A Reflection on Catechism in the Year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue, and Indigenous People
In the year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue, and Indigenous People, we pay our attention to the calling that Pope Francis has inspired us during his Apostolic visitation to the Middle East, Thailand, and Japan to live together in harmony. This vision has emphasized remembering that the world nowadays is facing the armed conflict war, racism, the ideological and religious conflict which could jeopardize humanity. The CBCP entitles this year by putting the main theme Dialogue towards harmony. There are four priorities: the dialogue of life, dialogue of action, dialogue of theological exchange, and dialogue of religious experience.[1]
The Second Vatican Council stressed out the spirit of ecumenism by formulating the Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio). By the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Church leaders organizing the modern effort to promote unity among all Christians. Because of the baptism, we receive the grace to be His son and we have the responsibility to grow and take care of our faith. All Christian, even though we belong to different denominations are called to united and come together under Christ, our Master.[2] Furthermore, we hold the supreme mission to spread the Gospel to all creatures (Mark 16:15). Praying together (especially during the week of ecumenical prayer) is not only a way to pray together to ask God’s grace remembering the even occur in the present but also a time to unite with the sharing faith and joyfulness in following Jesus. We should promote the ecumenism movement not only in a sacred way but also in a profane way in the act of charity and a modern and traditional feast. In this event, we could invite people from other communities of different religions, or the communities of indigenous people.
Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb promote the interfaith Dialogue by signing the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. The main aim of this document is to unite all men to fight for humanity. We hope that there is no war anymore because it destroys human life. This invitation is calling all the people on earth to join hand in hand to stop the bad spirit that jeopardizes the world.
Dialogue of faith and life is a way to understand each other. We just need a humble heart to accept the diversity among us. The diversity gives us the meaning that we are completing each other. Therefore, a humble heart of acceptance can create the whole world as a family. Otherwise, we cannot create peace if we just keep in one’s idealism and think of others as evil. In the dialogue, we can learn from each other the value and quality to be a good person on the earth. Many communities of indigenous people promote the value of respecting and taking care of nature because nature is the place where we can preserve our lives. To know them can be a pathway for acculturation. Church has done it in many ways and now we have to preserve it as a way to spread the Gospel to all people.
The life of Jesus in the Bible must be inspiring us to follow His attitude. We must learn from Him who talked with the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42), cured the son, and admire the faith of the Canaanite woman (Mat 15:21-24) and the servant of the phalanx (Mat 8;5-13). On these passages, we find that Jesus has already had an open mind to receive people who have different faith but believe in his salvation. Why don’t we do the same thing as Him? I assume that most of us have friends that come from other religions, churches, and local or traditional beliefs. We can start talking with them heart to heart with the open and humble heart about the life they live. We can seek for understanding of the truth by making an interfaith discussion about theological and practical aspects and how they live their faith.
At all levels, we must promote interfaith dialogue to the non-Christian and cultural dialogue to the indigenous people as the entranceway for the youth to understand others more. The Church must move together to realize this vision for harmony in the world without excluding anyone. Moreover, if we want to go out from the border, the act of charity and live in activities are favorable. Church has many instruments and members to fulfill the mission of harmonious relationships with people of a different race, gender, culture, language, and religion. As a person, we could do a simple thing that can help or inspire people to act harmoniously as we respect humbly others as part of our family. If we could realize this in our daily life, I believe that God’s salvation incarnates in this world.
On the other hand, we will never understand the spirit of harmony if we only focus on the sameness. We have to see and consider that we are different, but with open heart and humility, we humbly accept the differences and love the differences with equality. We should act like our Church that doesn’t reject the truth and the holiness in other religions because there is the truth among them that can enlighten people toward good deed.[3] This truth also reflects the aspect of salvation that the Church believe in other religions.
We have to keep in our mind that in some conditions, we might not be able to preach or share the Gospel straight-out, but let us make our deeds represent the spirit and the Christian life. There, we might inspire the people to do what God commands us, to love one another without seeing someone’s background. In this interaction, we still cling on our faith, but we openly love one another no matter what they believe in. This might create a harmonious world for all humanity. In the end, let us make people curious about our spirit and faith by putting them to find the reason why our lives so wonderful. There, we might answer, ‘Jesus Christ, my teacher and my Lord’.
[1] See. http://www.ndbcnews.com.ph/news/2020-year-ecumenism-interreligious-dialogue-and-indigenous-peopledialogue-towardsharmony#:~:text=The%20ultimate%20purpose%20of%20dialogue,to%20love%20one%20another%20concretely. Accessed on September 3, 2020 at 2.05 pm.
[2] See. Unitatis Redintegratio 1.
[3] See. Nostra Aetate 2.
