...weeping for her children!

The Christmas message (2019) of Pope Francis begins like this: "From the womb of Mother Church, the incarnate Son of God is born anew this night."

Mother church not only celebrates the mystery of the incarnation as something external to her,

but as the living presence within her.
She also holds within herself the suffering of the witnesses to the Word made flesh.

The Holy innocents are remembered every year soon after the birth of Christ.
A cry and mourn is heard from the heart of the church for the victims of injustice and violence.
Who are the holy victims,
those helplessly lamenting,
those put to death,
those kept in fear and humiliation.

Power and insecurity will necessarily bring violence.
Political approach devoid of good will surely raise victims,

often women and children.

their men may have been already victims of war and humiliation.

From the heart of Mother Church, a voice is heard,
sobbing and loudly lamenting:
it was a weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted because they were no more.

New Life at the Manger

God in the Highest is among us here.
It was always his assurance: "I am with you."
God pitched his tent among his people,
he is not far from us.

Peace on earth to people of good will...
who are the people of good will?
Manger at Bethlehem is an example to see that.

There is a community of the universe,
welcoming one another with  surprise and joy.
Stars, animals, angels...
among the humans there are shepherds, parents, wise men/kings, baby...
Son of God is dependent on all others,
His parents are taking care with devotion,
shepherds are willing to help them as they can...


All care for one another,
wish good for all.
Then, there is peace on earth, the kingdom of God.

There is no foreigner or stranger, no rich or poor,
there are no boundaries, the other is our own people,
they can welcome one another with surprise and joy.

A saviour is born to us, ... a child is given  to us
You can be fresh and new once again,
offering forgiveness, and being forgiven, being loved;
never being lost, not letting anyone to be rejected, forgotten and lost.
In us reveal the face of God.

Emmanuel -- God is with us
We are never left alone,
God accepts us as his own...
God accompanies us on our journey.
having seen the radiance of his glory we can leave in peace

It is an embrace of God,
the grace, the love, the life of God that we receive in Christ,
in that we have forgiveness, healing, freedom, and new birth,
freshness of new life, growing into its fullness
that is eternal life,
not according to time, but according to the abundance of grace.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
any one who believes in him may have eternal life.

Time of Patient Waiting

Once a year we joyfully remember the events at the manger in Bethlehem.

The Jews sang: “Let us go to God’s house” (Ps 121[122]:1)
There is a new model of the temple at the manger,
and the real face of God in the baby at the manger.

Look at the baby with love,
the baby who comes totally dependent on others,
baby who trusts in others without suspect and fear.
Animals, the poor, the pagans, those judged to be sinners ….
Many are there at the manger.
Can we take into account all of them to whom baby Christ became dependent?
Those came to the manger also were ready to wait,
were open to see reality beyond their own expectations and definitions.

It is possible only in a patient waiting!
Patience of child-bearing and pain of labour,
Which has its origin in true love.
“The virgin mother longed for him with love beyond all telling.” (Preface Advent II)

Then the time for patient waiting;
To be born, to walk, to speak, to know oneself … and to bid farewell.
Absence of this waiting can bring immature interventions from us. In hurried actions ‘to make Christ born’ we may be losing our peace.
Contemplation in love, prayerful waiting for the Christ-births we want to give, patience to accept new paths and learn to walk gently, waiting for inspired words that we could speak …

The revealing, incarnating, and the dependent Christ is there in every one.

Let us go to God’s house,
To the openness of the manger at Bethlehem,
Without hating, without separating, without judging.
In such encounters, being together,
we have nativity, proclamation of the Gospel, repentance and transformation.
In kindness, compassion and mercy, there are ways made straight,
there is born Christ unnamed, and lives.

God of the Living

We do not know what really happens when we die,
whether soul separates from body,
or extends to the universe or whatever,
nor do we know what exactly happens in resurrection.

One thing we are sure;
we live in Christ, now and when time ends.
Do good, be comforted in the Lord,
be strengthened in the Lord to continue the good work,
have courage even after being deceived in our good work.

Good will brings peace,

Live in Peace
-------------------
Heaven that is only after death is a fake news!

Christ Our home

Where is the home that we are to go to,  to enter into, and to become?
Christ himself who is the way is the home!
To be one in Christ, being in  Christ is that homeness.
Being in him we will know each other, all created things.
Those gone before have not ceased to exist, they have been transformed; soil, flowers, fruits, plants animals, humans ...
All are one in Christ, are in one home
All are in the same journey; into him, through him, with him.

All that exists comes from him; all is  by him and for him.
To him be glory for ever! Amen. (Rom 11:36)

Repentance: Confidence in God the life-giver

God has given His imperishable spirit in all that is created;
God finds them very good, and loves all that exists.
God does not hold anything of what he has formed in abhorrence;
they exist because they are called forth by God the
lover of life.

The perishable nature changes its form, God brings newer forms of life in transformation.
Thus, we know the unknown power and beauty of life and existence.

Even in human life, little by little God transforms those who offend;
They may know the creative power, move away from the damaging attitudes, and learn to trust in God.
We spoke of God forgiving, loving, being kind and merciful... in fact these are all leading us to the fullness of life, to the whole purpose of our existence.

Repentance is to place confidence in that love,
repentance is to have courage to be comforted by the embrace that opens us to the fullness of life,
life in abundance.
Repentance is not a moral transformation that seems as a condition for the disposal of grace;
moral transformation, rather, is an outcome of internal working of grace, the sign of life in us.

We live, though weak, wounded and broken, because we are called forth by God the giver of life, he does not hold us in hatred whatever may be the state we are.

_______________

Ref: Wisdom 11:22-12:2

Catholicity denied within

The form of catholicity that drives us towards religious/cultural imperialism is not catholicity at all. If catholicity can not recognize the revelatory and inspirational content within diverse forms of human cultures it not only ceases to be 'catholic' in its true sense, it also denies the universality of the Word itself.

