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INTRODUCTION
Over many years of my existence on this planet, I
have been touched my many experiences. Many were bad but many more were good. I
have had my ecstatic moments of joy when my heart has felt elevated in the
extreme, and moments of downs and total dryness of spirit. After all,
realistically, we all know that life is full of winters and springs, sunny days
and cloudy ones…But above all I count the many gifts and blessings God has
bestowed on me.
With many years of meditation before the Lord, many
insights have come to my mind thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit within
me. It is my intention to share these insights, as I feel it would be selfish
on my part not to do so. Hopefully those who read these insights will be
enriched. My first effort to place some of these ideas into writing was in
1979, when I wrote a book of celebrations with focus on the Christian
Initiation for Children which included ritual and song for each basic theme.
This was in Buenos Aires, Argentina and therefore written in Spanish. (See
details in the Bibliography)
It is not my intention to be an expert in
anything, though I have had my many studies in diverse disciplines. I intend to
reach everyone who is interested in sharing my insights and not just the
experts. You will realize that I have a great love for Scripture, nature and
above all for the Paschal Mystery with a special emphasis on Jesus' maximum
expression of love for us on the cross. No doubt, being a member of a religious
congregation called the Congregation of the Passion, commonly known as the
Passionists, has helped to shape my spiritual life over many years to what I
have become today. My whole purpose is to center on the Crucifixion of Jesus
and allow different meditations to flow from that contemplation. I will allow
the Old Testament to be connected to the New Testament which it naturally is,
and particularly to this key moment when in the New Testament Christ is
crucified. I am inspired by the Typology used by many Fathers of the Church,
beginning with Origen, following Jesus' example that connects himself with the
Old Testament. But I also will allow my
own imagination to make other connections which we can call allegory. I follow
in this sense the definition given to the differences of these two categories
by Hansen:
For Hanson, typology was
successful because it discerned legitimate correspondences between two sets of
events, whereas allegory was the name given to arbitrary non literal exercises
in which no convincing link was discovered between the original event and its
non literal referent. (Martins 2008)
I've always loved symbols and my rich imagination
loves playing around with words that repeat and intertwine with real events.
Jesus made use of them continually like calling himself the Good Shepherd (John
10:11.14), the Gate (John 10:7.9), the Vine (John 15:1.5) the Light of the
World (John 8:12), the Bread of Life (John 6:35.41)…all preceded with the
divine title "I am" (Exodus 3:14). The gospel of John does this a
lot. Take chapter 6 for instance. There is the multiplication of bread (John
6:1-13), followed by Jesus' announcement that He is the living bread come down
from heaven, as one to be believed in (John 6:32-35). He goes on to link this
experience with the historical experience of the Israelites who were fed with
manna in the desert (Exodus 13:4-13). From there, Jesus goes on to an even
deeper level, stating that the living bread is his Body (John 6:48-51). These
are three different levels. The first part of chapter 6 starts with the experience
of the multiplication of the bread, building on the historical experience of a
past experience mentioned in the Old Testament of Israel being fed with the
manna in the desert: This would be an example of Typology, where an event from
the Old Testament is tied to an event in the New Testament. The following is a
sample of Typology mentioned by Fr. Barnabas M. Ahern, CP in his book New
Horizons:
As Israel was baptized
into its new life with God by passing through the waters of the Red Sea, so
Christ inaugurates His ministry for God by accepting baptism in the waters of
the Jordan (Mt. 3:13-17; Mk. 1: 9-11).
Therefore both Israel and Christ live through a period in the desert life and
temptation. The forty days of Christ in the desert has its parallel in the
forty years of Israel; His temptation accords with Israel's testing; His food
is the word of God that comes down from heaven, just as Israel's food in the
desert is not the bread of man's making but the manna of God's giving (Mt. 4:
1-11; Mk. 1:12-13). (Ahern p. 39)
These are very powerful ways of leading us into
deep mysteries where Christ reveals characteristics of himself using symbols
like those mentioned, while always leaving more to be said. "I AM WHO I AM"
is an ongoing revelation throughout history of the mystery of God. While Christ
is the full revelation of God, it will take the rest of human history to unveil
and lead us to greater understanding of the Mystery of God.
