Suggestion
for the forthcoming Synod
Fr. Conrad Saldanha
August, 2007
As the Synod on the Word of God
comes up, I too thought of taking the liberty of making my own contribution to
the Synod. I am an ordinary priest in the Archdiocese of Bombay through the special
blessing of God and through the intervention of Cardinal Ivan Dias the now Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for
the Propagation of Faith. I also conduct a practical retreat programme aimed at
developing in individuals the disciplines to walk in constant discernment and
God’s holy grace.
The New approach to God’s Word
The Word of God is treated with
much more reverence and literalness in the Catholic Church. This reality has
never filtered down to the faithful even after Dei
Verbum and other post Conciliar
efforts in this direction. We have the truth in a measure far greater than the
others and this reality is made visible in our liturgical celebrations. Yet to
the majority it is still a mystery. A diagnosis shows us that the fault must be
in the system of filtration: the hierarchy and the clergy which is not equipped
fully to filter the truths of the Word of God, to the laity, which is so richly
present in our liturgy.
We give reverence to the Word of
God and even stand with all acclamation to receive the Good News of Salvation
during Eucharistic celebrations. There is the great emphasis at our Agape on
the breaking of the Word of God and as if to complete this reality we unlike
most of our separated brethrens believe that when the Word of God is proclaimed
by His anointed ones to the bread and cup
of wine it becomes the body and
blood, the soul and divinity of our beloved Lord and Saviour - the seeds of
expectant faith! Yet the reality in practice is the other way. The Protestants
dwell more on the Word and have more of the expectant faith than we Catholics.
Where is the fault? I believe the flaw is in the filtration system - the hierarchy,
the clergy, yet I do not blame them as individuals because the flaw is in the
system that produces this arrangement, i.e. our houses of formation - the
seminaries.
Primarily, our attitude towards
God’s Word is more rational at the ordinary level, so much so that the divine
is often neglected in our actions. This above statement if understood, corrected
and acted upon, then there could be a tremendous transformation in the Catholic
Church. For example, there are priests
who have shared how they have stopped or discouraged people from simultaneously
reading the Word from their pocket lectionary when the Word of God was being
read. Their reason: “God’s Word should not be read privately when it is proclaimed
aloud within the Eucharistic celebration. It should be heard rather than read”
This I believe is a serious fallacy which needs to be urgently corrected.
It is true that God’s Word is to be heard, for the Scripture
itself exhorts us thus;” So faith comes from what is
heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ" (Reematos Christou).” Rom 10:17(NRSV). (The
Synod fathers could dwell on
this Word from scripture) I
believe this message is not understood in the way it is to be understood. God’s
Word comes to us through a human instrument (in the language of men). When it
is said that faith comes by hearing, it is not that all who hear actually
believe, There can be proclamation and preaching and reading and yet it is an
empirical fact that they do not always create faith. Even the scripture is replete
with examples of nations rejecting the message proclaimed to them even by God’s
anointed servants.
What then is the missing factor?
Where then is the flaw? The scripture clearly tell us that it has to be the
message of Christ or word of Christ (Reematos Christou Christ
in our hearts – a separate listening! One person, two ears hearing two
different sources: one ear listens to the human message and the other ear
listens to the Reematos
Christou Christ in the message and in the environment. It still seems
as if the whole thing is dependant on the human instrument but at the same time
one should not forget the divine role in gifting us with that great gift of
faith to believe in the message.
When there is this humility then NO
preacher will ever think of stopping any one in the pews from reading their
pocket lectionary and following the readings at Mass. Church of God
From a situation of mere external
reverence it will bring God’s Word to the internal realm of our liturgical
celebrations and life. By proclaiming and developing the passivity of listening
we will have an active laity bringing their Bibles and pocket lectionaries for a
Eucharistic celebration rather than be mere passives and many a times
distracted listeners. We will recognize that their efforts to prayerfully read God’s Word diligently
in any situation will help them to listen to the Reematos Christou
Belief in the Reematos Christou Christ to John the Baptist: "Are you the one who was to
come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus
replied, "Go back and report to John
what you hear and see: The blind receive
sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on
account of me." Matt 11:3-6
How can this be a reality in the
Catholic Church? The right diagnoses leads to right medications. It is
orthodoxy that leads to orthopraxis. There is a need to have a serious relook
at the formation of our future priests. Especially the first few and the last
years should be spent in a proper grounding in Scripture based on a prayerful
approach rather than an intellectual approach. The primary purpose of such a
formation should be aimed at developing in the individuals an attitude of expectant faith in the Reematos Christou Lectio Divina John
5:39-40 (RSV). Their refusal is due to their absence of expectant faith even
though they have been experts in God’s Word.
