FINDING GOD IN ALL THINGS

A Snippet taken from Mark Bosco, S.J. & David Stagaman, S.J. (2007) Finding God in All Things Celebrating Bernard Lonergan, John Courtney Murray, and Karl Rahner Fordham University Press

In every age, the church carries the responsibilities of reading the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel, if it is to carry out its task. In language intelligible to every generation, it should be able to answer the ever recurring questions which people ask about the meaning of this present life and of the life to come, and how one is related to the other. We must be aware of and understand the aspirations,the yearning's and the often dramatic features of the world in which we live.                                                                                 

Gaudium et Spes

Patrick. H. Byrne picks up the importance of Lonergan’s (1094 - 1984) thought by explicating his use of the phrase, the passionateness of being. He traces the import of this phrase to Lonergan’s notion of the implicit and explicit paradigms that shape human ways to thinking, feeling, and judging. Each of us has an unconscious, implicit ‘metaphysics’ operating in one’s life: assumptions and ideologies – inherited from our parents, family, friends, culture, and religion – become the unconscious paradigm of one’s reality. We human beings get passionate about our insights into ourselves in a profoundly different way than the implicit paradigms operating in our lives. Indeed, this innate, explicit metaphysics or first philosophy has to do with reflective self-awareness, what Lonergan calls “Self Appropriation.” Here connected to theology: to self-appropriate God’s self-gift of passionate, unconditional love as rendered in the Christian Way, so as to move us to preach this passionate love and transform the world.

Elizabeth. A. Murray delves even deeper temporality into Lonergan’s understanding of human consciousness in order to find what she calls the key to his philosophy. This moment of insight is Lonergan’s Methodological Key, employed in order to safeguard the complex nature of consciousness, a methodology that keeps in tension the understanding of consciousness as an ‘act of knowing’ and consciousness as an ‘act of identity.

John. C. Haughey brings to us Lonergan’s worldview of ‘emergent probability,’ a view that describes how the ongoing accumulation of scientific and humanistic data helps account for the complex interdependency of cosmic evolution. Haughey illuminates how Lonergan’s notion of emergent probability changes the very nature of how we speak about God and the human transcendence. For it has its greatest referent in the intersubjective experience of love, a self-transcending, transformative act that changes the world. He also notes that for Lonergan, the human person is a co-creator, actively or halting its decline.

Michael. J. Schuck notes that the pillars of Murray’s (1904 – 1967) theology focused on an immigrant’s vision: human freedom, the courage to open up to genuine dialogue, and the hard work it would take to maintain it.

Harvey D. Egan argues that Rahner (1904 – 1984) deserves the title, Doctor Mysticus of the Church, for God’s self-communication to human persons is always at the heart of his theological vision, however difficult or hidden that experience of God might be.  

George E. Griener further develops an understanding of Rahner as a pastoral theologian. The Heart is the major theme of Rahner’s project. His theology of grace as God’s self-communication is the lens by which all of his theology is based.

All these mentioned above, points to new avenues of reflection and research for the contemporary Church. The many threads of their theological focus were bound together into one large pattern in the defining moment of the Second Vatican Council.

Each found in the Council an opening to explore the meaning of Christian faith in the midst of the ‘joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time.’ Each in one’s own way was able to integrate the wisdom of the Church’s past with the novel possibilities of the present and suggest a future search for meaning.

Dear Friends,

Hope you as yoUth will appreciate this article for the simple reason that it invites U all for a Search in Meaning as the future of the ChUrch.

joURneying

yoUth joUrneying

Scripture:   Luke 13:22-30

Jesus went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. And some one said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them,"Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, `Lord, open to us.' He will answer you, `I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, `We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, `I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!' There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out and men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

Meditation: 

What does the image of a door say to us about the kingdom of God? Jesus' story about the door being shut to those who come too late suggests they had offended their host and deserved to be excluded. It was customary for teachers in Jesus' time to close the door on tardy students and not allow them back for a whole week in order to teach them a lesson in discipline and faithfulness. Jesus told this story in response to the question of who will make it to heaven. Many rabbis held that all Israel would be saved, except for a few blatant sinners who excluded themselves! After all, they were specially chosen by God when he established a covenant with them. Jesus doesn't directly answer the question, however; but his response is nonetheless unsettling on two counts. First, Jesus surprised his listeners by saying that one's membership as a covenanted people does not automatically mean entry into the kingdom of God. Second, Jesus asserts that many from the gentile nations would enter God's kingdom. God's invitation is open to Jew and Gentile alike. But Jesus warns that we can be excluded if we do not strive to enter by the narrow door. What did Jesus mean by this expression? The door which Jesus had in mind was himself. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved (John 10:9). Through the cross Jesus opens the way for us to enter into his kingdom. But we must follow Jesus in the way of the cross. The word strive can also be translated agony. To enter the kingdom of God one must struggle against the forces of temptation and whatever would hinder us from doing the will of God (even apathy, indifference, and compromise). The good news is that we do not struggle alone. God is with us and his grace is sufficient!  As we strive side by side for the faith of the gospel (Phil. 1:27) Jesus assures us of complete victory! Do you trust in God's grace and help, especially in times of testing and temptation?

"Lord, help me to always trust in your saving grace, especially when I am tempted and put to the test. Help me to be faithful to 
you and give me the courage and strength to resist temptation, especially temptation to compromise or to be indifferent to your word." 

Reflection:

I would like to emphasis on the word Journeying as I was reflecting on this word something within me stirred my thoughts and I began jotting and here is what came to my mind:

I firmly believe that it is not the desting that is what is necessary or rather important although in our day-to-day lives we are destiny-oriented.Here, I invite you and me, to reflect on this day and peep into our own lives from the time we were awake. Whether you and me, have sufficiently relfected or focused on the journey we travel or walk in our daily living and completing be it our work place, or in our colleges or in our families, or in our friend circles.

You may look at it as, what a …… doesn’t have work to do but friends, I tell you, if you take time although you don’t have it given the situation and circumstances, enjoy the moment, enjoy every bit of the journey you will find happiness in whatever you do. I suggest, lets start doing it from today and everday of our lives.