Why Pray Now

If you stopped praying to God you may wish to reconsider praying based on new scientific evidence.

From the publicly-known news: So many drastic events are taking place in many parts of the world. Count only the obvious: a revolution in Tunisia; a way out for the people of Southern Sudan from the dictatorship of their Northern government is being paved; Lebanon is without a government after Hizbullah withdrew its support for fear it will have to confront the International Court for the crime of assasinating Rafic Al Hariri; Growing discontent in Egypt; The leaders of America and China are meeting in Washington to increase their trade in the superpower economic competition for control of the global economy; and in Toronto, Canada a policeman Sgt. Ryan Russell was fatally struck by a stolen snowplow when he was trying to recover it from the robber. But at least there is one good news: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who narrowly escaped assasination in Arizona is recovering well from her near-fatal wounds in the brain. For her family this is good news. It is good news that many rejoice at the recovery of a fellow human person. It is good news that we can still differentiate between what is good and what is evil. And there is more good news: The misery we see befalling other humans causes us to group together and reaffirm our togetherness. Would that be enough to celebrate? Hardly - Birds do the same thing - they group together to escape predators. Animals live in groups. Fish also swim in groups. But humans usually do better: Humans pray to God together. In ancient times humans prayed to save themselves. Religions grew because of the constant need to survive. Humans want to be eternal and for this the ancients built pyramids and temples. We are no different today except that we have a better understanding of human dignity based on the Biblical message that Man is created in the image of God.

The Biblical message fulfilled by Christ is simple: God reveals himself as the lover. Revelation is His self-communication of selfless love. In accordance with His love, He enters history in the incarnation of Christ to redeem humanity and bring it to its ultimate purpose: God. The Apocalypse is not the story of the end of the world as much as it is the story of its beginning in the glory of God. "Maran Atha" (an Aramic expression close to Arabic) was the prayer of early Christians and should be our prayer today. We must pray for the coming back of Christ - He is the same whom the Jews expect and Muslims too believe He will judge everyone. Christ is the light of the entire world which the Magi went after. How can we see Christ again? By constant prayer to Him who is our fellow human and God: The Eucharist is the mystery of our union with Him always present on earth. Frequent prayer from the heart to Him who saved us, frequent confession and communion of the Eucharist, forgiveness of others, and reconciliation seem necessary. We must pray together - married people need to pray together - families need to pray together - communities need to pray together - Christians need to pray together as the week of prayer for Christian unity is here. The message is to submit to God's will in prayer. He will never forsake us.

If atheists themselves believe that God cannot be removed from human memory, how can we remove him? Let us pray as Christ taught us: "Our Father Who Art in Heaven Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."

Reconciliation of Christians and Muslims - Is it Possible?

