Does our Sensus Fidei need Renewal?
It is a matter of joy that religious faith and public opinion in Goa are not dead. Following a public scandal that the laity found it fit to highlight on social media, our archdiocesan bulletin, Renovação/Renewal/Novsornni (Renewal, for short), albeit unusually, responded editorially. The laity’s reaction to the scandal ranges from plain shock to utter disgust, but the editorial stance is one of blind defence and utter coldness to the laity’s cries for clarity on the subject, such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides.
Just how does Renewal get on with its defence? The editorial, titled ‘Being Living Witnesses of Christ’ (Vol. LX, No. 18), thrusts upon the readers, in a disjointed and unwieldly manner, a barrage of Church documents but maintains a studied silence on the main issue of concern: whether or not the elephantine blunder in Siolim qualifies as syncretism, idolatry and apostasy![1] It is a pity that the readers, instead of being shepherded to the refreshing waters of Catholic doctrine, are thus left thirstier than ever. So, just why can’t our ‘pastoral bulletin’ be a wee bit more pastoral in its approach?
Is the editorial’s long-winded style indicative of a gulf that exists between the shepherds and the sheep? At any rate, the lead article plays the victim card and, in the same breath, censures the laity for alleged ‘ignorance’ and ‘arrogance’. It may even seem as though the editor is repulsed by ‘the smell of the sheep’ and ‘[in]capable of living, of laughing and crying with your people, in a word, of communicating with them.’[2] Isn’t the church organ falling short of instructing the ignorant as a spiritual work of mercy? And how can the spirit of ‘dialogue’ be allowed to vanish into thin air, as it often happens when it is about dialoguing with the internal public! And how come the full import of a layperson as ‘priest, prophet and king’ suddenly seems unpalatable?
The fact of the matter is that, faced with the public scandal of priests adoring the Ganesh deity, Renewal has evaded the question. Sadly, the editorial misquotes Biblical passages and misses out relevant ones – just as it fails to cite pre-Vatican II documents to buttress the case, if any. (Why? Is the church today a far cry from the pre-Conciliar one?) Then, the editor cites papal and archdiocesan documents that supposedly come in his defence but, really speaking, none of them endorse idolatry – they just can’t! He mentions the CBCI commission for ecumenism and dialogue; several conferences and seminars (on non-Biblical scriptures, on sharing of worship, etc.), but he overlooks the fact that these bodies have no magisterial authority. In this regard, it is interesting to read what Cardinal Ratzinger has to say about episcopal conferences in the Ratzinger Report.[3]
The editor also refers to the first Plenary Council of India (1950), but makes no mention of its rejection of religious indifferentism and of the syncretist view that the religion of the future will be a synthesis of the good elements of all religions. And as for the All India Seminar on Church in India Today (1969), for the implementation of Vatican II in India, Valerian Cardinal Gracias had a word of caution as he presented 1668 pages of preparatory material: ‘If fifty years hence there is to be another Ecumenical Council, it seems to me that the Bishops, the Clergy, the Religious, the laity of that period would be in a privileged position having at hand this abundant material, unless they – which is possible – consider then all this outdated or – which is not improbable – after bitter experiences in experimentation, decide to revert to Vatican I!’[4]
Prophetic words! It may be noted that the seminars mentioned in the editorial have been forums for diffusion of theological errors, which His Eminence the late Jozef Cardinal Tomko denounced at the Fourth Extraordinary Consistory, a meeting of the world’s cardinals, in April 1991. The then Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples called the bluff of the ‘doctrinal confusion regarding the content of faith’, specifying ‘a gnostic relativism and a theological misunderstanding which levels all religions.’
The said Cardinal pointed out that some theologians ‘have developed unacceptable and destructive doctrines’ that are ‘reducing evangelization to mere dialogue and development, with the abandonment of proclamation, catechesis, and logically, conversions and baptisms. They strongly confirm the basis and justification of two phenomena denounced in the encyclical Redemptoris Missio: “a widespread indifferentism” and “a religious relativism” which leads to the belief that “one religion is as good as another” (n. 36)’
Adding that, by such doctrinal standards, evangelization ‘would consist solely in dialogue, inculturation and liberation,’ His Eminence alerted us to the fact that, ‘according to some Indian theologians, in the search for dialogue, Jesus Christ divides rather than unites’; and that ‘to dialogue as equals, either Jesus Christ is downgraded by not mentioning His divinity, or the founders of other religions are exalted making them quasi-incarnations of God.’ He stated these tendencies have Asia as their ‘main territory’ and India as the ‘epicentre’, and warned against the ‘simply devastating’ consequences of those doctrines.
