Mercy of God, Conversion, Pilgrimage Home, Salvation - An Integrated Contextualization with Buddhism and Tagalog, 24th Sunday Scripture Readings (Year C)

The scripture readings for the 24^th Sunday of the Year C are characterized with God’s mercy, which also reflects God’s sense of justice. 

The first reading  (Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14)tells that God rescinded His intent to punish sinful Israelites as Moses appealed to God’s mercy for his fellow Israelites.  The second reading (1 Timothy 12-17) is about Paul’s statement of his conversion with gratitude for God’s mercy. The Gospel reading (Luke 15:1-32) comes with a trio of Jesus’ parables on “lost and found”. But, the last of these three parables, the parable of the prodigal son, addresses mercy, forgiveness, and a problem of pride. 

In this blog entry, I also draw a parallel between God’s mercy and Amitabha Buddha’s mercy to see Christianity and Buddhism teaching the same truth. 

Additionally, I address the 24^th Sunday scripture readings’ relevance to Catechetical Sunday. Finally, hinted by Paul’s description of his conversion, I further explain how God’s mercy leads us “home” , where God is (the Kingdom of God), through a journey of conversion, in Filipino and Buddhism integrated contextualization. 

Adelante!

Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son

Suppose you have a younger spoiled brother. He is selfish and arrogant. He gets on your nerve all the time. On the other hand, you work hard, obedient to your parents, faithfully practicing the virtue of filial piety. One day, your younger brother demanded your parents his share of inheritance money. He took the money and left home. He wasted all the money for debauching pleasures – alcohol, drug, prostitutes, you name it.  He got broke and homeless, trying to eat out of street garbage. He began to miss home and made his way home. As he got near home, your father, who had been patiently waiting for his return, ran up to your younger brother and embraced him warmly. No, your father did not scold him at all but just welcomed with open arms. Then, your father hosted an extravagant banquet to celebrate your younger brother’s return.  Your father also calls you to join him in rejoicing over your brother’s return. But, neither your father nor mother had never treated you to such a banquet, not even special dinner, during all these years of your hard work for them. 

Now, how would you feel about this? How would you respond to your younger brother’s return, having treated to a lavish welcome banquet?  Although you had been so loyal to your parents, neither your father nor mother had ever treated you like this. 

If you find it difficult to rejoice over your brother’s return, then, what is making it so hard for you to celebrate? Jealousy? 

Is the way the father treats the younger brother unfair to you, given how faithful you have been to your parents, while how your younger brother had been disrespectful to and disgraced your parents?

This is the kind of question that the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) in the 24^th Sunday Year C Gospel reading (Luke 15:1-32) challenge us. 

This parable is two-fold as it addresses the extraordinary mercy of God, illustrated with the mercy of the father, while it also challenges the attitudes of the older brother, who was unable to join his father in rejoicing over his younger brother’s return. 

Moral Problem of the Older Brother, characterizing our hypocrisy

In the parable, the older brother, unlike the younger brother, was always faithful to his father, while the younger brother, the prodigal son, extorted his inheritance money from his father, while he was still alive, and went away with the money. The younger son wasted the money only to find himself at the bottom rock of life, while the older brother continued to work hard to support his father. What a contrast! 

The younger brother decided to come home to his father. But, it is not to be welcomed as his son but to be accepted as his father’s slave, acknowledging that he was no longer worthy to be his son for the sin he had committed against his father. But, to his older brother, he could be seen as bold enough to come back to his father, assuming that he would further take advantage of his father. Such a critical thought against the younger brother must be due to the older brother’s self-righteousness and pride.  Otherwise, the older brother would not have difficulty in welcoming his younger brother as his father did. 

Through the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus warns us that we should not let our pride gets in the way of forgiving and being merciful to others. The parable also reminds us that God’s care is not distributed equally as it sure goes more toward those in greater needs, such as sinners like the younger son.  Jesus’ parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16) also makes this point. In this parable, the workers from early morning complained to the vineyard owner because he paid the same amount of wage also to the workers who came late and worked less. 

