God Wants Mercy, not Sacrifice

popeSource: Indian Currents

          All along the history of mankind, man has believed in the existence and action of a Supernatural Power, honouring him under different titles. The most common of these titles, of course, is God. It is a well-known fact that even the most primitive of people, as reported by Anthropologists, believe in a Supernatural Being, who holds sway over their lives. And so, they have devised ways to please and placate Him.

However, even though in a minority, there have also been those who denied the existence of God. Among such are those who proclaim that God is dead.  Prominent among them is Friedrich Nietzsche. There are others, like Karl Marx, who said that God and Religion are creations of man, to assuage the sufferings of the poor and oppressed: A kind of a “Pie in the Sky”, the assurance of which enables people to bear suffering, by explaining that it is but transitory. In our present times, there are people, who claim that God and Religion is a big delusion. 

However, we know that God exists, and that we have been created by Him.  God created man in his own image, the Bible tells us. However, in a certain, improper sense, one could also say that we sometimes “create” God in our own image.  It does happen.

My Childhood God

I remember, as a child, every evening my family members would gather round the family “OROTOR”, and recite the Rosary together. The word “OROTOR” comes from the Portuguese word, “ORATORIO”, which means the family altar.  In Goa, every home has it. With my family members, led by my mother, we would kneel down and recite the evening Rosary everyday without fail.  We would also, similarly, gather round the family altar to pray the Angelus at mid-day, and in the late evening, as well as to say a prayer for the souls in purgatory at 8.00 p.m. It was the sound of the village Church bell that would bring us together around the family altar for these prayers.

The pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary are an important part of the family altar. In my home there were rather big pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, just above the family altar. While the face of Mary was a very loving and sweet face, the one of Jesus always frightened me, as I knelt there during the prayers, and looked up at it.  Jesus had His eyes turned upwards, and He had a globe in the left hand, and a sceptre in the right. Today, I understand that the eyes of Jesus, turned upwards, signified His union with His Father, in prayer.  But at that tender age, I was always frightened to look up at it. To make matters worse, when I had been naughty, my mother would make me stand in front of the altar, point to the picture of Jesus, and tell me that Jesus was displeased with my behaviour. This always frightened me, and I grew up, in a certain sense, “creating” a frightening, severe and stern God for myself. This image of God still remains in me, although over the years a different image, of a loving, merciful Father, has been superimposed upon it. 

As I write the above, the figure of the Revered Cardinal Basil Hume comes to my mind. Cardinal Basil Hume was a Benedictine Monk, who later became the Archbishop of Westminster, and was made a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Hume was diagnosed with cancer, and was told by the doctors that he had just about a year to live. He said that, when he was diagnosed with cancer, and told by the doctors that his life was short, the first thought that came to his mind was that, had he known earlier that his life would be short, he would have tried to live a better and a holier life, being a better shepherd to his people. However, he added, that a second thought overtook the first, according to which it seemed better to him to appear before God just as he was, knowing that God is Our Father, who is infinitely merciful, loving and forgiving.

According to me, just as in my case, Cardinal Basil Hume had, in his later years, superimposed the image of a merciful God over the earlier severe God. He had “created” a new God for himself. Cardinal Hume, after having created a new image of God for himself, has another interesting observation to make. He says that, very often, when we scold a child for stealing an apple from the tree, for example, we say: “God will punish you”. Cardinal Hume said that, in his old age, he believed in a God who would rather say “Child, why did you not pluck two apples?!”

Yes, it is of prime importance to have the right concept of God in our lives.  Much damage can be done to ourselves and to others, if we do not have the right concept of God. I have seen many people, who live good lives, and yet are frightened of death, and of God whom they will have to face upon breathing their last.  It is my prayer that I myself, and every single human being may believe in a God who is infinitely merciful, loving and forgiving. If we succeed in “creating” a loving God for ourselves, then death will be, like someone said, “beginning without end of a constant Eucharist”. This is precisely the reason why St. John tells us that those of us, who believe that we are children of God, will end up in the Glory of being able to “be like God, and see Him, as He really is” (1Jn. 3:2).

People who have succeeded in “creating” a God for themselves, who is a loving and merciful father, will automatically become loving and merciful themselves.  This attitude is seen in every word or deed of such people. Their lives are lives, which are perfectly fulfilled lives, to use the terminology of the well-known Psychologist Eric Erikson. Such people are a joy to be with always.

