Kalathil The Joy of Believing: The Vision and Relevance of Lumen fidei and Evangelii gaudium in Indian Context

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-3-95489-862-6
Verlag: Anchor Academic Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 113 Seiten

Religion and theology became an occult science for many; and belief in the values of life that religions proclaim turned to be useless and void. The handing on of the faith’ has become a deep crisis and a problematic today and has turned to be a burning issue for the contemporary Church.
What is necessary in the contemporary culture is to develop a counter-culture that passionately understands the love of God and sharing it passionately and joyfully with the fellow humans and the world around us. We need a counter-culture of sharing the truth and love which is God. Pope Francis’ message is none other than this. He exhorts for a missionary renewal in the Church and to have a new theological outlook that leads the Church to be a Church of the poor – a counter culture of compassionate and tender love.
When it comes to India, the Church, a minority in number, faces a lot of challenges in its practice and proclamation of faith. Globalization and the new economic reforms badly affected the Indian culture which is turning to be secular, as well as fundamentalist. With a weak presence in many areas the Church in India is struggling to make its presence felt in the nation. Here the author is making an attempt to understand the joyful sharing of the Gospel in the Indian context in the light of the first two documents of Pope Francis.
The author discusses the challenges and ways to face the challenges to be truthful by being in love and faith. It will provide a clear understanding to live the faith relying upon God’s providence and mercy, and will enable the Church to work for the holistic development of humanity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kalathil, Babu Joseph

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionssoziologie und -psychologie, Spiritualität, Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholische Kirchen in Lateinamerika, Afrika, Indien und Asien

Leseproben

Textprobe:

Chapter 2.3.2 FAITH, TRUTH AND THEOLOGY:

Faith in its veracity and in relation to theology is discussed here. The enlightenment from the part of faith and reason and understanding theology as ‘faith seeking understanding’ has its influence in this theologically rich portion.
Chapter 2.3.2.1 Faith and truth (# 23-25):

The truthfulness of faith is discussed here. God is trustworthy and his promises are everlasting for the faithful. He describes the relationship between faith and truth in the way that „Faith without truth does not save; it does not provide a sure footing” (# 24). In the contemporary culture, where we tend to consider real truth to be that of science and technology, there emerges the crisis of truth. In totalitarian movements of the last century, and relativism, fanaticism, and other such initiatives, the question of universal truth -the question of God- is no longer relevant. Once the fragmenting ideologies are at work, they destroy the human unity. These will be threat to the individuals and to humanity.
Chapter 2.3.2.2 Knowledge of the Truth and Love (# 26-28):

In the present culture, people consider faith as something subjective, and that cannot be proposed as a truth valid for everyone. Here comes the necessity of reflecting on the kind of knowledge involved in faith. Faith is an opening to truth and love, and is transforming the whole person. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes. Without truth, love is weak and falls prey to fickle emotions and incapable of establishing a firm bond; it cannot liberate our isolated ego or redeem it from the fleeting moment in order to create life and bear fruit. Love and truth are mutually complimentary. The truth gives meaning to our journey through life, enlightens us whenever we are touched by love. Love is an experience of truth, that it opens our eyes to see reality in a new way, in union with the beloved. It is the source of knowledge. Faith-knowledge sheds light on the entire history of the created world, from its origins to its consummation.
Chapter 2.3.2.3 Faith as Hearing and Sight (# 29-31):

The bond between seeing and hearing in faith-knowledge is most clearly evident in John’s Gospel (cf. Jn. 10:3-5; 1:37; 12:44-45; 20:8, 14, 18). This hearing and seeing are possible through the person of Christ himself, who can be seen and heard. The Apostles experienced this. Jesus is present among us even today through the sacraments; and he continues to touch us; transforming our hearts, he unceasingly enables us to acknowledge and acclaim him as the Son of God. We need to be configured to Jesus to receive the eyes to see him.
Chapter 2.3.2.4 The Dialogue between Faith and Reason (# 32-34):