In the eyes of merciful and compassionate God, the Kantian concept of fairness in the distributive justice concept never works.  Martha Nussbaum, in her “Frontiers of Justice”(2007),  challenges this type of concept of justice, to which she attempts to compensate with compassion and mercy, based on capabilities and needs, rather than a mathematically calculated equity. In this argument, Nussbaum not only challenges the Kantian view of distributive justice but also John Rawl’s theory of justice.  Nussbaum’s challenge to the Kantian view of distributive justice, which the Western social contract theory is based upon, also reminds Shakespeare’s moral plot in the “Merchant of Venice”, resolving Antonio’s debt problem with Shyrock, who adamantly demands Antonio to pay his debt regardless of his situation. 

“The Merchant of Venice” shows that the concept of the Kantian concept of distributive justice is not helpful in dealing with a debt problem like Antonio’s. What was needed in Antonio’s situation is some mercy and compassion. Of course, it is not fair to Shyrock to change the nature of the contract. But, religiously enforcing the contract does not solve the problem. And, this is what Nussbaum points out. 

In fact, Friedrich Nietzsche also pointed that many modern ethical philosophies insufficiently address compassion (Michael L. Frazer, “The Compassion of Zarathustra: Nietzsche on Sympathy and Strengths”, The Review of Politics, 68(2006), 49-78). Such Nietzsche’s view is certainly echoed in Nussbaum’s new proposal for justice with a sense of compassion and mercy. 

The view of the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son and the view of the vineyard worker who complained about their wages is rather close to the Kantian concept of distributive justice. As these Jesus’ parables tell, God’s sense of justice rejects such an equity-based sense of distributive justice. Rather, God’s sense of justice is characterized with mercy, compassion, and love, and is distributed not equally but according to the needs and capability of the people. In this regard, Nussbaum’s concept of justice is rather closer to God’s sense of justice, in reflecting on the problem of the older brother in the Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. 

It is better not to be obsessed with “equality” to appreciate God’s mercy. If we are attached to “equality”, we would be as self-righteous as the older brother in the parable. And, as the parable shows, our obsession with or attachment to “equality” or “equity” can make it difficult to be merciful to others, making us unable to forgive, as in the case of Shyrock in Shakespeare’s the Merchant of Venice.

The “prodigal” mercy of the prodigal son’s father, characterize God’s mercy

The father of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 sure is prodigally merciful! Although the younger son (the prodigal son) had really insulted him, this father did not scold him upon his return. The father simply embraced the son with unconditional love and rejoiced over the reunion with him – as the shepherd who has found his lost sheep (Luke 15:3-6) and the woman who has found her lost coin (Luke 15:8-9) rejoice. 

The way the father in this Gospel parable treats the sinful son is a metaphor that Jesus must be applying in order to help us understand and appreciate how God love us, the sinners, how God pour His mercy on us.  Mercy is God’s desire as God want all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, as Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:4. No wonder, Jesus tells this parable of the prodigal son and the prodigally merciful father in Luke 15:11-32. The two preceding parables (the parable of the lost sheep, and the parable of the lost coin) are to build up the point of the third parable – the parable of the prodigal son: merciful God’s love sometimes reaches out to find the lost souls and bring back, while it also patiently waits for the return of the lost soul and rejoices over the reunion with those who was lost but now found. 

Paul said that love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4). Indeed, the love of God, the mercy of God, is really patient, as illustrated by the patience of the father in the parable, who waited for his son’s return for very long time. And, he must have never lost his hope, believing his son’s return. 

Our common sense tends to tell that a person who insults and leaves his or her father as the prodigal son did is not likely to return.  But, our faith, which is closely associated with love and hope, in triad (1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Thessalonians 1:3), enables us to be as patient, hopeful, and loving, as the father of the prodigal son was, reflecting the quality of God’s love and mercy. 

The way the father of the prodigal son demonstrate his patient and hopeful love, as a man of faith with a heart of unconditional acceptance, it also reflects the way Jesus loves. 

Prodigal Son, Adulterous Woman, Peter – Beneficiaries of God’s Mercy through “Here and Now and From Now On” Unconditional Acceptance

Remember when Jesus met a woman, who committed adultery, as she was about to be stoned to death (John 7:53-8:11)? Although he confronted her sin, he did not condemn her. He did not dig up her past, asking her why she committed adultery.  Jesus was not interested in why she did. He was not interested in digging up her past. What matters to him is “here and now” and “from now on”, not the “past”.  So, Jesus accepted her as she was, though those who were self-righteous attempted to condemn her. 

