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Mary is a real woman who knows how to reflect and speak, listen or take the initiative, weep or rejoice. In short, her history brings her nearer to us. It is in Mary’s own struggles and her journey in faith that many people today find strength and consolation.
The Incarnation is truly a profound mystery. By her consent to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, Mary gave an extraordinary demonstration of faith. She expressed her acceptance of the divine gift of salvation, not only for herself but for all humankind. In God’s design she was to continue to be intimately involved in the great saving mission of her Son. She was to be His Mother – even in His role as Redeemer of humanity. Mary’s faith bears a marvelous fruit: the Word is made flesh!
In many African societies, the veneration of ancestors is one of the central and basic traditional and even contemporary forms of cult. So, any exposure of the main features of that type of veneration in black Africa, South of the Sahara – deeply rooted in the traditional African worldview – is so generalized and diverse that it must be made generic and brief.
The celebration that marks the beginning of the lunar year in South Korea starts early in the morning with the “ritual for the ancestors.” In such homage, one prays in silence for a few moments, entrusting to these departed souls all of one’s desires and hopes for the new year that is about to begin. Together with the boys, I too bowed, remembering my loved ones in paradise and praying for them.
On All Souls’ Day, we wait eagerly on “nuestros muertitos” (our beloved departed): we prepare some delicacies for them, we sing to them and feast for them because they are our root and the guarantee of our heritage as peoples with a specific history and identity. It can be said that we share our life joyfully with our dead people, or rather, they live in us because they gave their lives for us.
November, which is universally dedicated to the departed in the Christian world, has special importance in the Philippines. It is a time when Filipinos keep vigil at the cemeteries where there exists a spirit of festivity. Although considered a Christian country, Filipino Christians find many roots in the traditional religion or primal religion of the indigenous peoples.
Can we bring a message of peace to situations of conflict which seem to increase daily? Can we offer a message of uprightness in an atmosphere of corruption? Can we hold up a message of hope in situations of despair? Can an assurance about the future be carried to contexts of helplessness? Can a word of faith be brought to a society that is fast losing its religious convictions? These are challenges before us. There is much work that a believer can do every day of his/her life.
Gospel, Spirit and Mission walk together making use of ‘the many languages’ of humanity
right from the beginning. The more we manage to express the Gospel in the many languages, mentalities, and cultures of humanity, the more we are being faithful to the impulses of the Spirit. Even a very quick look at the history of the Church would clearly show that the times of infidelity and of ‘going astray’ are often linked with the ever present temptation to be led by fear and to seek refuge behind the closed doors of one language and one culture.
Reconciliation is needed, otherwise, differences degenerate into aggressivenessand violence. Hence, the boundless and long-awaited need of Christ as the Mediator and Reconciler. Pentecost, the announcement of the harmony between many languages and different peoples, is the manifestation of the victory of the Spirit of the Risen Christ: the successful entrance and penetration in human history of the Trinity, the divine mystery of the perfect symbiosis between diversity (the three Divine Persons) and unity (one God).
When I think of mission, there are faces that come to my mind. Faces of the people with whom I share the river of life that carries me and makes me feel immersed in the inexhaustible and ever-shifting complexities of the human condition. The majority of them are poor, humble people struggling to support themselves and their families, obsessed with putting together something to eat everyday, and being able to pay their rent at the end of the month. They are people who are in many ways in a transition between tradition and modernity, at the mercy of social, economic and cultural forces that are immensely stronger than them. But when you talk to them about God they manifest a genuine faith. I speak of the challenges to my life as a missionary only thinking of the people I have met in recent times, of the questioning eyes that have searched my eyes, and of the questions they have sometimes asked without even opening their mouth.