The culture and religion of the time of Jesus would keep some as 'sinners' and enemies. The elite claimed higher holiness, more perfect ritual and moral correctness, and specially 'preferred' status. Instead Jesus welcomed them all, all who wished to  come to him. They were all the children of God.He could extend himself to them, or he could see them all in himself. Thus loving oneself and loving others became one and the same process. That was the catholicity Jesus showed. 

Life-giving!

I prefer the phrase ‘life-giving’ to all other words to describe the nature of Christ. Was he gentle, meek, humble, healing, preaching….? Was he angry and acted violently against injustice? At every movement of Christ there is an inspired perspectival choice. It was for and towards ‘life.’

Life surprises us with spontaneous emergence. There is also such surprise at times may be shocking too, in the spontaneity of the inspiration of Christ. It reveals in the moments of history, cultural emergences, cry of the oppressed, in nature both in its beauty and in its pain. We may be afraid, because we are not at ease with strangeness. Our confidence is the trust in him to know that it is Christ. Basic nature of faith is not some clear definitions or principles, but it is Christ and his character.

Something to ponder is this: How much is the Christness in the ‘christian’ life we live, ‘christian’ beliefs we hold dear, and the principles we want to defend? Are they life-giving?

If we are finding shelter in Christianity of some preferred ideologies, we are creating bubble houses for us. We are at the risk of losing them, so always in a concern its protection.

____________________

Reflecting on St Luke and the nature of the gospel he narrated.

See first the number of gods in your God!

How are African, Asian, Amazonian cultures and religious aspirations still pagan to some others? Perhaps the eyes are closed against the Word which was present there with unfathomable richness and beauty.

There was no difficulty in celebration of the birth of the Sun God, and the rising Sun with a new meaning given in relation to Christ. Yahweh was a subordinate Canaanite god under the Most High God El, seen as an old man with a long beard and wings, the father of heaven and gods, and the head of the divine pantheon, and husband of Asherah. Among the gods, Yahweh’s work is to make things (One who makes what is made). He had a Bull head, and so his priests wore a headdress with horns. The children of El were collectively called as Elohim. In singular it can mean same as El or Eloa. Elohim could also mean simply powers like wind, water and fire. El roi was an Egyptian desert god who watches or sees. El Shaddai which means God Almighty who is a great/mighty warrior has Akkadian origin that meant God of the mountains, or God with breasts. Canaanites called him Baal-Hadad, the storm god who was a mountain deity. The patriarchs, worshiped Shaddai together with the Canaanite El. Adonai and Elohe Tzevaot of Phoenician origin were gods of armies. 

Remember the verses God creating, god appearing in the clouds, travelling on wind, God on the mountains, God leading armies... Those gods which once were called pagan were taken into Israel and to the Bible as attributed to a single deity where as they were different gods of the region. They were not simply some qualities of gods, but they were gods of the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Egyptians, Phenicians, Syrians…

These 'pagan' gods could enter into our concept of God, the Roman bureaucracy could become the form of Christian governance, and Christian way of worship could be modeled with adaptation of Greco-Roman rituals. Today when an attempt is made to see deeply into the community forms and religious aspirations of the indigenous people of the third world, they are condemned to be pagan worship. It is nothing other than a continued form of cultural colonialism.

Revelation and Conscience

It is the values that are cherished and lived that function as the lived culture that is transmitted from one generation to the other. Values define the quality of conscience and so, the formation of conscience is a responsible task of every community. Our emphasis on cultivating ‘religious beings’ does not ensure this conscience formation. Because often it centers on forms of religious practices and one’s ‘loyal’ adherence to a community. It can well encourage a scrupulous or a ‘hypocritical’ conscience. The first seeks a confirmation from other who confirms one’s actions, and the second justifies one’s actions within. 

Whether it be a person or a society, only a sincere conscience can recognize God’s message in a particular context. Only in genuineness the stirring within can be fruitful, and the message becomes clear. Revelation of God does not happen in light and cloud, it occurs in clear conscience. A society must ensure that its structures enables the formation of good conscience within its members.

Treasures of the Word kept aside

Indigenous people's feathered headdress no sillier than the three-peaked hat worn by certain officials in Roman dicasteries. It was a response from Pope Francis at a sarcastic comment about a pious man with feathers on his head who brought an offering.

Honoring native cultures, he urges the Church to respect their histories and traditions, rather than imposing ideologies on them in a new form of colonization. 

The Church cannot be constrained within a particular culture, but having the spirit of Christ the church seeks to find the depth of her soul in the Word present in native cultures, and wants to express it in faith. For long, we may have neglected this richness. It is Christ himself that stirs the conscience of the Church to look into the depths kept aside.

Mother Church! Rediscover Your Fruitfulness in the Joy of Mission!

“Mother Church! Rediscover your fruitfulness in the joy of mission!” are the ending words in the homily of pope Francis … Extraordinary mission month is a challenge for all of us, not only for a commitment for mission, but also for restructuring some of our perspectives. 

The Pope encourages us to go ahead with hope, and asks us to avoid crisis mentality and pessimistic outlook. A missionary church, he said, “does not waste time lamenting things that go wrong, the loss of faithful, the values of a time now in the past.” 

Many of us go through life-questions, of our own, of our society, and of the Church. Pope says that God is not asking us just moving through life, but “to give life; not to complain about life, but to share in the tears of all who suffer.” Is it something missionary enough? The intention of the missionary month is to “motivate us to be active in doing good. He asks us to focus on the dimension of witnessing. Pope Francis emphasizes that "the martyrs are the primary witnesses of faith: not by their words but by their lives. We become missionaries by living as witnesses: bearing witness by our lives that we have come to know Jesus. It is our lives that speak." …. Faith truly lived as witness to the Gospel should not take the form of a propaganda or proselytism: it is a respectful gift of one’s life. It is to be lived "by spreading peace and joy, by loving everyone, even their enemies, out of love for Jesus." Missionary enthusiasm can sometime make us “notaries of faith and guardians of grace” as to think that we are the providers of salvation. “God will not ask us if we jealously preserved our life and faith, but instead whether we stepped forward and took risks, even losing face,” he says. 

