So that the Fresh Air of the Gospel Come In . . .

This year we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the incredible convocation made by Pope John XXIII for the celebration of the Ecumenical Council in the Catholic Church, which is known as “Vatican II.” During the twenty centuries of its existence, the Catholic Church has only held twenty plus Councils. The last one, the Ecumenical Council Vatican II, was called for with a very clear purpose: to motivate and bring to conscience an “up-dating” (aggiornamiento) of the Church in the World. The outcome was the renewed work which such purpose required of the being, of the purpose and of the mission of the Church. In other words, it motivated a renewed lifestyle for all of God’s people (hierarchy and laity), and a change in liturgy and in the pastoral and evangelistic work of the Church in the world.

This purpose implied a serious and profound self-examination of the faithfulness and indefectibility of the Church to the Gospel and its Founder; a sincere repentance when facing the past mistakes; and the need for the abandonment of old practices and models –practices and models which are more in accord with the “perfect societies” of the World than with the Community of believers in Christ. Beyond all that, it also implied a sincere wish for conversion and a spiritual and material renovation by God’s people, who go to all four corners of the world, and all levels of the structures which make up the ecclesiastic Catholic Institution in the world.

We do not ignore that during twenty centuries of history and of the Catholic Institution, the Church has been exposed to the contamination which entails a service to the world ideologies and philosophies more than to the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth. To serve more the money than God; more the Old than the New Testament; more the Canon than the Gospel principles; and more the power and pomp of the world than the needs of the poor to whose service the Church is privileged and particularly destined to serve. Therefore, the Second Vatican Council represented, in its moment, a unique opportunity for the Church to adapt itself to the new era, to the new urgencies, to the new challenges which today’s world presents for its work of evangelization.

From the first day of its announcement (January 25, 1959) until the day of its closing (December 8, 1965), Vatican II proved to be the most important event of the Church in its 450 years of history. The majority of the previous Councils caused ruptures and divisions within the Church. This was the only Council which, without provoking division or serious dissentions (except for the small group of lefevristas who rejected the innovative proposals of the Council; and, on the other hand, the representatives of intellectual currents who looked for an acceleration of the radical teachings and doctrinal interpretations of Vatican II) motivated and started great and important transformations within the Church itself, in true consonance with the contemporary world. The Second Vatican Council, without harming the established basis of the faith, and in historical continuity with the Teachings of the Church --which are based in the Holy Scriptures and in Church Tradition-- recovered important themes that had been put aside during the last centuries, themes such as: the collegiality of the Bishops, the priesthood of all who have been baptized, the theology of the local church, and the centrality and importance of the Holy Scriptures and the Eucharist in what the Church is and does.

The Second Vatican Council distanced itself from the dogmatic methods and language of other Ecumenical Councils --like the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council--and abstained from pronouncing condemnation. It was all the result of the renovation movements which took place in the 20th Century in the fields of biblical study, patristic understanding, medieval studies, liturgical theology, and ecumenical conversations. Besides that, Vatican II was the result of the meeting and dialog of new philosophical and scientific trends; of the restating of new relations between the Church and the world; and of the new role which the laity is to play in the work of evangelization of the Church.

Like all realities of the World and of the Church, the changes and renovations proposed by the Second Vatican Council also touched the Hispanic Catholic World in the United States. Because of it, in 1972, the Hispanic Catholics met and called for the First National Pastoral Encounter; with the Second taking place in 1977 and a Third Encounter in 1985 --all in Washington D.C. These encounters were praiseworthy since they seeked to find the communion, the participation and the integration of the Spanish speaking community to the Catholic Church in the United States.
The Second Vatican Council meant a new Pentecost for the Church and, in the last 50 years, the Catholic Church has experienced incredible changes within the community of believers, and in the historical course of the world. Without doubt, the result of the Council, as much in the hierarchy as in the laity, was the unique experience of enrichment and vitality in the story of Catholicism.

Today’s Pontificate of Benedict XVI directs Catholicism to re-discover a personal and new inner life through closeness to the Scriptures; and to seek a dialog and coming together with the other Churches in the Christian world. Nevertheless, in this fifty year commemoration it would be good to ask ourselves if the Church of today (which includes all of us) continues to be faithful to the renewing spirit of the “good” Pope John XXIII, when he called for Vatican II. In other words, are we being faithful to the responsibility which we have, as a Church, to respond and make known, at all times and circumstance, the urgencies of mankind and of the world, in the light of the Gospel, without getting anchored in the assurance and comfort which the known past gives? Moreover, we should ask ourselves if today’s Church continues to have its doors and windows open so that through them, and for the benefit of all humanity, the always new and fresh air of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can circulate.

“Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!”

Saul (Hebrew name), Paul (Roman family name) are the names by which we know the great apostle and foundation of the Catholicity. The little we know about Paul of Tarsus comes to us through two sources: his own letters, and the book of Acts of the Apostles. The exact date of his birth is not known but --according to some of the most important Pauline theologians, like Joseph A. Fitzmyer-- it is reasonable to place his birth in the first decade of the Christian era.

Paul was born in the Hellenistic city of Tarsus and, from birth, enjoyed the privileges of a Roman citizen. Because of this, we can say that in his mind all three cultures of the time fit brilliantly: the Semitic-Jewish of his parents (Hebrew, Jewish, Pharisee); the Hellenistic (dominant culture); and the Roman (the culture of the Empire in which the apostle lived). This triple vision of the world, this triple cultural dimension constantly shows in his writings; and allows the apostle great versatility to adapt himself to each distinct audience, to preach adequately, and to try to reach all people of the known world by preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.

This cosmopolitan personality, this cultural versatility in Paul explains more than enough the title which we give him with honor: “The Apostle to the Gentiles.” Thanks to this cultural opening in his character, and this “globalized” vision of the world, Paul would become the most important missionary and preacher in the beginnings of the Church. Also, thanks to his work of evangelization we can say, without doubt, that the Good News of Jesus Christ came out of the local roads and paths of Galilee to reach, up until today, every man and woman of good will born in the four corners of the earth.

