My Adventure With Inter-Religious Dialogue

7/31/2019 My Adventure With Inter-Religious Dialogue

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Religion and the Arts 12 (2008) 123137 www.brill.nl/rart

RELIGION

and theARTS

My Adventure with Inter-religious Dialogue

Joseph A. Samarakone, O.M.I.Aanmodaya Ashram, Kancheepuram, South India

AbstractTe Jesus we meet in the Gospels is an inter-religious person par excellence who was ableto transcend fundamentalist interpretations that there is no God in all the earth except inIsrael, and to recognize the faith of all people (Matt. 8:10). Jesus mystical experience in thedesert led him to realize Yahweh as Abbathe Father of all. Hence he proclaimed thekingdom as an inclusive reality, as the basis of all God experience (Matt 13:151). Stressingour need to develop such an inter-religious spirit, the author traces his own awakeningspanning over five decadesfrom his adolescent faith in the God of the Christians to hisnew vision of a universal kingdom of communion, which embraces all people and allreality. His message is that every disciple of Jesusand the Church as Christs sacrament

should live this legacy of Jesus and proclaim Gods saving love for all people irrespective ofreligious affiliation.

KeywordsCatholic Church, Hinduism, inculturation, Indian hermeneutics, pneumatology, amil

Ibelieve it was the Spirit of God who drove me into this vast field of inter-religious relation and who continues to prod me to cross the frontiers ofmy religion to enter into dialogue with other religious traditions. Tis has

been my experience ever since my school days.Tough my early education took place in Christian schools, most of my

teachers were Hindus, especially Shaivaites. Tey made a deep impressionon me by their life of dedication and commitment; they were epitomes ofdeep spirituality. I asked no question then but journeyed on as a young boyguided by the doctrine that Christianity is the only true religion andsalvation is possible only through the Church. Ten came the break-through, like a bolt from the blue, from altogether unexpected quarters: in

my first year of philosophy, in 1960, at the Sri Lanka National Seminary,Kandy, during a lecture on Educational Psychology, my American Rector,


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Fr. Frederick Sackett, O.M.I., said, Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus[Outsidethe Church there is no Salvation] is a doctrine condemned by the Church!

I was startled. Te Rector continued to inform me that in 1949 a Jesuitpriest, Fr. Leonard Feeney, S.J., propounded this doctrine. Te OfficialChurch sat up and took cognizance of this; he was asked to withdraw hisproposition. But Fr. Feeney was adamant, and as a result he was excom-municated. Tus Fr. Feeney found himself Outside the Church! Tiswas music to my ears! In a moment I realized that all those beautiful peoplein my life belonging to other religions are not going to be lost after all;there is salvation for all of them. I tried to share my joy with the otherBrothers, but they were not much impressed by this.

Four years rolled by. As I began my second year of theology in 1964, theProfessor of Sacramental Teology, Fr. Dalston Forbes, O.M.I., basinghimself on the great Dutch Teologian Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., sur-prised me when he said, Non-Christian religions are sacraments of God!From this point onwards I never looked back, though at this point of timeI accepted the view that Jesus Christ is the Primordial Sacrament of Godand, therefore, all religions must find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ. ButI did not have the slightest doubt that all religions are capable of leading

their followers to the Feet of the Divine.As if to confirm me in my new thinking, my own Religious Superior,Fr. S. N. Arulnesan, O.M.I., took me to an ashram in Kandy (Sri Lanka)where I studied. It was the Ashram of the Divine Life Societya branchof the Shivananda Ashram of Rishikesh. I couldnt have gone to a betterashram. Swami Saccidananda, the Guru of this Ashram, was a person withan inter-religious heart and mind. During the worship on that day, amongother scriptures he reached out to the Gospel according to John and readthe Prologue. I was simply thrilled. Tese are the landmark events which

shaped my mind and heart in my early formative years as an inter-religiousperson without much conscious effort on my part, like the growth of anembryo in the womb of a mother.