Those promoting this destructive theology believe that ‘the universal mystery of salvation is accomplished through all religions.’ Cardinal Tomko warns us against those who see salvation as a form of ‘utopia’ that would ‘unite everyone in a community of love, justice and peace’.[5] Three decades down the line, his words are still a providential and urgent warning about the modern errors. A case in point is that heady mix of religious symbols depicted on the cover of Renewal, inscribed with the words ‘Only Love Unites’ – in an awkward bid to equate all faiths. In practical terms, the consequences of such a relativist agenda are there for everyone to see: weakening of the faith and moral decadence; lack of attention to Church Tradition; syncretism, relativism, secularism, and so on. When will the authorities see the writing on the wall?
Finally, what does it profit us to build bridges with other religions and their public and forsake our own religion and people? This is a question on the lips of every Catholic worth his salt. We are called to be the light of the world and salt of the earth. Whatever be the ‘perennial values’ of other religions, as peddled by the editorial, nothing can surpass the supreme values of our Faith. Our minds and hearts are made for the One True and Living God, Jesus Christ, Who is the Alpha and the Omega; the Way, the Truth and the Life; the Only Saviour of the World, and the very reason of our being. It is inconceivable to us that a Catholic bulletin should ever mince words on this most basic tenet of our faith. It is an attempt to strike at the very foundations, yes, but those proud of the Faith that they have inherited and to which they now belong shall not consent to its liquidation!
Therefore, let’s hold strong to our Catholic identity. Let none persist in the present folly, playing into the hands of New Age movements and the New World Order with sinister agendas. And beware of the false knowledge they provide – which is more dangerous than ignorance! It is simply absurd to blindly apply new-fangled theories, or worse still, to expect that they will be swallowed by the faithful, and all the while fail to set our eyes on the final good of the soul.
Wouldn’t it be wiser, then, to heed the Pontiff, who said, ‘Strip yourselves of your pre-constituted ideas, your dreams of greatness, your self-assertion, in order to put God and people at the centre of your daily concerns’? He further counsels the priests who would like to be intellectuals, not pastors, to be lay persons instead.[6] It would probably help trigger a great renewal of their sensus fidei (sense of the faith), eventually inspiring everyone to become what the editorial envisages – ‘Living Witnesses of Christ’ fully participating in the life of the Church, with responsible adherence to the Magisterium, to the deposit of the faith.[7]
Feast of St Therese of Lisieux, Patron Saint of the Missions, 1 October 2022.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/goa-new-cardinal-winks-at-ganesh-idolatry
https://www.oscardenoronha.com/2022/09/13/elephantine-blunder/
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/cardinal-rebuked-for-homage-to-hindu-idols
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/diocese-defends-clergy-visits-to-hindu-idols
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfJOusrKWrY
Accessed 30 September 2022
[2] https://catholicnews.ie/pope-francis-to-priests-be-shepherds-with-the-smell-of-the-sheep/ Accessed 30 September 2022
[3] ‘We must not forget that the episcopal conferences have no theological basis, they do not belong to the structure of the Church, as willed by Christ, that cannot be eliminated; they have only a practical, concrete function,’ in Ratzinger Report: an exclusive interview [with Vittorio Messori] on the State of the Church (digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011, http://www.archive.org/details/ratzingerreporte00ratz p. 59
[4] Welcome Speech, by Cardinal Valerian Gracias, All-India Seminar: Church in India Today (New Delhi: CBCI Centre, 1969) p. 434.
[5] All quotations pertaining to Jozef Cardinal Tomko are taken from L’Osservatore Romano, No. 15, 15 April 1991, p. 4; and The Examiner, 22 April 1991.
[6] https://catholicnews.ie/pope-francis-to-priests-be-shepherds-with-the-smell-of-the-sheep/ Accessed 30 September 2022
[7] Cf. Pope Benedict XVI’s speech to the International Theological Commission, on 7 December 2012, https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2012/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20121207_cti.html Accessed 1 October 2022
Spare a thought for the other!
What a mighty God we serve! Whether we have won a fortune or suffered a misfortune, He conveys a message meant to open our eyes and help mend our ways. In the last two weeks, when we witnessed the tainting of two hallowed arenas (read ‘Elephantine Blunder’ and ‘Mother of all crises’ in this blog) – the respective Sunday readings were spot on! But did those concerned take a leaf from the Book of Books? This Sunday, God in His infinite mercy gives us another chance.