What pushed Paul to unconditionally dedicate himself to this mission from the moment of his conversion until the end of his life? What was the motor to his apostolic work? What gave him “strength” and motivation? The certainty of having found in the Gospel the happiness that every man and woman seeks and longs for, and --in its Theology-- the person of Jesus Christ himself. From the moment when he had that personal encounter with Jesus, whom he persecuted by persecuting the Christians, a fact told by the symbolism used in biblical texts, Paul dedicated himself completely to tell that marvelous works were done in him by Christ. Paul understood these marvelous “works” as part of the work of the “Crucified Christ”: to bring salvation to mankind. A salvation/happiness which, according to him, will reach all throughout the world without distinction of race, condition, nationality, age, etc.

Therefore, the fundamental affirmation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is born in Paul from an indescribable and very personal experience: The crucified Christ changed his life, and if he changed his life sheathing it with a new mentality, it is because the Crucified “Lives”! This confession by Paul of his fundamental faith in the “gospel” is not born from intellectual works, but from a daily experience guaranteed and reconfirmed by the testimony of the first believers; those first Christians (men and women, martyrs of the first hours of Christianity) whom Paul vehemently persecuted, impelled and in perfect alignment with the enthusiasm of his previous pharisaic convictions.

Because, if anything is clear in Paul’s personality, it is his authenticity: first, he lived authentically as the “most” Pharisee of all Pharisees; and –after his encounter with Christ-- he lived authentically as a “Christian.”

Many aspects of Paul’s life need to be rescued so that our present historical and ecclesial perspective can be enlightened. Among others:

· His cosmopolitan vision of man and of the world; his openness and embrace of all cultures and all men and women recognizing them as brothers and sisters in Christ (this completely opposite to the “petrine” vision which pretended to imprison the Gospel within the boarders of Israel); and even today, his vision goes against the xenophobic, discriminatory, and divisionist vision which, disguised by “globalism”, allows the accumulation of riches in the hands of a few while the price is payed by marginalization, impoverishment and misery of a great majority.

· His missionary fervor for the work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

· His great generosity in the work of saving/making all peoples happy with the Good News of

Jesus Christ, even with great personal sacrifices (persecution and imprisonment not told).

· His Christian beliefs came from experience not from notion.

· His preaching and later theological reflections (put into writing in his letters) come out of the daily experiences of feeling himself loved/happy, thanks to the daily intervention of the “Crucified/Resurrected” in his life.

· To have been able to establish among the biblical theological terms (vetero and neo testamentary), words to designate God’s saving works such as salvation, redemption, expiation, liberation, justification etc. which describe the basic wish of all people: to be happy in Christ. Because for Paul, the life-in-Christ has one clear function: The “Christ-happening” was to make us happy, in other words, to save us, to give us eternal life, abundant life; that life which Paul himself found on the road to Damascus.

May these lines encourage us to know and to imitate the Apostle Paul, in a more authentic manner, for the mission which we all have as baptized believers: to live and to preach with words and actions, the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is (as it was for Paul) our power, our strength, our salvation; our happiness, our eternal life, and the plenitude of our existence and of human history.

2009: but let it be “new”

2009: It is a “new” year . . . a “new” beginning. We are all refreshed and renewed by the beginning of a new year. A new year means that we have a possibility to forget and to start anew; to erase and to renew; to forget, to forgive and to find again the way . . . The beginning of a new year places us at a juncture where we can learn from the past and project to a better future.

However, the promise of a better future does not stop us from recognizing our present reality, which is marked by a profound crisis. This crisis is manifested in all types of conflicts of a personal nature: family, labor, economic, political, social, cultural, religious, etc.

The lives of men and women, seeming senseless, lacking direction and purpose is reflected in the high index of suicides, drug consumption, alcoholism…families destroyed by all types of circumstances; and a deep economic crisis which no one seems to be responsible for, while the poorest among the poor are the most affected. There seems to be two nations at war in one, with bad relations in the rest of the world, and a conflicting coexistence among the groups that form the North-American society. . .etc. All these circumstances require that a New Year for this Nation be truly new and novel.

To preside over this urgent NEW time in the Unites States –while facing the immediate past and present failures— the Senator for Illinois, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama was elected to lead the government of this great nation.

The election of the first president of African-American descent is, in itself, a historical milestone for this nation. It is even more of a milestone if we keep in mind that this election took place in a society which still has traces of discrimination and racial segregation, where minorities still live as second class citizens.

Even when we Christians have placed our hope in God as revealed in His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Abundant Life, the earthly nations have placed their hopes in the Leaders of their nations for the sound and correct handling of their governments.

So, for the immediate future of the North-American society, we have our hopes and trust placed in the government that, starting on January 20th, President-elect Barack H. Obama will head. In him our hope is placed, so that, according to his promises during the electoral campaign, he will put an end to the irrational, unjust and inhumane wars which not only drain the economy and the social well-being of the nation, but also shed the blood of our young soldiers. We trust that the President, surrounded by his trusted staff will do right in his management of the national and international economy, so that, in the short term, we can go back to the prosperity which this nation has represented for its citizens and for the rest of the world.

Beyond that, we have our trust placed in that the government of Mr. Obama will have a “new” way of handling the immigration issue; that so many immigrants, especially the undocumented Hispanics who live in this nation, will received a more dignified, more solidary, more just and more humane treatment. This is befitting of a population that has given its strength and its best effort to contribute to the greatness of which the entire North-American society boasts to the world.

Also, the Hispanic residents in this Nation, and in all their countries of origin, hope that the new government improves and forms better international relations with the Latin American Countries. This should be expected among nations that share the same continent and the same destiny calling out to humanity: to make of the world a more livable, more fraternal and therefore, more humane place.

At the initiation of this new year let us leave behind the bad news; and in solidarity let us begin to work in the creation of good news. All this with the certainty that, if the small or big crisis which at the present moment affects us, is caused by a crisis in humanity, it is worth saying that a deep spiritual crisis for humanity would create a process of “humanizing” growth of the inner soul of each human being; and that the beginning of new and more honest relationship among men and nations will afford us a new year and a better future.

The happiness we feel for the new year and the hopes we place on a new Government have their foundation in the Christian faith which invites us always to renew ourselves, to leave behind the old man and to re-construct in each one of us the new man who is Christ himself, made in the image and likeness of the Father.