He says that it is a sin against mission whenever we think of ourselves as victims, or think that no one loves us or understands us. We are to be people spreading joy. Thinking of ourselves so poorly that we cannot enrich someone else is also a sin against mission he says. Because God has given us many talents. We also sin against mission when we give ourselves to the fears that immobilize us, when we let ourselves be paralyzed by thinking that “things will never change”. He encourages us not to give up on the way, for the Lord is our strength. 

Mission does not depend on ‘our’ planning, competence, and strategies. It is wrong, he says, to do doing missionary work like business organizations, with a business plan. "The Holy Spirit is the protagonist of our mission," and the Holy Spirit has been already present there where we are expected to be a witness of the Gospel. 

What we need to do is to live the Gospel, in love, peace and joy, and share this joy that is in our life with the neediest who needs our love. It is a great and courageous effort, not much in word but greatly in life.

_________________________ 

Pope Francis, Homily at vespers for the beginning of the missionary month (October 01, 2019) available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20191001_omelia-vespri-mesemissionario.html 

See also Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Pontifical Mission Societies, Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World; Extraordinary Missionary Month October 2019 (Milan: San Paolo, 2019). available athttp://www.october2019.va/en.html 

Imitating Christ the Faithful Servant

Servanthood can be described in many modes; slavish, blind, scrupulous, being obedient based on duty, discipline etc. Christian servanthood has its model in Christ which is none of the above. It is based on faithfulness, a faithfulness because of belonging to the other. About Christ it is said, “in loud cries and bitter tears he offered his prayers and supplications to the one able to save Him from death. Because of his faithfulness he was heard” (Heb 5:7).

He was doing the will of the Father, but Father was doing His works through him. He had the freedom in doing what Father would desire. He was able to trust the plan of the Father. He came in the form of an anointed servant to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free (Is 61:1; Lk 4:18) Even when he died in humiliation as a curse, he trusted in the Father and said that it is accomplished (Jn 19:28).

We are called to imitate the anointed servant in his words, life, and death in faithfulness. We may not achieve everything that we desire, but it is our trust that it is the work of the Father. This trust cannot be experienced in a duty-based service or in a slavish obedience, it can be nourished in a relationship of belonging. There is a freedom, to love, to fight, to complain, to open our heart in sorrow and anguish. If we do not know Him in belonging, our deeds will be in fear and doubt of the approval of the master. 

Faithful servanthood is not set within a stereotyped circle, there is spontaneity and creativity. God does not ask us to perform a puppet play, he opens new ways as best as it can be. Only in trust we can open ourselves to these ways out of routine. Faithfulness also will help us to wait in patience rather than being in eagerness to see the results immediately. After all it is God who is establishing his kingdom.

The upright shall live by his faithfulness (Hab 2:4).

‘New Humanism’ and the Fear of ‘Christianity being Wiped out’

Humanism emerged as to resolve tensions between tradition and modernity and to reconcile individual rights with newly emerging duties of citizenship, the new humanism has the context of globalization with its complex and sometimes contradictory manifestations. The new humanism promotes the social inclusion of every human being at all levels of society and underlines the transformative power of education, sciences, culture and communications. It is a collective effort that holds governments, civil society, the private sector and human individuals equally responsible to realize its values and to design creatively and implement a humanist approach to a sustainable society, based on economic, social and environmental development.

The humanist framework according to the preamble of the UNESCO Constitution is in the pursuit of peace. Not only is peace of great benefit to human beings, but the whole human family holds primary responsibility for it. They must work towards it through the nature of their intentions and the strength of their will. international cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

It is through the development and following of a culture, we manifest ourselves. Beyond all diverse forms of cultures, we have a common human culture. Through communication, through language learning and dialogue, through scientific cooperation, we can go beyond the limits of ourselves, we can broaden our knowledge, discover other customs, and enter the ideal city of the mind, aware of the humanity that binds us together.

The ‘New Humanism’ in ‘Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Launch of the Global Compact on Education’

The transformation that we face today is not only cultural but also anthropological. The process of ‘rapidification’ has trapped our existence in a whirlwind of high-speed technology and computerization, continually altering our points of reference. our very identity is shattered and our psychological structure dissolves as the constant changes contrast with the naturally slow pace of biological evolution.

Taking courage to reject the throwaway culture and the attitude of commodification of nature and humankind, a central place must be given to the value proper to each creature in its relationship to the people and realities surrounding it, as well as a lifestyle. Moving away from a culture of commercializing process, we may begin to learn that the whole world is deeply interconnected envisioning new ways of economics, politics, growth and progress. There we will have the courage to place the human person at the center, not profit. Here human life and developments are not placed into reducible patterns of human endeavors whereas to keep Christ away from the picture.

So, ‘Reinventing the Global Compact on Education’ desires to form an educational alliance, to form mature individuals capable of overcoming division and antagonism, and to restore relationships for the sake of a more fraternal humanity. It aims at an education that integrates and respects all aspects of the person, uniting studies and everyday life, teachers, students and their families, and civil society in its intellectual, scientific, artistic, athletic, political, business and charitable dimensions. Thus, this mode of education hopes for a coming together, for an alliance that generates peace, justice and hospitality among all peoples of the human family, as well as dialogue between religions. It also enhances a union between the earth’s inhabitants and our “common home”, which we are bound to care for and respect. How can we call the earth which God created and filled with gift of diverse form of life a common home of devils? This life and beauty also is a sign of grace that can gather us together as the children of god and as one family.