One such person, shining before my eyes, is our beloved Pope Francis. Ever since he was elected Pope, people have seen love and goodness in every word and deed of his. He never tires of talking about God’s infinite mercy. Knowing his past, which we had the opportunity of reading about, particularly, after his election as Pope, I can, as well say, that he has superimposed a new concept of God over the one He had earlier.  Although we do not know what brought about this change in him, we can, certainly, think of the influence the writing of Cardinal Walter Kasper has had on him. Pope Francis himself has said that he has learned a lot from Cardinal Kasper’s book “Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life”.  And that is why he invited Cardinal Kasper to address the Cardinals, when he met them at the Consistory, in the Vatican, last February. 

Musings on the Synod

The above thoughts came to my mind very strongly, particularly during and after the recently concluded extraordinary Synod on the theme of “Pastoral Challenges to the Family, in the context of Evangelization”. I am thinking, particularly, of the points, which are reported not to have gone down well with some of the participants at the Synod, namely, the proposal to permit the reception of Holy Communion to the divorced and re-married, and seeing good in the persons living the same sex relationships. 

It comes to my mind that only people, who have the image of God, as a loving father, will be able to be open to accept the possibility of relaxing the existing rules to accommodate to changes, and to see things differently. Changes, in general, are not easy to come about, especially when it comes to patterns of thought and institutionalized behaviour.

I bow my head before Pope Francis, who is helping us see things through the eyes of a loving, merciful and forgiving God. I see this teaching as parallel to the teaching of Jesus, who pointed out that the age-old tradition of the Sacredness of the Sabbath needed to be looked at differently. And that is why he healed the cripple on a Sabbath, pointing out that the Sabbath is meant for man, not man for the Sabbath. We can imagine that people, at that time, would be reacting against the change being brought about by Jesus as, in fact, they did. They could have killed Jesus right there and then, for acting too smart. But Jesus had the courage and authority, and more than that, the love and mercy to formulate a new teaching. After all, he had also been saying that, it had been taught that the Jews were to love those who love them.  But Jesus stepped in to say: “…..but I say unto you, love your enemies, for there is no special merit in loving those who love you…..even the Gentiles do that ”.

I am sure Jesus could think, speak and act in the above way, because He knew His Father as a loving, merciful and forgiving Abba. And that is the Father whose love had begotten Him, and about whom He had been sent to teach us, human beings.  And I believe that those, who have known the Father of Jesus Christ, will ever strive to be like Him. It is my prayer that the participants at the Synods and, for that matter, all of us, become children of the Father of Jesus Christ, whose love and mercy for us, make Him cast our sins behind His back. His love and mercy are far greater than any sin that we may have committed. 

I am thinking, at this moment, of the debates that went on at the Synod, regarding Holy Communion to be given to people who are divorced and re-married. Most of us would not even think of this possibility, because it is an established norm that such people are not to be given Holy Communion. It is, as the Sociologists would say, a taken-for-granted assumption. It needs people with a special mettle to debunk and reconsider such assumptions.

Cardinal Walter Kasper has been in the news as being one of those who advocate the giving of the Holy Eucharist to the divorced and remarried, obviously after a period of Spiritual preparation. The late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, of happy memory, one of the leading Scholars of the Bible of our times, pointed out that the Eucharist cannot be treated as a cane to punish people with.  Much the contrary, it is God’s special gift, given to us, through His Son Jesus Christ, precisely to strengthen us, as we stagger through life in this world. That is why, Vatican II teaches us that the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Lives. I think Jesus would, certainly, extend this heavenly gift, especially to all those who stand in need of it.    

As I said above, in the case of the divorced and remarried, who are longing to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, because they consider Him as the Source and Summit of their lives, they should be permitted, obviously after a Spiritual Preparation, as opined by Cardinal Kasper. In my opinion, the divorced and remarried, who are longing to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, argue rightly, when they question the motive behind depriving them of the Holy Eucharist, when so many murderers, exploiters, thieves and corrupt are allowed to approach the Communion Table!  They are not asking for a declaration that their first marriage is invalid. Obviously, if there were a possibility of an Annulment, then it would be a different matter altogether. They are aware of the fact that their first marriage cannot be declared invalid. All they want, and are longing and crying for, is that they be allowed to receive Jesus.  I, for one, think that Jesus would have gone in search of them, and given them the desired “salvation”, as He did in the case of Zacchaeus.

