WORD 2day

11th July, 2013

The theme of yesterday continues still - Being sent, and sent on a mission! Joseph is considered the closest 'prefigurement' of Jesus in the Old Testament. Notice in his life the situations that change - from a predilected son to a slave, from a slave to a prisoner, but from a prisoner to the highest of the officials and there established as the one who would save his own kith and kin from famine! Is it not the same with Jesus, as St. Paul describes in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2): from Son of God to a human being and a slave; from a slave to death and that on the Cross; but from the Cross raised to be the highest of all names to which every one on earth and heaven shall bend their knees; and there established as Lord he saved us, his brothers and sisters and reconciles us to God our Father and Mother. As Joseph notes in the last verse of the first reading today, "it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you", it was with a mission that Jesus was sent to us and it is with a mission that Jesus sends us today - he says to each of us: "As the father sent me, so I send you"(Jn 20:21). Each of us is sent! The mission as we said yesterday, we have to discover in our personal lives and when we do discover we will understand that it is at one and the same time a privilege and a responsibility, an honour and a challenge. But if we do not manage to discover it, we would have wasted our life, its significance and its purpose!

LUMEN FIDEI - IV

Unless you believe, you will not understand

Chapter 2 : Articles 23 - 36.

The subject matter gets denser here! But let's not lose heart or despair... proceed reading and absorb the crux of the second chapter.

The first section of the chapter, Faith and Truth, begins with a reflection on an incident in the life of King Ahaz who decides to seek the security of the support or protection of the great Assyrian empire and Prophet Isaiah warns him not to. The Prophet directs the king to trust only in God, the rock of Israel. The prophet challenges the king to understand the Lord's ways and to see in God's plan the faithfulness of God (23). The lesson for us: "we need knowledge, we need truth, because without these we cannot stand firm, we cannot move forward" (24). Faith without truth becomes a mere sentiment. 

Today truth is either absolutised to convenient concepts by Pragmatism, Scientism, Technologism and their sorts or reduced to subjectivity by Relativism. Consequently, the ultimate truth that is sought or the Question of God becomes IRRELEVANT, leading thus to fanaticism (25). Faith shows the right way of understanding truth. As St. Paul asserts in Rom 10:10, one believes with the heart. It is at the meeting point of faith and the heart(love) that true knowledge is born. "Faith's understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes" (26). Speaking of love in relation to faith requires that we do not lose sight of the fact that love can never be reduced to a mere ephemeral emotion. Only to the extent that love is grounded in truth can it endure over time, can it transcend the passing moment and be sufficiently solid to sustain a shared journey of persons. In short, love and truth are inseparable (27). It is in appreciation of the love that God had for them, that the people of Israel understood the overall unity of the divine plan (28).

Faith as hearing and sight, is the following section that takes the discussion further into the realms of philosophy. It begins with St. Paul's logic that Faith comes from hearing (Rom 10:17) and that the freedom to hear, acknowledge and respond to the voice is expressed in 'obedience of faith'(Rom 1:5). While the Greek categories would contrast hearing and seeing, the Old Testament Biblical categories combine them! Hearing God's voice is accompanied by a desire to see God's face(29). In the New Testament, Gospel of John brings these together in a beautiful synthesis stating that, to believe is to both hear and see - recognising the voice of the Good Shepherd (10:3-5) and seeing what God does and believing in God (11:45); for John believing is to see (11:40) and to see is on order to believe (20:8). The finest synthesis between hearing and seeing, is achieved in the faith in Christ, the word made flesh (1:14)- the spoken word that gets to be seen and believed!(30) The encyclical quotes Augustine to bring the synthesis to the next level that to believe involves also, touch. St. Augustine's words: "to touch him with our hearts: that is what it means to believe"(31).

The Dialogue between Faith and Reason, has been initiated right in the beginning at the moment of the historical encounter of the Gospel message with the Greek philosophical culture of the ancient world (32). The light and the word, as two beckoning forces that summons response from a person in his or her freedom - the former is related to seeing and the latter to hearing. St. Augustine in his earlier philosophical mindset gave importance to seeing whereas in the later he came to understand the truth that these both are to be taken together and he speaks of "word which shines forth within" (33). Philosophically, truth does not lie in subjectivity nor in totalitarianism, but in the point where one realises that truth humbles, that it sets one on a journey, that it enables witness and dialogue (34).