The First Reading (Amos 6: 1.4-7), once addressed to the nobility of Israel, is now a message for Everyman, be it in Goa or California. Prophet Amos admonishes those who only eat, drink and make merry; ‘lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches’, and show least concern for their suffering brethren. They are beneficiaries of God’s munificence, yet ‘are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!’ (a reference to the ten tribes of Israel with whom Joseph’s name became synonymous).
The Second Reading picks up where the previous one left off. St Paul (1 Tim 6: 11-16) advises the faithful to ‘aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.’ How many of us love the truth in its fullness; stand by God at all times; live in deep faith; show love to family and friends; are committed; and, without a hint of pride, are fortiter in re, suaviter in modo – firm in action, gentle in manner?
The Gospel (Lk 16: 19-31) puts it all so vividly in a parable. An unnamed rich miser who cared for none but himself is plagued in hell; whereas poor Lazarus, once at his mercy on earth, enjoys the Beatific Vision. As Mephistopheles says in the last Act of Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: ‘Fools that will laugh on earth must weep in hell.’ Perhaps the rich man’s only charitable thought consisted of a request to God to warn his family, ‘lest they also come into this place of torment.’
Finally, if the popstar believes that ‘Heaven is a place on earth’ and ponders the ‘mystery of living’; it is equally important to contemplate the mystery of death. Today, St Luke has invited us to examine the transition from earth to eternity, and work towards a change of heart. St Paul has highlighted God’s Kingship vis-à-vis the sinful practice of paying tribute to false gods. He warmly exhorts us to heed God’s Word, ‘fight the good fight of the faith’, and praise to the Lord Who gives life to all things, ‘Who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light’. Meanwhile, let's spare a thought for the other and we will receive a hundredfold.
Between London and Rome
The funeral ceremonies of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II were a sight to behold. They summoned up Wordsworth’s lines about the grandeur of London in the early nineteenth century:
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty…
What prompted billions across the globe to be glued to their screens during the week-long obsequies? It was heartening to see the religious conviction of a modern monarchy; consoling to watch grief and gratitude enfolded under a magnificent blue sky; and to appreciate the amazing dignity and grace of regalia. The ceremonials were a fitting tribute to a monarch who valued truth, goodness and beauty, Christian virtues par excellence. As in life, so in death.
As I looked at commoners in never-ending queues filing past the Queen’s coffin with a bow before, my mind travelled back in history. Britain was a seat of the Roman Catholic faith from the third century onwards. In circa AD 1601, Ethelbert of Kent became the island’s first Catholic king. Other kings followed suit. Interestingly, Elizabeth II could trace back her lineage to the first king of all of England, Athelstan (895-939 AD), and his father Edward the Elder and grandfather Alfred the Great, of the House of Wessex.
Clearly, neither monarchy nor Christianity was foreign to Britain. The country had a long communion with Rome, but alas, King Henry VIII ended it in AD 1534, forming the Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church. However, much of the Roman Catholic tradition persists, being particularly close to the hearts of the Anglo-Catholics, products of the Oxford Movement led by John Henry Newman, who later converted to Catholicism and became Cardinal. That ensures that Britain remains Rome’s closest natural ally.
Another facet that unites Britain and Rome is the institution of the monarchy. Whereas the former is now a constitutional, hereditary monarchy, whose titular, historically, was granted the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ by the Parliament; the latter is an elective, non-hereditary monarchy, in which the Pope is the leader of the Universal Catholic Church. While in Britain, the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected Parliament, in Rome the Pope has ‘the fullness of legislative, executive and judicial powers’, aided by cardinals, regarded as ‘princes of the Church’.
In a world not very acquainted with monarchies, it is never too much to underline that the monarchical state draws from an ancient principle evident from the Bible (and non-Christian cultures as well): that monarchs were chosen by God to rule His people. While Queen Elizabeth II has had close to forty generations of monarchs preceding her over the last thirteen centuries, Rome has produced 266 Popes since the first century.
Numbers apart, whether or not monarchies are still relevant in the contemporary world is a more important issue. Indeed, it appears that a well-functioning monarchy is a great asset. Unlike elected representatives, monarchs rise above the uncertainties of the next election and focus on the next generation. As upholders of tradition, they instil a sense of pride in the people and offer stability in troubled times. Considering that most of the monarchies today have a constitutional status, it is hardly likely that they should turn tyrannical.
