Face of God

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Incarnation was an attempt of God to rekindle the extinguished embers of Divinity in human hearts. An initiative to wake humans from their slumber and to make them realize that a full human is full God. Christ is the saturation of humanity. This reminds me of St. Athanasius the Great, the pillar of orthodoxy who profoundly remarked “God became man so that man might become God”. This principle is known as ‘theosis’ and is the kernel of Orthodox Theology. I now invite your attention to Genesis 33:10 where Jacob says to his brother Esau “For truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God since you have received me with such great favour.”

What supernaturalism did Esau do to have been bestowed by such attestation? Nothing. He just forgave. So do remember when we forgive our face resembles the face of God. Forgiveness is one such divine attribute among many which lay indolent in the abyss of human ignorance. The Lord’s Prayer puts forth before us just one condition. In order to experience the forgiveness of the Divine we should be the one who should forgive first. When will humans realize that each cell of our body has the potential to manifest the Divine?

Centuries back in the Indian soil there echoed the voice of Adi Shankara (proponent of Advaita Philosophy) – Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman). Christ also came with this message of freedom – “I and the Father are one’. All went in vain as humans chose enslavement over freedom. Alejandro Jodorowsky eruditely reckons “Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.” This lent let us awaken our asleep Divinity so that someday someone would say to us “For truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God.”

It is Shivaratri today. Shiva is depicted as Nataraja – Lord of Dance. Jyothi Sahi who is better known in his sobriquet, ‘Theologian with the brush’ comments – how better could God be symbolized if not as a dancer?  He further says we may separate a song and the singer; a painting and the painter but we can never separate a dance and the dancer. Portraying God as a dancer is the blatant evidence that Humanity and Divinity are inextricably and irrevocably intertwined.

Christians are so obsessed with the life after death that we conveniently forget that we do have a life after birth. We do not need to do something uncanny to manifest the Divine in us. As the adage goes “A simple act of caring creates an endless ripple that comes back to you.” Life should be given opportunities for retrospection to maintain its momentum else it loses its spontaneity and dynamics. Lent serves this purpose.

I conclude with Pablo Neruda’s poem – ‘You start dying slowly’

You start dying slowly
if you do not travel,
if you do not read,
If you do not listen to the sounds of life,
If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly
When you kill your self-esteem;
When you do not let others help you.

You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths…
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colours
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly
If you avoid to feel passion
And their turbulent emotions;
Those which make your eyes glisten
And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice…

Let us pray
God in us, we pray that may each cell of our body manifest you so that our face resembles your face. For Christ’s sake we pray. Amen.

Prayers

Dn. Basil Paul

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