The Bible Speaks For Ever
B.D. Speaks only for A Year
The Joy of Christmas has to be expressed significantly with the Message it conveys.
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The Danger
Every other day we read one or the other news that is related to the ecological crises and the imminent danger that is set to fall on posterity. Though there are natural disasters that take away life and the future, the disasters caused by humans are dangerous. Most of the studies show that we and our predecessors who have lived during the past 70 years have done more damage to the earth than all other generations put together. A recent study shows that “humanity which is just 0.01% of living beings, has caused the loss of 83% all wild Mammals and half of the planet.”
The Critique
In 1966, on 26 December, the day after Christmas, Lynn White, addressed a gathering in Washington D C. The Address was later published as “the Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis,” in March 1967. It became such an important document that it is central for anyone who is interested in ecology. His article criticized the Judaic Christian tradition as responsible for the crisis because of the world view it had portrayed. According to him, the anthropocentric world view is the major candidate to be blamed for the crisis.
The Response
Whether or not true, we have to give this point some serious consideration, if we really care for the world. We have often seen the world as a place of exploitation and as if they are at our disposal. In Laudato si, the first ever encyclical totally dedicated to the care of nature, Pope Francis deals with the verse 2: 15 taken from the book of Genesis: “till and keep it”. He says that we have to cultivate and care for the earth. We become stewards and care-takers of the earth. We, the Christian community all over the world applauded the encyclical so much and conducted seminars at various levels to till the earth and care for it. Three years after receiving the encyclical, we need to ask ourselves where exactly do we stand?
We cannot save the earth with mere seminars and meetings. We need to continuously struggle to protect it. We need to have a committee dedicated for the care of nature – “ecological committee” like finance committee in the parish and at the diocesan levels. If we seriously respond to the criticism of Lynn White and respond to the call of the Pope, we need to ask ourselves – what ought we to do as Christians?
A sincere question is posed to us: what have we done as Catholics to reduce the damage and harm done to the nature? More than 25 % of the total trees are cut down in the world for the paper industries. I don’t need to tell you the importance of trees and the forest. Yet we have been cutting down trees for human consumption. In spite of the digital world, we still use lots of papers for the day today life. We not only need to plant a few trees, we need to work out a plan that will indirectly reduce the cutting down of trees for the paper industries.
The Word became Man
Let me explain the issue in the context of the season when we remember God’s incarnation - God taking the human form. Jesus loved this world – all his teachings somehow included the reference to the natural kingdom – the birds of the air, mustard seed, the sower and the word of God, etc. All these examples can be the source of our care for the nature. But more importantly, I want to insist that the logos of God which is God Himslef [Eucharist] and his words that are contained in the scripture [Bible] are the true sources of our Faith. Along with the Eucharist, the Bible is the source of God’s Words uttered to us to meditate / contemplate and to understand the plan of God.
The Bible became Closer
It should be acknowledged here that only after the Vatican II, the Catholic Church has moved up from below sea level in the use of scripture to the heights of the sky. The Catholics began carrying the Bible and using it during the breaking of the Word. The Scripture is used in the Mass not as an academic material for study but as the sacred scripture that is used as the Holy Book. That is why liturgy of the word is part of the Eucharist. People who were carrying the Bible now are carrying ‘Bible Diaries’.
The Bible becomes an Object of Untouchability
With the advent of the business of making bible diaries, we are going back to the level below the sea in using the Bible. We had distanced the Bible from the faithful prior to Vatican II from the people. With the consumerist publications of Bible Diaries we are distancing the scripture from the faithful yet again. We begin to separate the word of God from the Bible and make it as an object of study or an exercise in piety rather than words for contemplation. We have the bible diaries – normal, special, pocket size, executive and Royal Bible Diaries. We are alienating people from the Bible as well perpetrating economic discrimination. Are we not perpetrating different bible diaries for different classes of people?
I believe that the publishers would have earned some profit when half of what they had printed sold out? However, in the month of January the diaries are available with 10% discount, in February 20%, and Easter time with a 30%. Some publishers would even be willing to bury the unsold diaries in the dust bins rather than giving it to the poor to read in the month of April and May.
I am well aware of the fact that I am touching upon a very sensitive issue. And I am struggling to see a way out of this problem. May be it is left to the Christian Publishers in the Country who are different from the secular liberal publishers whose motive is profit. It may also be true that other religious or secular organisations have Christian names for their publications and are publishing profit making materials. However it is time for the Catholic Publishers to prove that their target is not profit but rather the promotion of truth, proclamation of the good news and setting an example to others on being true witnesses. Though I have no right to enter into the business of the publishers, I think Christians have a moral duty to respond to the ecological crisis by reducing the use of paper on unnecessary publications.
The Word Reprinted
We print the bible diaries every year which have nothing new except the small reflections. Otherwise every other year the readings are the same for weekdays and the same every three years on Sundays. What we need along with the bible is only the ORDO. Instead of carrying a small book, we are publishing various diaries. Are we not doing something out of proportion? Should we keep on printing bible diaries which can be replaced by a booklet? We agree that we will not be able to totally abandon the use of paper and print industries. But our bible diaries are simply being reprinted every year and wasted too.
Even if those diaries are published, not as a material for profit, for the purpose of evangelisation only, I earnestly request the Christian publishers to think of alternate books for bible diaries, like bible commentaries or reflections rather than bible diaries which are redundantly published. I believe that an ordo (already the parish calendars have the daily readings) and the bible are sufficient for the faithful and the preachers.
The Gift!
Let our Christmas Gift for the other be simply the ordo and not the bible diaries. By doing this we are contributing indirectly to the saving of the trees by saying ‘No’ to bible diaries and ‘Yes’ to the Bible. Since nature, like Gaja which struck in and around Vailankanni, Vedaranyam and the delta region, may have its own way of uprooting the trees, we should not be the cause of uprooting the trees.
We may not probably reduce the cutting down of the trees entirely, but we could make a difference. Let the incarnation of Christ teach us to listen to His words properly with due respect in the Bible. This is our message and let this be our resolution for the New Year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
AND
A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
Originally published
in Vailankanni Calling, December, 2018
SP
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