Taking courage to get the most out of our best energies, creatively and responsibly to form a human conscience that is “open, responsible, prepared to listen, dialogue and reflect with others, and capable of weaving relationships with families, between generations, and with civil society…” It is the ‘new humanism’ that Pope Francis calls for. Can you find anything demonic in it?  Yet this is what he is blamed for.

Since every change calls for an educational process that involves everyone we need to create an “educational village”, in which all people, according to their respective roles, share the task of forming a network of open, human relationships. All institutions are called to reexamine the aims and methods that determine how they carry out their educational mission. New educational system aims to enable themselves in service to the community, a service that establishes human relationships of closeness and bonds of solidarity with the neediest of people.

The blame on Pope Francis for his call for a new system of education to be demonic and potential to wipe away Christianity demands clarity on what it means by Christianity that is feared to be at danger.

___________________

References:

Bokov, Irina. "A New Humanism for the 21st Century." (October 10, 2010)  Accessed September 27, 2019. www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/a_new_humanism_for_the_21st_century/www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/a_new_humanism_for_the_21st_century/

Francis Pope. Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Launch of ‘The Global Compact On Education.’ (September 12, 2019) Accessed September 27, 2019.  http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190912_messaggio-patto-educativo.html

Orville, Hans d’. "New Humanism and Sustainable Development." Cadmus. 2. no. 5 (Octobr 2015): 90-100.

Herods of Christ in Amazon

Amazon synod do stand against selfish business interests. The convenient theological reading against the synod seems to use the language of faith to politicize and gather support. Lobbying has been a holy politics with an innocent look.

What do the opponents say they are against?

 1) Implicit pantheism — the identification of God with the universe and nature where God and the world are one

Amazon synod does not call nature to be God, nor does it attach themselves to an absolute naturalism. In original amazon culture there may have been the animistic outlook concerning nature. That is to recognize different forms of life (anima) in nature, in wind, waterfall, fire, tree. That was, of course, the initial form of religiosity. This vision differs form a separated view as One God here and one World there. Neither of them was their concern. They found life everywhere within their habitat and they related to them recognizing their sacredness. Relating to nature as our habitat is the natural way of being human. It is from where we have come from in the creative love of God.

Our tendency to distance from nature have been there from very early time. Those trends have mistaken transcending to distancing from nature. Some early spiritualities which were based on Platonian thinking emphasized on ‘spiritual things’ and downplayed the significance of the physical, and approached it as something negative and evil. Some ascetical trends in the medieval period also treated body and nature as something evil, despicable and condemnable. Desacralization happened in the modern period began to treat the nature only as usable good and resources to be exploited. So those who find their lives as something integral with the nature and to be respected may be seen as worshipers of nature and pagans. This receptive and respective relationship with nature is clearly an obstacle to the exploiting interests of multinational companies.

2) Accepting pagan superstitions as though they are sources of Divine Revelation

After all what is paganism today in our world, or what is the pure/non-pagan culture that is truly Christian. Though the early Christians called Roman and Greek culture to be pagan, they became part and parcel of Christianity afterwards. Then the ‘other than Greco-Romans’ were called pagans. Since ‘pagan’ ‘superstitions’ demand clarity of definition today, the accusation on the synod of an attempt to accept pagan superstitions as divine revelation is very much biased.

It is unfitting to call traditions and customs of a culture ‘pagan’ only because they are culturally different. Christian tradition has accepted and appreciated the values of truth goodness and beauty found in various cultures it has reached, but has rejected their elements of exploitative possibility and inhuman customs.  Church has been meeting the presence of Christ which has been already present within them, perhaps an unknown and unnamed Christ. It is the humble recognition of the Word active in human conscience and culture. It does deserve dialogue and acceptance by the Church. If the patterns of Greco-Roman traditions could enter into Christian faith why not the spontaneous cultural symbols of the Amazonians be used to experience and express Christian faith? The then ‘pagan’ Greco-Roman cultural symbols can not claim a more perfect potentiality to hold a revelatory function.

It is Christ who is revealed, and in him we have the revelation. But it is not necessary that our understanding of Christ has an exclusive revelatory content. That is why we continue to seek him in dialogue with the indigenous cultures. In doing so we are not seeking alternative pathways for salvation.

If it is paganism that it is blamed for, we must understand that it is in our approach that an idol is made and worshipped. Is the rest of the catholic world free of superstitions? What about burying a statue of St Joseph in order that a land may be sold? Is it devotion or superstition? On one hand we can easily accept the influence of demons and devils behind every strange phenomenon, and appoint even exorcists to deal with them. On the other hand, we are reluctant to see the life forms around, and blame it pagan. It only shows a conservative scrupulosity and suspicion, not a matter of faith.

Making efforts to see the presence of the logos in the archaic forms of cultural traditions is our openness to see Christ more fully. If it is called as relativization of God’s revelation, it is nothing other than absolutization of a preferred cultural pattern which is given an exclusivity of divine revelation. The diverse cultural patters have nothing to do with what Christ has revealed.

3) The Catholic Church in the Amazon should undergo a ‘missionary and pastoral conversion.’

Though they affirm that the evangelization is not a cultural enrichment, they contradict themselves in the implications they give for evangelization as adapting into their cultural patterns. They are using their own categories of describing ‘missionary and pastoral conversion’. Christ’s message can enter into the indigenous culture of Amazon which the opponents might see uncivilized or pagan. The ‘intercultural enrichment’ might aim at the enabling of efforts to identify and accept the Christ-presence within their cultural symbols.

Do we want to continue the colonial domination over peoples? Does God not grant the right to people to worship within their natural habitat? there is no connection with reality to say that the colonisation never forced a distancing from pre-columbian cultures.