Similarly, I see no difficulty in accepting the possibility of goodness in the gay people. I have known some gay couples and individuals, in whom I find wonderful qualities of mind and heart.  Pope Francis’s statement, as he was returning from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Rome, is known to everybody. He said, “If that is their orientation, and in that orientation, they are seeking God, then who am I to judge?”

In fact, when I met Pope Francis last June, I spoke to him about a friend of mine who has a different orientation, and told the Pope that he was requesting a special blessing and prayer for himself, the Pope did not hesitate a moment, as he put his signature on a little message of prayer and good wishes.  I thought that was lovely! That was love and mercy put into practice!! That is like Jesus forgiving the sinner woman, because she loved much, as the Gospel tells us. 

Our Infinitely Merciful God

In our homilies and Catechesis, we do instill the fear of God in people.  We cannot escape doing it, because the Gospels have texts which speak about “Eternal Punishment”, like for example in Mathew 25.  And it is, perhaps, necessary that we do it, especially because, often times, fear does work as a deterrent. “Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini”, the Bible teaches us.  The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom. It is, therefore, bound to have a pedagogical value in our Catechesis.  But I believe that, eventually, the mercy of God will and must always prevail.

The great Fr. Bernhard Häring, CSSR, of happy memory, speaks of the “Pietas” of God, or the “Pietatis Misericordia” of God. According to him, because of this “Pietas” that God, by an act of overflowing love, beyond human understanding, has called man to be, as it were, members of the family of the intimate society of love, the society of the Three in One, which is His own life….. God sees us, not only as creatures, but as beloved children, and for that reason He is so deeply affected by our sins, so violently aroused to anger, and so powerfully moved to pity…….this “Pietas” demands that we should repent, but that is a further sign that He regards us as His own…..God’s “Pietas”, namely, the obligation as a Father, the duties He feels to the members of His family, is more enduring than our sins……the greatest sign of the “Pietas” of our Heavenly Father is the Incarnation cf. Bernhard Häring, “ The New Covenant” pg. 111-112. 

I, personally feel grateful to God for His “Pietas”, without which I would stand no chance of being saved, a poor and wretched sinner that I am. I think the above ideas about the mercy of God need to be brought more and more into our preaching and Catechesis. It is these ideas that have touched our beloved Pope, and transformed his concept of God. And like the Pope, many others like Cardinal Walter Kasper, Cardinal Basil Hume, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini and several others. We will do well, in doing a course on “The Inner Child”, which Psychologists and Counselors offer nowadays, to help us go back to our early days of existence. 

It is, indeed, significant that the “Spirit of the Vatican Council is blowing through the Synod”, as Cardinal Walter Kasper and several others held.  It is, no doubt, the work of the Holy Spirit that 104 voted to allow communion for the divorced and remarried, in certain circumstances, while 74 voted against. Similarly, on the paragraph about seeing good in the gay Catholics, 118 were in favour, while 62 were against. The Spirit is certainly blowing and changing the Church. The Lord’s ways are not ours, just like His time is not ours. Speaking in Vienna, last month, Cardinal Kasper has pointed out that the Programme of Pope Francis is a programme for a century or more! Let us remember that for God a century is but a moment!

Pope Francis himself said in his final address: “Dear Brothers and Sisters, now still we have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas, and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront”.

Conclusion:

With the Pope’s constant stress on the mercy of God, he has made many people sit back and listen to the Church. No wonder, therefore, that he has conquered the hearts of many who, otherwise, were going about as if the Church simply did not matter.  The Pope wants the Church to be what she is expected to be: a welcoming mother and hope for all peoples, as he said in his message for World Mission Sunday, 2014.

While the Church presents herself as a mother, teacher and home for all peoples, she is not to consider herself as self-righteous. In fact, she needs to acknowledge the fact that she is both sinner and saint. I like the observation made by Fr. Antonio Spadaro, sj, the Editor of the review “La Civiltà Cattolica”, and a Synod Father.  He said, “The Church should not be a Lighthouse beaming out the truth, but holding a torch and walking with people”.

I end with a request that we all pray for the Pope, that he may be guided by the Spirit to read the signs of the changing times. He started his Petrine ministry by begging for prayers, and he continues to do that always. May God give him the courage he needs never to hesitate to bring about the necessary changes in the Church. The Church needs to realize that she is the Church of a God who is full of surprises.

(Published on 1st December 2014, Volume XXVI, Issue 49)

– See more at: http://www.indiancurrents.org/detailedarticle.php?d=262#sthash.U9F0BjaT.dpuf

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.