After my ordination in 1966, I served my mother province, Sri Lanka,for almost ten years. In 1976 I was sent to India to be in charge of one ofour Formation Housesthe Oblate Scholasticate in Chennai. I set foot onMother India on July 1, 1976. From the outset I was dreaming of a forma-tion that would be firmly rooted in the soil of Indiain the spiritual andcultural traditions of the Land. Just about this time the Jesuits of India had

come out with a well-prepared study on Inculturation in Formation. Itwas the fruit of a three-year in-depth survey, study, and reflection conducted


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J. A. Samarakone / Religion and the Arts 12 (2008) 123137 125

by a special commission. Tis served as a resource book in my efforts atinculturating the formation of our O.M.I. Brothers. (I will return to the

notion of inculturation below).Within a year of my coming to India, sometime in May 1977, I met

Fr. Bede Griffiths, O.S.B. (who assumed the name Swami Dhyananda),purely by chance. When I looked at this holy man, his whole demeanorawakened something even deeper within me, and the thought passedthrough me like a flash of lightning: here is an authentic Christian sannyasiof India! Tis meeting was to blossom into a long and abiding friendshipwhich made inroads into my inner life, bringing about radical transforma-tion. Swami Bede invited me to his ashram, Santhivanam, in amil Nadu.

During my visit to the Saccidananda ashram of Santhivanam in May of1979, I felt the place was permeated by his graceful presence. It was toprove a watershed in my life in general, and in my entry into the spiritualtradition of my land in particular. Tat moment is still very vivid in mymind: we stood for the arathiwith hands folded and placed on our head,offering our whole selves to God. Floodgates opened within me, and I hadan unspeakable experience of worshipping my Sat Guru Jesus for the firsttime rooted in my culture; and this was further heightened as I pros-

trated myself before the divine mystery.Te whole worship with Bede Griffiths was a memorable experience.wo things in particular attracted me: the chanting of the Gayatri Mantra,which I have kept with me ever since, and the iruvacagam of Saint Man-ickavacagar. Fr. Bede asked me to chant the iruvacagam in amil, and Ichanted it without any prior preparation as though I had been chantingthis for many years. oday in our ashram the iruvacagam holds an impor-tant place in our daily worship. If ever I considered someone as a guru whoawakened me to the depths of my being and showed me the path to san-

nyasa, it was Swami Bede GriffithsDhyananda. Te utter simplicity ofhis life brought about an immediate change in my own, and his compas-sionate persona (true to his name Dhyananda) posed a great challenge.Tese two virtues he embodiedsimplicity and compassionstill keepbeckoning me to greater heights ofsannyasa.

In 1978 the Provincial of the F.M.M. Sisters of Madras, Sister AngelaHurley, decided that all the Sisters of the province should have an initia-tion into Indian spirituality. Sacred Heart Sisters Vandana Mataji and Ish-priya Mataji were invited to animate this ten-day session. Vandana Mataji

wanted a priest who could celebrate the Eucharist every day, picking upthe thread from the sessions. Since by then my deep interest in Indian


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spirituality was well known, my Superior, Fr. Stanislaus Phillips, O.M.I.,suggested that I participate in this sadhana. Tis was another great moment

in my life when I was being led by the Spirit Herself to drink deep fromour own wells nourished by the same Spirit. I sat at the feet of VandanaMataji imbibing the rich treasures of the spiritual heritage of India. Tisencounter with Vandana Mataji blossomed into a deep and long-standingfriendship, and in mytirthayatraI consider Vandana Mataji as my Spiri-tual Mother who has been leading me step by step to come into my owninheritance. I have had the joy of being with her on many occasions in theJeevan Dhara ashram she founded at Jaiharikhal in the foothills of theHimalayas. Tere is even an O.M.I. Kuttirin this ashram built by my Aus-

trian confrere, Fr. Josef Anthofer, O.M.I. Many O.M.I.s have been to thisinter-religious ashram.