Britain’s Queen of happy memory presided over one of the longest functioning monarchies in the world. For her part, the Catholic Church is unique in showing how a head of state can have a monarchy with a blend of aristocratic and democratic elements too. St Thomas of Aquinas recognised the value of a king – “a shepherd seeking the common good of the multitude” – but strongly opposed an absolute monarch. How it will all pan out, with a new monarch in London and a Synod on Synodality coming up in Rome, only time will tell.
Banner: https://medium.com/@steverob1066_3899/non-angli-sed-angeli-a1a3d1f7656c
Mother of all crises
Are you overwhelmed by the ways of the world and believe the corrupt get away unharmed? Well, those who imagine they hold God in their pocket are sadly mistaken. Not only has God foretold the course of human behaviour, He has numbered the hairs on our head. Most of all, He has listed acts of commission and omission that will come back to haunt us some day.
Consider the First Reading (Amos 8: 4-7). It’s a clear message to those who ‘trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land’ – those crooks who snatch bread from the tables of simple, credulous citizens, and rather than be sent to jail are sent to Parliament! It also addresses those who, in the privacy of their homes or institutions, tell lies, bully and beat, exploit and cheat, drink and debauch, and without any qualms of conscience go out and preach. Amos, who shines in history as a prophet of social justice, warns that the Lord will never forget a thing they have done!
Thankfully, in God we trust. As the Psalm says,
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
to seat them with princes,
with the princes of his own people.
For our part, then, how are we to conduct ourselves? Wherever we may be, we are stewards by default – managers of the time and tasks entrusted to our care. And it is never for long; popular wisdom says, ‘Sonvsar charuch disancho’. Yet, how casually we handle our duties and responsibilities, joys and sorrows, problems and solutions!
In the Gospel (Lk 16: 1-13), Jesus is appreciative of the shrewd steward’s efforts to provide for his future; it is not the steward’s expediency but his decisiveness that Jesus focusses His attention on. Then come two most illuminating remarks: ‘The children of this world are wiser in their own generation than the children of light,’ and 'You cannot serve both God and mammon.'
Who can deny that the worldly-wise are more diligent than the spiritual-minded, and evil more active than good? That’s a clarion call to God’s people to be more dynamic and combative! We have to show greater enthusiasm and go forward together with our united strength, for indeed the price good folks pay for lukewarmness is to be ruled by evil doers.
The world is a common inheritance we have received from God. Whoever prevents us from enjoying its benefits is guilty of a grave crime. Which puts the spotlight on elected representatives: if they lack a moral compass, they easily turn responsibility into revelry and God’s kingdom into their personal fiefdom.
Truly, moral crisis is the mother of all crises. Hence, St Paul in the Second Reading (1 Tim 2: 1-8) invites us to pray that our leaders be instruments of peace and justice leading us to our eternal salvation as Jesus envisaged it.
Banner: https://useum.org/artwork/Parable-of-the-shrewd-manager-Luke-16-1-13-Marinus-van-Reymerswaele
Goan Presence in Bombay
The recent passing of Gerson da Cunha in Mumbai, a man of many parts, took me back to when his namesake granduncle José Gerson da Cunha wore many hats. The Origin of Bombay was just one of the many books the latter authored. It triggered my thoughts on the long presence of Goans in the metropolis and their contribution to its growth.
Goans had sporadic dealings with Mumbai, and the nearby towns of Chaul and Bassein for centuries. But it was not before the nineteenth century that they began to see Mumbai as a second home. It all started when some Goans in the employ of the British army stationed in Portuguese India (1799-1813, ostensibly to ward off an attack from the French), went along to British India as cooks, musicians, tailors, and so on. Thanks to their qualities of head and heart, a few even joined the Peshwa army and settled thereabouts, or moved to Mumbai, a city in the making.
Mumbai beckoned. It was an upcoming centre of education, trade and industry. Elphinstone College and Grant Medical College had seen many Goans even before the University was set up in 1857 and the J. J. School of Art soon thereafter. At that time, the textile mills, the tramway companies and the printing presses were employment hubs. Desperate to earn a livelihood, Goans travelled by patamaris or on riding-animals; much later, the metre-gauge railway line and the coastal steamer service emerged as express corridors to that bustling port city.
In her book Goan Pioneers in Bombay, Teresa Albuquerque states that ‘except for the lower classes pressed by abject poverty, Hindus generally refrained from migration to Mumbai until the middle of the nineteenth century.’ However, their population eventually grew ten times larger than that of the Goan Christians; they merged easily into the mainstream, while Christians, better attuned to the city’s western cultural ethos, including use of the Roman script, grabbed every opportunity to rise.
