AN ADVENT CALL TO
REVIVE PROPHETISM
IN THE CHURCH
ADVENT CONFERENCE TO JAFFNA HC
CONVENT 05.12.2014
Prayer:-Mz;ltUila Mtp vd;. Nky; csJ
Vnddpy; mth; vdf;F mUs; nghopT (mgpNrfk;
);nra;Js;shh;
ViofSf;F ew; nra;jpia
mwptpf;fTk;>
rpiwg; gl;Nlhh; tpLjiy milth;>
ghh;itaw;Nwhh; ghh;it ngWth; vd
Kof;fkplTk;
xLf;fg; gl;Nlhiu tpLjiy nra;J
mDg;gTk;
Mz;lth; mUs; jUk; Mz;bid
Kof;fkpl;L mwptpf;fTk;
Mth; vd;id mDg;gpAs;shh; Yhf; 4.18-19
- We Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus in a
Jewish family, as the birth of the expected messiah, the God sent
redeemer, for the humanity.
Prophets
and prophetism belongs to original corner stones of Christian faith as born out
of the Revelations recorded in the OT and NT
The
Jews who lived on the expectation of the messiah, did not accept Jesus as the
God-sent messiah, but rejected him and condemned him to the ignominious death
on a cross.
Jesus
died as a Jew, rebel for the traditional
Jews who rejected and murdered him,
but as
the one sent by God and expected messiah as became clear later by his
resurrection.
- We Christians, who believe in the biblical revelations
of the O.T and the Gospels written by witnesses to Jesus-life, , accept
him as the God-sent Messiah, the Son of God, who brought salvation to
humanity.
During
this season of Advent, as a period of waiting for the messiah, we are called to
see closely three phases-
- Accepting Jesus as a prophet, already by the Jews, as the fulfillment
of the prophecies and Christ –the expected Messiah – jPh;f;fjuptdq;fspd; rpfukhf
vjph;fhh;f;fg; gl;l kPl;guhf
a.
how we came to accept Jesus claims as the messiah,
b.
the signs he gave by way of miracles to establish his divine power,
c.
the good news he preached, during
his public life
d.
and finally what he did through his passion death and resurrection to
win salvation.
Great discussions are held among
theologians of all three semetic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
We do not want to go into that and I am not competent to do that. But Jesus died as a prophet who brought the
word of God to mankind and proved his power by deeds too, and as the God sent
messiah dying and rising for our redemption.
- Accepting the transition from Resurrection to Ascension
a)
How his appearances and sermons convinced the disciples in their faith –
we may call it the period of pregnancy of the churches
- The Post-Pentecost events among the Twelve and the other disciples
The 40
days presence of the Risen Jesus, his Ascension into Heaven and the Pentecost
events are important phases in the conception and birth of Christian communities
which later became churches and established as the Catholic Church.
kwe;Jtplg;gl;l
iftplg;gl;l nfhil – tptpypa ntspg;gLj;jypd; %iyf; fy;nyhd;W kiwe;J NghdJ
In
order to see and understand how
prophetism has become a forgotten charisma among us todays catholics, by
giving too much importance to priestly
or episcopal charismas, we have to keep in mind the earlier three phases of evolution from Biblical – gupzhkg; gbfs; revelations to Jesus Revelation to Revelation
by the Twelve and other witnesses to the catholic church of yesterday and
today. In this long journey or
evolution, unfortunately, an original corner-stone of the biblical revelation
is forgotten.
Gbg;gbahf
khwpa mikg;Gfspd; cUtq;fs;
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What is meant by Prophet and
prophetism?
Biblical prophets were understood as
individuals chosen by God from time to time, to be in the midst of God’s people,
to read the signs of the times, and call upon the people with warnings and
courage to new ways to remain faithful to God.
"A prophet, then, is the authorized
representative of the Lord. While the world may not recognize him, the
important requirement is that God speaks
through him. A prophet is a teacher.
He receives revelations from the Lord. These may be new truths or explanations
of truths already received
After
Jesus Ascension into heaven, the event of Pentecost
was gave birth to courageous
disciples to go public, preached about him and did what was deemed
necessary for salvation through him.
- How the church was born and grew in the early
stages and up to our times
In
this long journey from Jesus time to our times, many things have been acquired
by the traditions of the church, from its birth in Jerusalem,Gk Hellenistic to its growth through persecutions as well as
through worldly powers of the roman empire
Jesus
preached the coming of the Kingdom and came out was a church, that announced
the Kingdom, but built also its own
kingdom
The
growth and development, the passage through different cultures and contexts
have heavily influenced present church.
That
is the reason why, the church reminds itself the need to reform itself, remind
itself its original intention, intention of Jesus and the early apostles, so
that we of the present times do not get lost in the unimportant peripheries of
our practices, devotions, etc.
Golden rules for a living organism
– Daily reformation is a must, as living human
beings do daily
ecclesia semper reformanda est vg;NghJk; vd;Wk; GJg;gpf;fg; gl Ntz;Lk;
– to
ask ourselves fundamental questions about who we are, where we come from where
we are today and where do we go in the future - Redeuntes ad fontem
-
To make ourselves actual or present to the present world of realities,
not to be an archival society, but a contextual community relevant and
responding to the needs and questions of our times.
4. For
the catholic church it was the Roman tradition that shaped through centuries
its structures, liturgies and the orders of religious and priests, monasteries
and
5..