Another good example of this Jesus’ character of not getting into sinners’ past is found in his interaction with Peter, as he reinstated him (John 21:10-25). Although Peter betrayed Jesus three times, Jesus did not mention Peter about his betrayal in the past.  Jesus simply asked Peter if he loves him, making sure that Peter still and really loves him.  So, Jesus’ focus is “here and now”. And, as he commanded Peter to take care of his sheep, Jesus’ interest was also in “from now on”. 

This aspect of Jesus’ mercy to the adulterous woman and sinful Peter is certainly found in the father of the prodigal son, as he never asked his younger son why he insulted him by asking his inheritance money while he was still alive and what he did with the money he ran away with. What mattered to the father was the fact that his lost son is found and has returned to be with him again. And, he accepted the son as he was.

Like  the lost sheep and the lost coin, God’s mercy can reach out to find the lost soul wherever they may. The mercy of God also patiently waits for the lost soul to make its way back like the father of the prodigal son.

Jesus reaching out to the adulterous woman (John 7:53-8:11) and to Peter (John 21:10-25) shows God’s mercy, described in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10). God’s mercy can diligently seek out to redeem those who have gotten lost – wherever they may be. 

Conversion of Paul, a Lost Sheep, Redeemed by God’s Mercy, Accepted by God’s Unconditional Love

The way the mercy of God had reached out to Paul in the second reading (1 Timothy 12-17) is another good example of God’s mercy’s reaching-out aspect. 

In his epistle to his disciple, Timothy, with joyful gratitude, Paul shares his conversion journey – from a sinful arrogant man of ignorance to a man of strong faith.  He was lost before because he was ignorant of God, in particular, God’s grace, which includes mercy.  But, His mercy reached out to Paul and found him, gracing him with love.  Being touched by God’s mercy, Paul’s conversion began. His life made a critical turn from the world of sin and ignorance to the world of God’s grace, including His mercy and love.

The word, “conversion” came from the Latin word, “convertere”, which is composed of its prefix, “con”(com), meaning “together” and “vertere”, meaning “to turn”.  So, there is a turn in the process of conversion, and the turn is prompted by grace of God, which comes as mercy. 

Paul was reached out by God’s mercy through Christ to turn to God, while he was in the world of sin.  Jesus also reached out to Peter to make a turn back to him, while he was still living with unresolved betrayal.  Paul’s conversion was rather began with a violent lightening from the sky, knocking him off the horse, before Jesus appeared to him through a mysterious voice to turn him toward him (Acts 9:1-9), though the resurrected Jesus directly approached Peter, inviting him to dine with him, and asked him if he loved him and commanded to take care of his sheep, before asking him to follow him (John 21:10-19). While God’s mercy found Paul in a traumatizing way, it came to Peter with an inviting way. It suggests that God’s mercy can reach out to us, the sinners, in many different ways. 

Conversion of Paul, Conversion of John Newton Through God’s Mercy as Amazing Grace

Paul’s recalling on his conversion in the second reading (1 Timothy 1: 12-17) invokes John Newton’s famous 18^th century hymn, “Amazing Grace”.

Like Paul, as well as Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Assisi, and Ignatius of Loyola, John Newton’s early life was plagued with sinfulness.  He was recalcitrant and drunk at times.  It was when he was engaged in Atlantic slave trade as a British Royal Navy sailor that grace of merciful God reached out to him to save him, amidst the stormy sea. Though Newton’s conversion did not begin immediately after being touched by God’s mercy in the stormy sea, as he continued to be involved in slave trade for another 6 or 7 years, he eventually left the sinful business of slave trade and began to study theology. And, he was ordained in the Anglican Church.

It is believe that Newton wrote Amazing Grace first as a sermon, recalling the stormy sea experience, in which he felt being touched by God. 

It is no coincidence to draw similarities between Paul’s conversion experience narrated in 1 Timothy 1:12-17 and John Newton’s “Amazing Grace”.

 Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, as blind but now I see.  ‘T was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!  

Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures;  He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.  When we’ve been there ten-thousand years , bright shining  as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise then when we first begun. 

Now compare this to Paul’s testimony:

I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated , so that in me, as the foremost,  Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life”(1 Timothy 1:13-16). 

The mercy of God reaches out to those who are lost in ignorance. Ignorance means being severed from Christ the light. Thus, being ignorant means being in darkness.  As Paul said in Galatians 5:4, being ignorant, being cut off from Christ means fallen from grace.  Original Sin, committed by Adam and Eve, is the very first case of a fall from grace.  Though the humans, represented by Adam and Eve, have fallen from grace, and repeatedly fallen subsequently throughout the history, God never give up on us, as He continues to redeem us with His mercy in his grace.  And, Paul, John Newton, and many others who have been converted (having made turns from darkness of sin to Christ the light) are witnesses of this God’s ongoing salvific plan and actions.  

Such God’s continuing saving plan and actions are, indeed, characterized by Jesus’ parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.  As Paul puts it in 1 Timothy 1:12-17, this outreaching mercy of God shines upon sinners in darkness, guides them in their turning and on their journey back to God. 

Analogy Between God’s Outreaching Light of Mercy and Amitabha Buddha’s Immeasurable Light of Mercy

The way God’s mercy is characterized in Jesus’ parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son, and the way Paul describes how God’s mercy reached out to him and guided his conversion journey in the 24^th Sunday scripture readings (Luke 15:1-32, 1 Timothy 12-17), invokes the way the Amitabha Buddha’s immeasurable light of mercy reaches out.  Whether it is God’s mercy or Amitabha Buddha’s mercy,  its purpose is to save the souls of those who have been lost, fallen from grace. 

As Japanese Shin Buddhist master, Shinran (親鸞), said in his “Hymn of True Faith”(Shoshin nembutsu ge/正信念仏偈),  Amitabha (Amida) Buddha’s boundless light reaches out to save sinners.  This is analogous to how God through Christ extends His mercy to save lost sinners, wherever they may be, and to bring them back to Him.  In regard to mercy and salvation, there is a parallel between Buddhism and Christianity.  

I take refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Life, the Tathagata of inconceivable Light. Bodhisattva Dharmakara sat with Buddha Lokeshvararaja…..Why did the World-honored One come into this world?  To expound the ocean of Amida’s Primal Vow; In this evil world of five defilements ,we should believe the Buddha’s true words. We, by a single thought of Joy in the Vow, passions though unsevered, will attain Nirvana. Whether wicked, good or in-between, all are the same, as of one taste are all rivers entering the sea.  Light of compassion ever shining protects us, darkest ignorance it has already overcome; still, the clouds and mist of greed, delusion and rage always cover the sky of shinjin; Yet, as the clouds and mist obscure the sun’s light, under them is Light and no darkness at all; when receiving faith with greatest joy and reverence, we at once transcend the five evil realms. Whether good or evil, if ordinary folk hear and trust the Buddha’s Universal Vow, great and highest is their understanding, He said: White Lotus Flowers they are called.  (Shinran, Shoshin Nembutsu Ge – The Hymn of True Faith in Nembutsu)

Paul before being touched by mercy of God was ignorant, as he confesses in his letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:13). It suggests that Paul’s sinful behaviors were due to his ignorance.  This echoes one of the Buddhist cardinal teachings:  ignorance (moha), which is one of the Three Poisons (trivisa), along with aversion (dvesa) and attachment (raga).  Thus, in Buddhism, ignorance can lead us to sinful acts, resulting in sufferings.  Ignorance, in Buddhism, means a separation from everything else in the universe, and a false perception about self and everything else because of this separation.  The truth in Buddhism – the Dharma – teaches that we are all connected not only with each other but also with everything in the universe, as we, along with everything else in the universe, exists only contingent upon the intricacy of interdependent causes and conditions (pratityasamutpada) . 

What the connection with everything else in the universe is to Buddhism parallels what the connection with God to Christianity. Being ignorant about this truth means being severed from everything else in the universe to Buddhist is analogous to being ignorant about this truth means being cut-off from God and being fallen from grace. 

With delight and gratitude, Master Shinran, in his “Shoshin Nembutsu Ge – The Hymn of True Faith in Nembutsu”  sees that it is Amitabha Buddha’s desire to extend its immeasurable light of mercy to save those are in the darkness of ignorance – just as Paul expresses his joy and gratitude for God’s mercy, the saving grace, in 1 Timothy 12-17. 

According to the Heart Sutra and the Avalokitesvara Sutra, an embodiment of Amitabha Buddha’s salvific desire, mercy, is Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva (観音菩薩/ Guanyin Bodhisattva  ).  The Sanskrit word, “avalokitasvara” means “to look down to the world and listen”.  Thus, Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva is, indeed, an embodiment of the immeasurable light of Amitabha Buddha’s mercy to save sinners in the world. 

As with Christianity, what sinners need to fully benefit from the mercy of Amitabha Buddha is to repent.  As merciful God have incarnated in Christ to save us, reaching out in the Holy Spirit, Amitabha Buddha, whose desire is to save, has been embodied in Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva, shining Amitabha’s immeasurable salvific light of mercy on us. 

Whether it is the saving light of God through Christ or of Amitabha Buddha through Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva, this immeasurable light works on our ignorance, which is a root of our sins, attributed to the Original Sin. 

Spiritual Works of Mercy  - Catechetical Sunday

The 24^th Sunday of Year C falls upon Catechetical Sunday in 2013.  Whether it is a mere coincidence or rather God’s providence – though I believe the latter, the scripture readings of the 24^th Sunday have much to offer in signifying the meaning of Catechetical Sunday. 

Based on St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica”, Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) describes works of mercy that we are to practice.  There are the corporal works of mercy (To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To shelter the homeless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead) and the spiritual works of mercy (To instruct the ignorant; To counsel the doubtful; To admonish sinners; To bear wrongs patiently; To forgive offences willingly; To comfort the afflicted; To pray for the living and the dead). 

One of the spiritual works of mercy is to instruct the ignorant. It means to help those who are in the darkness of ignorance become enlightened as they come to know God, to appreciate grace of God, benefitted by God’s mercy. And, this is what catechesis aims for. 

Catechists in the Catholic Church throughout the world are committed to make their efforts in religious education to bring salvific effects to their students.  “Ignorant” in this context does not mean “ignorant” in colloquial sense or psychological sense, but it means “not really knowing God and His grace”.   

For us to be saved, we need to have our eyes opened to God, as Paul became able to see after three days of blindness, in his conversion (Acts 9:1-19), or as John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” sings, “I once was lost, but now am found, as blind but now I see.”  Catechesis is a way to help our eyes open so that we appreciate the light of God – His mercy fully.  Thus, catechesis is a path to enlightenment. 

In this effort to help us become enlightened, catechesis must address the rest of the works of mercy.  Not to mention, forgiveness, which is another spiritual work of mercy is addressed in the 24^th Sunday’s Gospel reading through Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. 

Effects of God’s Mercy – Returning Home – Pagbabalik-Loob

As Paul has testified in 1 Timothy 12-17, God’s mercy prompts us to turn from the darkness of sin to the light of God.  As I explained, this is what conversion literally means - con “together” and “vertere”, to turn.  So, when God’s mercy touches upon us, who do we turn with? Of course, it is the mercy.  Upon mercy’s contact upon us, we turn with mercy to where it guides into. Namely, it is where God is that mercy leads us to.  

To the believers, the ultimate home is where God is.  The mercy of God is like the shepherd who goes out far to find a lost sheep to bring it home, as described in the parable of the lost sheep. And, God wait patiently until all lost souls make their ways home to God, as the father of the prodigal son, in the parable of the prodigal son, waited.  Thus, the ultimate aim of God’s mercy is homecoming of all to the Kingdom of God.  A life on earth is, indeed, a pilgrimage home to the Kingdom of God, where God reside and lead us to through His mercy. 

A Filipino Catholic theologian, Jose DeMesa, explains that a Tagalog equivalent to the word, “conversion” is “pagbabalik-loob”.   The Tagalog word, “pagbabalik” means “returning home”, while the world, “loob” means “inner self”, “substantial self”.   In this Filipino contextualization of “conversion”, there is this image that conversion is a journey or pilgrimage to who we really are and are to become.  It also suggests that who are in the state of “out of grace”, “ignorance”, “darkness of sin” is not who we really are or being our own “loob”.  

Buddhist teaching on moha, which means ignorance, is rather close to understanding that who we are in the state of sinfulness is not our real self, because moha suggests living with a false sense of self, a delusional sense of self.  And, living a delusional sense of self means a life of kleshas, a life of afflictions, the kind of life that St. Augustine of Hippo defined as “restless heart”. 