Another person who provided a lot of intellectual input on my inter-spiritual journey was Swami Amalorpavadass or Amalorananda. I was verymuch impressed by the great institution he founded, commissioned by theCatholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI)the National Biblical,Catechetical, and Liturgical Centre (NBCLC) in Bangalore, with the aimof translating the directives of Vatican II into real life in the Church of

India. I admired his tireless efforts in the field of inculturation. In theeighties I had moved to our Formation House Nivedanam in Bangalorewhere my own efforts at inculturating the formation of our students wereproceeding relentlessly. Fr. Amalorpavadass once visited our FormationHouse, Nivedanam, and stayed with us for a day. Sometime later he invitedme to participate in the Ashram Aikiya meeting, though I was not inan ashram then. He seemed to believe that I had absorbed many values ofthe ashram ideal in our Formation House. Ashram Aikiya members usedto tell me that Father Amalor had added one more to the ashram list:

Fr. Samarakones Ashram!From the 1980s another person who drew me into this ministry of

inter-religious dialogue was Fr. Albert Nambiaparambil, C.M.I. Te manyinter-religious seminars, meetings, and live-ins in which he invited meto participate enriched my inter-religious imagination and brought meface to face with holy men and women, sages and saints, who let me wit-ness the ever-vibrant religious plurality of our land and convinced mebeyond a doubt that the great providence of God has willed the pluralityof religions!

Among the other moments of spiritual enrichment I experienced alongthe way, I would like to mention the following:


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1. Tough I had attended many erudite lectures on Srimad BhagavadGita, the ten-day Gita Sadhanawhich I participated in under the

inspirational guidance of Fr. Sebastian Painadath, S.J. at Sameeksha,Kalady, Kerala, in June/July 1994made me appreciate the teachingsof the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, which I still continue to relish and cite inthe prayer and worship of our own O.M.I. Ashram.

2. A ten-daysadhanaon the Tiruvacagam of Saint Manickavacagarby agreat scholar and saintly person, Arunai Vadivel, awakened me to therich treasures of this great amil mystical song, opening a deep abysswithin me and letting me savor the sweetness of these verses. Before thedepth experience of the Divine Mystery gushing forth like torrents

from these songs, the tall and absolute claims of Christianity to be thesuperior and only way paled into insignificance!

3. One of the Church documents which gave me a lot of backing in myefforts at inter-religious dialogue was the document, Te Attitude ofthe Church towards the Followers of Other Religions (no more Non-Christians!). Tis text was officially approved by Pope John Paul II onPentecost Sunday, June 10, 1984 and released by the Vatican Secretar-iat for Interreligious Dialogue. Tis landmark documentcoming

nearly twenty years after the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate: Decla-rationsof the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religionswasfive years in the making and, unlike the other Church documents,involved a lot of discussion with the Asian Churches. Tis documentvery clearly brought out the rich experience of the Church after twentyyears of dialoguing with the people of other faiths, breaking newground with far greater openness and reach. Some of the most insight-ful moments of this document include the discovery that: (a) while aperson may not possess the truth in a perfect and total way, one can

walk together with others towards that goal ( 21); (b) the Church hasthe duty of bringing to light and fullness all the richness the Father hashidden in creation and history, not only to celebrate the glory of God inits liturgy but also to promote among all humankind the movement ofthe gifts of the Father ( 22); (c) the Spirit also works outside the confinesof the Mystical Body;1 the Spirit both anticipates and accompanies the

1) See the first Encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, delivered by Pope John Paul II in Rome on4 March 1979 at the beginning of his papal ministry. In spite of its emphasis on the Redeemerof man, Jesus Christ, [as] the centre of the Universe and of history, it is able to recognize theSpirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical Body (1).


