LUMEN FIDEI - VI

God prepares a city for them

Chapter 4: Articles 50-57.

Faith is not merely a journey alone, affirms repeatedly the encyclical, it is also a process of building, building a city, a society, a place where humanity can live together. As Noah the first builder in faith built the Ark, and Abraham set up tents, we are called to build the world in to a place habitable for humanity today. As we see in those persons of faith, firmness of faith marks the city which God is preparing for humankind. Faith is born of an encounter with God's own love and hence it does not speak of an interior firmness or steadfast conviction of the individual alone; it illumines every human relationships (50). The light of faith enhances the "richness of human relations, their ability to endure, to be trustworthy, to enrich our life together"(51). Anything other than love, if it becomes the basis of human unity, it involves calculations of utility! Hence a the light of faith is at the service of justice, law and peace, as a way of creating enduring and enriching human relations. The Old Testament for example, presents to us persons like Samuel and David, whose faith enabled them to "administer justice"(51).

The Old Testament bears witness to the fact that blessings were passed from fathers to the sons, establishing for us, that "the first setting in which faith enlightens the human city is the family"(52). Marriage and the origin of New Life, are direct interventions of God's love. "Promising love for ever is possible when we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love"(52). Passing on Faith in the family happens in the process of shared expression of faith within the family, helping children to become aware of their faith and grow and mature in it. The Young people need the closeness of the family and the Church, as they find themselves in the troublesome yet rich phase of their life(53). The encyclical recalls the experiences of the World Youth Days and finds in them but a manifestation of the yearning of the Young, to live their life to the fullest. "Encountering Christ, letting themselves be caught up in and guided by his love, enlarges the horizons of existence, gives it a firm hope which will not disappoint"(53). "Faith is no refuge for fainthearted, but something which enhances our lives" (53) declares the encyclical.

Faith, in concrete a situation, becomes the light for the life in the society. It invites one to look at the other as a blessing, as someone through whose face the light of God's love shines. A human person is not cast adrift in the nature of the world; he or she can never renounce one's proper moral responsibility nor can presume "to be a sort of absolute judge endowed with an unlimited power to manipulate the world around him"(54) or her.  Revealing the love of God the creator, faith enables us to respect nature and discern in it a "grammar written by the hand of God and a dwelling place entrusted to our protection and care"(55). A concrete expression of faith requires that we are responsible for 'just forms of governance' which believes that authority comes from God, at the service of the common good; for 'possibility of forgiveness' which requires time, effort, patience and commitment. "Rather than avoiding conflict, we need to confront it in an effort to resolve and move beyond it, to make it a link in a chain, as part of a progress towards unity"(55).

Faith as the source of consolation and strength amid suffering, sheds a special light on personal lives of those who suffer and on suffering as a human reality. "Christians know that suffering cannot be eliminated, yet it can have meaning and become an act of love and entrustment into the hands of God who does not abandon us; in this way it can serve as a moment of growth in faith and love." "Even death is illumined and can be experienced as the ultimate call to faith, the ultimate "Go forth from your land"(Gen 1:12)" (56). Persons who suffer have been sometimes extraordinary mediators of light, as Francis of Assisi saw his light of faith from a person with leprosy and Mother Teresa found her light from the poor and dying.(57) "Faith is not a light that scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey" says the encyclical bringing out the aspects of the accompanying presence of God with us and the ray of hope that faith offers at the service of common good. We can hear the voice of Pope Francis distinctly when we read those lines which address us saying, "Let us refuse to be robbed of hope, or to allow our hope be dimmed by facile answers and solutions which block our progress" (57).

Ending with the note of hope the encyclical earns itself the image of a beacon that guides a Christian today, in his or her life of faith, to walk one's journey with courage and optimism amidst the shadows that befall the times. (to be continued...)

WORD 2day

12th July, 2013

Enduring till the end is the test of the strength of one's faith. Israel(Jacob) today expresses that great satisfaction in having endured till the end, on seeing Joseph alive..."Now let me die!" - a sense of fulfillment! As later we would hear Simeon exclaiming in the Temple of Jerusalem on seeing the child Jesus, "At last all powerful Master, let your servant go in peace. For, my eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared for the nations!" Jesus teaches the same to us his followers, "the one who endures till the end shall be saved" (Mt 10:22). Endurance that Jesus demands is for two reasons - first, because all the troubles that a follower of Christ faces is for such a noble purpose, a cause so great, that anything can be given up for its sake - the Reign of God on earth. Seek first the Reign of God... even if you have to give up your home, your dear ones, your belongings or even your life, for you will be rewarded hundred percent, says the Lord, here on earth and in the eternal life! Secondly, because the mission entrusted to us is so vast and so immense that these troubles can measure no where in comparison to it. He says with a tinge of humour, even if you have to run from one town to the other due to persecutions, "you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes." Such was the determination of the early Christians and the Apostles who led them from the fore. To proclaim through our daily lives the Reign of God and if we have to face hard consequences for it, to be prepared to endure it all the way - that is the call for me today. 