In my lecture on January 14, participants shared their reaction to the question "What would be your reaction if your brother or sister was killed in the massacre of Alexandria?" People acknowledged they would react with shock and probably with violence - a kind of revenge against the person who did it. This is the reality of Christians today. We cannot ignore the cross but it takes time to psychologically respond to a shocking event. According to Elizabeth Kubler Ross, the 5 stages that a person who lost a loved one goes through in grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance (1). It becomes then important in our spiritual struggle to accept, forgive and eventually reconcile with the aggressors. Love is inherently natural as found in recent neuroscientific research. Certain brain hormones such as Oxytocin and vasopressin help humans bond, socialize and love (2), (3). But to love my enemy, it is beyond natural love. This kind and level of love is, in other words, supernatural. In philosophy it is called Agape (4), (5) where you love the other not because you need him/her but only because he/she is there. This is the love of Christ. It reconciles you with the other not because he lives with you but because he is important as a human person in himself. In fact, regardless of religion and culture, the only solution to vengeance is the Christ love (i.e. to imitate Christ thus you become the alter-Christus). To my fellow Christians I can only say that Muslims are our brothers for all humans have one father (God) and one enemy (the Devil)! Much prayers, by both Christians and - dare I say - Muslims of good will, are needed. The name of God the Compassionate and Merciful is invoked by Muslims five times everyday. Go deeper. The parable of Christ, The Good Samaritan, is a great example for us today. It speaks to the apparent enmity between Christians and Muslims. In the parable, a Jew was on a journey from Jerusalem down to Jericho. He is robbed by thieves who "stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead." A priest and a Levite see him and pass by. As commented by contemporay Biblical scholars, those religious representatives of Judaism who would have been expected to be models of "neighbor" to the victim pass him by (6). Jesus explicitly reverses the meaning of loving your neighbour from a Jew who cares about another Jew to a Samaritan, an enemy to the Jews, who cares for the Jew. The Samaritan, who in the Old Testament experience was the enemy of the People of God, suddenly and shockingly turns out to be the loving caregiver who cares for the wounded and half-dead son of the People of God. Strikingly, according to St. Augustine (and Origen too), the wounded man represents Adam and his offspring. He was in Jerusalem (Paradise) and because of the thieves, who represent the Devil, Man was fatally wounded and ended up losing Paradise. On his journey to Jericho, that is to hell, no authority could ever save his life. The Good Samaritan is the Saviour, Christ himself, who alone is the life-giver to fallen humanity. Christ remains today the only solution to the sins, suffering, anxiety, and dispair of fallen humanity. Christ heals the wounds by pouring oil and wine that clean the wounds, lifts the man and gets him on his own animal, takes the wounded to the "inn" i.e. the Church where the wounded is given rest to completely heal. "The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.'" In this Parable the story of man emerges - It did not finish because the Saviour will come back. The reward is nothing less than himself! The LOVER! Notes: (1) Kübler-Ross, E. (1973) On Death and Dying, Routledge. (2) Lee HJ, Macbeth AH, Pagani JH, Young WS (June 2009). "Oxytocin: the great facilitator of life". Progress in Neurobiology 88 (2): 127–51 (3) O'Callaghan, Tiffany (7, June 2010). "Thanks, Mom!". Time Magazine. Time, Inc. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1992405,00.html (4) Kreeft, P. (2005). Love, Fundamentals of the Faith, Ignatius Press. (5) Pope Benedict XVI (2005). God is Love, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html (6) United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2002). Luke 10, The New American Bible http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/luke/luke10.htm

Death in Egypt - An Opportunity for True Love

Just about the end of a mid-night Mass at Saints Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria, an explosion horrified the people in the Church and brought death to those who have just left the Church. Twenty one Christian died in the aftermath of the explosion and many more were wounded. It is thought that the explosion was the result of a deliberate violent attack by fundamentalist extremist Muslims. Although there is no evidence for the reason of the violent act, a recent news article in the Globe and Mail may or may not help: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/africa-mideast/atrocity-in-iraq-is-traced-to-marital-discord-in-egypt/article1849969/ But the question that begs an answer is this:

Did those persons who worshipped and were just leaving expect they will die? Were they ready for their death? They were killed because they are Christian - Does this make them martyrs for Christ? And if they are martyrs, would not that increase the seed of the blessings of Christ in the land of Egypt? They have just finished participating in the Eucharist which is an act of "Thanksgiving" to God. This leads me to the second question: What is Thanksgiving in the memory of the Church? Thanksgiving is par excellence the act of the elect in heaven (Revelation). In the words of the Eucharistic prayers, the priest asks the participants "Let's lift up our hearts to the Lord" and the people respond "Here they are in the presence of the Lord." We lift up our hearts/ourselves to praise the One who created us ex nihilo (out of nothing) and whose creation was an act of utter love. We praise Him who was born for our salvation and who made us his own in spite of our weakness and our faults. We praise Him who sustains us in this life and brings us to repent and hope for the eternal life. The entire prayers become an act of thanksgiving to the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus the community anticipates the heavenly kingdom. See "The Richness of the Divine Liturgy" at http://www.todayquestions.blogspot.com/2008/06/richness-of-divine-liturgy-in-melkite.html