Based on Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, conquered of Death, Redeemer of
humanity .....Communities grew around the preaching of the disciples of Jesus.
Such communities of believers and their leaders, strengthened by sharing of the
word and commemorative braking of bread multiplied and spread.
Prophets
are God’s messengers between traditions and reforms,
critical
voices in the human society,
Jesus
was truly a Prophet par excellence
And
the early churches were gifted with apostlesa and prophets eg church of Antioch –
The
church – as Christian institution – seems to have made it a forgotten
charisma/gift or renegated it to the past traditions
The
church, retaining this title only in name and giving lip-service to it, has
been called by the 2nd Vat Council to discern the gifts of
prophetism among the faithful – In
baptism triple functions are reminded by the anointing – priest, prophet and
king –
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Prophetism is linked to the unique
vocation each on of us have received-
As a
human being each one is unique
As a
Christian or disciple of Christ each one is unique
Our
belonging to a a community of believers, or of religious or priests, does not
take away our uniqueness.
It is
true that the congregations or communities share in the charism of the Founder
We
discern the charism of a congregation to understand the mission that we have.
But
that does not take away or reduce our uniqueness as persons, as a Christian as
a priest or religious to understand and my own vocation and gift as an
individual
Hence
this individual and unique gift to be prophetic is determined by the community
I belong, and by the contextual realities in which I live. War victims, rapes
drugs, false values …
Yes the contextual realities in which you
live are today loud and clear, they cry for your help, they demand your voice
and your service, they demand your courage to speak the truth about them and
demand justice for them
3.15 Church-theology lacks prophetic courage
Even
the cautious statements of the
leadership were not given due
publicity or preached eloquently to people. It appears that these
statements were written not so much by force of conviction but
more to calm the conscience of the leadership and avoid a criticism of
conniving silence. While not having the courage to hit the nail on the head,
or to call a spade, a spade, a series of less harmful evils have been named to
couch and nestle the more vital issues like racial riots, State Terrorism etc.
Without any serious analysis of the real issues, they are just listed and
balanced with so many other issues, so
as not to hurt the politician in power and the State.
There
is evidently a fear of examining an issue in all its dimensions, analyzing it
in depth and showing how it is anti-Christian and even inhuman. More courage is
needed to handle a bull by the horn.
Is not the Church expected to go
further than mere condemnations? Is she not to promote an
active non-violence and point out alternatives, as done by Jesus and his close
disciples, and even followed by Mahathma Gandhi? A church that is afraid and hesitant to protest against injustices and
killings in broad day light cannot be the prophetic Church founded by Christ.
3.40 Prophetic-visionaries
– not prophets in word and action! jPh;f;fjuprd fw;gidfs;
From
among the Sinhala and Tamil Christians, there are a few who have been for the
last few decades, favoring a revision of their older dogmatic vision of Jesus
Christ, His Church and her
sociopolitical mission, especially in the context of the Third world realities.
This group of people emphasize Jesus and His Gospel as more prophetic and less
priestly or cultic, and take clear stance in favour of truth, justice and
peace. They understand Him not merely as defined in the traditional dogmatic
Christology of one Person and two natures, but more as genuine Liberator of the whole person and whole humanity.
They situate the various struggles of the poor and the oppressed within the
larger Christian framework of the total
liberation of man and his universe, namely the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus
Christ.
A genuinely prophetic stance involves
solidarity with the oppressed and the suffering, becoming unpopular with the
majority Christians, and their leaders, and with their own racial groups and
worst of all, getting suspected as politically disturbing elements by those who
foster state-theology and by the Government in power.
Though
these few have a clear prophetic vision with regard to many intra-ecclesial
realities of the local and Universal Church,
and even of the ethnic issue, they still
lack the courage to be martyrs for truth ,
justice and peace. And unfortunately, when it comes to larger national
issues touching on their allegiance to
their race, they seem to get cold feet. One expects more courageous actions to
match their courageous visions. Hence it is more appropriate to call them prophetic visionaries and not prophets.
Among those who indirectly fostered
a prophetic-theology, or animated a prophetic-theology, there were some who laid down their lives in clear and
eloquent martyrdom, either by their refusal to accept violence or by defying
unjust orders to help the dying (Father Michael Rodrigo O.M.I., Father Chandra
Fernando and Father Selvaraj). There were also others who dared to side the
oppressed and the weak and got killed for their stance (Father Mary Bastian,
Rev. G.N. Jeyarajasingam, Ranjith, Jim Brown.. and others).
The
Church his built, not exclusively on the apostles and their successors. It is
built on apostles and prophets, and their successors.
Hence in the Christian leadership
both bishops and theologians-cleric, religious or lay-have their rightful and
collaborative role to play. A Church which devalues prophets, prophetic vision
and prophetic actions cannot be that of Jesus the Prophet.
Knowing the Truth about the
Afflicted is indispensable to Prophetism
Not knowing the truth about the
suffering condition of their brothers and sisters and knowing only the truths
of the Gospel or of the church is pseudo-Christianity.
The Church must be in solidarity with the afflicted and have a passion for the
truth about their real situation - the truth of tragic events taking place day
by day and their victims.
A Shift in Theological Trends
is needed
More than ever before, religions are called to
be guardians of moral values and religious leaders are called to be prophetic leaders of our people.
Will the alarm sirens around the
country be heard by the worshippers and their leaders in our churches? Will
they read the signs of the times along with the Word of the Gospel and step out
of their sanctuaries to give that prophetic leadership needed at this hour?
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