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path of the Church which, nevertheless, feels itself impelled to discernthe signs of Her presence, to follow Her wherever She leads and to

serve Her as a humble and discreet collaborator ( 24); and (d) in bib-lical language conversion is the humble and penitent return of theheart to God; all persons are constantly called to this conversion, andin the course of this process, the decision may be made to leave onesprevious spiritual or religious situation in order to direct oneself towardsanother ( 37).

One of the persons involved in the making of this document was Fr. Mar-cello Zago, O.M.I., then Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreli-

gious Dialogue and later (in September 1986) to become our own SuperiorGeneral. He was very much appreciative of the efforts the Indian Unit ofour congregation was making in the field of inculturation. In order tobring this to the attention of the congregation, Fr. Zago decided that athree-week Plenary Session of our O.M.I. General Administration, includ-ing a one-week Joint Session with the Provincials and Major Superiors ofAsia-Oceania Region (AORC), be held in India in our Nivedanam housein Bangalore. Te theme of the Joint Session was Our Missionary Involve-

ment in the Face of the Challenges of Inculturation. I was then the MajorSuperior of the Indian Unit and was entrusted with the task of organizingthis meeting, which was held in February 1989. I was fortunate enough toget Fr. Aloysius Pieris, S.J., of Sri Lanka, as the resource person for thisJoint Session. It was a great moment of celebration when our Major Supe-riors were able to witness the encounter of the Gospel of Jesus Christ withthe spiritual and cultural heritage of our land and the first signs of theemergence of the local Church! For me this was the culmination of myefforts at inculturation, and I experienced a great sense of fulfillment.

Soon after this I laid down office as the Delegation Superior of theO.M.I. Unit of India. At this time there was an evaluation of our life andwork presided over by the then Provincial of Sri Lanka, Fr. Anselm Silvia,O.M.I. In the very first session the Provincial asked the members what ourpriorities were. o my great surprise someone said, We should establishan ashram! Te Provincial, too, was taken aback because he very wellknew the resistance I faced as I set in motion the process of inculturation.Te Provincial was very frank: I want a discussion on this matter and avote taken. When the vote was taken it was a unanimous decision by all

the O.M.I.s of India that an ashram should be established. It was certainlya defining moment!


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And so Aanmodaya Ashram was established in Enathur, Kancheepuram,in October 1990 with one of the first Indian Oblates, Swami Amalraj Jesu-

dass, as the first Acharya Guru. Fr. Denis Dancause, O.M.I., a CanadianOblate who had been spending three months every year in our Delegationfor many years, laid the foundation stone on October 14, 1990the eveof the feast of the great Christian mystic, eresa of Avilla. Fr. Denis himselfwas deeply involved in the process of inculturation taking place in theDelegation at every level of life. In 1993 our Superior General MarcelloZago came to preside over the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the O.M.I.presence in India. alking to me at this time, Father Zago asked me if Iwould like to go to the Oblate Ashram. I told him that I would be delighted.

Tus the Spirit once again drove me to the Aanmodaya Ashram. I arrivedon July 14, 1993 and have been there ever since.

Tough the Aanmodaya Ashram is open to all (irrespective of caste,creed, gender, religion, or race), and while people from all walks of lifekeep coming and benefiting from the services we provideespeciallyholistic healing through dhyanam (meditation)the main group we areserving is Christian: religious seminarians, priests, and quite a few lay west-erners. o these an opportunity is provided to experience (and not just to

have an intellectual knowledge of) the rich spiritual treasures of the reli-gious traditions of the land, through our Indian forms of prayer, dhyanam,worship, and liturgy, along with the input talks. Te sacred scriptures ofour land and the biblical scriptures are integrated to make a dynamic syn-thesis in our worship. Tis is a common practice in classical IndianHermeneutics.2 Participants are gradually initiated toAshtanga Yogatheeight stages through which an aspirant is led, step by step, towards union

2)