Let me reiterate, at present the
whole training in Scripture is abstract intellectual and intangible, far
removed from the reality of life. At times there is more isogesis than
exegesis. That too this training comes about in most seminaries in spurts and a
major part of it is after studying philosophy. This is as if to say that our intellect will be much sharpened to
understand scriptures and theology after we have studied philosophy.
This I am convinced is a wrong
approach to the whole dynamics of our faith.
It is our carnal mind which first needs to be formed and molded i.e.
enlightened in that faith which comes through the Word of God (Rm.12:2, 2Tim.3:15-17).
Then transformed and renewed through
God’s Word, we will be able to reach that peak of intellect which enables us to
understand even the depth of the mystery of God and the lacunae in every human
intellect and philosophies. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and
he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The
spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject
to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may
instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ .”1 Cor
2:14 -16. Faith and reason
here are not two parallels, they are not on the same footing, it is faith which is the ultimate and what is
required and necessary if reason follows then it is well and good if not we
will still find our salvation through the servile obedience of faith. “Through him and
for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from
among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith”. Rom 1:5 “For in
the gospel righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by
faith." Rom 1:17 (Rm.3:22, 28; Gal.3:8). This affirmation
of faith over reason is also strongly advocated in ‘Fides et Ratio’.
It is not knowledge that will
save us as we stand before kings and governors but our dependence on God; not
knowledge through learning but wisdom which scripture points as divine gift for
those who fear him (Ps.111:10, Pr.1:7). Therefore, faith is that firm
foundation, the rock on which Christ has built his
church and if we don’t build on this foundation then it will crumble and
disintegrate. This in no way will
compromise the Catholic faith but rather will make it much more vibrant and
scripture based. Our clergy will be able to argue about the faith with the
Protestant and even present the faith to the masses with the Bible as the basis
and may never find themselves lacking or diffident in presenting a defense of
their faith. We today have a clergy that shies away from proclaiming God’s Word
and are more comfortable in proclaiming a message that has an apparent sense of
spirituality but in its depth is more worldly and unspiritual.
What is more this familiarity
with scripture will even boost ecumenism
since the Bible is used as a basis by almost all the churches. Except for
us and some communities it is not going to be sola Scriptura. There will be a re-emphasis on the use of the
rich tradition the Catholic church exists in and a constant reference to
magisterium.
Let’s look at the problem the
other way; I am being empirical and situational; for any individual the most
beautiful, ordinary and easy means at their disposal to have an access to the
faith is the Bible. This holds true all the more for our separated brethren,
especially in the new religious movements spreading across the world. Here again if we through our seminary
training and formation develop a familiarity and approach through the Bible
then we shall have priests who will be not only priests of expectant faith but
will be able to reach out to people at their most ordinary level. The future Church of God
Also, we look at scripture as Canonical – a sure
doctrine and so too experience teaches us that God speaks best especially to a
confused soul through a base foundation or else scripture in itself can mislead
or we could be misleading ourselves much more easily without basing ourselves
on the foundations which Christ has laid. The contemplation method of the early Church
fathers and such greats as St.
Ignatius St. Francis
This approach could even change
the quality of sermons as they would be based on God’s Word and at the same
time the priests will speak a universal language of the scripture which would
be understood by all who have read and heard God’s Word. Then there will be a true
breaking of God’s Word. He will also be well versed with the contemplative method
in preparing his sermon and hence will not be overtly dependant on already
prepared sermons of others.
The need for a radical change in
the Church is urgent and it should be brought about with a strong catechesis
based on God’s Word. I am convinced that if these changes are implemented in
our formation houses it will have a cascading effect in the church. The trend
of people leaving the church even en masse in some countries could be reversed.
For we have the truth based and supported by a strong traditare.
I believe this Synod on the Word
of God is a beautiful opportunity for the Church to renew itself in a new and
dynamic way. This renewal which is
suggested is not new but has already existed in some measure before Trent
I deeply appreciate Pope Benedict ’s XVI
priorities and commitments for the Church
of God
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