This New Year will be new in the same measure that all: those who participate directly in the mission of government, as well as the citizens, can construct with our behavior, words, attitudes and works, the newness that we need so much. Let us toast, then, for a new year, a new society, a new Government for the creation of a better Nation and a new world. I wish that all of you have, together with your loved ones, a new, a happy and a blessed 2009.

The Spirituality of Jesus of Nazareth

Moments for the Word – a live presentation to the American Bible Society staff in New York City on November 3, 2008.


To speak of the spirituality of Jesus of Nazareth entails a heuristic, exegetical and hermeneutical work, which consist of coming closer to the biblical sources. These sources speak of his person, his ministry, his life projects, his Gospel, his announcements, his denunciations, and his conflicts; as well as of his passion, death and resurrection. Among the biblical sources, especially, we should study the texts of the New Testament; more specifically, the works and words of Jesus as they were seen and heard, kept in memory and in oral tradition, to later be written down by the primitive Christian communities who authored the Gospels that have come to us today. Besides having been lived and interpreted by the millenary tradition of Christianity and the history of the church.

The hermeneutical work, specifically, will consist of being able to perform an “intelligent” and detailed reading of the Bible; as well as being capable of noting the “historical data” found in the confessions of faith made by Christians –in the light of the Passion-- about the person and works of Jesus of Nazareth.

The exegetical work that seeks to search for clues about Jesus’ spirituality must keep in mind that, among other things, not all texts written about Jesus reached our present day; and that not all that Jesus said and did was preserved in writing (John 21.35).

After these preliminary points are clear –in reference to the way we should approach the neo-testamentary sources-- it is of utmost importance to know that the original term “spirituality” has being loosing its original content. It has lost its full sense and its value is corrupted. So much so, that it’s meaning refers to something “Light.” The term has been used –and often enough handled— from astrology to Zen Buddhism, from the Hindu “mantra” to the diverse religious markets of “New Age.” Spirituality then, these days, refers to a subject far from reality or something that –in the worse case— helps us escape from it and its commonality. Spirituality is now something venal, of no use; especially when we live immersed in a society that maximizes and gives privilege to what is tangible, what is pragmatic, what is useful and what is “material.”

Also, spirituality –lately and wrongly-- is tied to a pertinent subject handled only by religious groups or institutions, or by those who follow and practice religion. In fact, the word “spirituality” has come to mean something oppose to the institutionalized religious practice. This to such an extent that there are people who call themselves religious --while not belonging to any religious institution-- but who are deeply “spiritual.”

I would like that here, in the most simple and direct manner, we could understand for “spirituality” the deepest motivation of a human that brings the whole to be, to do and to work in the world. Spirituality is therefore, the peregrination that each human being does –or has to do-- to his own inside looking for his own essence, his reason for being and for existing. This journey and walk generates an encounter with “good”; in other words, a face-to-face with the divine tendencies in us because we are God’s creatures. This encounter brings together our whole being and gives sense and direction to our works, our words and our every day living in the world. It inaugurates and gives a new significance to the relationship we establish with others and with the Transcendent. Spirituality is, therefore, a taking of consciousness, a “Cosmo vision” that manifests itself in a style of being and behaving in the world. It is an attitude, a style of living that shows --and gives fruit-- in acts and words.

“Spirituality” gives man a responsibility as the main character in the story and the builder of a better world according to a new criteria and a specific set of values. When man chooses to dispense of the spirituality which inspires him, or chooses to abandon his search for his own spirituality, then life looses its reason for being.

The biblical recount of the Baptism of Jesus –as well as that of the Transfiguration-- makes everything very clear to us if we try to find the clues or the basis for Jesus’ spirituality. In both cases, the voice from the clouds says “this is my own dear Son.” (Mt. 3.17; Mk. 9.7).

If in the Old Testament God reveals himself as the “I Am” (Ex. 3.14, 15; Is.43.11; 45.5; 48.12); in the New Testament of Jesus, God comes out of himself (ad extra) and goes to the saving encounter with man to reveal himself as Father. Therefore, God’s revelation is before anything “Good News” (Mt. 4.23); a happy and hopeful news that gives human beings confidence, trust and hope; an eternal, complete and abundant life full of happiness: “I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” (Mt. 10.10).

Then the most original and new, but at the same time the most proper and regular in the life and teaching of Jesus, is that he calls God “Abba” (Gal 4.6). So, if God exists for Jesus and for every man as a “merciful” Father (Lk. 6.36) --“He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people” (Mt. 5.45)-- then Jesus dedicates himself faithfully and unconditionally to live for God as Son: This man really was the Son of God! (Mk. 15.39). He always did God’s will (Lk. 3.49; Mt. 26.39), which was to love and serve all people as brothers and sisters: “I am giving you a new command. You must love each other . . . “The Son of Man did not come to be a master, but a slave.” (Jn. 13.34; Mt. 20.28)

Therefore, Jesus’ spirituality does not come from, nor is it being sustained by, the religious structure of his people, nor the Scriptures, traditions or worship traditions of his time, which he often criticized: “You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you’re in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your garden, such as mint, dill, and cumin. Yet you neglect the more important matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness” (Mt. 23.23) “Don’t make my Father’s house a market place.” (Jn. 2.16) The spirituality of Jesus is based on a new type of experience: the knowledge that God is “his” Father and “our” Father” (Jn. 20.17; Mt. 6.9), the assurance of knowing that without paying a price He is “the very loved Son of God” (Jn. 15.16; Mt. 10.8; 17.26) without the requirement of other precepts, or previous rites, and without the need for sacrifices or holocausts. Later, during the exercise of his ministry, Jesus would explain his independence, his audacity and prophetic freedom when facing the traditions, precepts, laws, and cult practices; and when facing those who hold social and religious power: “Go tell that fox . . .” (Lk. 13.32) “My kingdom doesn’t belong to this world” (Jn. 18.36).

Then, Jesus’ spirituality, his most intimate understanding, the breath of his whole existence, project and ministry originates from his experience of God. I highlight and expose here the word “experience” to a knowledge of God strictly gnoseological, nemotechnical, conceptual, and rational. Jesus’ ancestry, in the Old Testament, declared features of God according to the different and individual experiences they had in their history as a people. So that, during the time of the exodus they declared him as the “Liberator”; and in times of kings, they confessed him as “The King”. In the time of the priests they confessed him as “Holy”; and in times of battle he was “the God of battle”. In good times he was “Our God” and in bad times they claimed he had “forgotten their pact”, etc. . . .

In other words, the known and confessed traits of God in the Old Testament are born and based on a concrete historical experience. Jesus, just as his ancestors, construes God as a very personal experience. He discovers and confesses of God –the same God of the Old Testament-- the traits of a merciful and compassionate Father (Cf. Lk. 15; Mt. 18.33; 20.15)

The experience of God as “father” and the understood “affiliation,” marks the temperament, the personality, the attitude, the postures, the options, the acts, the words; the risks taken, the passion, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. From then on, starting with the acceptance of God as Father, Jesus dedicates himself to live as the Son: to love and serve all peoples as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, because “The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.”(Jn. 15.13)

This experience integrates all known angles of what we call the “public ministry” of Jesus of Nazareth. The knowledge that God is the Father is the breath of his life, the reason for being and working in the world. In other words, God’s paternity is the clue and foundation of his spirituality taken to the ultimate consequence. (Mt. 27.46)

An elementary reading of the New Testament makes very clear that, in Jesus, God is never a concept, but a historical and every day experience. Therefore, Jesus does not preach a doctrine or philosophy about being God in one’s inside (ad intra), or about the way of conceiving God. On the other hand, he proposes “Good News” about a new way of existing in the world, starting with the certainty that God is Father of all, and that “humans” are loved by God as “sons and daughters”: “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” (Lk. 15.31) From this can be derived the commitment to build a world based on love. In other words, create a world with freedom, solidarity for justice, and reconciliation for forgiveness and peace.

The certainty that God is his Father gives Jesus a style of life as “Son” which manifests joy, happiness, hope, humility, obedience and trust in the Father’s love. God’s loving paternity is in Jesus’ life a permanent and daily presence, which “encourages” him to live as Son. (Lk. 5.16; Mk. 6.46)

Even if Jesus assumes and respects the previous confessions of faith and discoveries made about God, he distances himself from his ancestors by not proposing or following a “religious system”. Instead he preached a new and profound manner of being and staying in the world; a new style of life, the style of the children of God: for now we are not servants or slaves but children, with the freedom of Sons. (Jn. 15.15; Ro. 8.21; Mt. 17.26) This life as children responds to the ancestral question and constant search for happiness in each human being: What must I do to have eternal life? (Lk. 10.25; 18.18)

So, while the “religious system” in the time of Jesus and among the people tries to give glory to God through the strict and external adherence to the Law, precepts and rites, Jesus seeks to associate the life of man to God and in that way bring closer the life of man to the life of God. The first and fundamental preoccupation of Jesus is man and his well-being, from a divine perspective: the horizon of cosmo-vision and understanding of a God who is Father, close and kind: “Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.’” (Mt. 9.13; 12.7)

Reading the Gospels it is clear that this “Good News” is easier and sooner understood and followed –yesterday and today—by those who need God’s mercy: by sinners, by those marginalized by the established socio-religious system, by the publicans, the ill, the women, the children, the poor and impoverished by various circumstances . . . Those are the ones who come closer to “listen” to Jesus (Lk. 15.1) and to find benefit in the mercy of God, manifested in the words and the works of the Son.

A second group presented by the New Testament as listening to Jesus is made up by the High Priests, Scribes, Pharisees, elders, authorities of the people, and holders of social power –who at the time were identified with cultural and religious power in the Temple. They came close to Jesus “to test him” (Mt. 22.15 ff) or to find reasons to “take him out.” And the reason is that Jesus, in his time and among the people, became a threat against the status quo which identified the political-legal with the sacred-cultural.

Jesus calls the men of his day and to every man and woman of good will, to a dignified and happy life; the life as children of God. Jesus presents God as a Father, worried about the fate of his children, especially the ones with most need. A good Father, who comes to meet his children; and who emotionally moved by them, hugs and kisses them and gives them goods and blessings. (Cf. Lk. 15.20; 10.30) So Jesus, brakes the rules, even sacred laws –like the ones for the Sabbath—in order to favor man (Mt. 12.1ff)

We can say that Jesus’ spirituality is Anthropology enlightened by a Theology; or a Theology made specific by Anthropology. Even better, Jesus’ spirituality is Theological Anthropology. In Jesus’ spirituality, the love given daily by God should manifest itself in the love we have one for the other, because “God will treat you exactly as you treat others” (Mt. 7.2); and the worship we give God is the offrend of our lives to service –with works— to our brothers and sisters, especially the needy. “Leave your gift there in front of the altar. Make peace with that person, then come back and offer your gift to God.” (Mt. 5.24) Even more, this criterion, this lifestyle, this spirituality as a child of God and brother to all men defines our salvation or condemnation: “When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. . . . Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” (Mt. 25. 35, 40) We must understand as salvation our happiness in the here and now which will continue in the beyond of history.

Even more, according to Jesus, human relationships and the forming of the world as a possible space for happiness for man, for all human kind, “as the new heaven and the new earth” (Is. 66.22) are the measure of our relationship with God. Therefore, the place for the worship of God is no longer the Temple, but each human being. No longer is it the stone Temple, but the the temple of live stones: “You surely know that you are God’s temple.”(1 Co. 3.16; 1 P 2.5)

Everything said before explains clearly why Luke, together with the first Christians, applied to Jesus and his mission the words of Isaiah, when he reads the passage that says:
“The Lord’s Spirit has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone who suffers,
and to say, ‘this is the year the Lord has chosen.’” (Lk. 4.18, 19)

Therefore, Jesus does not invite us to seek God as an intellectual, intimate and pious search, but he invites us to work in the construction of the Kingdom of God: But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants.” (Mt. 6.33) In other words, put God’s Sovereignty in history first. To seek God’s kingdom is to build spaces of life in a world, where God would be the Sovereign king to the measure of how humans love each other as brothers and sisters; recognizing that all are children of God, and that he is a Kind Father, compassionate and merciful (Lk. 11.13). These spaces are profoundly “divine” when they are truly “human.” In other words, they are divine if they contribute to a happy and dignified life for every man that comes to this world. All this takes for granted justice, solidarity, freedom, peace and bread.

