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WISDOM LANGUAGE
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3. Where are we in the world?
Europe and the West – the so called Christian West – is going
through a tremendous crisis of faith. Prophetic language is no
longer relevant because there is no faith to purify. A new
language is needed, and the Bible gives us the key to this. It
is interesting that for a long time I had thought (because that
was the rhetoric for several years) that wisdom belongs to Asia.
We would say that Asian religiosity is based on wisdom while
prophetic religion belongs to the Christian West. Now we hear
that we need wisdom in education, in social work, in pastoral
work and so on. So the quest for wisdom is not any more a
monopoly of Asian communities. It is universal.
It is interesting to see how Pope Benedict would speak the
language of wisdom each time he went to the frontiers. And
people were amazed. He went to France and spoke of secularity in
a very positive way. He went to London and spoke in a language
that everybody could follow… and so too, in Germany. Then Pope
Francis came along with a further emphasis on the language of
the common man. It is the language of being poor, of being
compassionate, of telling everybody ‘good evening’ and ‘have a
good meal’ and ‘have a good rest’ etc. This has a lesson for us
since it demonstrates an ability to change, an ability to adapt.
In this Assembly, you are discussing the processes “from the
roots to the frontiers”. We may discover that we have the same
processes as the people of Israel. We need the time of building
up history, a period of purification of that identity and now,
in the world we are in today, we need much more the language of
wisdom.
It is interesting to hear Pope Benedict say that an agnostic who
searches is better than a Christian who does not search. A
person who thinks he has all the answers is dangerous, because
nobody can have all the answers. I remember seeing a poster at
the Asian Pastoral Institute at Manila. It was a poster of an
orang-utan lying on the floor and looking up. The caption read
“Just when I knew all the answers, they changed the questions”.
It conveyed a sense of giving up, which is the attitude of many
priests. You come out of the Seminary knowing all the answers
and then realize that the questions have changed. And you feel
like that orang-utan… What has happened? We need to take this
seriously because this is not only a western problem. Now, all
our cultures are becoming more pluralistic. This kind of secular
thinking and the desire for wisdom is becoming a general trait
in all cultures. In some places this is advancing slowly, but it
is coming. We must look at the life of the youth because they
are the key to understand what is happening. Young people are on
the internet all the time. They are like native residents in
this new world (unlike us old people who are mere passengers!).
So we need three languages. For new Christians and new CLC
members, we need the language of history to build up the
identity. We need the language of prophesy within the community
of faith, to challenge those who believe. And now we need the
language of wisdom for the frontiers. In this Assembly, you will
dedicate a lot to time to discussing the frontiers with their
challenges and perspectives. I think that the language of wisdom
is important here because it brings in depth and counteracts the
superficial tendencies of today.
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