Christ, the door of faith…
Homily at Nettayam on Tue, 15th Oct ’13
i)Faith through the fullness of sacraments; ii) Spirit of God, the lamp on
the way; iii) Christ, the door of faith…
iv) I believe with my heart; v) Catholic church, the milestone of faith; vi)
Faith that shines in sharing; vii) Faith life in family and vii) Faith, a
return to God…
Christ, the door
of faith:
Faith: - i) Year of faith ii) Feast Notice iii) St. Teresa
of Avila-feast- ‘…it is by this door
that we must enter… the holy contemplatives like Francis, Antony of Padua,
Bernard and Catherine of Siena advanced by no other way than this one.’ P.*352
of ‘The Divine Office’, Vol. III
Door: - i) (Paul and Barnabas) declared all that God had done with them,
and how he opened a door of faith to
the Gentiles (Acts 14:27) ii)’ …I am the
door of the sheep… I am the door;
if anyone enters by me, he shall be saved…’ (Jn 10:8-9) iii) Jn 14:6 ‘Jesus
said to him (Thomas), “I am the way,
and the truth, and the life…”
Christ: - i)Mk 1:1 ‘The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God.’ ii) Mt 1:1 ‘The book of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham’ iii) Mt 1:16 ‘and Jacob the father of Joseph the
husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who
is called Christ.’ iv) Mt 27:22 Pilate
said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ v) Jn 1:17 ‘For the Law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ vi) Jn 11:27 ‘She (Martha) said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God…” v) Jn 20:31 ‘but these are
written that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his
name.’ vi) Mk 8:27-30 ‘…Peter said
to him, “You are the Christ.” And he charged them to tell no one about him.’
vii) Acts 2:36 ‘…that God has made him
both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ Acts 3:6 ‘…in the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
walk.’ Acts 18:5 ‘…testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus’
Mark: AD 65-70 (companion of Paul and also Peter)
Luke: after AD 70 (companion of Paul at Antioch)
Matthew: AD 75-90 (apostle)
John: might have completed in AD 95 at Ephesus
Ignatius of
Antioch (Week 27, p.618) ‘faith- flesh
of Christ; love- blood of Christ..’
Faith seems to be the basis of
religions! Letter to the Hebrews in 11:1 says that ‘… faith is the
assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ Yes,
it seemingly is a matter beyond the grasp of our senses! It is not ‘intuition’.
Usually it is demanded by an authority, for that matter religious authority
which claims ‘infallibility’, or with regard to the revelations, ‘inerrancy’
and ‘inspiration.’ The so-called ‘faithful’ has no choice.
This approach doesn’t suit man
who was created in the image and likeness of God. What could be the image and
likeness of god other than his freedom and reasoning faculty? Other than the so-called revelation, truth could be
accessed only through reasoning.
It is this truth which would set us free
as Jesus said. Jesus didn’t denounce Thomas
when he defied believing in the risen Jesus till he saw him in person. That
much freedom god’s children do have.
The ordeal of faith begins with
the very first parents. They were
asked ‘not to eat of the tree… in the midst of the garden… lest you die.’ In
spite of resisting the delight of the tree, the woman failed before the
persuasion of the ‘serpent’ which assured her that ‘you will not die… your eyes
will be opened… know good and evil.’ The assurance of the serpent turned out to
be real for they did not only die, but their eyes were opened and knew that
they were naked!
And the punishment for this
failure was certainly disproportionate and that is being inflicted on all
humans to this day! Jesus is said to have atoned for all our sins, including
that of the first parents! In that case, this punishment should have been
lifted and there should not have been a hell! The ‘purgatory’ has already been
abolished and what remains is this ‘hell.’ [Does it not imply that all these
are man-made, including the gods…? The Malayalam poet Vayalar has written man
has made religions which in turn have created gods. Both of them together have
divided the land and our minds. Again Kunjunni has written: on the sixth day
god has created man out of dust and on the seventh day, the very next day, man
has made god out of rock!]
Coming to Abraham, the father of the faithful, that poor man was tested
beyond his capacities and he obeyed blindly as if a mentally retarded person
would do! Why should a god test or try humans like this? Are we a toy in his
hands, having no feelings and other responses? Does he not respect our freedom?
Has not Jesus re-written the old concepts of god? Why do we still keep him a
Lord rather than a loving father, father of the prodigal son?
Jesus
too had his
share of these trials! He prayed that the cup should pass away from him for it
was too much and bitter. His pain and anxiety was such that he sweats blood!
Why should there be evil at
all, especially when there is this omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent god?
Jose Saramago in his ‘The Gospel according to Jesus Christ’ depicts the
temptation scene in such a way the Satan offers to resign in order to save
Jesus from being sacrificed for sins, but god doesn’t accept the offer fearing
that there won’t be any relevance for god himself in the absence of
devil/Satan!
Faith would be meaningful in
human relations rather than between god and man. To exist is to co-exist and
faith becomes an imperative in this. Without faith human relations would be
hell, a curse. Having faith in others and being faithful to them is what we
earn for in life. [pancretius, malamukal 5th Oct ‘13]
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