June 7, 2015

• My mission is to love

  Thoughts

  

  What is my mission?

  This was the question thrown to us by Fr. Percy Bacani, MJ to end his three-day module on Mission, Ecology, and Enculturation with Batch 27 of EXODUS.

  EXODUS stands for Exchange of Dreams in a Unified Struggle for a Relevant Formation. It is an inter-congregational Catholic novitiate program started in 1987 by six religious congregations – Order of Carmelites (OCarm), Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), Agustinian Sisters of Our Lady of the Consolation (OSA), Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (CSsR), Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (SFIC), and the Dominican Sisters of the Our Lady of Remedies (OP Remedies). The aim was to bring the novices from different congregations close to the realities of life and not away from life, in keeping with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

  For centuries, mission has been viewed as the conversion of non-Christians, echoing the belief that outside the Christian church there is no salvation.

  This belief has for centuries killed billions of innocent people, all in the name of Christ. One could not help but recall when Jesus told his disciples that the time would come "when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God." (John 16:2, NRSVCE).

  Even today, this thinking is still evident in many conflicts all around the world. Some of these conflicts have evolved from a purely religious one to that of struggles for self-determination, sovereignty, and recognition. Sadly, most of the time, the instigators of these conflicts are those who profess to be servants of God.

  This belief fostered a self-righteous discriminatory culture, proud and exclusive, and at the same time it promoted a culture of self-depredation, self-degradation, unworthiness, and false humility. In other words, otherness. If you are not one of us, you are a mistake and you will not be saved.

  Just recently, famous Harry Potter creator and author, J.K. Rowling, had an argument in social media with the Westboro Baptist Church over the latter's anti-gay comment on Rowling's stand on Ireland's same-sex marriage policy. WBC has been tagged as a hate group and is known for its campaign against LGBTQs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer). Not a good label for a group whose supposed to be bringing Christ's good news of love.

  The Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the miracle of the 20th century, slowly and painstakingly began and is still in the process of changing this thought system with the belief that outside of the world there is no salvation, and outside of inclusivity there is no salvation.

  Nostra Aetate, the Church's declaration on its relation to non-Christian religions, states, "The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve, and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men."

  In our Biblico-Historical classes with Fr. Bernard Roosendaal, OCarm, he clarified to us the real meaning of salvation for the people of Israel, as told in the Bible, contrasting it with how salvation is now being peddled by religions, us Catholics not exempt.

  For the people of Israel, including Jesus, salvation is tangible and real. It means freedom from oppression, from poverty, from injustice and discrimination, and from all forms of unjust systems – economic, political, religious, cultural, environmental, and what have you.

  The beliefs of the Israelites were grounded in their history, specifically in the five great events as God's chosen people, namely: Abraham's migration from Ur to Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5); Jacob and his sons' sojourn in Egypt (Genesis 47:12, Exodus 1:1-7); the escape from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 1:8-14, 3:1-10, 12:31-42); the people's religious confederation near Sinai where God promised them, "I am your God and you are my people" (Exodus 20:1-7); and the occupation of the promise land (Joshua 11:15-23).

  Salvation was that of the whole human being – body and soul. There was no distinction. Even the prophets proclaim this and so did the apocalyptic writers, though they used the language of symbols.

  How about today?

  Well, aside from Pope Francis who is now showing and encouraging us to seek salvation for the whole person by promoting just systems, many traditionalists and conservatives would still say, "Let the body suffer for it is sinful." But how could God's creation, which he made in His own image, be evil and sinful?

  Somehow, salvation has come to mean solely as liberation of the soul from sin with the goal of going to heaven when one dies. How about the here and now?

  Isn't the message of Jesus, the Good News that he proclaimed, that of a kingdom in the here and now, that is if we will it to be here and now?

  Isn't Jesus saying that we can achieve salvation now and build heaven if we only follow him and do what he does and believe in what he believes in, that is simply to be a genuine Christian, for us to achieve salvation and make our Earth into a piece of Heaven?

  Difficult for the rich who lives comfortably in abundance but in constant fear of loss. Or one whose life is governed by greed, dependent on the exploitation of others.

  So, outside of the world there is no salvation, by being in the world, being one with the struggling people, salvation can be experienced. Salvation as a collective and communal experience of justice, peace, contentment and the absence of pain, suffering, oppression, hunger, war, discrimination, and all forms of injustice as promoted by our present profit-oriented, greed-fueled economic system.

  Salvation means unity, acceptance, inclusion. The willingness to recognize the worth of every individual regardless of belief, ideology, color, creed, orientation, or whatever limiting factor that our present society has defined in order to create division.

  As Apostle Paul told the church of Corinth, each member of the church is essential for when united they form one body (1 Cor 12:12-31). No part can be the same – one part may play a minor role another a seemingly major role; one may be at the fore, the other hidden – but each is essential and without the other or with the defiance of the other the body could not function well.

  Honestly, for me, there is no minor role for even the appendix, which was thought to be simply an appendage good only for causing pain, has been found to play an essential role in our immunity.

  Salvation recognizes the importance of each part. But how can salvation be achieved? Simple. Jesus has given us two rules, which basically is a summary of all the rules laid down by Israel's forefathers:

  1. Love God with all our heart;
  2. Love our neighbor as ourselves.

  The doctrine of salvation is love. The key to salvation is love. The way to salvation is love.

  Loving God means following and accepting His will in my life. It means wanting to please Him always by doing that which pleases Him.

  Would suffering please God? Would pain please Him? Could a father bear to see his child in pain?

  Yes, He gave his only son to suffer in our stead, but such a sacrifice is needed, and only shows how much He loves us, for we are His creation. He is our God and we are His people. No, he does not want to see us to suffer and so the book of Proverbs declare, "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3, NIV).

  The prophet Samuel, rebuking Saul for his disobedience, said, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22, NIV).

  And now I return to my first question. What is my mission?

  My mission is love. To show love, just as Jesus showed us how to love others, even to the point of giving ourselves to others. To be love, just as Jesus was the very embodiment of God's love for the whole of humanity.

  And as St. Paul would put it, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in all but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV).

  How about you, what is your mission?

  ___________
  1 Carswell, Simon (1 June 2015). Dumbledore and Gandalf to marry in front of gay-hating church. Irishtimes.com. Retrieved from http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/dumbledore-and-gandalf-to-marry-in-front-of-gay-hating-church-1.2233853.
  2 Vatican Council II, "Nostra Aetate," 2 par. 3.

  • 9:56 am
  • 4 Comments