For some time we have been asked to put in Misyon a section on Questions which our readers would like raised. We are not too sure how appropriate our suitable this is, so please let us know if these questions have been of any help to you. We are calling this article To Search is to Find because we do not have the answers to every question in the universe – but the very asking of the question is the beginning of the answer.
LEAVE THEM ALONE
Misyon sometimes contains stories of tribal people. Are these people not happier left to themselves? Sometimes their cultural and religious practices are more environmentally friendly than our own.
You have two questions here. Yes, they might be happier left on their own. No one can really tell. But in today’s world inevitably they will be invaded by the 21st century. Which is better: to be made feel small, ridiculous, irrelevant and uneducated by the shining consumer culture of the West or to be made feel the dignity of being the children of God and the brothers and sisters of Jesus with the true hope of Life? That is what the Good News offers them. Apart from that as Christians we are bound to share the Good News. Someone once describe a missionary one who comes when he is not wanted and leaves when he is wanted. It is quite true that tribal people often have very environmentally friendly cultures and we should be ready to learn from them. I think that is what Misyon tries to do.
POLITICS AND RELIGION
Where did the Lord tell us to mix politics and religion? Is not our salvation for the next world and for things spiritual? Your magazine continually brings up political matters.
It does, though not exclusively. The reason is that though personal internal conversion is the first aim of the Good News it should have social consequences. In Catholic teaching, there is a social gospel which means that justice for the poor is an essential part of the Good News. If this is sometimes abused by some it still does not take away our obligation to have a social conscience. Popes have been explicit and detailed about this even down to giving clear teachings on things of labor unions, family wage, and death penalty. Christians should keep a balance between the two approaches (personal conversion and social transformation) knowing that his or her social impulse will only endure if rooted in the Gospel.
SABBATH DAY
Recently the Pope wrote a letter about keeping the Sunday holy. Does that mean we cannot work on Sunday? Should stores be open on Sunday?
Yes, the Holy Father has written a beautiful letter on the holiness of Sunday. It does not obligate us under pain of sin not to work, but it does challenge us to make Sunday a holy day and therefore work should be an exception. Nor should we ask people to work for us on a Sunday. It is very sad when a culture loses the sacredness of Sunday. Everybody loses.
Should shops be open on Sundays?
Some small foodshops may need to be open for emergencies but I think it is sad when the big shopping malls are all open on Sundays. It means a huge number of people can never go to Church or be off on the day that their companies are off. So all praise to those mall owners who make the sacrifice of closing their malls on Sunday. I’m sure the Lord will not let them down.
PS. The Apostolic letter is called Dies Domini and is produced by St. Paul’s. Do try and read it.
CANNON OF SCRIPTURE
How many books are there in the Bible? I hear conflicting numbers.
The Bible contains 72 books. This was decided by the Church Councils around the 4th century. So the Catholic and the Orthodox churches keep that number of books. In the 1st century AD as Christians and Jews grew more and more apart the Jewish community made cannon of their books especially those of Greek influence. In the 16thcentury, Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, reverted to the Jewish cannon of the 1st century AD and so excluded the books that they excluded. The result is those following Luther’s tradition have only 66 books though some of them include the extra 6 books as an appendix.
Which is more important Scripture or tradition
Imagine for a moment how the scriptures develop. First, you have Jesus delivering His words, viva voce from His own mouth. Second, you have the Christian community as described in the Acts of the Apostles preaching Jesus’ words and applying His words to the various problems of the communities as you have in the letters of St. Paul. Then you have the various traditions abut Jesus being written down in four gospels. The gospels pull together these verbal traditions about Jesus being written down in four gospels. The Gospels in a sense are tradition written down. But that’s not the end of it. How did the early Christian tell the difference between one holy book and another? Which were inspired by the spirit and which were not? They had to go back to tradition and rely on the decisions of the Church. Once decided by the community, these books were called the Cannon of Scripture and they became a normative guide for the Church. So scripture and tradition work together all the time helping us to be faithful disciples of the Lord.
MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD
How can we call Mary the Mother of God? Is she not just the mother of the human person of Jesus not the mother of His divinity?
May I quote from Beginning Apologetics by Chacon and Burnham:We call Mary Mother of God because she gave birth of Jesus, who is God. We follow the Spirit-filled Elizabeth who declares in Luke 1:43 “How does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Jesus is true God and true man: two natures in one undivided Person. By being the Mother of Jesus, Mary is also the Mother of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Mary did not give birth merely to a human nature, but to a person, the Son of God who took from her flesh a pure human nature. Lk. 1:35: “The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” Gal 4:4: “God sent His Son, born of a woman.” If Jesus is truly God-made man, then Mary is truly the Mother of God. Obviously, Mary did not exist before God. Jesus is the Son of God from all eternity, who became also the Son of Mary in time.
LAY MISSION
In Misyon, you frequently have articles on lay mission. Does that mean that even married people can go on mission?
Yes, Every lay person is called to share the Good News and there are many different organizations which help people to dedicate themselves exclusively for a time to this work if that's what they feel called to. For example:
1. Philippine Catholic Lay Mission
Biboy Dicen
78 Simon Street, 1114 Quezon City
PO Box 2717, 1099 Manila
2. Columban Lay Mission Center
Sr. Pat Zandrews
34 Rosario Drive, Cubao Quezon City
These lay mission organizations have rules and conditions. If you wish to join them, they will send you their brochures.