 |
| Cornelus Mukubi Makuba SMA |
Gaudium et Espes:
The Role of the Church in the Modern World
CORNELIUS MUKUBI MAKUBA, 11117T
The church which is united as human
family under the umbrella of the heavenly values has saving and eschatological
reason of her reason of being (la
raison d’être) that can
only be fully attained in the future world. But that does not mean that the
church should just remain passive in this present world, she has role(s) to
play in our present world too. She goes through earthly experiences, but she is
called to give deeper meaning to these earthly experiences and not to remain at
these physical or earthly experiences but transcend them.
The church promotes and upholds the
dignity of human nature. She defends it against those who under value human
body or idolize it especially in today’s society where human body is turned in to an object that can be
manipulated and used as one wishes for example in scientific tests and in
prostitution and even worst as containers of drug trafficking.
Through the proclamation of the gospel,
her proper mandate, the church proclaims the rights of people. The scriptures
through the mouth of the church proclaims that all human beings are equal as they
have only one father, our Lord, savior and creator. She proclaims that Jesus
died for our liberty and there is no point of remaining slaves to sins and
oppressing systems.
Christian as members of the church
should marry their social, professional life with their religious life
therefore creating a synthesis. There is no need of separating the two us if
they were incompatibles as some people do. That is to say, on Sunday they play
or act as holy people and during the week they immerse themselves in all sought
of darkness and all that is anti-Christ therefore failing to be true witnesses
of Christ. In Christianity, maturity entails merging our religious belief and
convictions with our secular life. This does not mean we remain without sin,
but a kind of harmony of the two aspects in a person's life. We may always fall
but always ready to pick ourselves to rise and continue with the journey.
All in all while carrying out her
roles; the main intention of the church is the salvation of souls as it is
expressed in canon law number 1752 and the revelation of the kingdom of God.
The Church as a Teacher Guides us Towards the Truth
CORNELIUS
MUKUBI MAKUBA, 11117T.
While on the
journey of life, we take a lot of risks of following the wrong or false
pathways, hence we hurt ourselves or others in such situations! But the church
just like a mother who is concerned with her child tells us, No, do not do
that. She does this perfectly through her teachings that gives hope and forms
our conscience since the church herself will not police on us wherever we find
ourselves.
In our present
world where objective truth is overlooked and the subjective opinions are upheld
due to the exaltation of the individual over the common good, the church is
still relevant and urgently needs to teach the truth. Many ideologies may come
and go, they may appear very enticing hence confuse many, but the truth remains
immutable through all ages. The incarnate word of the father that dwelt among
us, this word which is the way the truth and life remains forever. This
incarnate word embraces all virtues and shuns all vices, and this is the truth
that the church teaches.
The church as an
educator then embraces the hierarchy of truths. Through this truth, the church confesses her
belief and as a consequences invites her members to follow suite (members of the
church, the Faithfull’s faith should be rooted in this truths). The first truth
at the top of the list is the truth on the Trinitarian God. It’s the
Trinitarian God who created the universe and all that it contains, has saved us
and continues to sustain us. Whether the atheist denies it or affirms it this
truth remains valid and it doesn’t require scientific proves.
The second on
hierarchy of truth is the Christological truth, that Christ the son of God has
both human and divine natures. Emphasizing one nature and neglecting the other
exposes one to heretical tendencies. The other truths taught by the church
follows the following order; the truth on Grace, the truth on the Church, the
truth on the Sacraments(seven in total) and the truth on Mary our mother and
the mother of our savior.
The church
throughout the ages has vehemently defended the above truths and therefore she
deserves applause. She does her teachings on various occasions, first through the
classes of catechisms as part of preparation for those to be become members.
She also teaches through homilies delivered during mass and through various
papal encyclicals or pastoral letters. No one should blame the church for his
or her own ignorance since the church is always faithful in playing to her role
as an educator.
Teaching is an act of faith because to teach
is to give hope, is to construct unity, and is to know how to forgive without
condition and to forget. To teach is to guide others on the way of the truth!
****
CORNELIUS MUKUBI MAKUBA- 11117T cmukubi@yahoo.com
We have no option but to turn to
witness as a way of evangelization!
The
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi of His Holiness Pope Paul VI number
21 insists on the importance of witness of life as a way of evangelizing.
Especially it insists on the need of being in solidarity with the efforts of
all for whatever is noble and good plus the need to radiate through our
Christian faith the values that supersedes the current values most of which are
contrary to the demands of the gospel, the truth!
I would
like to show how this is very true in our concrete situation amid this
transition period in our mother church. That is, from the resignation of Pope
Benedict XVI to the election and the after match of the election of Pope
Francis.