Life in an alien land never comes easy. Goan Christians were fortunate to escape the shanties, thanks to lodging and boarding available at their respective village kudds (clubs) scattered across the city. There they shared their joys and sorrows; and at times they drowned these at a tavern or at the tiatr, a new art form they had developed collectively. The more religiously inclined found solace at a wayside cross, chapel or church, while the more cerebral ones vented themselves through the newspaper columns. At any rate, every Goan worth his salt awaited a wedding, a church feast or a zatra to draw them back to home and hearth. Joseph Furtado’s nostalgic poetry of exile says it all:
I now live in the city
But my heart’s in the country;
In the city I languish,
And a wild thorn or tree,
If I happen to see,
It thrills me with anguish.
By and large, Goans were not ghettoised. By their natural ability to be all things to all people they secured work as seamen, cooks, butlers, ayahs, bakers, confectioners, tailors, musicians, coach builders, jewellers, millworkers and undertakers. According to Albuquerque, ‘while most of the Goan emigrants in Mumbai were miserably poor and struggling to survive, there were also a few – very few – who could have been considered fabulous tycoons’, most of whom, sadly, are ‘not remembered for works of philanthropy.’ There were also intellectual stalwarts, eminent physicians, social workers, sportsmen, entertainers, and many notables who promoted education and culture (including the University and the Royal Asiatic Society), engaged in welfare services, and set up periodicals in Konkani, Marathi, English and Portuguese.
A curious feature of Mumbai is that, until the nineteenth century, Portuguese was almost a lingua franca amid the Christian community, both Goan and East Indian. Certain churches were under the jurisdiction of the Portuguese Padroado. Until 1928, records were maintained and ceremonies conducted in that language by priests that churches in Dhobitalao, Cavel, Dabul, Byculla, Mazagaon, Dadar, Mahim, Bandra, Vile Parle and Kalina largely drew from Goa. In The Making of Mumbai, Benny Aguiar concludes his narrative about the metropolis and its Catholic past with a Goan, Valerian Gracias’ appointment as archbishop of Mumbai in 1950.
By mid-twentieth century, Goans were well established in Mumbai. There was probably no sector without their presence. Oncologist Ernest Borges, gynaecologist V.N. Shirodkar, professors Armando Menezes, Manuel Colaço and C.D. Pinto, educationist Aloysius Soares, journalist Frank Moraes, singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale and Kishori Amonkar, cartoonist Mário Miranda, painter F.N. Souza, poet Dom Moraes, top cop Julio Ribeiro, scientist Anil Kakodkar, architects Charles Correa and Edgar Ribeiro, engineer Manuel Menezes, beauty queen Reita Faria, historians John Correia Afonso and George Moraes, ad gurus Frank Simões and brothers Gerson and Sylvester da Cunha, artistes Micky Correa, Chris Perry, Lorna, Souza Ferrão, Braz Gonsalves and Anthony Gonsalves, to name but a few, were household names.
‘Bomboicar’ or ‘Bombay Goans’ – the hoi-polloi more than the gentry – favoured their families with remittances that helped change the face of the homeland. Nonetheless, back in the Portuguese era, they were by and large looked down upon. There was perhaps a subtle animosity between the cash-strapped homegrown Goans and their anglicised counterparts. These latter indicated that they belonged to a modern industrial-urban society while their country cousins languished in sossegado rural environs. It is quite likely that this love-hate relationship stemmed from long-standing Anglo-Portuguese colonial complexes.
All in all, it has been a win-win situation. In his book The Portuguese Presence in India: Latter-day Thorns amidst Tranquillities, John Menezes talks about “the Goan voice, once vibrant and contributing richly to the pluralistic fabric of the city”. Today the Goan presence in Mumbai is so diffused that individual roles are more difficult to pin point. But they love the city and contribute greatly to its civic life, like da Cunha did. The Goa-Mumbai relationship will be alive and kicking as long as those Goans keep thinking of the green, green grass of home.
First published in The Goan Review, August 2022 https://online.fliphtml5.com/cmlao/gqia/?1660569685081
Banner: Gateway of India, https://pixahive.com/photo/gateway-of-india-mumbai/
Elephantine Blunder
It is significant that, close on the heels of an elephantine blunder that we have witnessed in our archdiocese, this Sunday’s liturgy of the Word comes down heavily on those who scandalously turn to other gods.
In the First Reading (Ex 32: 7-11, 13-14) God is rightfully angry with His people for forgetting Him Who had delivered them from the slavery of Egypt. Now they worship abominable little gods of their own making.