In this classical Indian Hermeneutics one allows the biblical text, especially the Gospelof Jesus, to flow into the two principal streams of the landthe spiritual stream and thesocial liberative streamwhile allowing these streams, in turn, to interpret the biblical text,thus bringing about a Gospel-Culture Encounter. At this point of confluence (San-

gamam), the Word becomes fecundated with fresh, new, and deeper ways of understanding.Tis enables people to sit at the Sangamam, the point of confluence, and drink deep fromtheir own wells nourished by the Spirit, and allow themselves to be nourished by the enriched

Word. An outstanding proponent of this new classical hermeneutics is the late biblicalscholar George M. Soares-Prabhu, S.J. (Beyond Settled Foundations158170). Vatican IIsays, the Church nourishes her children from the one table of the Word of God and theBody of Christ (cf. Dei Verbum 21). I have been celebrating the Word of God in thisinculturated form for the last couple of decades with great rewarding experience both formyself and for the people to whom I break the Word.


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with God (yoga). Experience has shown that an experiential approach likethis has a more lasting effect, and the participants have mostly gone back

relishing their rewarding experience.Te classical Indian threefold method ofSravanam (listening attentively

and with faith), Mananam (pondering over and allowing oneself to betransformed by the Word), and Nididhyasanam (realizing or becoming theembodiment of the Word) is used to open ourselves to the Vacthe Wordof God. In the process, I first observed the absence of fundamentalisticexpressions in the Indian scriptures, while the Bible was full of religiouspolemics denouncing the gods and religions of others, and always claim-ing superiority of our God. Tis surprised me and offended my inter-

religious mind and heart. Ten suddenly, to my pleasant surprise, I realizedthat the Gospels were completely devoid of such fundamentalistic expres-sions. oday, as I read the Gospel of Jesus in our ashram in an inter-reli-gious context, I see Him as an inter-religious person par excellence!

Tus it dawned on me that Jesus, though born in a specifically Hebrewculture and religion, had undergone such a transformation that he wasable to liberate Yahweh from being a tribal God of Israel to AbbatheFather of all people. I was able to appreciate the moment of conversion

for Jesus when he came face to face with the Syrophoenician woman whosehumble demeanor so struck him that he was able to recognize a greatfaith in the woman (Matt. 15:2128; cf. Mark 7:2430). And again,amazed at the faith of the Roman centurion, Jesus exclaims, ruly I tellyou, in no one in Israel have I found such faith! (Matt. 8:10; cf. Luke7:110). In the same breath he adds, . . . many will come from east and westand will eat with Abraham . . . in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs ofthe kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness . . . (Matt. 8:1112).

As a young boy imbued with a sense of Christian religious superiority, I

used to read with triumphalistic glee the exploits of the prophet Elijahwith the prophets of BaalElijah triumphing over them when they wereunable to bring down fire from heaven to burn their sacrifice even thoughthey cried to their god the whole day, while Elijahs God answered withfire before the batting of an eyelid! (1 Kings 18:2040). And I was alsostruck by a passage about the healing of Naaman the leper by the prophetElisha (2 Kings 5:119), where the climactic line reads: there is no Godin all the earth except in Israel! (5:15). In the Gospels, on the other hand,I discovered that Jesus handled this same event of Naamans healing in a

very different way: . . . there were many lepers in Israel at the time ofprophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the


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Syrian! (Luke 4:27). In this instance, as in so many others, the inter-religious person of Jesus was manifesting the all-embracing love of God.