As God does not spoon-feed us, he expects us to
use our talents to share in his mission of Salvation. He was among us 33 years
and in a limited geographical area. The rest is in our hands, assisted by the
Holy Spirit: to take Christ’s message to the entire world and throughout the
rest of history. As he says in the last supper, within this context, I believe
that we can build on images expressed in Scripture as the Spirit inspires us to
do.
“I have much more to tell
you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he
will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak
what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.” (John
16:12-13) (NABRE).
You will notice therefore, that when Jesus gives
us the rich image of the grain of wheat that must die in order to produce
abundant fruit, I have taken the liberty to build on that image. Or when he
says that he is the vine and we are the branches (John 15: 5a), I
build on that symbolically with the theme of the Church immersed in the Holy
Trinity in tune with Jesus' prayer later in the same setting of the Last
Supper, “that all may be one us” (John 17: 21). All my associations are in the
context of the gospel message. The newness of my message is not so much ideas
but images and symbols that thread ideas together.
Most of the Scripture quotations I deliberately
have inserted into the main text, unless they are repeated or because they
break the flow of the text too much. I indent and bold the quotations so that
those who are not familiar with the text may read them, saving them the hassle
of looking for them elsewhere, while on other occasions, one can skip the text
if one is familiar with it. I also use the same technique for other quotations.
For the Scripture quotations I use the translation of the New American Bible
(Revised Edition) (NABRE) and on one occasion the English Standard Version
(ESV). I also like to link together symbolic words like wood/ tree/ cross or
rock-stone/ mountain or water/Red Sea, or link several symbols together with
each other like water and rock. These words I stress by bolding them so that
the connections are more easily noticed.
In this train of thought, all this is part of my
being convinced that life at all levels is connected, all within the flow of
history, while the Paschal Mystery is the center of history which becomes the
"spiritual nucleus" that animates the flow forward through a constant
death to the past and rising to the new in life as we grow and move forward
personally and within a collective history. The Old and New Testaments therefore
are deeply connected, reaching to its peak moment in the Paschal Mystery. From this pivotal moment, the rest of history
is enlightened and finds meaning. The "do this in memory or commemoration
of me" is a memory that becomes present at each moment of our life till
our final passage into eternity. I am also aware that 'disconnectiveness'
is a sign of death. Death, for instance, sets in our bodies when the cells
split up. I also believe that too much structure that compartmentalizes the
elements of faith is deadly! If we see Mass (Eucharist) as something we are
obliged to hear on Sundays and then live like pagans the rest of our time, then
we are in a deadly situation. The Eucharist should be the source and summit of
our life as Vatican II reminds us. It is therefore interconnected with the rest
of our life. It is not something we listen passively to either, but it is a
celebration of life, in which we partake in. Here is a metaphor of what I
express here: it's like the heart, from which blood flows throughout the body,
but returns to the heart to be re-energized with oxygen.
With this sense of connectiveness,
I take the liberty not only to link the covenant of God with Noah, expressed in
a rainbow, with the new and eternal covenant established from the open side of
Christ on the cross from which water flows, but also link the colors of the
rainbow with the seven sacraments, which in turn connects with important
moments in our life, be it being born, feeding ourselves, becoming adults,
getting married, being ordained, being reconciled when we mess up, getting
sick, and dying. So there is a link with Christ the Proto-Sacrament, the Church
as the Sacrament of Christ and the seven sacraments that flow from the Church
reaching out to concrete life's situation. Obviously we can feel the link with
our historical human journey when Eve is formed from the open side of Adam
(where his heart is) with the open side of Christ, the New Adam from which his
Church, the New Eve is formed. This of course is an example of Typology
abundantly contemplated throughout history and obviously in the mind of the
author of the gospel of John himself. The link of the seven colors of the
rainbow though is my inspiration unless others before me have come up with the
same idea of which I am unaware of.