How is this any different from Catholics ‘jumping on the idol worship bandwagon’ [1] in Goa? More than one priest is known to have gone on pilgrimage to Ganesh household shrines. If it was a plain social visit, this priest’s prayer posture absolutely begs an explanation.
What is the rationale behind bowing before idols? It is one thing to build bridges on the social plane, say, by having colleagues from other faiths and enjoying their company at work or in the neighbourhood; it is quite another to be praying before their deities. If this is not a breach of the First Commandment, what is?
The laxity in the practice of our faith seems to be a natural consequence of an ‘inculturation’ gone awry. It has shown us the true colours of the so-called ‘inter-faith dialogue’. And the project is rendered even more sinister by the fact that there is a concerted effort to play to the gallery, at the national and international levels. And playing the game is a clique of fifth columnists that collects funds for a misplaced ‘evangelization’.
That is to say, what we have witnessed in Goa is not an isolated incident; it is not a case of one priest going astray but rather a case of one expressly led astray. It fits the bill.
If we are not to sit in judgement without listening to the other side, it is sincerely hoped that the matter will be clarified by the ecclesiastical authorities in the archdiocese and by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), of which our Archbishop and newly-appointed Cardinal is the president.
At any rate, we also hope that the teaching of our religious doctrine will stop being fuzzy; that its practice will be truthful and firm, and that we will decidedly stop walking on the razor’s edge.
(This post was first circulated on Whatsapp, Sunday, 11 September 2022)
[1] https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/goa-new-cardinal-winks-at-ganesh-idolatry
Crucible of love and mercy
It’s never too much to talk of love and mercy. God is a crucible of love and mercy – celestial material that humans yearn for. And be it between parents and children, husband and wife, neighbours, friends or foes, love and mercy are of the essence; they keep the machine of life oiled and running sweetly.
God the Father, who is the source of all that is good, has set the example. In the First Reading (Ex 32: 7-11, 13-14) God is rightfully angry with His people for forgetting Him Who had delivered them from the slavery of Egypt. Now they worship abominable little gods of their own making.
In the Gospel (Lk 15: 1-32), we read three delightful parables that highlight the extent of God’s love and mercy. The Divine Master’s abiding concern is to reach out to those in need, so He responds to those who fail to appreciate His mingling with sinners. Jesus speaks of the proverbial shepherd going out in search of his lost sheep and of a woman who is in search of a lost coin.
Alternatively, we could look at the lost sheep and the lost coin as entities hoping to be found or saved by their respective owners – in the same way as our spirits thirst for the love of the Father!
Yet, the most heart-warming part of the trilogy on redemption is that parable about the Prodigal Son. It covers a whole gamut of human experiences: if the younger son could be booked for greed, lust, gluttony and sloth, the pharisaic elder one is symbolic of pride, greed, envy and wrath. Between them they have all of the seven deadly sins! And whereas the son is prodigal – extravagant – with his money and possessions, the father is prodigal – overgenerous – with his love and mercy.
Finally, St Paul’s frank testimony (1 Tim 1: 12-17) echoes a common experience. Just as he acted out of ignorance, sometimes we too aren’t careful about how we judge people and situations. We dub parental concern or spousal devotion ‘paranoid’; neighbours’ concern, ‘inquisitiveness’; and friends suddenly become foes for unexplained reasons. In the midst of it all, and much against the evangelical command, we stay put and criticise everyone; we don’t care to lift even a finger to help those in need – maybe for fear of getting it wrong, or simply out of laziness or indifference!
That’s when it will pay to remember that the divine crucible of love and mercy is peppered with justice!
Banner pic: https://www.gospelimages.com/paintings/96/the-return-of-the-prodigal-son?
Surrender and Win
We have heard it said so many times that life is a mystery; but isn’t that so because the One who has created us is a Super-Mystery? We have neither seen Him, so as to be able to judge for ourselves, nor have we heard enough about Him to say we know Him completely. Yet we go on from day to day, based entirely on our relationship with Him who is the Unknown but also the only One who can save us.
We humans are eyeballs that can’t see and earlobes that can’t hear, especially when we are immersed in the world. Yet, the Almighty addresses those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, particularly when we renounce worldly attractions, our mind and all our senses give us an understanding of the present and the final reality. When we give ourselves up in sweet surrender, God lets us in on the secret of His wisdom (Wis 9: 13-19), through the working of the Holy Spirit who has meanwhile descended upon us. Then we begin to appreciate God's ways and desires, for He reveals Himself to those desirous of that unique experience.