The dialogical relations between Christian faith and Greek philosophy from the time of the first Christians has been a decisive step in the evangelization of all peoples, and stimulated a fruitful interaction between faith and reason which has continued down the centuries to our own times. Truth in the present culture depends on the subjective authenticity of the individual. But that will lead to totalitarian ideologies, instead of common good. Truth of love is born of love and it leads to humility, penetrating the hearts of human beings. The light of faith, joined to the truth of love, is not irrelevant to the material world, for love is always lived out in body and spirit; the light of faith is an incarnate light radiating from the luminous life of Jesus. Faith encourages the scientist to remain constantly open to reality in all its inexhaustible richness.
Chapter 2.3.2.5 Faith and the Search for God (# 35):

The light of faith in Jesus makes a specifically Christian contribution to dialogue with the followers of the various religions. Religious people strive to see signs of God in the daily experiences of life, in the cycle of the seasons, in the fertility of the earth and in the dynamics of the universe. „God is light and he can be found also by those who seek him with a sincere heart” (# 35). Christian faith in Jesus proclaims that all God’s light is concentrated in him, in his „luminous life” which discloses the origin and the end of history. The more Christians immerse themselves in Christ’s light, the more capable they become of understanding and accompanying the path of every human person towards God. Faith leads us closer to God and love, and thus to others. The divine light brighten our eyes to walk towards the fullness of love.
Chapter 2.3.2.6 Faith and Theology (# 36):

Theology is impossible without faith; it seeks an ever deeper understanding of God’s self-disclosure in Jesus Christ. Christian theology is born of the desire to better understand the object of our love. Theology is more than simply an effort of human reason to analyse and understand, along the lines of experimental sciences. The great medieval theologians and teachers rightly considered that theology as a science of faith, and it is a participation in God’s own knowledge of himself. Theology thus demands the humility to be ‘touched’ by God, admitting its own limitations before the mystery, while striving to investigate, with the discipline proper to reason, the inexhaustible riches of this mystery.
Chapter 2.3.3 CHURCH AND FAITH:

The ecclesial perspectives on faith is presented in a much detailed way, pointing to the Church, our mother, who nourishes us through her sacraments and through her very own existence as the Church of Christ. This urge is completed with a special appeal to integrate faith with prayer.
Chapter 2.3.3.1 The Church, Mother of Our Faith (# 37-39):

Pope Francis explains the relation between faith and Church. Faith is not simply an individual decision which takes place in the depths of the believer’s heart, nor a completely private relationship between the ‘I’ of the believer and the divine ‘Thou’, between an autonomous subject and God. By its very nature, faith is open to the Church; it always takes place within her communion. Human persons are relational beings; they are in constant contact with each other. The Church is also an outcome of this relational nature in sharing the memories of Jesus. The Church is a Mother who teaches us to speak the language of faith. The love which is the Holy Spirit and which dwells in the Church unites every age and makes us contemporaries of Jesus, thus guiding us along our pilgrimage of faith.
Chapter 2.3.3.2 The Sacraments and the Transmission of Faith (# 40-45):

The Church passes on to her children the whole store of her memories, like a family, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Through sacraments, this living tradition is passed to the next generation to enable us to live in communion. Sacraments communicate an incarnate memory, linked to the times and places of our lives. They transmit faith, and thus love and truth. Pope emphasizes the importance of baptism saying that the transmission of faith occurs first and foremost in it. It is the gift of God that is transmitted by baptism. He also emphasizes the catechumenate -whereby growing numbers of adults, even in societies with ancient Christian roots, now approach the sacrament of baptism- for the new evangelization. Baptism gives a fundamental orientation, and Eucharist, the summit, gives an encounter with Christ truly present in the supreme act of his love, the life-giving gift of himself. The Church hands down her memory through the celebration of sacraments, especially through the profession of faith – the creed. It has a Trinitarian structure, revealing that the inmost secret of all reality, is the divine communion and a Christological confession which encompasses the whole Christ event. All the truths in which we believe, point to the mystery of the new life of faith as a journey of communion with the living God.

Über Autor(innen)

The author is a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of Kerala State, India. At present he is doing doctoral research in theology in Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra State of India. The author served as assistant parish priest and parish priest in different churches in Kerala state as well as Delhi. The author is having 14 years of pastoral service experience.