4) “tailoring Catholic ordained ministries to the ancestral customs of the aboriginal people, granting official ministries to women and ordaining married leaders of the community as second-class priests, deprived of part of their ministerial powers but able to perform shamanic rituals.” 

To say “deprived of part of their ministerial powers but able to perform shamanic rituals” is to read what is not written. The ordination of married men to be considered to administer sacraments where men in clerical status are not able to reach today due to various situations. It is narrowminded interpretation and misguiding to say that they are meant to perform shamanic rituals.

Also there is a lot of commotions about considering married priests in the coming synod. It is obvious that this consideration is restricted to a particular locality (Amazonian region), and to elder virtuous men that they could administer sacraments to the faithful who are deprived of them. However, there is nothing improper even if the debate is open globally. The debate needs to be to see whether it emerges from the community of the faithful. Our debates need to be led by inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is not because of there is some problem morally or pastorally, but see whether the conscience of the community feels to see the priesthood differently.

Church is understood as the people of God who makes up the body of Christ. We have many functions in a body. Similarly priesthood is one of the functions (ministries) in the body of Christ. Growing as people of God, living as the body of Christ, the community can choose from the ordained among them (who are living in their families) to administer sacraments for them. The community makes this choice according to their life of virtue, and knowledge in faith and contemporary society and life.

Priests functioning above the community as a ruling power does hurt the community especially when the community is taken for granted. The community of the faithful need not be priest-oriented or priest-dependent. There are many contexts which we have made priest-dependent in occassions where a priest is not necessary at all. Rather community itself possesses power, and may the priests be ordinary men of family.

Unmarried status is not an indispensable element in priesthood, nor it is an integral part of it, nor does it diminish the sanctity of priesthood. There have always been married priests in the non-Latin rites, like Ukrainian Catholicism or Maronite Catholicism. These churches are fully Catholic, obedient to the pope, but they ordain married men, although they do not allow unmarried priests to get married. Celibacy may be a gift to some, but it is accepted as a (voluntary?) choice. Latin rite made it compulsory only in the eleventh century. How and why it emerged as a discipline in the life of priests has historical reasons. Those contexts, and the theology that was formed to support them have given ways to newer understanding of priesthood and the church. We need to have courage to consider structures that can facilitate the people of god to be the body of Christ in a meaningful way today.

The angelic purity which is connected with celibacy have also contributed to the deification of priests, and the attribution of ruling power in the community. This deification has kept them on high places, and they on their part have at times abused their power. As deified persons they closed themselves in 'holy rituals' and have resulted in many forms of stagnation. The angelic purity in order to behold the face of god has already given way to the image of conjugal unity in imagining our relationship with God. A negative way of looking at body, flesh, sexuality has also contributed to approach marriage as something polluting the purity of priests. It is wrong to relate marriage with sexuality alone and see it something low. It is to be recognized and affirmed that marriage has a sacred context of companionship which will rather better the ways a priest functions in a christian community.

5) Implicit pantheistic views

It is part of an ultra-catholic sensitivity which says that the care for nature and the concerns over environmental issues are ‘things of the earth’ and so they don’t deserve attention as of the ‘heavenly things.’ These are things that invite out attention if we are searching for things that are merely spiritual: How did we think about living waters if we did not feel water? How can we think of the fire or wind of the holy spirit if we can't feel natural fire and wind? How do we sense of eternity unless we walk through the shortness of time? How do we imagine of a heavenly banquet unless we have enjoyed the taste of the fruits and grain of the earth? “if we were to be in the moon the way we imagine heaven would be a dry lifeless space.”

They blame the preparatory paper for relativizing Christian anthropology  considering man a mere link in nature’s ecological chain. In fact. the synod does not intent to hold a reductionist view as implied in the accusation. But it invites us to place ourselves within the web of life where we are able to relate with our earthlings in a more humane way.

Though they mark it as something negative, it is urgent need to correct the aggressive and attitude of socioeconomic development. It has hurt the earth and thrown her children away whether they are humans or animals other than humans. That is why the synod would emphatically say that the technological progress is bound up with sin considering its exploitative potential. Church as mother, and one body must feel the pain of these indigenous people who are victims of exploitation by corporate companies.

6) Against an integral ecological conversion

The document suggests an integral ecological conversion which includes the adoption of the collective social model of aboriginal tribes. The opponents accuse it of undermining individual personality and freedom.  There has been a trend to place individuality and freedom even above personhood, and we can see the effect of that alienating view. In fact, though an individual person one remains connected to other people and even nature. This enrooted model is more integral and sustainable for the vision of the human; human as community being, and church as a community that makes one body of Christ.

To summarise

Their accusation on the Amazon Church of continuing and attempting to affirm their life in pantheism, paganism and superstitions is biased cultural absolutist tendency. Since it cannot open itself towards the diverse possibilities of the presence of the Word it cannot be seen even as a catholic approach. It also appears to be consciously blind towards the devastating impact of our so-called socioeconomic developments with purely commercial interests and thus indirectly favoring the business interests.

