We shall note down below a few salient features of our study in order to highlight its main theme about the Gospel Proclamation for our times.
1. Importance of Discipleship: One may wonder about the importance we have given to discipleship in our duty of Gospel Proclamation. After all, one might think, our duty is to convey a message from God that is Good News to everyone concerning our salvation. The underlying premise in our Study is that the Gospel Proclamation is not a mere communication of information for the masses even as the communicator may remain unaffected by the message. Even in the case of an ordinary message, self-communication becomes part and parcel of the message conveyed without which no communication is possible. There is bound to be a coalescence of the messenger and the message in the Gospel Proclamation so much so that the messenger himself or herself is bound to become the message in some way or the other. For this purpose, discipleship of Jesus Christ is an essential element in the life of the proclaimer of the Gospel. Otherwise, the words of Jesus addressed to the lawyers and Pharisees may turn out to be easily applicable to us. "Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to win one convert; and when you have won him you make him twice as fit for hell as you are yourselves" (Matthew, 23: 15).
A true disciple of Jesus Christ would try to identify himself or herself with him in order to effectively proclaim the Gospel message. The task of Gospel Proclamation is to remove ignorance and fear from the people and make them free and independent on their way to enjoy life in all its fullness. Like a good mother,the Church should never try to tie down her children to herself through various means but allow them to soar high in different fields. This is only possible when the Church identifies herself with her Lord so as to become herself the Gospel to the teeming millions.
2. The Object of Gospel Proclamation: The Kingdom of God was the object of proclamation of Jesus, which he himself became by his death, resurrection and ascension. In due course the Church claimed a too close identification with the Kingdom of God instead of fully identifying herself with her Lord, Jesus Christ. The consequent self-perception of the Church was not helpful for a genuine Christology as the latter is determined by the former. The glorification of God the Father so vital in genuine Gospel Proclamation was practically confined to the Liturgy of the Church . All honor and glory should actually go to the Father in the actions of the Church and its members, which was not the case for many centuries. The kind of Gospel Proclamation resulting from such a situation would naturally be far from the original intention of Jesus.
This original intention may be summarized as follows. No one can enter into the Kingdom of God without being born again that is the same as becoming a new person. Becoming like children is another way of saying the same thing. Repentance is the one necessary ingredient in becoming a new person by being born again. It involves three elements: be truly sorry for our sins and the present way of life; watch and pray; allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us to form our hearts into temples of God. Since even the desire for repentance is the result of God's grace, all honor and glory should be given to Him alone. Willingness to be genuine servants of all is the sure sign of the new life in us.
3. Dialogue with Religions: It follows that the Church was not in a position for dialogue with world-religions without a true self-renewal for which the Second Vatican Council laid solid foundations. Self-renewal demands discipleship not only of the members but of the Church as a whole to Jesus Christ. It requires identification of the Church with Jesus Christ and not vice-versa just like in the case of the Kingdom of God. In both of these cases, the Church could not be fully true to itself as a result of which its relationship with the world-religions turned out to be unsatisfactory. It is but natural that a self-fortified Church would invite self-fortification from other religions. On the other hand, our concept of world-religions determines the nature of Gospel Proclamation we engage in.
4: Inculturation: As religions and cultures are invariably inter-linked, meeting of religions also involves meeting of cultures. The proper forum for such meetings is to be seen in dialogue of religions and cultures without any need of confrontation or opposition. The sense of superiority manifested in the Christian religion emanates from the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as an article of faith for every true Christian. This uniqueness, however, need not be transposed to the Church as a religion but only as the Body of Christ which transcends the visible organization of the Church. As the Body of Christ the Church is identified with the Kingdom of God, which in turn is identified with Jesus Christ. Therefore, in proclaiming the Good News or the Gospel message, there need not be any confrontation with other religions and cultures. Inculturation means the re-incarnation of faith in Jesus Christ in that particular culture that is necessarily linked to a religion. It is something automatically, so to say, achieved by those who are born and brought up in such a culture and religion. There is no need of adaptation of any pre-conceived idea of faith into a new culture as it only needs to be suffused with genuine faith in God. This kind of genuine faith in God is not possible without reference to Jesus Christ is the gist of our mission of the Proclamation of the Gospel. [We have already explained in a previous Post the real meaning of 'Belief in Jesus Christ'].
5. Self-Renewal: Jesus himself has testified to the fact that self-renewal is a requirement for salvation for everyone irrespective of to which religion one belongs. Jesus called attention to the faithlessness of his own people in contrast to the reformation of lives of the people of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah, which was salvific to them. Visiting Solomon to listen to his wisdom was salvific to the Queen of the south as she took the trouble of coming from the ends of the earth for the same (See Matthew, 12: 38-42). It means that wherever there is goodwill and reverence for the truth, salvation is a concomitant effect irrespective of the particular background of the people concerned. (To be contd).