Faith and search for God, are related to each other especially when we acknowledge the fact that our God, is a "God of perpetual surprises"(35). "The more Christians immerse themselves in the circle of Christ's light, the more capable they become of understanding and accompanying the path of every man and woman towards God" (35). Hence dialogue with other religions is enabled by the very light of faith in Jesus and arises from the conviction that God who is light can be found by anyone "who seeks him with a sincere heart"(35).

Faith and Theology, are intrinsically related. Christian theology is born of the desire to explore more and more the horizons illumined by the light of faith. Theology, at one and the same time, is at the service of faith and draws life from faith. It is at the service of faith in as much as it protects and deepens the faith of the ordinary persons and it draws life from faith when it presents the Magisterium, as the source and collective expression of our faith. 

Looking at faith from various standpoints and providing an enlarged picture from where to understand our faith and its fundamental relationship to every other facet of Christian life, the encyclical would proceed in the next chapter to present to us the important truth that faith is not only to be understood; it is to be proclaimed. (to be contd...)

WORD 2day

10th July, 2013

The naming of the Apostles - with a function given to them: to chase the evil spirits and to heal the sick! Apostles are those who are 'sent' (literally too, 'apostolos' in Greek); sent in the name of God with a specific mission. Joseph of the Old Testament, was an apostle too - sent ahead by God to Egypt in order to provide for God's people at a later time! Providing was yet another important mission of God. So, providing for God's people, liberating them from the ungodly forces and giving them a life in all its fullness - those are the duties of an apostle, on behalf of the Lord who sends him or her. And all these carried out for one purpose to make present the Reign of God amidst the people here and now! Jesus had a big following, that is, his disciples and from them he sends these 'Apostles'; we are among his disciples already by our Baptism and he wants to send each of us with a specific mission. And each of us sent, exactly to where we are - to our homes, to our neighbourhoods, to our parishes, to our societies... to establish the Reign of God, that is, to assure the needs of all, to stand by the neglected and guarantee them their rights, to stand against the ungodly forces, the unjust systems, the corrupt and inhuman dominations, to empower the people towards a peaceful, serene and human existence. When Pope Francis calls the Church to "take to the streets of the world" and to "reach the very outskirts of existence", he is reminding us our call as 'apostles', and our mission as heralds of the Reign of God. Have I made real efforts to understand my call and my mission as an apostle, right here and right now?

WORD 2day

9th July, 2013

It's puzzling! Among a few puzzling details of the Old Testament is the likes of today's account from Jacob's life. The Lord (!?!) wrestled with Jacob, says the reading today - and elsewhere we see a similar account of God trying to kill Moses (Exo 4:24). Whatever may be the exegesis, the first disclaimer here is not to take these lines literally. There is a symbolic or a interpretative meaning to these happenings! One thing we can guess here is that these men had something really to struggle with, a struggle of life and death! But they stood firm on the side of the Lord who had called them and after that struggle of life and death, there is something remarkable, a change that is radical, a happening that defines history forever. For, Jacob after that struggle comes to be called Israel, a name that would define the People of God forever. Incidentally, Moses after that struggle comes to establish a new covenant with the Lord in the sign of circumcision - again something that would define the People of the Covenant, ever since. Jesus had the same struggle, constantly there were people who followed him as there were the others who tried their best to demonise him (Mt 9:34). The struggle went on right till the cross - the struggle of life and death, but he stood by the Father who had sent him. And after that struggle, he was not anymore merely Jesus, but Jesus the Christ; there came the event that changed the World for ever, it changed the history not only of the world but of you and me! Today we are saved, in his struggle, in his death, in his wounds, in  his blood and in his Resurrection! The question to me is - how ready and willing am I for a struggle?

LUMEN FIDEI - III

We have believed in Love

Chapter 1: Articles 8-22

Having established in the introductory note, that this is "a time when mankind is particularly in need of light" (4), in the first chapter the encyclical draws on history to paint the canvas of a holistic understanding of Faith. Beginning from Abraham, the father in faith (8-11), the focus traverses right up to the Church which serves as 'the one body in faith'(21), journeying through the experiences of Israel, the people of God in faith (12-13), those of Moses, the mediator of God in faith (14-15) and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son in whom we are made sons and daughters of the God who has loved us, called us and chosen us from eternity.