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The contents of the Preparatory Working Document “The Amazon: New Paths for the Church and for Integral Ecology;   The Synod of Bishops Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazon” 

The document is available at http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents.html?fbclid=IwAR3Gk6GjTMLYhbMWofbGT7NJOIBm5gMygKtH_Ikkit86uEI8nTz7BWJTh2k

PART I  THE VOICE OF THE AMAZON

Chapter I

Life

The Amazon, source of life

Life in abundance

"Good living” (buen vivir)

Life threatened

Defending life, confronting exploitation

Crying out for life

Chapter II

Territory

Territory, life and God’s revelation

A territory in which everything is connected

The beauty of and threat to the territory

Territory of hope and of “good living”

Chapter III

Time (Kairós)

A time of grace

A time of inculturation and interculturality

A time of serious and urgent challenges

A time of hope

Chapter IV

Dialogue

New paths of dialogue

Dialogue and mission

Dialogue with the peoples of the Amazon 

Dialogue and learning 

Dialogue and resistance

Conclusion

PART II    INTEGRAL ECOLOGY: THE CRY OF THE EARTH AND OF THE POOR

Chapter I

Extractivist Destruction

The cry of the Amazon

Integral Ecology

Integral ecology in the Amazon

No to the destruction of the Amazon

Suggestions

Chapter II 

Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation (PIAV): Threats and Protection

Peoples in the peripheries                                

Vulnerable peoples 

Suggestions

Chapter III

Migration

Peoples of the Amazon who leave

Causes of migration

Consequences of migration

Suggestions

Chapter IV 

Urbanization

Urbanization of the Amazon

Urban culture

Urban challenges 

Suggestions

Chapter V

Family and Community

Families of the Amazon

Social changes and family vulnerability

Suggestions

Chapter VI

Corruption

Corruption in the Amazon

A structural moral scourge

Suggestions 

Chapter VII

The Question of Integral Health

Health in the Amazon

Appreciation and development of traditional medicines

Suggestions

Chapter VIII

Integral Education

A synodal Church: disciple and teacher

Education as an encounter

Education in an integral ecology

Suggestions

Chapter IX

Ecological Conversion

Christ calls us to conversion (Mk 1:15)

Integral conversion

Ecclesial conversion in the Amazon

Suggestions

PART III  A PROPHETIC CHURCH IN THE AMAZON: CHALLENGES AND HOPE

Chapter I 

A Church with an Amazon and Missionary Face

A richly expressive face

A local face with a universal dimension

A defiant face facing injustices

An inculturated and missionary face

Chapter II

Challenges of Inculturation and Interculturality

On the path to a Church with an Amazonian and indigenous face

Suggestions

Evangelization in cultures

Suggestions

Chapter III

The Celebration of the Faith: an Enculturated Liturgy

Suggestions

Chapter IV

The Organization of the Communities

The worldview of indigenous people

Geographic and pastoral distances

Suggestions

Chapter V

Evangelization in the Cities

Urban mission

Urban challenges

Suggestions

Chapter VI

Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue

Suggestions

Chapter VII

Mission of the Media and Communications

Media, ideologies and cultures

Church media

Suggestions (cf. DAp. 486)

Chapter VII

The prophetic Role of the Church and Integral Human Promotion

The Church reaching out

The Church listening 

The Church and power

Suggestions

Conclusion

Good News to the Poorly Spirited

What could be the good message for the drooping spirit, the depressed, the sorrowful?
If I announce freedom to the oppressed will they be liberated? 

what is the freedom to be announced.
Normally they are to be neglected, or to be used and exploited.

To know that there is great goodness in them is the good message.
this message is the good news for them.
What else is the Gospel?

If they see the treasure of goodness in them,
they will not curse in their bitterness,
will not seek revenge in their oppression.

Oil of Gladness and the foolish virgins

For the foolish virgins in the Gospel, it had become a habit to go from one business centre to another to buy oil. They were not merely foolish.

Those who were ready had received the Word in their hearts. The Word was becoming an overflowing fountain. They had hope being sprouted.They were not desperate to run around traders. In their littleness they hear divine melody. they love justice and hate wickedness. So they have the oil of gladness within them.

Mary was most highly rewarded

Mary was highly favoured,

She was highly rewarded,

She was most highly rewarded.

She sings:

            “My soul magnifies the Lord, …

            The Lord has done great things for me…”

Mary was highly favoured

            She was highly rewarded,

            Was it the merit of her actions?

            or of attitudes, or of faith?

            “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” she had said,

            She became what she was created for.

Mary was highly rewarded

            She was born full of grace,

            gratuitous grace that began a new creation.

            Blessed above the patriarchs,

            for she would show the deepest faith.

            Blessed above the prophets,

            for she would give the Word to the world.

            Blessed above the apostles,

            for she was sent to be the mother of the incarnate Word.

            Blessed above the martyrs,

            for her life was a pure offering.

            Fullness of grace,

           and most honourable merit!

Mary was most highly rewarded!

            Mother of the Word incarnate,

            Mother of us all.

            In the Word she was born,

            she became what she was created to be.

            In the Word we too were born,

            She helps us to be what we are created for.

            We too will be rewarded and honoured,

            united with the Blessed

Devotional Worlds

We may be creating our own devotional world. We cannot practice Christian hope being in a private devotional world. Christ himself lived prayerfully, but never closing himself in a devotional world. Present day spiritual leaders seem to encourage people to bind themselves such private devotional worlds both as an individual and as a particular community. They remain with fixed believes, ideas, perspectives and are somehow not ‘permitted’ to dare for an encounter with a different idea, belief or perspective. Attempting that would be seen as being dishonest with the devotional patterns. In fact, only in such encounters they get a context of correction and modification if needed. 

One gets lost giving into some given patterns of practices within a closed devotional world. What do these private devotional worlds have to offer to the struggles and conflicts of the generation of today? Do these devotions have rooms to place these struggles? They do not formulate constructive symbols to involve the lives of this generation, instead, suggest myths and symbols that do not encounter their lives. As a result, their life and devotion/spirituality go in diverse paths and that in itself remains a conflict within; a spirituality or devotional life one follows which does not know the real concerns of one’s life. 

Instead of a formulation of meaningful devotion, the closed private devotional world takes up a moralising (and often condemning) mode to meet the issues. Practices and customs become something meaningful and fruitful only when one can find oneself in a life path. Devotional worlds remain external to oneself seemingly offering some comfort and consolation whereby one nails oneself beliefs and practices that makes oneself in line with the devotional world. Many of the empty and sterile forms of devotional practices simply deny reality whether it be personal realities of oneself, of the community, or social or cultural phenomena. Instead they tend to promote self-righteousness and condemn others. 