St. Augustine puts it,  our hearts are restless until they find rest in God (Confession, Chapter 1). It means that we live a life of kleshas in the state of “fallen from grace”, “ignorance”, “moha”.  It is a life of delusion, in Buddhist teaching.  In such a delusion,  we, the sinners, are not living with “loob”, our substance.  It is where we are far from “home” – the Kingdom of God. 

The souls in such a state needs to be touched by the mercy of God – the Divine Mercy, so that they will be saved upon conversion, so that they turn (vertere) and make their way home (pagbabalik) , where God reside, where the Kingdom of God is, and where we find our true self, “loob”.

As we are touched by mercy of God and open our eyes to the truth, the Dharma, we come to realize that we cannot save ourselves.  We need the Divine Mercy to be saved, as Jesus spoke to St. Faustina.  Mahayana Buddhism, especially Japanese Shin Buddhism, teaches that we need the mercy of Amitabha Buddha, to be saved.  And,  in our salvation, we find our true self, no longer in kleshas, no longer a restless heart,  no longer a delusional self, but now living the true self, “loob”,  found in God in the Kingdom.  This is the state of Nirvana in Buddhism.  All we need to find our way to “loob” found in God (secure heart rest in God) is the Divine Mercy. And, this journey upon making our turn with the Divine Mercy is a journey of conversion (turning with), heading to “loob”, true self, in God.  This journey is far more than a process of what Abraham Maslow calls “self transcendence through self actualization” or Carl Jung views as “individuation”.  This is, indeed, a pilgrimage toward the fullness in the mystery of Christ. 

For our meaningful journey of “pagbabalik-loob”, let the Divine Mercy guide us, as it is our salvific pilgrimage, which Paul, the foremost among the sinners” made. 

As Pure Land Mahayana Buddhists images Amitabha Buddha’s mercy with a large vessel  (mahayana) that carry saved sinners home to the Pure Land, Christians can see the Divine Mercy as “Christian Mahayana”(Christian large vessel) that carry saved souls home to the Kingdom of God.  

Indeed, Jesus spoke to St. Faustina:  

"I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: 'Jesus, I trust in You'" (Diary, 327)

For Christians, our full trust in Christ is the anchor of the saving vessel that Christ offers, while Japanese Shin Buddhist express their full trust in Amitabha Buddha’s care through “nembuts”(念仏):  Namuamidabutsu (南無阿弥陀仏) to sail home to the Pure Land with Amitabha’s mahayana (large vessel).

Pastoral Psychologist's View on Life of Vanity - Reflection of the 18th Sunday Readings

A gym rat, who has been a member of fancy sports gym for years – but still remains flubby. 

An anxious single, who has been a member of exclusive dating club in search for a future mate with a class – yet still lonely singe, despite many expensive dating and dating coaching sessions.

A self-help addict, who have been spending a lot of money to buy new self-help books, CDs, DVDs, and attending expensive self-improvement seminars – but feel unhappy. 

All their efforts and financial investments into gym, dating programs, self-help programs, self-improvement seminars are not getting them where they want to be.

What is a common denominator among these?

It’s a life without traction. It’s vanity – a  life in vain. A life without traction means a life that cannot generate meaning of life.

Vanity begets vanity. It goes like a vicious downward spiral, to put you in a quagmire leading to an existential crisis – if meaninglessness continues long enough.

The first reading for 18^th Sunday (Year C), Ecclesiastics 1:2; 2:21-23, describes a sentiment of life of vanity. 

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!

Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property. 

This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart
with which he has labored under the sun? 

All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation;
even at night his mind is not at rest. 

This also is vanity.

Qoheleth is the author of the Book of Ecclesiastics, which means “preacher” in Greek (Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklesiastes). Interestingly, its Hebrew equivalent is Qoheleth. Thus, the Book of Ecclesiastics also means the Book of Qoheleth – the Book of Preacher.  It belongs to the Hebrew wisdom literature in the Old Testament and examines what life is about.

As a psychotherapist, I use the Book of Ecclesiastics in helping my clients and patients address their existential issues – issues with meaning of life, even in non-pastoral settings.  In doing this, I usually guide them  to express their existential anxieties and frustrations as Qoheleth did in the Book of Ecclesiastics, because expressing our emotions and sentiments in narratives is healing (i.e., James W. Pennebarker (1997). Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions., & (2004). Writing to Heal; Erika H.  Meade (1995).  Tell it by Heart: Women and the Healing Power of Story).