Presenting Abraham, the encyclical highlights from his experience that faith is "our response to a word which engages us personally" with a God, who is a God of persons (God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob) (8); a word which is at the same time a call and a promise (8) - a call to be faithful and a promise of the faithfulness of God (9). The words of St. Augustine is recalled fittingly here, "Man is faithful when he believes in God and his promises; God is faithful when he grants to man what he has promised." The man of faith gains strength by putting himself in the hands of the God who is faithful, explains the letter. 

God's light shines for Israel through the remembrance of the Lord's mighty deeds, recalled and celebrated in prayer and worship, and passed down from parents to children (12). Israel as congregation of faith, were akin to us in their weaknesses in the face of the temptation of unbelief, defined in the word, IDOLATRY. It was after all their incapacity to bear the mystery of God's hiddenness (13). And as then, even today the way out of idolatry is true faith that "turns to the living God in a personal encounter" (13).

Moses is brought in as the icon of the meeting point of the communitarian aspect of faith and the personal commitment to faith. "The individual act of faith finds its place within a community, within the common 'we' of the people," affirms the encyclical (14). From Moses,the mediator who enabled people have a vision of God, through the eyes of faith, the encyclical makes a shift to Jesus the ultimate mediator, the one who makes known God to us, as John explains in his prologue.

Jesus, specially in his death, portrays the ultimate light of faith. The world may look at the death on the Cross as a scandal of faith, but "it is precisely in contemplating Jesus' death that faith grows stronger and receives a dazzling light," revealing to us a love that is capable of embracing death to bring us salvation (16), a love that can be encountered, a love fully revealed in Christ's passion, death and resurrection (17).

Today, for us therefore, "faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his own eyes: it is participation in his way of seeing" (18).  There can be three shades of believing that form a complete expression of faith in Jesus - Believing that (that what Jesus tells us is true), Believing (accepting Jesus' words and testimony because he is truthful) and Believing in (that is allowing Jesus into our personal lives, moving closer to him, clinging to him and following him all the way) (18). 

It is the Spirit that inspires us to make this move of faith towards Jesus and call him "Lord"; it is the Spirit that enables us to accept Christ's experience and call God, "Abba Father". Faith is a gift, a free gift of God, in the Spirit, who makes is children of God, in Christ Jesus (19-21).

Faith is necessarily ecclesial; it is not a private matter or a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion (22). As Abraham "heard" God and obeyed him in faith, our faith too comes from hearing and it is meant to be expressed in words to be heard and proclaimed, says the encyclical at the end of the first chapter.

Some wonderful affirmations of this section on what faith is, inspired by the history of salvation, are worth being recounted here: 
- Faith opens the way before us and accompanies our steps through time. (8)
- Faith is our response to a word which engages us personally. (8)
- Faith is the capacity to bear the mystery of God's hiddenness. (13)
- Faith is God's free gift, which calls for humility and courage to trust and to entrust. (14)
- Faith is participation in Jesus's way of seeing the reality. (18)
- Faith in Christ, is the light that illumines the origin and the end of life. (20)

With this framework of understanding faith, the following section will proceed to comprehend the depths of faith in relation to various other frameworks of understanding. (to be contd.)

WORD 2day

8th July, 2013

Encounter with God - the Word presents three of them today; Jacob's encounter with God, the ailing lady and the little child encountering Jesus. Two messages that stand out in the totality of today's events. Firstly, any encounter with God rejuvenates. Jacob was given a new vision of life; the lady with the hemorrhage was given a new life; and the little child was given back her life! One cannot remain the same after having encountered God. The second message, which is carried specially by the Gospel account, is about the special encounter through TOUCH - It is interesting to note the two accounts of Luke which seem to point to a fact: whether you touch God or God touches you, the fruits are the same! The lady sad and suffering touched Jesus, and Jesus touched the little child dead and gone... the effect was the same - a new lease of life. Touching God or God touching us, they are the same - for they are fundamentally an encounter and "Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love" (Lumen Fidei, 4). May be another important feature can be underlined too - that God met Jacob on a ground  and while he slept; Jesus encountered the diseased lady on a road and amidst a jostling crowd; Jesus touched the little girl in a room and while she lay dead! It does not matter where we are, or what we are upto, the living God can encounter us anywhere and anytime, provided we are ready and willing to accept and behold the encounter. Behold I stand knocking at the door, says the Lord!