LUMEN FIDEI - V

I delivered to you what I also received

Chapter 3: Article 37 - 49.

The Chapter invites us to understand the need for handing on faith from one to the other and underlines the element of a shared faith, picturing to us the role and the function of the Church, as the Mother of our faith. Infact, that is the subtitle of the section that begins this chapter saying, "since faith is hearing and seeing, it is also handed on as word and light"(37). A simple but profound image is given to us to understand this fact, from the Easter Liturgy where hundreds of small candles are lit from the One Paschal Candle, and the light is passed on from one candle to the other! Because faith is born of an encounter which takes place in history and lights up our journey through time, it must be passed on in every age(38), states the encyclical. Passing on is such an important element in our human life, for our knowledge and self awareness itself is linked to the others who have gone before us, to begin with those in the prime place - our parents! In the same way, when it comes to our faith, it is the Church, the mother, who teaches us to speak the language of faith (38). This relationship between faith and Church can be understood from various terms, such as Tradition, Shared experience, handing on, communication etc.

Those who believe are never alone; faith is always shared and it tends to be spread; it invites others to share in its joy (39). "Faith needs a setting in which it can be witnessed to and communicated, a means which is suitable and proportionate to what is communicated"(40). Faith and memory are related and the Church like a family passes on the store of memories! Of the means that the Church has to play this function, the first and foremost is, Tradition, which comprises of "everything that serves to make the people of God live their lives in holiness and increase their faith" (40). 

Another prominent means is the Sacraments which are special means of passing on faith - they communicate "incarnate memory, linked to the times and places of our lives, linked to all our senses"(40). Baptism, gives new context and a new environment and through them a new life. One cannot give baptism to oneself, it is something received. The communal nature of Baptism is brought out in the elements like the Trinity, in whose name baptism is carried out - the filial identity granted by God, who is a communion; the Water, which at one and the same time symbolises death and the eventual rise to new life. It epitomises the womb from where one is born to new life (41-42). Baptism is a rebirth that gives one a new life, a new name. It is important that we see the significance of the infant baptism here, for "faith is a reality lived within the community of the church; part of a common 'We'"(43).

The Sacramental character of faith finds its highest expression in the Eucharist. Eucharist is a precious nourishment for faith: an encounter with Christ truly present in the supreme act of his love, the self-giving gift of himself (44). There are two dimensions of faith that we can find intersecting in the Sacrament of the Eucharist - One, the dimension of history - as an act of remembrance, making present the mystery of the past; second, the dimension of being led from the visible world to the invisible world! (44) The Celebration of the Sacraments bring together, faith and memory! For a specific instance, the Creed that is professed with its Trinitarian Structure, the Christological Confession and the Fellowship Factor, brings into picture the collective memory that signifies a "new life of faith as a journey of Communion with the living God"(45). 

Faith, Prayer and Decalogue is the following section that highlights the other shared elements of our communitarian faith - The Lord's Prayer, which is a way of sharing Christ's own Spiritual experience and the Decalogue, which gives "concrete directions for emerging from the desert of the selfish and self enclosed ego in order to enter into dialogue with God, to be embraced by his mercy and to bring that mercy to others" (46). Thus, the profession of faith, the celebration of the sacraments, the path of the ten commandments and prayer - are the 4 elements of the memory that the Church hands down; notice here that these are the very four traditional formats in which the Catechism of the Catholic Church proceeds (46).  

The final point that the section makes is about the Unity and Integrity of Faith - as expressed by the words of Paul in Eph 4:4-5- one faith, one body, one spirit, one baptism, one Lord! The society today rules any acceptance of one truth, as a breach of freedom of expression or autonomy of the self, while paradoxically it is ready to unite for one cause or one issue! Disregarding this bias, the Church affirms that Faith is one, because of the oneness of God, the One Lord Jesus, and the one body and one spirit which shares that faith (47). Since Faith is one, it has to be professed in all its purity and integrity (48); choosing some aspects and leaving out some is no Faith! Apostolic Succession (49), which is the gift of Christ to the Church, guarantees this oneness of faith and the integrity of truth.

In short the Chapter brings out the fact of the Church as the subject who has and expresses the faith, as a response to the self-revealing God who has changed the lives of the persons forming part of it, called them and constituted them into one body, one spirit, in the one Lord Jesus Christ.  

The question that remains to be treated is, what would be the practical import of this faith in the concrete life in today's world. The next chapter would begin to analyse this question (to be continued...).

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.)