Seeing that humans had foolishly turned in on themselves and were acting like little gods, our Father in Heaven sent His Only Son Jesus to the world. In the Gospel today (Lk 14: 25-33) Jesus shakes the people out of their complacency. Putting all His cards on the table, He demands nothing less than total commitment, total acceptance of God’s ways and total surrender to the Father. As He says elsewhere, ‘Whoever is not with Me is against Me’.
It is paradoxical but true that the more we give of ourselves to God, the more we feel free – it is a freedom easily verifiable from our everyday experience. Who can deny that the more we are attached to the ways of the world, the more we are in chains? Unbridled love for earthly things, be it money, power, influence, knowledge, is enslaving! On the other hand, how liberating it is to know and love God more and more!
That is why St Paul (Phil 9-10, 12-17) pointed out to Philemon, a man of high social standing, whom he had converted to Christianity, that it is of the essence that his slave, also a neo-convert, be treated humanely, as a brother in the faith. This new spirit in which the Apostle of the Gentiles wrote his short but important letter indeed prepared the world, mentally and spiritually, for a great transformation that finally led to the abolition of slavery.
The Lord has been our refuge from generation to generation! The readings of today invite us to keep a tab on the life of our minds and hearts, and to find out what can fetch us true peace and happiness. One thing is sure: without God’s help, we can do nothing – we are nothing! A sweet surrender to His will is a promise of our final victory.
Switching off our vanity lights
Today’s readings form an exceedingly beautiful trilogy. The folly of vanity is illustrated with a parable and rounded off with a nugget of wisdom about gazing heavenward. They make an interesting counterpoint to the capricious lifestyle of contemporary man.
Did you know that there was a time when ‘vanity’ simply meant ‘emptiness’ or ‘uselessness’ (from the Latin vanitas)? When used to represent arrogant or boastful obsession with one’s appearance, possessions or accomplishments, it underlined the same meaning. The original Hebrew term, sometimes translated as ‘illusion of illusions’, literally meant breath, wind, vapour, implying that things are uncertain, empty, futile.
The First Reading (Eccl. 1: 2; 2: 21-23) could not put it better. Life is indeed a string of vanities! Omnia vanitas: all is vanity. In fact, everything that is extravagant – and not useful or indispensable – is usually conceited: it focusses on the earthly creator and forgets the Divine Creator. This aspect of fallen man is something that Ecclesiastes, one of the ‘Wisdom Books’ of the Old Testament, has bared to thinkers and commoners alike. When its anonymous author says that there is ‘a time to be born and a time to die’, he tells us in no uncertain terms that life is brief and death inevitable.
That we are not masters of our destiny; that what we do lasts brief hours and weeks; that death comes like a thief: such thoughts flood our mind as we hear the Parable of the Rich Fool. Why, then, do siblings fight over land or even honest people build mansions to keep up with the Joneses? Is it not true that we must seek first the kingdom of God and the rest will be given unto us? How about burying our egos, surrendering to God’s will and giving up our acquisitive instinct for things that genuinely matter?
In today’s Gospel (Lk 12: 13-21), Jesus asks: ‘The things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ That’s a very pertinent question, for alas, how we take solace, nay, pride, in the abundance of our possessions, as though we are going to live for ever! But then, Covid-19 has taught us someting as perhaps only Covid can: that our life can change in an instant and from one day to another we may be catapulted to the presence of God. That’s when we will learn, albeit late, the full import of these words from Deuteronomy, with which Jesus shot down the devil in the desert: ‘Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
In effect, we are faced with an existential question: are we to sell everything, pack up our bags and head to the nearby forest? Clearly, not everybody is called for so radical a decision. We have to live in the world without being of the world; for it is not where we live, but how we live, that matters. Hence, St Paul, in the Second Reading (Col. 3: 1-5, 9-11), exhorts us to seek the things that are above, where Christ is; to set our eyes not on things that are on earth. He sets before our eyes a catalogue of vices that our old self has to be stripped of, and five virtues that our new self has to be clothed with, through baptism: a radical transformation by the action of the Holy Spirit.
But is it all that straightforward? In the world today, it is difficult to be a Christian – not because Christ’s teachings have lost their relevance but because we seem to have lost our conviction. It is true that the secular powers-that-be are continually conspiring to splinter Our Lord’s precepts; on the other hand, haven’t the spiritual powers-that-be played to the gallery and capitulated to the ways of the world? And what are you and I doing to clear the stables? To be ruled by evil men is the price we pay for indifference to civil and ecclesiastical affairs!
