Understanding of Religion (Phenomenology of Religion)

            The basis of religion consists in ‘relation,’ the relationship of the Divine with the person, of the subject with the object. But it is a relationship that always begins from the higher to the lower. It is the greater one taking the initiative on the little one. Hence, it is God searching for man and man’s loving response to him.

           

Relation: Self-manifestation of Divine Being and Person

            Relation is always between two people and never alone. Relationship takes place only when both are ready to open up and lay down their differences. Relationship always begins with the initiative of some one. Hence Religion is nothing but relationship. It is born out of this relationship, where God searching for man and hence, self-manifestation of Being to the person and man’s loving response to Him. To go deeper we realise that it is God who takes the first place in this relation. It is He who loved us first. How?

a)      Through His Creative Act, Creation

b)      Through Redemption in the Incarnation

c)      Through sanctification, or, through outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost.

            St. John in his first letter puts it rightly “This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.”(I John 4: 10).  In another word it is God, who is searching all the time for the humankind. It is the Greater One searching the little one as it is written in the book of Genesis: “The Lord God called out to the man, “where are you?” (Gen 3: 9). To elaborate further in the book of Psalm the Psalmist says, “Lord you have examined me, and you know me, you know everything I do....... you know all my actions.....even before I speak, you already know what I will say...........” (Psalm 139: 1-24)

Experiential Dimensions

            On the other hand how does God manifest Himself? God makes manifest himself in and through experiential dimension. This experiential dimension is the phenomena of rites, rituals, practices, traditions, symbols, art, worship etc., where God discloses himself. To cite the example of Holy Eucharist in the Catholic faith, where God manifests Himself in the form of bread and wine. Hence, the Divine Being is in fact present in all the experiences. Further elaboration on the God’s manifestation in the experiential dimension is the recent development of the notion of ‘Panentheism,’ which considers that everything is not God, but everything is in God. As the ancient sages expressed “Ekam sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti” (Reality is one but sages call it differently).

Self-consciousness of man/meaningful participation

           

            Now it is the bounden duty/responsibility of the person or the individual to respond to the self-manifestation of God. The response very much depends upon the attitude towards the experiential dimension. The individual got to be aware of himself and other experiential dimensions around him. He needs to have religious attitude towards the phenomena of religious dimensions. Question may arise is it possible for man to have religious attitude in a given situation? If not, what makes him so? It is because of the person’s over indulgence with the profane world as Mircea Eliade puts it. Man is busy with the apples that he had savoured in the first sin, the apples of anger, jealousy, self pity, pride, hatred etc. How does then man come out of this profane world. Man is freed of these through a meaningful participation in the experiential dimensions. It is also in the self-consciousness and awareness of the disclosure of the Divine Being that man got to transmit this profanity to sacredness.

            To transmit this profanity to sacredness is participating in the self-manifestation of Divine Being. And it generates into experience, this experience is not the experience but it becomes better and better as he experiences Him more and more. In doing this there is a certain amount of satisfaction in him which is the unexpressed desire of the meaningfulness of life.

            Natural tendency of man is to look for God or the transcendence. But according to me it is just the opposite. It is God who is searching for man. God is present in the given situations and man got to experience Him in his day to day life. And so there is journey from the immanence to transcendence. In experiencing Him man finds meaning in his life, in his day to day activities. According to me “Religion is the relation between the Self-Manifestation of Being to the person in an experiential dimension as laid down by the community and society in an attitude of self-awareness of the Being’s Self-disclosure.”

Mary’s Silence: An Implied Action

            We know that Mary plays a pivotal role in Jesus’ life and especially in the history of human Salvation or the Salvific plan of God. But what surprises us is her silent nature all through her life. All that we know is that she spoke only six times in the New Testament. The question arises what happened to her at other times? What does her silent nature mean or reveal to us? Hence, on this third day of the novena let us reflect on the silence of Mary.

1.      Recognition of God’s presence and Being Docile

            At the annunciation, the Angel Gabriel announced the message of God and Mary recognized and responded to God’s invitation by welcoming Christ first into her heart. However, recognizing God’s presence was something for her an ongoing process. And it is this presence of God which enabled Her to look to the future with total abandonment to God. In fact, She was the abode of God’s presence. The presence of God in her was something not expressible in words but very much permeating in her actions as somebody serene, very altruistic and dynamic, caring, bringing happiness in the lives of people as portrayed in the film ‘Mary of Nazareth’. In fact, her ‘action spoke louder than words.’ Further, Mary sang out the praises of God in recognition of the mighty presence of God throughout the history of humankind and for the wonders He has done in Her life.

            The event of annunciation also speaks to us of Mary’s docility to the divine will, which was linked to her faith as she said “Let it be done to me, as you have said”. Believing in God’s Word, she could accept it fully in her life and showing herself receptive to God’s plan, she accepted all that was asked of her from on high. 

2.      Silence of the interior castle characterized by reflection leading to interiorization

            The life of Mary was a bunch of reflection, pondering over, leading to interiorization. Mary asked the question, ‘how can this be,’ pondered over life experiences; reflected and interiorized the ‘word dwelt among us.’ We can site few examples which were the moments of reflection for her like, the murder of innocent infants and the cry of grieving mothers, the flight to Egypt, Simeon’s prophecy, losing Jesus in the temple, the passion of Christ etc. Mary ‘treasured all these in her heart’ and developed a recollected silence, in which she recognized that nothing is impossible with God, a sacred silence which she made it possible to be in link with God and a silence that acknowledges that not everything is under control, within reach and human comprehension.

            In interiorizing she became the word, the living body of the Word. This can be seen in the incident where Jesus was told that His mother and brothers were waiting outside to meet him. Jesus replies, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants him to do is my brother, my sister and my mother.”

3.      An encouraging and interceding presence

            Mary’s silence reveals to us that she is there with her encouraging presence. When Jesus began His ministry, Mary followed Him. At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary notices without being told about the shortage of wine. She goes further, taking the first step to mitigate the uneasiness of the host by informing Her son about the shortage of wine. Her compassion does not consist only in emotional sympathy, but is expressed in effective and concrete help when confronted with humanity’s material and moral misery. It is a kind of encouraging presence, and an intercedingly persistent presence bringing about joy and happiness and revitalizing the life of people.

            Further, on the way to Calvary, despite the hurdle, she meets Her Son Jesus. She never utters a word but Her presence says it all: “Son, I am with You.” It is like saying, “Not that I have solutions to all your problems but I am with you in all your troubles and problems.” That is why Mary accompanies Jesus till the end of His journey on earth.

            And hence, Mary’s example enables us to appreciate the value of silence. Mary’s silence is not only moderation in speech but a depiction of God’s presence in her life, a moment of reflection and interiorization and being there to console and encourage.

Let us pause for a while and examine:

1.      Do we recognize God’s presence in our life?

2.      Are we docile to the voice of God in our day to day activities in faith saying ‘let it be done to me as you have said’?

3.      Are we able to acknowledge in our life that nothing is under our control and nothing is impossible with God?

4.      Is our presence an encouraging presence for the other?

            As we near the feast of Immaculate Conception, let us become aware of the active presence of God in our lives, intervening in our day to day life history and imitate Mary in humbly acknowledging God’s Presence and smilingly echo the praises for God.