They learn to be happy in a comfort within the smoky shades which they learned to call as piety. It is really alarming about a generation when they are deeply interested in religious activities and pious practices, but are struck down when faced with a struggle whether spiritual, emotional, or social. In fact, people in a devotional world encourages to deny or neglect the real conflicts. Having Christ in our hearts, we are to walk through the struggles and conflicts, with truth and humility, and courage and compassion. Christ should be there as the interior strength instead of being an ideal, principle, or an object of devotional practice. 

We need to be enabled to understand the truth within the struggles and conflicts, and dialogue with them. The symbols and myths within devotions that become easy solutions, interpretations, and part of religious imaginations do not provide such apt realisation or proper understanding. Conflicts and challenges are not something that should be denied or neglected. They are the real crosses that are to be embraced with responsibility. Only there we can find Christian hope, and offer Christian hope to the world. 

Real devotions would seek truth of the living situations, and might reformulate practices that can bring transformation in our attitudes and responses. True devotion is not afraid of such transformations. It is very crucial to reflect whether our devotional practices and religious imaginations (the way we imagine about God, heaven, blessing, life…) intent to make a Christ-formation happen in our person and communities, or, rather, we simply look for pleasing God expect favours for our private world. The answer may show why people are often in a ‘worry and hurry’ within devotional practices. They are found within their devotional bubble-world. It is easy to create a devotional world, because it is about performance. There we wear masks, and are secured with the righteousness that our following of devotions offer. There is lot of space for hypocrisy too. To safeguard one’s own devotional wall itself becomes a serious concern. It does bring about an absence of Christ-presence and so a timely Christian presence. 

It is easy to create a devotional world, because it is about performance. But a pious and loyal heart cannot limit to performances. It does not see the need for worried doings to please God, ensure protection, cause blessings etc, because it has known Christ. Though it takes up crosses it has hope – devotion is to be the reflection of that relationship and hope. 

Have we found truth?

St Dominic Guzman set out to preach;
not because there was no spirituality, there was excess of spiritualities
not because there was no preacher, there were many preachers

Dominic set out to preach,
to preach truth which neither those attractive spiritualities nor the preachers offered.
____________________
Contemplation is the openness to truth.
truth transforms and we shall have its fruits.
Have we found truth, in intuitions, revelations, visions, or learning?
Perhaps we may have,Yet, understanding is further required.
Humble seeking is contemplation,
even while we share there is seeking.

Dominic (and the Dominicans) found new understanding of the contemplated truth,
in the very lives to whom they shared their contemplation.
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One remains far from the truth of the person of one's spouse, friend, parent, child....
even after many years being together.
yet we dare to claim that we have known the truth of the person of God.
Have we found truth, in intuitions, revelations, visions, or learning?
Perhaps we may have,Yet, understanding is further required.
Humble seeking is contemplation,
even while we share there is seeking.

Good neighbour is a Samaritan

Strange enough, that the Good neighbour is a Samaritan, not just leper, tax-collector. Samaritan is consciously distanced stranger. Samaritan himself is reflected in the wounded traveller who is treated as a distanced stranger. His coming near  shows that he is not afraid, he spends his oil and wine, looks after him. The unknown in the stranger is not necessarily to be suspected of being harmful to us. Remember that  it was strangers that offered blessing to Abraham, and it was at a stranger's voice the hearts of the disciples were filled with new strength of life.

The priest and the Levite conveniently bypassed the needy. their status could defend their passing by because they had to keep themselves pure. The Lawyer also is trying to bypass Jesus, yet he is justifying his passing by by asking a 'noble' question. 

Now the question comes to us: whose neighbour  I am, and  to whom I am  a neighbour. Perhaps, at times we need to be a generous provider, but we may also have to be a humble receiving neighbour too. Jesus received the care of neighbour from Simon of Cyrene on the way to Calvary, and from the thief at his right side on the cross. he responded in gentle words, and to the thief at his left in silence.

provider. Provider with ulterior motive and pride cannot be a neighbour.

It is all in neighbourhood we are nourished, strengthened, hurt, broken, cared, healed, and raised up. What we have received will form in us the shape of our neighbouring to others. True Word of life we receive in neighbourhood, and we live by it. Thus neighbourhood is the new covenant, a new way of being with others. It is also a work of grace/ spirit. Every neighbourhood bond opens a grace channel for us. Some do break such channels and we are deprived of grace leaving us in pain. But abundance of other neighbourhood bonds can heal and strengthen and place us into the web of life, and there is peace.

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Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

I can't Believe unless ...

Though some pious movements within the church wants to emphasise that the Christians must remain an isolated community (consecrated/separate group, we are well aware that we are exposed to complex matrix of multiple cultures and peoples. We can find ourselves within a web of disciplines of moral formation within our traditions and institutions. Even religiosity and spiritual practices are framed within categories of moral obligations. Yet when it comes to what we truly are to be, to bring good tidings to the poor, to proclaim deliverance to the captives and restore of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the favour of the Lord, we easily escape from such commitments hiding in cultic pious customs. Our religiosity is nurturing that kind of view. "I' go to church, 'my' family goes for retreat... may not form a witnessing christian community.

As a religious system it seems to focus on moral actions whereas they have their roots in culture, values, perspectives, social norms etc. The instructions such as not to touch, see, feel are insufficient to enable us to form a living culture in the midst of a fast changing world. The kind of non-sensual orientation remain external to our life conditions, and offer no hope for living. What they live is not a pious life, but a customary living of religious culture. So we can see those trying for their non-worldly religiosity either live with religious content (spiritual insanity) or nurture despair and gradually atheism. It is observed that the Church’s inability to see the changing world and its concerns was the main reason for modern atheism.