Before
the pronouncement, “Abemus papa,” resounded from the Vatican many faithful were
covered with a cloud of hopelessness in that they were not sure of which
direction the church would take after the voluntary and free resignation of Benedict
XVI (Personally I applaud him for this jest of humility of admitting his
inability to continue with the demanding task as Pope). Even those outside the
church especially those who are against the church, expected the worst to
happen as this can be traced from their comments especially in the media.
The
church has taught, is teaching, and will always teach Christian values of faith
hope, charity, humility and love of neighbor among others. But in our times,
these teachings have been repeated and have been explored with experts and put
even in writings since time immemorial. All the theological writings and all
homilies worldwide rotate around these values. How many times have they been
repeated and by how many preachers or teachers? Of course there are many. But
how many have been touched by it? That is the point of my departure!
Imagine
just few seconds after his first appearance after his election as Pope, Pope Francis
through his humility touched many, non Catholics and catholic alike worldwide. “Before
I bless you, I ask you to bless me by praying for me before God.” Personally
when I heard this through the television, blood ran very fast through my veins
and my eyes were filled with tears.
His
gesture of turning down the offer of a limousine and opting to travel in a bus,
choosing to use simple vestments though having option to go for the most
expensive ones just to mention a few. I have no doubt, even before first months
since his election elapses, Pope Francis though still within Vatican has
reached out to many up to the remotest village where I was born! We, with our
culture of materialism and obsession with power may pretend that we have not
been touched. But I am convinced Pope Francis has preached and touched even the
atheists or the non believers neither by writing big volumes of books nor
shouting at the top of his voice in streets in the name of preaching but by
just simple gestures but full of power and meaning. What a good and inspiring
start? We are all invited to follow suit.
It’s
said that st. Francis of Assisi could take one of his religious brothers to go
to the streets to preach, and reaching there, they could only walk in the
streets and come back home. But his brothers asked him why they didn’t preach,
but st. Francis responded in traversing the streets they were preaching. Lets
pray for Gods graces that we may be true witnesses as that’s what the world
listens to attentively that spoken words.
***
The Africae Munus deals with the
need for the church in Africa to embark on the road that leads to reconciliation,
peace and justice. Jesus’ words will
help us be reconciled to God and to one another. This will involve a metanoia,
change of the much instability (political, social, and economical) in Africa
and the marrying of the African values with gospels to give it an African flavor.
All the members of the church are to contribute towards communion, justice and
peace in the church and in the society. The church in Africa should be assured
that by opening the doors to Christ, its bids bye to the forces that paralyses
it. The church’s very existence indicates mission, just as the fire exists by
burning so the church exists by mission of Christ. In all her undertakings,
respect for human life should be held at high esteem and the social doctrine of
the church should be the compass pointing to the right direction to be followed.
But all in all it’s through the support and power of the Holy Spirit that this
mission will be possible and reach fruition and not by our own efforts.
The church being a visible sign
of the invisible union of God and man through sacraments of Eucharist and
penance, should help the African people to be reconciled to their creator and
to one another because the communion in the church surpasses all our ethnical
affiliation and removes us from this tribal cocoons and exposes to meet the
other of the other and appreciate it. This is the real road towards peace
justice and reconciliation. But for Africa to reach this level they should move
from the memorized catechism to a lived catechism that is part of us on our
daily basis.
Just as the good news reached the
soil of Africa through mission ad gents, so the Africans should never forget
the fingers that their mothers fed them with. The church in Africa should also
be committed to spreading this good news that they received to those who
haven’t heard of it, to those who do not know Christ yet. They should also evangelize
those once were Christians but they no longer practice their faith for one reason
or another (Europe and America should be in focus). Just as the church of
Africa received missionaries from abroad when the African continent was in
need, the same African church mature enough sends out her sons and daughters to
Europe and America to spread the good news. What a beautiful exchange! No doubt
this goes in line with Jesus’ word ‘you have received free, freely give.’ Let’s
involve our African saints in this struggle of ours towards peace justice and
reconciliation because it’s not our battle alone, they are part of us and part
of it. Just as a common Swahili proverb goes “umoja ni nguvu, utengamano ni udhaifu” (united we stand, divided we
fall) the need for solidarity among the shepherds of the church in Africa is
also indispensable towards this undertaking. And personally am convinced that
whoever places his hands on un ox plough and looks behind will never trace
straight lines for sowing seeds. Therefore as the pope advices as to rise up! Let’s
not rise and remain stagnant or look behind, but rather let’s focus on our destination
(peaceful, justified and reconciled Africa) till we reach there. Remember those
who may look behind may turn to rock like Lots wife.
CORNELIUS MUKUBI MAKUBA, sma
REG.NO. 11117T
CLASS 2B
Email:
cmukubi@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment