Healing a Divided World: Dialogue Moved by Mercy

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The latest atrocity in Orlando is a stark reminder we have yet to find a way to get a grip on our divided nation across a number of fault lines that are both religious and cultural. We struggle to find a way to act together, not only to mitigate the possibilities of mass shootings, but we divide ourselves up into categories of straight and gay, this faith or that, or none at all, seismic changes in our political identities, the one percent versus the rest of us. We are disparate communities shaped by social media with little relevant connection to each other. We struggle to find healing ways  to talk to each other in order to live in some sense the solidarity the Trinity calls us to.

Why Dialogue?

7-1-14-dialogues-guest-brochure-1The challenge of these times is not unlike the rapid changes in the world during the time of Vatican II. A re-reading of Pope Paul VI’s first encyclical at the cusp of the conclusion of the Ecumenical Council, Ecclesiam Suam (On the Church), brings striking similarities to our own day, and foundational principles as valid today as they ever were.
The world around us is constantly changing and it many ways, in our vacillation between the ideal image of what it means to be Church, and what we actually are, reveals how essential is our honest and loving critique of how we as Catholics are impacting the world around us. Utter self honesty, humility, and an abiding awareness of God’s mercy is crucial. Renewal is always about learning how to proclaim Christ in new ways as the world turns. (ES 9-11). The ultimate test of this renewal is how we engage meaningful to the world around us, with all of its hope, and all of its ambiguities. Pope Paul VI reminds us:

“One part of this world, as everyone knows, has in recent years detached itself and broken away from the Christian foundations of its culture, although formerly it had been so imbued with Christianity and had drawn from it such strength and vigor that the people of these nations in many cases owe to Christianity all that is best in their own tradition-a fact that is not always fully appreciated. Another and larger part of the world covers the vast territories of the so-called emerging nations. Taken as a whole, it is a world which offers to the Church not one but a hundred forms of possible contacts, some of which are open and easy, others difficult and problematic, and many, unfortunately, wholly unfavorable to friendly dialogue. It is at this point, therefore, that the problem of the Church’s dialogue with the modern world arises.” (EC 13-14)

The Divine Call to Dialogue Begins with Us

The whole history of  humanity is “one long, varied dialogue” which has always begun with God, and which he sustains in a myriad of ways. The incarnation of His son, Jesus Christ, is the most profound and mysterious way this dialogue is maintained.
He then goes on to show the origins of our need to dialogue with each other:

  • God Himself took the initiative in the dialogue of salvation. “He hath first loved us.” We, therefore, must be the first to ask for a dialogue with (others), without waiting to be summoned to it…
  • The dialogue of salvation sprang from the goodness and the love of God. “God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son.” Our inducement, therefore, to enter into this dialogue must be nothing other than a love which is ardent and sincere. (EC 72-73)

As Catholics, we understand that not only do we have a rich faith in God’s salvific plan in the world today, and that in itself makes our voice quite relevant to a struggling world. We also have much to learn on the universal nature of God’s heart for each and every human being. We are distinct, as others are distinct from the world, but none of us are entirely separated from it. “We are not indifferent to it, afraid of it, or contemptuous of it.” We distinguish ourselves as disciples of Christ in order to come closer to all, not to oppose it. (EC 63)
Dialogue then with other faiths and with those with no religious aspiration, from a Catholic perspective is:

“…this internal drive of charity which seeks expression in the external gift of charity, We will apply the word “dialogue.” The Church must enter into dialogue with the world in which it lives. It has something to say, a message to give, a communication to make.” (EC 63-64)

Catholics in a Pluralistic World Today

Recently we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra commonground-300x300Aetate  (October 28,1965). This document, still timely and inspiring and considered a milestone in the evolution of interreligious dialogue, reminds us that: “In our time, when day by day (humanity) is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to those of other faiths and no religious aspiration at all. In the task of promoting unity and love all peoples, indeed among nations, the Church considers above all in this declaration what we have in common and what draws us to fellowship” (Nostra aetate, 1).
It is a call to look at what we share together with believers of other religions, and with nonbelievers, which then invites us into to live our common destiny together. Religions are the living expression of the soul of peoples and each of these religions testifies to the fact that the human person has been in the search for God for thousands of years; the Catholic Church has been involved in dialogue with religious traditions in every part of the world, at varying levels and with different degrees of intensity. As Catholics, we are urged by Jesus to be the “yeast and ferment” in midst of the world.
Therefore, with the occasion of the Jubilee of Mercy, our task is then to proclaim the merciful God made Man who turns His gaze towards all men and women, excluding none. Recently, the Church offered timely resources to assist us in this march toward human solidarity.

 

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