Also because of this, when he invites to conversion --that is, to the “return” to God’s house-- shockingly, for the people of his time, Jesus invites the brothers to return and to “construct” just conditions: “Lord, ‘I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.’ ” (Lk. 19.8). So, according to Jesus the “sanctification” of the world happens when “humanizing” occurs.

To this spiritual experience is where Jesus invites us and invites his disciples of all times. Moreover, the novelty of our Christian life becomes authentic --as the first Christians understood and lived it, celebrated it, confessed it, and wrote it down (Ac. 2.42; 4.32)-- when we are capable to call God: Father (Ga. 4.6) then we are capable to love each other as brothers and sisters, because “Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life.” (1 Jn. 3.14 ff). In other words, we are capable of living in and by the same spirituality of Jesus.

Polyglot Bible Presentation to the Holy Father

“Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119.105)

In a letter dated February 8, 2008, the Reverend Dennis C. Dickerson, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Bible Society confirmed ―via His Excellency Nikola Eterović, Archbishop of Sisak and General Secretary of the Bishops’ Synod— the offer previously made to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, to prepare and publish a special edition of the Polyglot Bible – Biblia Polyglotta.

The Context

This special edition of the multilingual Bible is intended as a gift from the American Bible Society to the Pope and to all the participants in the XII General Assembly of the Synod of Catholic Bishops, which will take place on October 5 to 26, 2008 in Vatican City. The Synod’s theme is The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. As agreed upon by the American Bible Society and the Vatican, this Polyglot Bible will feature the Old Testament in five languages: Hebrew/Aramaic, Greek, Latin, English, and Spanish; and the New Testament in four languages: Greek, Latin, English, and Spanish.

The Text

In order to accomplish this illustrious undertaking, it was necessary for the American Bible Society to acquire the publishing rights, for the various Bible versions in the languages mentioned, from the following publishing houses:

• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph / 1977 and 1997 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
• The Septuagint, Edited by Alfred Rahlfs / 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
• The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, 1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
• La Biblia de Jerusalén / 1998 / Editorial Desclée De Brouwer, S.A.
• La Nova Vulgata / 1998 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
• The Greek New Testament / 1993 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

This edition of the Bible is being published by Grafica da Biblia, the printing arm of the Bible Society of Brazil. It is one of the largest Bible printing plants in the world, which currently stands at eight million units annually. Since 1995, 75.4 million Bibles and Testaments. Grafica da Biblia was built with a significant investment of the American Bible Society in 1995.

The Polyglot Bible, commemorating the Bishops’ Synod, was conceived—not as an edition for mass distribution—but as an edition with texts that could be used in liturgical assemblies, and that would have academic and exegetical merit. It will be a 3,200-page deluxe, leather-bound edition of the Bible, embellished with gold and silver titles, and dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI. The final design and production of this Polyglot Bible will be approved and endorsed by the American Bible Society and the Editrice Vaticana (the publishing house of the Vatican). It will also be an edition which Pope Benedict XVI may present as a gift to heads of state and other dignitaries who visit the Vatican.

The American Bible Society

The Polyglot Bible Project complements the mission of the American Bible Society whose purpose is to make the Bible available in the most diverse parts of the world and to the greatest number of people possible. This is done in various languages and formats so that all people may experience its life-changing message.

Founded 192 years ago, the American Bible Society is the oldest and most prestigious, non-denominational organization in the United States. It is not a church, nor is it affiliated with any denomination. However, because of the Protestant origins of our country, it is understandable that through the years, the American Bible Society has been perceived as an organization which has, to a large extent, served mostly non-Catholic churches.

The American Bible Society does not engage in doctrinal discussions, and thus is free to carry out its biblical mandate ecumenically, as it seeks to share God’s Word to all believers in Christ.

Evangelization: a common task, an ecumenical commitment

According to Monsignor Eterović, while the publication of the Polyglot Bible is designed to help us “rediscover the riches of God’s Word manifested in the person of Jesus Christ—the Eternal Word Incarnate—and its perennial importance in the life of the church, in the life of the ecclesiastic communities, in the life of society in general, and in the life of the believer,” it has now become an ecumenical edition, since its texts (all having the imprimatur and the nihil obstat of the Catholic Church) originate —as is the case with the English text—from the Protestant Council of Churches. Therefore, the symbolic value and contribution that this initiative of the American Bible Society represents for ecumenism and the work of all believers in Christ: namely, to spread the Gospel throughout the world, are enormous.

The Polyglot Bible allows us to transcend our historical foundation and reach beyond our traditions and differences both in the doctrinal and liturgical realms, as well as our diverse religious expressions. It also undergirds the common bond in ecumenism between Christians and Pope Benedict XVI’s Pontificate: the centrality that the Word of God will have in our personal, ecclesial, and social histories.

As Christians, we rejoice in the production of this biblical initiative which contributes, in a significant way, to the fulfillment of our Lord’s desire: “That all . . . may be one.”

(Production details of the Polyglot Bible: http://groups.google.com/group/mr-marios-reflections/web/biblia-polyglotta?hl=en)

The Fountain of Christian Spirituality A Reading of the “Lord’s Prayer”

In an encounter such as this, where I have been asked to share with you a reflection on the fountain of Christian spirituality, it is of utmost importance, in the first place, to define the main terms in the title. In other words, it is important to define what we understand as ”spirituality” and what is specifically “Christian”, in the life of a believer in Christ.

The term “spirituality” refers –in every state, situation, life style or belief-- to a reflexive “taking of consciousness” about the most intimate and typical area of the human being who does it, of the deepest and most profound personal identity, and of the reason for its existence in the world. In such an exercise –done using various methods, through the history of humanity, and especially in the great religions of the world—human beings, in their introspection, end up opening themselves up to the world around, to others, and to the divine. They receive answers that respond to great questions about their origin, mission and the final destiny of their own being and existence, and that of others. Therefore, let’s say for now, that from this series of personal and/or communitarian understanding are born and fed all the philosophical and theological systems.

In the case of the Christian religion, this journey to the deepest part of man and his circumstances is done through, what we call, “prayer.” And prayer, understood as a realization of consciousness by the human being who --open to the world and to the “Transcendent”-- ends up realizing and recognizing himself as a creature, a finite being, dependent from/of a loving and all-invading creative presence we call “God,” who embraces everything, and fills everything. This understanding generates, (within whoever realizes it) a particular “life style.” In other words, this conscious realization of Christian prayer that would seem, at first look, something simply known and intellectual, becomes later –after prayer— a daily practice in life, with its own and defined characteristic. It is validated or invalidated by the results.

If we say that, in the Christian life, coming to consciousness or “spirituality” is done through prayer, then the teaching to his disciples of “The Lord’s Prayer” by Jesus himself, a fact well known by all and present in the Gospels of Matthew (6.9-13) and Luke (11.2-4), is evidently what helps the most when we mean to reflect and answer the matter of identity, needed and due to the specifically “Christian” in the life of men and women believers in Christ.

For now it is enough to notice that The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew appears in the middle of a Gospel discourse known as the “Sermon on the Mount.” The biblical exegetes and hermeneutist say that it gathers and contains the highest degree of the “exact words of the Lord,” just as they were pronounced by Jesus in the precise moment. Therefore, it is the section of the Gospels less “contaminated” by the still present veterotestamentary mentality of the Gospel writers (newly converted Jews), or by the “theological intentionality”, the plan of the Gospel writer or by the Christian community who transmitted to us the biblical text.

The Lord’s Prayer in Luke, on the other hand, answers the request that one of his disciples makes of Jesus, when he saw Jesus pray (as so many other times): “Lord, teach us to pray. . . “. The request can also be understood as: “Lord, show us your secret, the secret of your intimacy, of your ‘spirituality’; which is the most intimate formula of your life and relationship with God, with the world and with other people . . . Lord, teach us to become deeply aware, and from that awareness will come the understanding of your relationship with the God, the experience of everyday life, your works and your words . . .”. Following this interpretation “The Lord’s Prayer” is then, a condensed synthesis of Jesus true being, of his interior essence, of his “spirituality”, of all the Gospel, of the gospels, of the complete New Testament and, because of it “The Lord’s Prayer” becomes the norm of spirituality for those who know they are disciples of Christ.

Therefore, I mean here to speak about the spirituality of Christians from the perspective of Jesus’ spirituality. I aim to speak about “Christian spirituality” by reflecting on the spirituality of Jesus of Nazareth, which is implicit and made into an elemental synthesis, but fundamental, in “The Lord’s Prayer.” If we accept that like all human texts, “The Lord’s Prayer” is susceptible to different ways of looking at it, and different ways of focusing on it (depending on the context from which the reading is done), I would like here, --as a special contribution and emphasis in this Pauline Year, (recently called for by Pope Benedict XVI)-- to refer to the reading, that of Jesus and of his Gospel, was assumed, lived, suffered, reflected, preached and systemized by the Apostle of Tarsus and that today can be sensed, imagined, and savored in his “Theology,” which is clearly shown in his writings.

Father…

Never before in history, had any man referred to God in this manner, or related in this fashion with the Creator. “Abba” (Padre) is a Hebrew term that implies full confidence, full dependency and complete tenderness. Besides, to call God “Father” was a profanity in the biblical mentality of that moment, starting a new image of God; but especially, a new type of relationship, tie and “religion” with God. It meant to treat, live, reveal and announce an image of God, with features and treatment of “Father,” different and --in some cases-- contradicting the image of God as described in the Old Testament. This was the greatest gift of Jesus to the world; his best and greatest “Good News” to the world. The God of the Old Testament revealed in Jesus is “Father”; and all that is new means a break with the past.

Some years after the historical experience of Jesus of Nazareth, which his disciples and many others who personally knew him, saw him and listened to him testified about, Paul of Tarsus said that the life of Christians was characterized by “being able to call God, as Jesus did, Abba Father”: “Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. You are no longer his slaves. You are God’s children…! (Ga 4.6ff)

Life as Children!

Therefore, we are “children of God”! To the treatment and revelation of having God as our “Father” belongs the recognition of our “divine” affiliation. Jesus calls God “Father” because he recognizes himself as his “Son;” and he is accepted, throughout the New Testament, as “the Son”: “This is my own dear Son…” (Mt 3.17), “The only one who truly knows the Father is the Son.” (Mt 11.27)

Jesus teaches us to relate to God as “Father,” and with this relationship goes a daily life-style of “children,” similar to the life-style of “the Son”: “He has always known who his chosen ones would be. He had decided to let them become like his own Son” (Ro 8.29). A life of “children” characterized by humble obedience, unconditional trust in the power and compassion of the Father, gratitude towards the Father and the joyful hope in the power and the love of the “kind heavenly Father”: “I am going to the one who is my Father…, as well as your Father” (Jn 20.17), “Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these.” (Mt 6.32), “Even the hairs on your head are counted” (Mt 10.30).

Moreover, we could say here, that “the Beatitudes” describe the profile and program of the life of one who has “poor spirit”: a son, a disciple, one that has recognized in his life God as the Father; and –being gentle, merciful, clean of heart and hungry and thirsty for justice,-- becomes someone persecuted, working for peace, following the example of Jesus himself.

All this means that Jesus, at the same time that he reveals God as “Father”, reveals and elevates man to the dignity and life condition of “son” of God.

Paul –as Jesus himself—understands the new condition and life as a son. And according to Paul, the “son” --the “new man”, the resurrected man, the man in Christ –differs greatly from the previous life as “slave.” Before Christ: “Servants don’t know what their master is doing, and so I don’t speak to you as my servants.” (Jn 15.15) “. . . and would share in the glorious freedom of his children.” (Ro 8.21), “My friends, we are children of the free woman and not of the slave.” (Ga 5.31) “Then their own people don’t have to pay.” (Mt 17.26) “The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death.” (Ro.8.2)

Christian spirituality, therefore, defines and accompanies in man a specific lifestyle: the lifestyle of the “children of God.” This is the same lifestyle taught and lived by the Son (with caps): Jesus of Nazareth.

Christian spirituality is, as stated up to this point, an itinerary, a following, a discipleship that makes us children –similar to the Son—so that by Him, with Him, and in Him we reach the Father who forms us “in his image” (Gen 1.26), “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (Jn 14.9) “Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children.” (Ef 5.1) “You will be acting like your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5.45)

It is this process, of making us similar to the Son, which Theology calls the process of “Christification” (sons in the Son) until it is possible to say as Paul said: “I have died, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2.20).

When we make possible this life in the “there but not quite” of our daily, personal and community history —at the same time— the process of ”Trinitization” occurs. All of humanity goes, enters, and reaches the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit and all the Cosmos, “all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth” (Ro 8.22); and this will happen, until “God means everything to everyone” (1 Co 15.28).

Christian spirituality, described in the most direct way, is an itinerary, a lifestyle that consists of making us similar to the Father: compassionate and merciful as He, who “makes de sun rise on both good and bad people. And sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong” (Mt 5.45) making us similar to the Son. This is our first vocation, our first calling, our most important historical aim: “to be the children of God” (Jn 1.12).

Our…

And if those of us who say “The Lord’s Prayer” say “Our”, it means that we are all children of the same Father, and, therefore “brothers and sisters.” To the recognition of God as “Father” corresponds the recognition of us as his “children” and, therefore, “brothers and sisters” among ourselves.

Christian spirituality, therefore, asks and preaches a fraternal relationship with all . . . Moreover, in the relation/religion with others we find the “Christian” measure of the relation/religion with God: “So if you are about to place your gift on the altar and remember that someone is angry with you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. Make peace with that person, then come back and offer your gift to God.” (Mt 5.23, 24) Therefore, “have pity on others, just as your Father has pity on you.” (Lk 6.36) Because, “the way you treat others will be the way you will be treated.” (Mk 4.24)

An not only that: but Christians should understand that the authenticity of their spirituality, of their discipleship, and of all their lives consists in having as a permanent program in life and in everything, to do the Father’s will, which revealed in his Son consists in loving each other. “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” (Jn 13.34, 35) Because “our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don’t love each other, you are still under the power of death.” (1 Jn 3.14) “God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.” (1 Jn 4.8)

The “love” commandment is lived through works and special dedication to those who need the help most: the weak, the dispossessed, the sinners, the poor and the made poor; the marginalized and rejected of the world, the excluded by society and blocked out from their opportunities: “My Father, . . . I am grateful that you hid all this from wise and educated people and showed it to ordinary people” (Mt 11.25), “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me” (Mt 25.40), because, “God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame. What the world thinks is worthless, useless, and nothing at all is what God has used to destroy what the world considers important” (1 Co 1.27 ff), “God drags strong rulers from their thrones and puts humble people in places of power.” (Lk 1.51).

“Son and Brother of all”: this was Jesus; and is what any man or woman who calls himself/herself “a Christian” has to be and do every day and in every state and circumstance in life. This is a new vision of God, of man and of the world. Because when man thinks he can make God disappear from the historical scene, or live with his back towards God –when he cannot recognize himself as a “child” of God—he becomes arrogant, capable of the greatest atrocities, and lives in competence and enmity with all.

Christian spirituality, therefore, allows for human cohabitation through the “fraternity” manifested in forgiveness, truth, freedom, solidarity, justice, peace, and abundant life.

Therefore, in the words “Our Father” --the first two words of the “Lord’s Prayer”-- all hate, violence, vengeance, division, all kinds of evil, and death (in thousands of manifestations) are overcome; and life, “life in all its fullness” (Jn 10.10) prevails because God “isn’t the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mt 22.32).

Christian spirituality is, therefore, a practice of God’s children who testify when, with works, they love all other brothers. James, possessing the same conscience of the first Christians (among whom Paul stands out), says it in a clear manner: “If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, ‘I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.’ What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!” (Jas 2.15-17)

The balance of the “Lord’s Prayer” is a beautiful rosary of phrases which repeat the first two words. In other words, they put emphasis in the fundamental teachings confirmed in the life and Good News of Jesus for all men and women that come to this world: God is the good “Father.” We are his “children” and, therefore, “brothers” among ourselves; called to live in the “love” manifested in “works, especially with the “little ones”, as God himself loves”. Yes, this is the synthesis of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, of his Gospel, and of all his ministry, his words and his works: Jesus lived as “Son” of God and “Brother” of all.

Since then, the spirituality and the life of his disciples can be lived in a family-like relationship with God and a fraternal relationship with people.

Who Art in Heaven…

Christian life consists in bringing closer the “beyond” to the “here and now” in everyday life. It consists in constructing the eternal life in the “beyond” through the “here and now” of our present story. It consists in constructing “a new heaven and a new earth” (Is 66.22). And God is in heaven. In other words, in the place where his will and his sovereignty is formed: where humans love each other as bothers and sisters while recognizing that all are sons and daughters of the same Father God.

And if heaven is the cause of our greatest anxiety and search while we are on this Earth, then Christians – the same as Paul-- understand that their greatest wish and eternal happiness coincides with the salvation offered by Jesus Christ to all people of goodwill. Saint Agustin said: ”God created us for himself, and our hearts are unsettled until we rest in Him.”

Salvation/Happiness consists in the act of living as children of God and in his love with our brothers and sisters. This is heaven on earth. This life saves us, is eternal life, is the full and happy life which begins now and is open to the eternal beyond in God. That is why Paul can say: “Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ . . .” (Phil 3.8)

Therefore, Christian spirituality consists in being happy while living a life that follows Christ, the Son of God and brother of all. Christian spirituality defies us to live on earth as we will in heaven. Therefore. . . “Why are you . . . standing here looking up into the sky? (Ac 1.11)

Hallowed Be Thy Name…

And we honor “thy name” when we live as children of God, brothers and sisters of each other. We honor it when we begin to construct heaven on earth. Only in that manner can the holiness of the only “Holy One,” who is God of Love, ask that our holiness be lived in love: love for God and his children –our brothers and sisters.

Christian spirituality is a path of sanctification: we sanctify the name of God when we do the same for our world of relationships.

Thy Kingdom Come…

May you be the Sovereign of our personal and community histories! May we be constructing the world in accordance to your wisdom, and according to the criteria and values of the Gospel of your Son Jesus Christ. And God reigns and is Sovereign in the world when we are capable of loving each other, and recognizing that we are siblings, children of the same Father.

When we understand the fact that we are created beings, and when that fact places us in relationship with the Creator God, who has the face of a good and merciful Father --as revealed by Jesus of Nazareth-- then we understand our Christian spirituality. This consciousness allows us to develop our divinity, the good and true of our humanity, “an image of God.”