The question remains: how do we proceed from here? Flashing before my eyes is St Pope Pius X’s motto: Instaurare omnia in Christ, to restore all things in Christ. To be committed Catholics, living the Gospel values to the best of our abilities, a life in communion with the Resurrected Lord should be our goal. The said Pope was acclaimed for his efforts to root out the Modernist heresy, which he dubbed ‘the synthesis of all heresies’, in his Encyclical titled Pascendi Dominici Gregis (8.9.1907). Much as we are programmed to love the word ‘modern’, Modernism represented an agnostic doctrine that attempted to pull the rug from under the Catholic faith. And, alas, it still does!
The trilogy of readings today invites us to go beyond self and see the world as it is. Isn’t vanity the leitmotif of the contemporary world? A culture of death is being promoted disguised as the culture of life. Engrossed as we are in our own personal worlds, more often than not we miss the larger picture. In fact, you and I unknowingly aid the advance of those cultural forces by the choices that we make every single day. It is high time we shunned the clutter outside and saved ourselves of that painful emptiness inside. Let not the city lights overwhelm us; let us switch our vanity lights and set our gaze on the True Light of the World.
Finally, on the Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, let us pray that the words he famously said to St Francis Xavier soften our hearts too: 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?' (Mt 16: 26; Mk 8: 36)
Prayer must be a way of life
To every believer whose desire is to know how to pray, here are some heart-warming pointers: in today’s Gospel (Lk 11: 1-13) we have a formula par excellence, and in the First Reading (Gen 18: 20-32), an illustration of how to pray. It is not ours to reason why, for if we are to survive, praying must come as easy as breathing. As Alexis Carrel, Nobel Laureate for Medicine, puts it: ‘Simple souls feel God as naturally as they feel the heat of the sun or the fragrance of a flower; but the same God, accessible to those who know how to love Him, remains hidden from those who do not understand Him.’
Abraham had no difficulty in relating to God who visited him in human form. They talked about Sodom and Gomorrah that were slated for severe punishment for their grossly offensive conduct. That is when Abraham began to do a deal with God, like a child would with his parents: he was concerned about the safety of his nephew Lot who had relocated to Sodom in a huff. Abraham left no stone unturned to secure a good ‘bargain’ as only he can do who knows God intimately.
Thankfully, Christian mystics from St Paul down to St Padre Pio have elaborated on kinds, methods and levels of prayer, and offered formulas; but none of them are crucial, for a child talking to his parent follows no fixed action pattern. The best policy is to be our honest selves, ready to do our Father’s will in all things, as the ‘Pater Noster’ counsels. While St Augustine reportedly said that he who sings, prays twice; St Aloysius of Gonzaga believed that work is prayer. Which goes to show that it is of the essence to establish a hotline with God and not merely employ a certain formula or method.
That God finally took a softer line at Abraham’s instance should be an eyeopener to those who doubt the efficacy of prayer! Such doubts stem from a secular attitude or a spirit that excludes God from our life. It is clear from today’s parable that God wants us to ask and persevere in the asking – while all the time believing with The Imitation of Christ, that ‘Man proposes; God disposes.’ And how can we forget the words of Our Lord Himself: ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you’!
Of course, that promise comes with a rider: we must have a change of heart; deep faith and trust in God; and pray calmly, humbly and confidently. We must praise and thank God, petition Him and intercede for others. When we leave it to Him to fix our broken lives soon we will hear our lips sing, ‘Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me… Your kindness, O Lord, endures forever; forsake not the work of your hands.’ We have the Lord’s promise: ‘If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?’
But is that all as simple as it sounds? It is so if we do not let sin snap our hotline with God. At any rate, the Sacraments that can help restore it. We also need to create the right physical and psychological conditions to communicate with the Creator: for instance, personal prayer in the privacy of our rooms, and communal prayer in the sacral ambience of our churches. Notice how the interior of a monastery or the protected area of Old Goa or even a quiet and sprawling campus like Don Bosco’s situated in the middle of Panjim city can set the tone for a divine encounter: they are oases of tranquillity fit for the angels of India!
Although forces of evil are pressing against us, we must not be disheartened. St Paul in the Second Reading (Col 2: 12-14) puts things in perspective when he says that God has given us the ultimate gift of love through His Son Jesus Christ, thus securing us a return to the One we are united to through Baptism. So, even if our outer shell be diseased, the core of our being finds healing through prayer. We remain insulated against the fear of suffering, sickness and death if our life be a prayer offered to God, ‘an elevation of our soul to God’ (Tanqueray, The Mystical Life, cit. The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, p. 765), a way of life!