Though people with existential problems often exhibit depressive clinical symptoms (i.e. Marja et al. (2002). Quality of Life in Brain Tumor Patients: The Relative Contributions of Depression, Fatigue, Emotional Distress, and Existential Issues. J. of Neuro-Oncology 57(1), 41-49), I find that using the Book of Ecclesiastics in the context of Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy approach is effective in improving their symptoms and resolving existential issues Logotherapy is found to be effective in treating depression (i.e., Close (2001). Logotherapy and Adult Major Depression: Psychotheological Dimensions in Diagnosing the Disorder, J of Religious Gerontology 11(3-4), 119-140). Thus, integrating meaning-focused narrative therapy approach and logotherapy is efficacious. 

With narrative therapy and logotherapy in mind, I would like to further explore the issues of existential issues in light of the scriptural readings from the 18^th Sunday of Year C and a relevant Buddhist concept. 

In Ecclesiastics 1:12-13a, the author, Qoheleth, tells the purpose of this book:

I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. 

Basically, Qoheleth tells that wisdom (human wisdom, as opposed to the divine wisdom) is meaningless.

Though I said to myself, “Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge”; yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind. For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.   (Ecclesiastics 1:16-18)

Now, this segment from the Book of Ecclesiastics (1:16-18) is echoed in the Gospel reading for the 18^th Sunday Year C, Luke 12:13-21, in particular, the Parable of the Rich Fool (vv. 16-21).

“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”

It seems that a lamentation of Qoheleth over storing up wisdom and knowledge in Ecclesiastics 1:16-18 can become a lamentation for the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21. While Qoheleth became a “victim of his own success” in becoming rich with human wisdom and knowledge, the rich fool in Jesus’ parable became a “victim of his success” in amassing material wealth in the eyes of God. 

This is not that God in Jesus is discouraging us to gain wisdom, knowledge, and material wealth – unless we have a short-circuit brain to make such a myopic interpretation. We must be careful in interpreting Jesus’ words on the rich and the poor to make sure that we do not turn the teaching of Jesus on the rich and the poor as a socialist or communist teaching on equity-based equality. This is not to justify the envy of the poor toward the rich, either. 

Psychologically speaking, such a socialist-like or communist-like mentality with envy may be an indication of some sort of existential or identity problem, in relating to those who have more. 

What matters here is the way we handle our wisdom, knowledge and material wealth. Gaining these, by itself, is not a problem – just as money itself is not evil, though it can become a root of evil.

If wisdom, knowledge, and wealth become a reason of our anxiety and distress, as in the case of a man who had a problem with his brother about the family inheritance (Luke 11:13-15), it is a red flag that we are becoming or have already become a slave of wisdom, knowledge, and wealth. To put this in the Buddhist context, it is a sign of attachment, due to passion or kleshas – one of the Three Poisons in the Buddhism catechism (like deadly sins in Catholic catechism). 

Paul in the second reading offers a good advice, sounding as if making a good Buddhist advice. 

If you are raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly; immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.  Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.   (Colossians 3:1-10)

As Buddhist teaching encourages us to overcome passion, Paul inspires the Colossians to root out passion from their lives in order to live a Christ-centered life, making a shift from self-centered or ego-centered life. 

In the Buddhist context, Paul’s advice is understood with this:

The cause of human suffering is undoubtedly found in the thirsts of the physical body and in the illusions of worldly passion. If these thirsts and illusions are traced to their source, they are found to be rooted in the intense desires of physical instincts. Thus, desire, having a strong will-to-love as its basis, seeks that which it feels desirable, even if it is sometimes death. This is called the Truth of the Cause of Suffering (集諦、じったい). If desire, which lies at the root of all human passion, can be  removed, then passion die out and all human suffering will be ended. This is called the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering (滅諦、めったい).     

  

In Chapter One, Section one, on the Four Noble Truths, on Dharma, “The Teaching of Buddha”, Society for the Promotion of Buddhism, Tokyo, 1966, pp. 74-75)

What Paul teaches to the Colossians about becoming worthy for Christ’s salvation is what Buddhist teaches about the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. 