Tis inter-religious Jesus so formed and transformed his disciples that,years after the resurrection, they were able to present in the Gospels aJesus who transcended all narrow and sectarian religious boundaries. Temost unfortunate thing is that Christians down through the centuries,who took great pride in calling themselves disciples of Jesus, had often verylittle of Jesus and his teaching in themselves. As I reflect (mananam) on thedifference between the Gospel teachings and their betrayal by so many so-called Christians in history, I have a dream: would to God that all Chris-tian people be weaned away from religious fundamentalism and become

truly disciples of Jesus formed in the Spirit!A reflective reading of the passion narratives, especially in the Gospel

according to John, reveals how Jesus departed from the traditional God ofpower and presented a new vision. Especially after his desert experience,Jesus broke away from the religious establishment. Tough himself adeeply religious person, Jesus didnt show any predilection for any religion.As he says to the woman at the well, for me one of the pivotal passages ofall holy scripture: . . . the hour is coming when you will worship the Father

neither in this mountain nor Jerusalem . . . the hour is now here, when trueworshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seekssuch as these to worship him (John 4:23; cf. Rev. 7:9).

Jesus proclaimed an all-inclusive kingdom, breaking all frontiers andembracing all people. Explaining the greatness of people who qualify to bein the kingdom, Jesus says, Among those born of women no one hasarisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heavenis greater than he (Matt. 11:11). Te beautiful prayer that Jesus has taught,the Our Father, has arisen beyond all sectarian boundaries and has become

truly a veritable universal prayer that every believer in God can pray.Tis is the great legacy that Jesus has bequeathed to all his disciples and

to all people of goodwill. But Christianity, which claims to continue hiswork among the people, got embroiled in Roman imperialism, whichequated one particular historical institution with the kingdom of Godnamely, the Church. Or as someone cryptically remarked: Jesus preachedthe kingdom, and out came Churchianity!

oday, especially after Vatican II, a paradigm shift has taken place. TeChurch has begun, at least conceptually, to realize her life and work in

reference to the kingdom. Te Council proclaimed that the Church inChrist is in the nature of sacramenta sign and instrument, that is, of


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communion with God and of unity among all people (Lumen Gentium 1).As a sacrament or a sign of Jesus who revealed that God is with us to

deliver us from the darkness of sin and death and to raise us up to eternallife (Dei Verbum 4), the Church should live this legacy of Jesus and pro-claim Gods saving love for all people irrespective of any religiousaffiliation.

*

By way of supplementing the above, let me add some further thoughts onthe crucial importance of moving from a conversion model to an incul-

turation model of double or multiple belonging. It is in the field of inter-religious dialogue that we now speak about double religious belonging.Tis term was coined by Michael Amaladoss, S.J., and it means that,while being rooted in ones own tradition, one should have the ability tobreak the frontiers of this tradition so as to enter fully into the religioustraditions of the other and to bring about an integration of both in onesown person.3

In 1974 the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC) gave us

this comprehensive definition of inculturation:

Te local Church is a Church incarnate in a people, a Church indige-nous and inculturated. And this means concretely a Church in con-tinuous, humble, and loving dialogue with the living traditions, thecultures, the religionsin brief, with all the life-realities of the peoplein whose midst it has sunk its roots deeply and whose history and lifeit gladly makes its own. It seeks to share in whatever truly belongs tothe people: its meanings and its values, its inspirations, its thought and

its language, its songs and its artistryeven its frailties and the failingsit assumesso that they too may be healed. For so did Gods Sonassume the totality of our fallen condition, save only for sin, so that Hemight make it truly His own, and redeem it in His Paschal Mystery.

Te local churches everywhere taken together comprise the UniversalChurch. Tere is diversity in the local churches or Jesus Communities(what Jesus called grex parvulus, the little flock). Tese diversities comefrom the universality of the Christian presence in every religion and culture,

3) See Amaladoss.


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and the values of the Kingdom Communities around these particularlocal churches provide the basis for the universality of the church.

Te kingdom of Jesus vision embraces all people, all religions, all cul-tures, even people who have no religion and, therefore, all ideologies andall life-realities of the people. Tus the kingdom is larger than the Church.Te Church is a servant of the kingdom and her mission is to let the king-dom bloom and come to fullness both within the hearts of peopleasJesus said, Te kingdom of God is within you!and without, in oursociety and the world at large.

Here we see a great paradigm shift: the mission of the church is to beunderstood in reference to the kingdom and not so much in terms of

church expansion. Now emerges a new theology of religion which in turninforms our present missionary ecclesiology. Tere is a dynamic relationbetween the Christian message (Word) and the particular cultureaninsertion of the Christian life in the total culture, including the religion ofthe community, where it takes root and produces fruits, taking the sapfrom the soil and, therefore, the culture of the land.

God has revealed himself in other ways than through the Bibleinmany and various ways (Heb. 1:1)from the very beginning. oday

Christians are aware of the presence of God in other religions. Religionsare Sacraments of God!a great pronouncement made by the Dutchtheologian Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P. I was thrilled when I heard thisduring my dogmatic theology class in 196465. Te wisdom and the expe-rience of God in other religions challenge the Church. Christians havebegun to discover the riches God has lavished on other nations. In truedialogue we come to share one anothers spiritual riches. It is a great chal-lenge to our faith and religion to relate ourselves to these other religionsand experience the pervasive presence of the Spirit among all.

A practical example of this new vision was tangibly given to all, bothinside and outside the church, by the late Pope John Paul II himself whenhe called the leaders of all religions and people for a Day of Prayer forPeace at Assisi on October 27, 1986. Commenting on this momentousevent, the late Marcello Zago, former Superior General of the Oblates,said, Tis event was a recognition of these religions and prayer in particu-lar, a recognition that these religions and prayer not only have a social role,but are also effective before God.

Generally, Christians are wont to think that Jesus gave them the Holy

Spirit to continue the mission of Jesus. Tis is Pneumatology (the scienceof the Holy Spirit) understood as a function of Christology. A broader


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vision of the work of the Spirit, in consonance with the new vision, is tosee the Holy Spirit as the source of everything, and to see the Spirit herself

giving birth to Jesus Christ and his group of disciples, orienting themtowards the Universal Kingdom of Communion which the same Spirit iseffecting at the heart of humanity. Christology is here understood, con-versely, as a function of Pneumatology, allowing the breadth of Gods planfor humanity to come out more clearly (see Wilfred, Once again 1518).From this perspective, people of all religions are regarded as being guidedby the Spirit towards harmony and communion. Terefore, people of allreligions, including Christians, are called upon to play a participatory role,joining hands with all women and men of goodwill to make the Universal

Kingdom of Communion come, not in the hereafter, but here and now!

*

One of the main texts which the traditional Christian evangelists reliedupon in their efforts to proselytize through baptism was Matthew 28:19.Tey called this a mandate received from Jesus. However, eminent Scrip-ture scholars such as Raymond Brown, S.S.S., are of the view that this

command is not from Jesus at all but from the later-day Church, which

Figure 1. Interfaith symbols. Pen and ink drawings by Simone Kearney, 2007.


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gave us the Gospel of Matthew. In the Acts of the Apostles we see thestruggle of the early Church to take the Word to the so-called Gentiles

(Acts 10). If the risen Lord Jesus had settled this issue while he was stillwith the Apostles, then what we read in chapter ten of the Acts of theApostles would be redundant. Besides, it is poor hermeneutics to pluckone text out of the Gospel, oftentimes out of context, and to hold this outas the definitive teaching of Jesus. Every text of the Gospel must be inter-preted in the whole context of the teaching of Jesus as we meet him in theGospel.

Hence I am of the firm view that proselytizing goes against all civilizedhuman behavior. From my own experience in inter-religious dialogue, the

people of other religions tell us how deeply humiliated they feel whenChristians ask them to convert to Christianity. Jesus, too, seems to beagainst this practice (see Matt. 23:15). For Jesus, baptism is understood askenosis, self-emptying. But this is not to deny that the Spirit can occasion-ally lead a particular person from one religion to another for the greatergood of humankinde.g., Saul becoming Paul, the disciple of Christ; anAnglican Newman becoming the Catholic Cardinal Newman.

And there is also the interesting example of A. M. Varaprasadam, S.J., a

former Provincial of the Madurai Province when he was traveling with anAnglican pastor by train in India. Suddenly, a Western gentleman walkedin, dressed in dhothiand angavastram complete with vibuthi(sacred ashes)smeared on his forehead. o their amusement, he even offered vibuthitothe Christian ministers. Later during their conversation they learned thatthis person was an American and that he had been a Catholic priest. Now,he had left Catholicism and converted to Hinduism. Te Jesuit asked hima pointed question: You had been a Catholic priest once and now youhave converted to Hinduism. Terefore, it follows there is something in

Hinduism that is totally absent in Christianity, and this somethingattractsyou very much. What is this something? Te answer came in a split sec-ond: Advaita4 [non-dualism]! In Christianity God is an object of wor-ship, but in Hinduism we are called to be one with the DivineGod is thesubject of our being. On reflection, however, Fr. Varaprasaam would laterremark: It is not that advaitais not found in the Gospels; it is very muchthere, especially in the Gospel of John. But we Indian Christians have

4) Te classical Hindu doctrine ofAdvaitaoffers the spiritual insight that the ultimate real-ity is neither monistic nor dualistic.


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failed to draw this out from the Gospel of Jesus. It is best that we leave thisconversion to the Spirit.

*

Let me conclude finally with a amil song from my native land. It is a versededicated to Lord Shiva as a loving Divine Mother, taken from the iru-vacagam (Sacred Utterances) of the amil Saint Manikkavacaga.5 Tis is, asI mentioned earlier, a favorite Book of Mystical Songs from which my friendand mentor Dom Bede Griffiths would always ask me to sing whenever Ivisited him over the years at his inter-religious ashram at Shantivanam:

Te mothers thoughtful care her infant feeds: Tou deignstWith greater love to visit sinful me,Melting my flesh, flooding my soul with inward light,Unfailing raptures honeyed sweetness TouBestowest,through my every part infusing joy!My Wealth of bliss! O CivaPeruman!Close following Tee Ive seized, and hold Tee fast!

Henceforth, ah, whither grace imparting wouldst Tou rise?(iruvacagam chap. 37, no. 9)

Works Cited

Amaladoss, Michael, S.J. Double Religious Belonging and Liminality. Vidyajyoti 66.1(2002): 2134.

Dei Verbum. Second Vatican Council. 18 Nov. 1965.John Paul II. Redemptor Hominis. Encylical. 4 Mar. 1979.

5) Pal ninainthu uttum thai yinum salapParinthu ni paviyen udayaUninai urukki ul oli perukkiUlappila aan atham aayaTeninaich chorinthu puram puram thirinthaSelvame sivaperumane

Yan unai thodarnthu chikkena pidithenEngu ezhuntharulvathiniye.

Entitled Pidiththa Pathu (Te Decad of the enacious Grasp). When this crowningwork by Reverend Pope was completed in 1900, he was eighty years old.


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Lumen Gentium. Second Vatican Council. 21 Nov. 1964.Nostra Aetate: Declarations of the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. Sec-

ond Vatican Council. 28 Oct. 1965.iruvacagam or Sacred Utterances of the amil Poet, Saint and Sage Manikka-Vacagar. rans.G. U. Pope. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1900.

Varaprasadam, A. M., S.J. Personal communication with the author. c. 1995.Wilfred, Felix. Beyond Settled Foundations: Te Journey of Indian Teology. Madras, India:

Department of Christian Studies, University of Madras, 1993..Once againChurch and the Kingdom. Vidyajyoti57.1 (1993): 624.Zago, Marcello, O.M.I. Sedes15 Mar. 1987: 81.


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Documents

My Adventure With Inter-Religious Dialogue