Our Christian spirituality is conscious of our existence --open to the divine, to the Transcendent-- in need of the compassionate love of the Father; and at the same time, of the need God has of man, of each one of us, in the construction of His Kingdom in History.

Thy Will Be Done…

May we do what you want and not our whim and interests, which usually are egotistical and petty. God’s will is that we love each other. For all disciples, throughout history, the Gospel asks us to “do” more than what we “say;” to live in accordance with what we believe; and to practice what we preach. Therefore, the Kingdom of God is built by the execution of his will, manifested in works and results. “Not everyone who calls me their Lord . . . Only the ones who obey my father” (Mt 7.21), “Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others” (Mt 9.13), because “Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother or sister or mother” (Mt 12.50) and “You can tell what they are by what they do.” (Mt 7.16).

We can say with all certainty that the life program of Jesus consisted in always “doing” God’s will –from his infancy until the supreme moment of his passion and death on the cross: “Didn’t you know that I would be in my Father’s house (doing my Father’s work)?” (Lk 2.49) “Father . . . do what you want and not what I want.” (Mt 26.39). In the same way, the disciple who listens to the Good News and does the Father’s will, putting God’s will in the first place, he builds upon the rock. ( Cf Lk 6.48)

Christian spirituality lies in building God’s sovereignty in our personal and social world, and doing God’s will as revealed in Jesus Christ: “that we love one another.”

Give Us “Our” Bread . . .

As we get to this point, it is fitting to note that the “Lord’s Prayer” is written in plural, because as already established, the Christian life is authentic when it is lived in relation with others; and in the same way that we don’t say “My Father”, we don’t say “my bread.”

We use a plural form to ask God to give us, so we can split his gift, we can share it, we can apportion it . . . If we can give the bread, and even our own lives --because there are those who have more and can do more, and those have less and can receive— there is the possibility of constructing fraternity, to do the Father’s will, sanctify his name, and construct his kingdom.

We try to deceive God when we ask for bread (and everything that feels like bread: a roof, a family, an education; health, family relationships; all kinds of opportunities for humanization in society) all in the plural and then, once we receive it, we handle it in singular, selfishly keeping it to ourselves, creating inequity, injustice, violence and death.

But Jesus’ commandment for his disciples of every age continues in force: “You give them something to eat . . . picked up twelve large baskets leftover” (Mk 6.37 ff), Your received without paying, now give without being paid” (Mt 10.8). Therefore, as long as one man goes hungry or suffers any type of need, the Gospel continues to challenge us. This is how Paul understood it, as did the first Christians: (Ref. the testimony of the first Christian communities in Acts 2.42ff; 4.32ff; and 1 Co 11.17 ff).

Christian spirituality is to be lived “in the plural” because it demands of us the building of a fraternal world. And so, Christians live with the certainty that more than bread, what is lacking is love.

Daily…

So that every day we remember, confidently, that we have a Father who loves us; and that we are his children. Because when we store and monopolize—and in doing it, distort the will of God and his saving plan—we run the risk of forgetting God as Father and the rest as brothers. (Cf Lk 12.20)

As We Forgive …

We are children of God and Brothers/Sisters to each other --but different and diverse. God’s creation work is not boring nor monotonous, but multi-color, with a diversity that does not threaten but makes possible mutual enrichment. Because of that, in being “Christian,” forgiveness is a possibility and a unique condition of human co-existence. Forgiveness is the clearest manifestation of evangelical love and peace; peace that grows out of forgiveness; “peace” understood as a state of “abundant life” -- product of a thousand blessings of God to man: “I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn’t like the peace that this world can give.” (Jn 14.27, also Jn 20.22) “Don’t you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?” (Mt 18.33)

Again, in “Christian”, the measure of our relation/religion with God is done according to our relationship with others. And so, God’s forgiveness of us (man) is directly related with our own capacity to forgive others, and to coexist with each other as brothers/sisters: “Forgive others, and God will forgive you.” (Lk 6.37) “If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven will forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Mt. 6.14, 15)

Christian spirituality is a path of forgiveness that facilitate all points in “Lord’s Prayer”; because it is only through forgiveness that we sanctify the name of God, that we do his will, that we construct his kingdom, and that we are capable of sharing the daily bread.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…

Christian spirituality does not ignore the experience of evil. Instead, it recognizes it, accepts it, “embodies” it, and assumes it to be able to save it, redeem it, transform it, illuminate it, and sanctify it. Because the light has meaning, gives all its service, shining in the middle of darkness (Cf. Mt 5.14 ff).

Christians live their spirituality in the middle of temptation and evil, and understand that there is no greater experience of evil in the world than the temptation of not recognizing God as the Father and, therefore, not recognizing ourselves as his children. As a consequence, neither do we recognize our brothers and sisters around us. This moral conflict was described masterfully by Paul when, from his own experience, exclaims: “In fact, I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do what I know is right. I do the things I hate.” (Ro 7.15)

But “in everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us” (Ro 8.37) first. Therefore, “we are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us. We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up. In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again.”(2 Co 4.7-9)

Christian spirituality as the life of God’s children, --as an everyday experience of the “Lord’s Prayer,”-- consists in conquering temptation and conquering the evil in the world with the love that comes out of recognizing that God loves us as a good Father and asks that his love be lived and manifested in a brotherhood experience: “Defeat evil with good” (Ro12.21) with your confidence always placed in Christ, who tells us “While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.” (Jn 16.33)

Finally, let us say that the fountain of Christian spirituality, while we peregrinate through this world, is the life of Christ himself, made life also in us. This, until we can say as Paul of Tarsus said: “Where sin was powerful, God’s kindness was even more powerful” (Ro 5.20); and that is why the Apostle himself exclaims: “I have died, but Christ lives in me.” (Ga 2.20).
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This dissertation was inspired by Mizael A. Roa Cardenas: JESÚS Y SU ESPIRITUALIDAD EN EL SERMÓN DEL MONTE (Jesus and His Spirituality in the “Sermon on the Mount”). Notes for the Monograph and Dissertation for his Theology Degree. / PUJ /Bogotá, Colombia, 1986. 112 pages.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the “Good News Bible” in the Today’s English Version, Copyright © American Bible Society, 1995.