Formation of a living culture is not worked out by guiding norms or theories. It is lived and communicated within communities (it is of course not a mechanical group living). It is rather difficult and challenging because we cannot have definite plans and expected results within a time. Even morality is a community responsibility. One cannot condemn another, but must own the responsibility for what has been found condemnable. As isolated individuals no one can learn to live a life style of Christ. A Christian community needs to become a home where these can come with their inability to believe and trust. There one can feel the community’s wounds and pains due to ‘my’ absence. Entering into the community one enters into the experience of making a more complete body of Christ. 

Passion and Communion

We passionately involve in many activities and movements. It may be in our profession, service, in religious activities, conducting programmes etc. We also engage in devotional practices. We are often very passionate and energetic.

Something we need to acquire along with passion is communion. In order to enter into communion with what we are engaged in, it is necessary that we are able to interact with them, or to have dialogue with them. Our own actions and enthusiasm will become communicative, and gradually making it possible that we transcend this interaction and enter into a communion with God who is the source of inspirations and innovations and bring them to their own very proper end.

At the same time we also see that unreflected and imprudent passion and enthusiasm has damaged families and communities. Here the element of communion is absent in attempting to make up a kingdom.

"It is 'I' who have to establish the kingdom." - Without 'me' the group, the office, the movement, the church etc cannot not function. only if 'I' am there things will be in order."

"The kingdom is in the way that 'I' think and imagine." - things have to be in the way that I want. 

Thus ultimately it becomes 'my' kingdom.

The tendency to establish 'my own kingdom' shows that I have not begun to 'leave everything.' That is why Jesus asked to 'deny yourself and follow.' The way we try to practice denial and detachment unfortunately creating another favourable self, a religious or a pious self. A closer look at ourselves shows that the cherished self of ours is formed by many forms of hypocrisy that we have sacralised. That is the self that we are not ready to deny because somehow they offer easy ways (Mt 7: 13) to enter. These are identity mechanisms at work, which also provide for popularity and social approval.If someone happens to unmask these, or open an attack we can be sure that we 'bring down fire' on people (Lk 9:54).

It is impossible to walk behind Christ with our decorated and sacralised hypocrisies. We must take up our crosses which is the reality of our own life. 

Communion can put us in right self with ourselves, our professions, activities, ministries, and God. It is a contemplative approach of living our normal life with laughter and joy, hard works and pleasures, fatigue and crisis. What we lack is a contemplative dialogue with our own life, our truth, hypocrisies, fears etc. The life itself will tell us its meaning and depth and take us to communion.

Plato or Christ? We can't have two masters

Some Christians believe in Plato more than in Christ or in the Bible. It is Plato's view that a pre-existent immortal soul enters the human body and survives after the death of the body. Gnostic and Manichean movements believed that matter (body) is evil and death liberates us. Until then we struggle in the imprisonment of the body (the world). Christian thinking gradually got shaped accordingly and associated this dualism to morality defining good to be connected to soul, and whatever concerns the body and the world is evil.There is no dichotomous concept of the human person in the Bible. The Biblical view is that the human person is a unity, the whole human person. Those condemn the humanity of themselves and exalt the 'body and blood' of Christ are not sincere in their approach. In many ways of our piety we have learned to sacralise our hypocrisy.

Nursing: The Balance of Mind, Body, and Spirit

International Nurses Council suggests to reflect on the theme Nursing: The Balance of Mind, Body, and Spirit for the year 2019.

The whole service of nursing is an engagement with the body. Weak and fragile, broken, wounded, rotten body is approached with care, tenderness and sacredness. At the same time bearing in their (nurses) own body the fatigue, hunger, sweat, drowsiness, and even illness. When fired, they try to raise their minds to hold it within themselves.The wounded healer is made alive in their own body. 

As the theme seems to suggest, nursing requires a well integrated personality both for the good functioning of the service in the hospital, and for the well being of the nurses themselves. A mere academic knowledge may not suffice for placing oneself into such a service. Developing human sensitivity may be the beginning. It is carefully being attentive, first of all to oneself, then to other members of the staff and to the patients. Being attentive to oneself is most important because it is important to be aware of what happens to one's mind and body when we engage in the healing process of others. It is the compassion we give to ourselves that flows to the patients. Since it is dealing with the mysteries of human lives, we may not be able to predict what comes next. So an absence of a healthy network can often burden others. Lack of interest, dedication, alertness can hurt the other members of the staff as there is a collaborative work is necessary. In case of attitudes of carelessness or laziness in correct reporting and offering attention can risk the life of the ones given in trust. Usual 'adjustments' done for covering the mistakes from one's part can be heavily affecting both the life of the patient, and it is cruel as such adjustments sometime load the poor families even for the medicines that have not been used for them. It is  a genuine effort for development and sincere encounter of oneself in order to place oneself properly into the dignity of a nurse.

While keeping the humanness and tenderness as the basic attitude, mind too requires strong base to act on. One has the right to safeguard personal uniqueness of oneself from which one may approach the patients concerned with absolute tenderness and humane heart. Compassion also calls for being alert and offering timely care. One needs to be able to discern the areas where one could be used in the name of service. There one must follow strictly a professional approach, absence of which can end up in one doing the works of everyone and some remain lazy. A strong mind is also required to form a disciplined life. It is necessary to train the mind to balance between work, leisure and rest. When one is missing it can affect the integration of our personality.

Just as one is a unique person, there is something that makes a nurse out of a person, the inner motivation to be a nurse which is much beyond a profession. Only with such a motivation there can be the healing transmitted. These form a spirituality of nursing, concerning oneself, other members of the staff, and the patients. When we consider this in the form of spirituality, here all who are present are highly sensitive. They are thinking, anxious, worried, tired, in pain... only if we can be attentive to this we can form in us the virtues of healing. We will realise that in every attempt here there is a prayer mode, perhaps a prayer that does not require words.