Dear Indian Catholic Matters, it is a joyful occasion to celebrate, as you turn three! In this era of social network and virtual existence, you have been a face of the Catholic community in India, and a lovely one at that. Fidelity to God and fidelity to humanity, has been the watchword of the Post-Vatican II evangelising mission of the Church – how exemplary has been your three-year journey for this! May the Spirit of the Lord continue to use you to bring about a perpetual Pentecost experience to the Christian community universally. In appreciation of the splendid service that this organ of communication has done to the faith community, especially during these months of global health crisis, I deem it my privilege to reflect on those specific lines, with a Christian perspective.
Life is to be lived happily – do you agree? It seems so obviously agreeable, given the insistence of the world today on maximum comfort, optimum pleasure and absolute convenience. But looking at things from a Christian purview of life, this may not be an indubitably right perspective of life.
What then would be right? Can it be then, that life is to be suffered through? Sounds so inhuman, doesn’t it? Is the author of life, God, so heartless a Being to create and programme life as a course of bitter suffering and endless pain – and just these and nothing else? Again, a perspective that is holistically Christian cannot subscribe to such a negative vision of human life, which could lead to aberrations ranging from a naïve sadism to an ultra-rigorous asceticism.
The truth stands, not merely in the midway but, in an altogether higher plane: life is to be lived to the full. That is what the Saviour declared as the very purpose of his human advent: I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness (cf. Jn 10:10). Life in its fullness would mean, life considered in all its dimensions and facets: sufferings and joys, victories and trials, happiness and doubts, celebrations and crises! It is the adroitness with which a person is able to face both the extremes of life’s sway, that the fullness of his or her living can be judged. Not losing one’s perspective amidst felicitous moments and not fumbling for meaning at life’s staggering instances are equally signs of living one’s life to the full.
The sanitary crisis that the world has plunged into in the past half of the year and the lockdown experience that has augmented the concomitants of the pandemic and made itself a multi-dimensional crisis of humanity, revealing its ugly tentacles clutching the economic, social, international wellbeing of humanity. It is here that a Christian reflection on such an experience becomes an important Gospel that needs to be announced these days. In simple terms, how could we live this lockdown with the Lord, is a pertinent question today. In a wider vision, it has to be a reflection on how to face crises in life with Christ on our side.
This reflection cannot but begin with the Cross – the centre and the summit of all Christian experience. Is Cross a sadistic or rigouristic symbol, that the world could dub as a block to human happiness and joyful existence? Is it all about pain and death, giving up and enduring injustice? Certainly, these would invariably be an outsider’s uninformed and unschooled views on the Cross, which is veritably not merely a symbol, but an event, a watershed, a succinct summary of the relationship between God and human persons, from Christ’s point of view. But for a Christian?
The Cross stands for faith in love. For God so loved the world, that God sent God’s only Son to die on the Cross, that everyone who believed in him could be saved (cf Jn 3:16). The Cross or the sufferings of Christ were born out of love that God the Father and Mother had for humanity, that is, for God’s children. Secondly, the Cross stands for love that is manifested in self-giving. The life, suffering and death of Christ were his manifestation of his love for his brothers and sisters, those whom he wanted to reconcile to the One who sent him. After all, did he not declare, ‘there can be no greater love than one laying down one’s life for one’s friends’ (cf Jn 15:13)? Thirdly, therefore for Christ-ians, the Cross stands out as a reminder of the call to a life that is lived in the Lord. St. Paul summarised that in his testimony: for me to live is Christ and to die is gain (Phil 1:21). These perspectives on the Cross throw an enormous light on the way we live our life these days with the crisis at our doorsteps, for some unfortunately right within the household!
Pope Francis’ words, recorded into a compilation recently published titled, Life after the Pandemic, recalls to us: “if we act as one people even in the face of the other pandemics that threaten us, we can make a real impact […]. May we find within us the necessary antibodies of justice, charity and solidarity. We must not be afraid to live the alternative civilisation of love […]. In this time of tribulation and mourning, I hope that, where you are, you will be able to experience Jesus, who comes to meet you, greets you and says, “Rejoice” (Mt. 28:2). And may this greeting mobilise us to invoke and amplify the Good news of the Kingdom of God.” Truly hope giving words from the Pontiff who made the whole world turn its eyes to the empty Square which was filled that rainy evening with the joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the entire humanity! The world has tried to move on from there, but has not succeeded to a great extent in it. The crisis seems to persist and its aftereffects seem more threatening than ever. The Pandemic still hanging around, how do we handle it, in a Christ-like mode?
The term pandemic seems to contain within it a related reaction: panic! It seems a natural and immediate reaction, but to say the least: the most un-Christ-ian at it! Where does panic come from? From fear; fear which is absence of security, absence of knowledge, absence of light, absence of clarity – in short, fear which is absence of love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love, says John in his epistle (1 Jn 4:18). Let us not give into the temptation of judging the so-called preachers and evangelists, who dare so doltishly to interpret this pandemic as a punishment on humanity and its wiles. Steering clear of those credulous claims, we need to remain calm, but vigilant, during these moments of disease and danger, because we have the Lord with us, come what may! The storms may blow, the arrows may fly and thousands may fall all around us, and some even on us, but the presence of the Lord is always with us and if we truly love the Lord, we have the assurance: ‘all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose’ (Rom 8:28). To panic is to doubt, to abandon the ever-present love of God.
Another related outcome, again alliterative with pandemic, is pandemonium! This is by far what is created by some, who unfortunately find themselves in the driving seat of the societies today! Pandemonium is simply a lack of order, a confusion, a chaos, an anarchy that arises out of a lack of logic! Stigmatising socially those who are infected with COVID-19, refusing burial grounds, overreacting to news and numbers regarding the disease, believing in myths and illogical rationale, promoting false propaganda with no proper grounds, blame game of the governments and officials, callous oversimplification of serious issues involved – have we not seen all of these in the past months? Apart from demeaning the rational capabilities of the homo sapiens and questioning the very existence of common sense, these have been from a Christian point of view, lack of compassion and horrendous acts of denial of human dignity! While we are reminded to never tire ourselves of doing what is right (2 Thes 1:13), these are diametrically opposed to what is good, what is true and what is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord (Eph 5:9-10). Creating or giving into a pandemonium, can never be a Christian response to a crisis in life. Where Christ is, there is light! Where can one find a possibility for pandemonium here?
Continued Tomorrow: The Desert Experience During Lockdown Period