PARISH – 3-2014
Dr. Giuseppe Samir Eid presented Don Walter with some clarifications on the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis “Evangelii gaudium” to which our parish priest willingly replied. Dear Don Walter, the Muslims “worship with us a single, merciful God” (E. G. n. 252). I would take this sentence with caution. It is true that Muslims worship a unique and merciful God. But this sentence suggests that the two conceptions of God are equal. Instead, in Christianity God is Trinity in its essence, plurality united by love. And that is a little more than just clemency and mercy. We have two quite different conceptions of divine uniqueness.
The Muslim one features God as inaccessible. The Christian vision of Trinitarian uniqueness emphasizes that God is Love that is communicated: Father-Son-Spirit, or Lover-Love, as Saint Augustine suggested. Then, what does the mercy of the Islamic God also mean? That he gives mercy to those he wants and does not give it to those he does not want. “God gives mercy to those He wants.” (Quran 48:25). But you never get to say that “God is Love” (1 John 4:16), as St. John expresses it. Mercy in the case of Islam is that of the rich man who leans over the poor and gives him something. But the Christian God is the one who descends towards the poor to raise them to his level; he does not show his wealth to be respected (or feared) by the poor: he gives himself to make the poor live. These differences should not discourage people of good will from sharing precious resources to build the global culture of Peace and Fraternity.
Giuseppe Samir Eid
Dear Joseph
- What you say is true, but the correctness of the affirmation that Muslims “worship with us a single, merciful God” is explained by the fact that, for correctness of reading, one should not or should not stop at the affirmation of No. 252 of the “Evangelii gaudium”, but one should read it in its entirety, highlighting its intention which is the rediscovery of a joyful proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world with temporary. 2. Taking also into account, for example, that in the previous issue, 251, it is stated that “in this dialogue, always friendly and cordial, the essential bond between dialogue and proclamation, which leads the Church to maintain and intensify relations with non-Christians, must never be overlooked. A conciliatory syncretism would ultimately be totalitarianism on the part of those who claim to reconcile without regard to values which transcend them and of which they are not masters. True openness implies remaining firm in one’s deepest convictions, with a clear and joyful identity, but open “to understanding those of the other” and “knowing that dialogue can enrich everyone”. We do not need diplomatic openness, which says yes to everything to avoid problems, because it would be a way of deceiving the other and denying him the good that one has received as a gift to be shared generously, evangelization and inter-religious dialogue, far from opposing each other, support and nourish each other”. 3. Finally, the quotation you then make of No. 252 omits a second part of the sentence which completes the common elements between Islam and Christianity: “… a single, merciful God who will judge mankind on the final day” (Lumen Gentium 16). This means that this approach to dialogue with Islam which “in this epoch acquires considerable importance…” is not proper and first and foremost to the Evangelii gaudium of Pope Francis, but comes from further afield, from a document of Vatican II to which Pope Francis cannot but abide.
Don Walter
Free web translation from the original in Italian
The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.