Buddhism teaches that we must practice the Eightfold Noble Path: Right view, right thought, right speech, right behavior, right life style, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration – the Truth of the Noble Path to the Cessation of the Cause of Suffering.

Perhaps, Christians can take this Buddhist wisdom on the Truth of the Eightfold Noble Path toward the cessation of the cause of suffering in conjunction with the above teaching of Paul.

An ego-centered life makes us more prone to or vulnerable to becoming “victims of our own success”, falling into a gutter between what is good in God’s desire and what is good in ego’s desire. The latter, of course, is an illusion, both in Christian sense and Buddhist sense.  That is why Buddha’s teaching inspires us to transform ourselves into anatta (no ego) as atman (essential self, as in “loob” in Tagalog) to deliver ourselves from vicious cycle of suffering (cycle of reincarnation) to attain nirvana (eternal and ultimate peace). On the other hand, Christ’s teaching, here elaborated by Paul, encourages us to overcome earthly vices and illusionary concepts, such as immorality, impurity, passion (emotional states arising from insecure, heart and mind, which is not found in harmony with God),  and ego’s desires, in order to be converted into a person with a Christ-centered life.   

On behalf of Christ, Paul is expressing the need of conversion as a transformation of an ego-centered life into a Christ-centered life – attuning our true self (loob in Tagalog) with God in Christ, remembering imago Dei as our core identity (Genesis 1:27).  That is why Filipino Catholic theologian, Jose DeMesa, calls conversion as “pagbabalik-loob” (returning to our essential self).  What is anatta to Buddhists is what is a Christ-centered self to Christians is the direction of our “pagbabalik-loob” in order to prevent from suffering from existential problem of life of vanity (Ecclesiastics 1:2; 2:21-23) or to be like the rich fool (Luke 11:16-21).

Theologically, “pagbabalik-loob” to Christ-centered life, Christ-centered self by ridding us of all our attachment to earthly and ego matters and desires is not only to benefit from meaningful life (as opposed to a life of vanity) but to rejoice with parousia, as alluded in the above words of Paul. 

Unless we live a Christ-centered life, free from attachment to what earthy and ego desire, we may not be able to appear with Christ, when he appears.  In saying this, Paul is referring to Christ’s return and how it will affect us (Revelation 19 – 20). Whenever he returns, Christ will come to make ultimate cleansing not only the whole world but also – most importantly, to cleanse ourselves:

"My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  (Revelation 7:14 , echoing the prophesy of Isaiah 1:18). 

*****

The way to keep us from putting wisdom, knowledge and wealth in wrong uses in the eyes of God is to maintain a Christ-centered life. To Christians, this is also the way to live a meaningful life, thus preventing us from turning our life into a life of vanity or a life of existential problems.  When our life drifts away from Christ, then, we slip back to an ego-centered life.  An ego-centered life will eventually cut ourselves from God in Christ and turn our life into an illusion or a life of God complex. Such a life may turn into a life of bipolar disorder – feeling extremely euphoric and overconfident when living a life like the rich fool before confronted by God and becoming depressed when the reality of a life of vanity kicks in like the rich fool upon God’s confrontation.  In Christian sense, the former state is a life of pleasure, arrogance, and power that many people can covet. But, sooner or later, we may begin to suffer from existential crisis, as reflected in the Book of Ecclesiastics. Not to mention, a way to heal from this is to return our true self in tune with God in Christ, as our “pagbabalik-loob” to put it in Jose DeMesa’s word. Psychologically, this process can be facilitated by clinical integration of narrative therapy and logotherapy.  Using the Book of Ecclesiastics and certain Psalms is effective with this. 

If you are blessed with wisdom, knowledge and wealth, you can enjoy these as God is pleased with all you have earned and have.

If you live a Christ-centered life and blessed with wisdom, knowledge and wealth, you are more likely to joyfully share them with those who benefit, thanking and praising God for not only the blessing of what you can share but also the blessing of joy over making others happy.

The rich fool should have realized that it was a time for him to share what he had with others when his old storage space became too small – rather than trying to expand the storage to pile up his assets more and more for himself. 

Psychologically, an ego-centered life, as characterized by the rich fool, is usually a sign of insecure ego or fragmented ego. Such ego must die, to put in Paul’s words from the second reading.