1. Importance of Discipleship: One may wonder about the importance we have given to discipleship in our duty of Gospel Proclamation. After all, one might think, our duty is to convey a message from God that is Good News to everyone concerning our salvation. The underlying premise in our Study is that the Gospel Proclamation is not a mere communication of information for the masses even as the communicator may remain unaffected by the message. Even in the case of an ordinary message, self-communication becomes part and parcel of the message conveyed without which no communication is possible. There is bound to be a coalescence of the messenger and the message in the Gospel Proclamation so much so that the messenger himself or herself is bound to become the message in some way or the other. For this purpose, discipleship of Jesus Christ is an essential element in the life of the proclaimer of the Gospel. Otherwise, the words of Jesus addressed to the lawyers and Pharisees may turn out to be easily applicable to us. "Alas for you, lawyers and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to win one convert; and when you have won him you make him twice as fit for hell as you are yourselves" (Matthew, 23: 15).
A true disciple of Jesus Christ would try to identify himself or herself with him in order to effectively proclaim the Gospel message. The task of Gospel Proclamation is to remove ignorance and fear from the people and make them free and independent on their way to enjoy life in all its fullness. Like a good mother,the Church should never try to tie down her children to herself through various means but allow them to soar high in different fields. This is only possible when the Church identifies herself with her Lord so as to become herself the Gospel to the teeming millions.
2. The Object of Gospel Proclamation: The Kingdom of God was the object of proclamation of Jesus, which he himself became by his death, resurrection and ascension. In due course the Church claimed a too close identification with the Kingdom of God instead of fully identifying herself with her Lord, Jesus Christ. The consequent self-perception of the Church was not helpful for a genuine Christology as the latter is determined by the former. The glorification of God the Father so vital in genuine Gospel Proclamation was practically confined to the Liturgy of the Church . All honor and glory should actually go to the Father in the actions of the Church and its members, which was not the case for many centuries. The kind of Gospel Proclamation resulting from such a situation would naturally be far from the original intention of Jesus.
This original intention may be summarized as follows. No one can enter into the Kingdom of God without being born again that is the same as becoming a new person. Becoming like children is another way of saying the same thing. Repentance is the one necessary ingredient in becoming a new person by being born again. It involves three elements: be truly sorry for our sins and the present way of life; watch and pray; allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us to form our hearts into temples of God. Since even the desire for repentance is the result of God's grace, all honor and glory should be given to Him alone. Willingness to be genuine servants of all is the sure sign of the new life in us.
3. Dialogue with Religions: It follows that the Church was not in a position for dialogue with world-religions without a true self-renewal for which the Second Vatican Council laid solid foundations. Self-renewal demands discipleship not only of the members but of the Church as a whole to Jesus Christ. It requires identification of the Church with Jesus Christ and not vice-versa just like in the case of the Kingdom of God. In both of these cases, the Church could not be fully true to itself as a result of which its relationship with the world-religions turned out to be unsatisfactory. It is but natural that a self-fortified Church would invite self-fortification from other religions. On the other hand, our concept of world-religions determines the nature of Gospel Proclamation we engage in.
4: Inculturation: As religions and cultures are invariably inter-linked, meeting of religions also involves meeting of cultures. The proper forum for such meetings is to be seen in dialogue of religions and cultures without any need of confrontation or opposition. The sense of superiority manifested in the Christian religion emanates from the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as an article of faith for every true Christian. This uniqueness, however, need not be transposed to the Church as a religion but only as the Body of Christ which transcends the visible organization of the Church. As the Body of Christ the Church is identified with the Kingdom of God, which in turn is identified with Jesus Christ. Therefore, in proclaiming the Good News or the Gospel message, there need not be any confrontation with other religions and cultures. Inculturation means the re-incarnation of faith in Jesus Christ in that particular culture that is necessarily linked to a religion. It is something automatically, so to say, achieved by those who are born and brought up in such a culture and religion. There is no need of adaptation of any pre-conceived idea of faith into a new culture as it only needs to be suffused with genuine faith in God. This kind of genuine faith in God is not possible without reference to Jesus Christ is the gist of our mission of the Proclamation of the Gospel. [We have already explained in a previous Post the real meaning of 'Belief in Jesus Christ'].
5. Self-Renewal: Jesus himself has testified to the fact that self-renewal is a requirement for salvation for everyone irrespective of to which religion one belongs. Jesus called attention to the faithlessness of his own people in contrast to the reformation of lives of the people of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah, which was salvific to them. Visiting Solomon to listen to his wisdom was salvific to the Queen of the south as she took the trouble of coming from the ends of the earth for the same (See Matthew, 12: 38-42). It means that wherever there is goodwill and reverence for the truth, salvation is a concomitant effect irrespective of the particular background of the people concerned. (To be contd).
No comments:
Post a Comment