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IN
THIS ISSUE:
Cover
Page
From
the Head Servant
by Bro.
Pete Lapid
The
Father Speaks
By Fr.
Binzler, SJ
Our
Faith
By Fr.
KJ Veeger, MSC
Place
of Refuge
By
Philip Yuson
Surabaya
Corner
By
Ramon Martillano
Sharing
By Rita
Gomez
Here's
the Latest
By
Pinky Torres
Sharing
By Bro.
Alvin Barcelona
Sharing
By Joji ESCUBAN
By
Armand Sol
Saint
for the Month
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- Catholic
Links
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 - PROFILE
OF THE
- GENESIS
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
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- OUR
FAITH
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- I
remember the editorial of The Jakarta Post dated March 3, 2001 under
the title “The Spirit of Idul Adha”.
It was said, that sacrificing animals is pleasing to God, only
insofar it expresses man’s spiritual sacrifice, that is, his praise
of, and obedience to, God’s will, his thanksgiving, petitions and
desire for reconciliation. If
it is reduced to outward worship or worship without soul, it is
inhuman and unacceptable. This
vision assumes a philosophy of the individual self, in which body and
soul interpenetrate and are one, the soul penetrating every aspect of
our bodies, and the body shaping and reflecting the entirety of our
soul. Sometimes we may
have the feeling as if the relationship between body and soul is
external in nature. Then
it is thought that the soul inhabits the body like a bird in its cage,
or is imprisoned by it. Then
the relationship is one of conflict too, in which the body drives the
person to certain acts that the spirit forbids.
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- Stressing the integrality of the human
individual as being and embodies self leads to far-reaching
consequences. I want to
consider them only in relationship to worship in the form of offering
sacrifices. If being
“human” is understood as being two-in-one, the sacrifice a person
offers must be once both an outward gesture, and an inward attitude of
surrender. Unless the
whole human person is behind the offering, the sacrifice is deprived
of its truly human contents and does not differ from slaughtering in
an abattoir for merely consumptive needs.
Still too many people believe, that what they outwardly do
determines the nature of an act, whether secular or sacred. Numerous are the text in the Old Testament, where God
denounces sacrifices that are not from the heart and not coupled with
love of God and neighbor. An example in case is taken from the book of
Amos (5:21-25).
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- “The
Lord says, ‘I have your religious festivals; I cannot stand them!
When you bring Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will
not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to
bring Me as offering. Stop
your noisy songs! I do
not want to listen to your harps.
Instead let justice flow like a stream and righteousness like a
river that never goes dry.”
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- Outward
sacrifices to be genuine and accepted by God must reveal the
individual self as much as his visible act does.
Abraham’s sacrifice was authentic as he has proved his faith
in God by his readiness to sacrifice his most treasured possession,
that is, his son. In the
Gospel according to Mark, we hear Jesus saying, that man must love God
with all his heart, and with all his mind and with all his strength,
and he must love his neighbor as he loves himself. And immediately he adds, “it is more important to obey
these two commandments than to offer animals and other sacrifices to
God” (Mark 12:33).
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- Repeatedly
it is told in Holy Scriptures, that God does not want material
sacrifices: “ I desire mercy and not sacrifices” (Matthew 9:13).
For how could God ever recognize somebody as His child, love and
forgive him, if what he does is in conflict with what he is within his
inner self. If his public
behavior is secured from what he really believes in, how could God
ever be pleased with it. The
person deforms the truth.
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- Standing
before God in all honesty with ourselves, all of us should feel
miserable and falling short in worshipping Him “in Truth and
Spirit” (John 4:24). However,
precisely this attitude of dependency and turning to God in hope is
requested from us: “my sacrifice is a humble heart, O Lord” (Psalm
54:17).
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