Another way I link the Paschal Mystery and the
Eucharist and the sacraments, is with the history of Israel from the moment
they celebrate the Paschal meal in Egypt till they enter the Promised Land.
This connection for the most part has been developed through Christ and
throughout the history of the Church.
Ø Christ for instance links
the Eucharist we receive with the Manna that the Israelites receive in the
desert (Exodus 13:4-13).
Ø The slavery in Egypt
becomes an image of our slavery to sin;
Ø the crossing of the Red
Sea (Exodus 14:1-31), becomes an image of our baptism;
Ø the covenant at Mount Sinai
(Exodus 24:3-8) , becomes the focus of Jesus in the last supper, (Mathew 26:
26-29; Mark 14: 22-24), and when he gives us the new and eternal covenant that
replaces the old one.
Ø We can make a link with
each sacrament. However, not all the sacraments are clearly explicit. I take
the liberty therefore to associate the sacrament of confirmation with the water
which comes out of the rock for the thirsty Israelites to drink from, which
will strengthen them, so to say. This will give them strength to fight the
battle against the Amalekites, while Moses holds out
his arms, supported by Aaron and Hur on each side.
This is like Jesus, with outstretched arms on the cross between two criminals,
where the battle against evil is won. (Exodus 17: 1-13)
On the other hand, I like to make mysteries easier to understand with the
help of images. The interlocking of two triangles to form the Star of David
representing the incarnation is one example. Another is using the seven colors
in the rainbow to represent the 7 sacraments. These are symbols not only
linking us with the past, even before Israel was formed, but enables us to
understand deep mysteries like the incarnation of the Son of God and the
sacraments. Another visual I use, for instance, is crossing the two tablets of
the Law to form the Cross of Christ, representing the love toward God,
expressed on one tablet and the love toward humanity on the other tablet. I use
the symbols of the Star of David and of the tablets of the Law with great
respect, as Christianity rose out of Israel, and Jesus himself was an
Israelite. We Christians of course believe him to be the promised Messiah
awaited by Israel.
In approaching the themes that emanate from contemplating Christ on the
Cross, there is repetition of quotes from the Scripture from different
perspectives, much as seen in the gospel of John, like in chapter 6 in regard
to the theme of the bread. This is in tune with a more oriental type of
spirituality which centers on the same event while deepening into the mystery
behind it. It is also similar to my consecration as a Passionist,
as I spend the rest of my life focused on the Passion of Jesus and deepening
down into its ever revealing mystery over time. The spirituality of the west in
many places focuses more on novelty, jumping from one event to another, leading
to a more superficial contemplation of reality. Let us not confuse, though,
this kind of change with the developmental changes in life, which is happening
all the time in the flow of history.
Personally, I believe that time is like a cyclical continuum
though never the same, with beginning and end, which makes it also linear. It's
like a coil having a beginning in time but gets closer and closer to meet with
the everlasting continuum at the end of time, which is without beginning or
end. We see the everlasting continuum running through the center of the coil,
always present to every moment in our personal history as well as the
collective one. So, seasons for instance, will repeat yearly, but each season
is different from the previous and the next. This is represented by the coil
which never meets as it advances. Values like love, justice, freedom, truth,
joy, and peace are eternal and are found in the depths of our personal
existence and are present at every moment of history and beyond, as they are
found eternally in God.
There are two parts to these meditations. Part I
is about my own personal journey in life in regard to different types of
suffering and near-death experiences, mostly extracts taken out of my
autobiography. I try to be realistic in stating the positive and negative en
myself and others, just as we see expressed in the Scriptures. For instance,
none of the Apostles in the Gospels are spared from the mention of their
limitations! Part II emerges from the Part I when I meditate on the mysteries
of suffering and death experiences in life. The styles are different.