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.

LUMEN FIDEI - I

Part 0: My Initial Feelings...

We are in wonderful times! That was my initial feeling as I saw today (5th July, 2013) the Holy Father Pope Francis, accompanied by the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, stand on the lawns of the Vatican Gardens and address the media, presenting the first encyclical of his Pontificate! As "brothers in faith" - that is how Pope Francis refers to himself and his predecessor - they stood there witnessing to the real concept of service of authority, within the portals of the Church.

Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith) comes to complete the Trilogy begun by the former Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. Of his three encyclicals, two were reflections on the  Cardinal Christian Virtues of Love and Hope. The present encyclical comes to complete the reflection, offering to dwell on the virtue of Faith. Deus Caritas Est, published in 2005, on Christian Love and Spe Salvi, published in 2007, on Christian Hope, are the two of the Encyclicals which have been complemented with the present one signed by Pope Francis on 29th June, 2013, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. The significance of the feast of the two saints and the encyclical being written by two - one signed and one unsigned- authors, seem to be more than a coincidence.

My another feeling of "Wonderful Times" came from the fact that I was able to read the encyclical the very day that it was presented by the Holy Father to the World - thanks to the advancement of the Social Media and the presence of the Church in the world of Media. Beginning with this note, I intend to post here, my first glance of the encyclical. I wonder how far a theological reflection it could be, however I don't wish to claim that this would be so! All that I propose to do is present a personal initial summary on the Encyclical in parts, deferring a theological reflection for another moment. 

There are certain 'firsts' that mark this encylical and its context, a list of that can be interesting.

- obviously, it is the first time an encyclical has been written by two persons! Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. However, it is signed by only one - for we have One Pope and there is no confusion about it.

- for the first time, a Pope and his predecessor present an encyclical standing together, side by side as brothers in faith.

- for the first time an encyclical quotes the likes of Nietzsche (for some who consider themselves traditional or conservative, this can be brain-jammer!!!)

- and ofcourse for the first time, I am reading an encyclical on the first day of its release!(how significant is that for you, anyway!)

Some Intial Details of the Encyclical:

Lumen Fidei, is a rather short encyclical on Christian Faith, with just 60 articles, divided into four chapters with a prelude and a closure. The prelude (1-7) is a general presentation of the encyclical with the introduction to the theme and the last three articles (58-60) as always, present the theme in relation to the Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Church and seeks her intercession for a renewal of faith. The remaining 50 articles are divided into four chapters, namely, We have believed in Love (8-22); Unless you beleive you will not Understand (23-36); I delivered to you what I also received (37-49); and God prepares a City for them (50-57). 

As Pope Francis himself acknowledges the major contribution of Benedict XVI, we can well notice the theologian's reflections dominating the first three chapters while the final chapter changes its tone into more pastoral, indicating the change of hand. However, the beautiful transition that is not only in the text but in the whole Church and its happenings, is so admirable to witness. (to be continued...)

WORD 2day

6th July, 2013

Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you! To be God's "predilected" child(if i can use that term) is an incredible honour; and that is what we are. (How beautifully John expresses this in 1Jn 3:1-3!) In the corrupt culture of the day, it is pretty easy to understand this predilection...  a VIP's son or daughter, or a person who has the backing of a key personality in the society gets above anybody and everybody else to win favours in the society! Jacob was the chosen one, he was the one picked to bring forth the 'predilected' people of God. And because he was chosen, everything works in his favour. Unjust! Unfair! Undeserved! - we might say all that and all that is true! God's love that is 'poured' into us (Rom 5:5: not just given but poured into our hearts); it is unjustly given, unfairly lavished, undeservedly heaped on us. What a way to communicate that truth via the story of Jacob - a cheater yes, but who becomes an identity for God on earth - God refers to Godself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and God of Jacob! This logic is totally different! This logic will not fit into the usual logic of the give-and-take, the cause-and-effect; this is a totally different logic of God's love, God's prodigal love for each of us. And if we try to fit this into the normal logic we will be frustrated, like pouring new wine in old skin, or old wine in new skin or stitching a new cloth to an old shrunken one! The call is to be drenched in this entirely unconditional love of God, and to understand how privileged i am to receive this love; and the most important of all, to exhibit that awareness in concrete, day to day actions and attitudes.