Viewpoint Sri Lankan Jesuit writes of prayer, service
By JANINA GOMES
For those of us caught up in lofty
notions of contemplation of the absolute as the highest form of prayer or for
those who believe solely in target-oriented activism, a new book by a Sri
Lankan Jesuit theologian calls us back to the early apostolic vision of prayer
as service and true discipleship of Christ.
In his recent book, Mysticism of Service, Jesuit Fr.
Aloysius Pieris, author of An Asian Theology of Liberation, aims to
clear distortions that have crept into some Christian thinking on prayer. He
sees no division between lay and clerical levels of Christian life in the New
Testament. Denying the distinctions made in what he calls a two-tiered
spirituality, with a lower form, a sort of minimum necessary, and
another for privileged people of a higher calling, he believes that
the only difference found in the New Testament is between those who are
beginners and those who are mature in the life of the spirit.
Pieris examines the Christian tradition in which he is rooted,
because he firmly believes that unless Christians equip themselves with an
experiential knowledge of their own spiritual tradition, they will not be
prepared to acknowledge, conserve and foster the elements of an
authentic spirituality found in other religions in the way the Second Vatican
Council has invited them to.
Pieris categorizes four attitudes to prayer: the self-conscious
introverts, the task-oriented extroverts, the people-oriented extroverts and
the people-oriented introspectionists. The self-conscious introverts are prone
to fold within themselves and shy away from the challenges of social reality,
confusing interiority with introversion. The second category of task-oriented
extroverts are those who take action but are not people-oriented. These two
types have one thing in common: They dread the human in themselves and in
others.
The people-oriented extroverts are those who live out a life of
service to others but seldom reflect on their experiences. Being extroverts
they hardly realize that the light they hope to see at the end of the tunnel is
what guides them in their commitment to others.
The fourth type Pieris calls people-oriented introspectionists,
who are able to articulate their active lives in terms of an internal focus. He
believes that it is this fourth category of people who are most capable of what
he calls a mysticism of service.
The author mentions examples of people oriented
introspectionists. In particular, the prayer lives of Thomas Merton and
Helder Câmera are accurately described as peopled solitude --
a phrase the author borrowed from Câmera himself. They carried the
concerns of people even when they appeared before their Lord in prayer. St.
Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, also remained in the
cloister only physically, her heart reaching out to people everywhere with a
glow of love. Two monumental examples can also be found in India: Mahatma
Gandhi, Hinduisms prayerful activist, and Mother Teresa, who practiced
and advocated a spirituality of Christ-filled involvement with the suffering
masses.
Making a distinction between acts of prayer or
formal prayer and the continuous prayerful attitude of
openness to God as informal prayer, Pieris says though Jesus did indulge
in formal prayer restricted to a time and place, the prayer that
manifested his messianic role as redeemer was his obedience to the Father, a
continuous struggle to set aside his own will and follow the way that
ultimately led to the cross. That kind of permanent attitude of openness
to God climaxing in his life-giving death was exactly what constituted his
redemptive act, namely his self-oblation made not only out of loving obedience
to the Father but also out of loving compassion for humankind.
Pieris says that St. Ignatius of Loyola rediscovered for the
church the centrality of the apostolic spirituality that St. Paul preached and
practiced. In a church that elevated the spirituality of monastics, Ignatius
recovered the Pauline spirituality of action. The core of Ignatius
theology of prayer is that ones spiritual maturity is not to be gauged by
ones formal prayer but by ones habit of self-oblation.
This leads Pieris to discussion on the polarity between
seeing God and hearing God. While the Old Testament
stressed hearing God, which is tantamount to obeying him, the New Testament has
more occurrences of the verb to see. Through the Incarnation, the
audible word has become a visible image, and the mouth of God has begun to be
seen together with the whole face of God.
In the New Testament the apostles both heard and saw. But Pieris,
like Yves Congar, believes that after the apostles, the church founded by them
is formed by faith, and that hearing again assumes the key role. As Congar
remarked, Seeing God is to come at the end of time. It belongs to
eschatology and will bring history to a close. In the present life, faith that
comes from hearing dominates, while in the after life, we shall perceive God
through vision.
Pieris, however, adds this insight: Straining our eyes to see God
as our future looming on the horizon is essential for picking up the verbal
directions, that we may steer our course toward that ultimate end. This
eschatological vision must culminate in action-packed hearing or
obedience. We are given to see that we may hear.
Pieris sees the source and summit of our earthly life of
discipleship in glimpsing the future through selfless service to our neighbor
in need. It is in such that Jesus is seen here and now. Jesus, the
author says, declared himself visible in his little ones and in every neighbor
in need, seeking our solidarity and service as the present-time requirement for
our end-time salvation. The service, which the Word summons us to render
unto Christ seen by us with the eyes of faith, is emphasized in the scriptures
as the essence of divine worship, a self-oblation constituting authentic
Christian spirituality.
Pieris presents us with a challenge to become selfless in
our giving and other-oriented in our prayer lives. True prayer and worship are
not possible without service to others. That constitutes the mysticism of
service, which combines the finest aspects of personal prayer with apostolic
action, inner seeking with reaching out to the most needy, and love of God with
love of neighbor.
Janina Gomes is communications manager at the Indo-Italian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mumbai, India. She contributes regularly to
the Speaking Tree column of the Times of India, a
column devoted to philosophy and religion. Her e-mail address is
janinagomes@hotmail.com
National Catholic Reporter, March 30,
2001
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