This raises other questions too: If death is seen as an opening to eternal life, why do we continue to mourn? Why do we allow fundamentalism to creep into our emotions? Before we preach to others, should not we preach to ourselves that joy of which the angels spoke to the shepherds in Bethlehem? Hitchens was not wrong when he accused religious people that they lack the joy they preach. Let's recall one more time the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10): The Samaritan was the enemy of the Jews, yet "moved with compassion" he dared to care for the Jewish victim his enemy who had been robbed and left half-dead. This parable of Christ was meant for the priests and the Levites who did not care about the enemy. And it still applies to us who hardly care about anyone of our enemies. The word of Christ will still ring in my ears "Love Your Enemies" for this is how we can be perfect like our Father who is in heaven. How about justice for the families who lost their dear individuals? The more I think of the word "justice" the more I find it suitable for this world due to the human weakness, but in God's judgment, I hope justice will turn into compassion and love. If our Judge is our Advocate, how can we hope for less than eternal joy?

Peace of Christ

When Christ was born, Luke reports that a multitude of angels sang "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." Yet, Christ himself says "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division" (Luke 12: 51).

Most of us hope for peace, and tonight we salute each other with the peace of Christ. While we do that we think that threat to world security and ours are those political and military powers who run the show. North Korea is one example. Iran and Israel are probably preparing for a showdown one day not too far. Christians are killed in Iraq and their celebration of Christmas has been cancelled this year after so many threats the Churches received. Wikileaks are top news as the founder has been condemned to throwing out in the light of the Internet the secret files of highly classified documents in the ever continuing espionage between the powers of the world!

But Christ warns us that his peace is different from the calm that precedes the storm. He, in fact, provokes everyone to examine his conscience before he takes sides and sits in judgment of others. His peace is a dividing peace for in his time Simon prophesied that Christ will be a sign of contradiction. Many will rise and many will fall because of Him. We simply cannot ignore Christ as the provoker whose sharp words against the hypocrites still resound today.

The entire world wants security but only false security can it attain since it continues to ignore Christ. Christ's peace comes with a cost: the cost of inner reconciliation with myself, my fellow humans and with Him my God. It demands sacrifice and wisdom. But it all is based on love in truth. If Christ were a pacifist how could he be condemned to death? On the contrary "he came to his own and his own received him not" (John 1: 11). His own Jewish people who proclaimed him king also crucified him for he did not do as they wished but only the truth of His Father. What more do we need to understand the peace of Christ? What would you do if Christ is born today? Only a question.

The Hitchens-Blair Debate: Is Religion a Good Force in the World?

Christopher Hitchens does not wish to be called "Atheist" but "Anti-theist" as he probably thinks he is sure of the non-existence of God than the average "New Atheists." His recent debate with Tony Blair (about whether religion can be a force for good in the world) showed a bit of ignorance on the part of this self-proclaimed anti-theist.

My simple questions to him are those: Where was Christopher Hitchens when God created the universe (the same question that humbled Job in the Old Testament)? How dare he propose a humanist world without God when statistics show the influence of religion is on the rise across the globe? What does Hitchens think of the myriad human values introduced to the world by the fishermen of Christ? (See my post on the blog).

And if Hitchens glories in science, what does he know about what scientists have found in the new quantum physics, cosmology, neuroscience, genetics and the complexity of the evolution of life? (See my post "Has Science found God?" on the blog). What does Hitchens think of the essence of community with his pro-radical feminist approach? How would he propose to propagate the human species when he insists on a radical feminist agenda that continues to disturb this baren Western society? How can Hitchens attribute the Rwanda massacres to the Church when learned people know that it was a tribal war?

It was obvious that he would win the debate since the audience pre-judged his opponent the British ex-Prime Minister for his strong support of the Iraqi war. But Tony Blair showed a positive attitude towards Hitchens - Blair at least proposed that the essence of faith is love. He gave evidence of the positive influence of contemporary religion citing his own encounter with Catholic nuns who spend their life caring for sick people with Aids in Africa, and the work in which religious leaders were able to accomplish reduction of African debt. Blair's point, well taken by the audience, is that religion inspired and continues to inspire people to do good even when some people use it for their own interest.

As a Christian I have for long believed and preached that Love is the cornerstone of life here and eternally. God himself is a relationship of love between Father and Son in the Holy Spirit. And because of this loving God, Hitchens himself may be saved in spite of his aggression against God.