Christ has for us, believe in that Message and transform ourselves! As transformed believers we are called to take that message to others through our own lives, founded on Christ; thus becoming the presence of Christ to the others, true to the name that we assume - Christ-ians.