Articles

July 3rd 2006 Message

It would be appropriate to cite here an extract from the radio message of Pope Pius XII on 31 December, 1952 on the occasion of the 19th century celebrations of the arrival of the Apostle in India: "Nineteen hundred years have passed since the Apostle came to India…. During the centuries that India was cut off from the West and despite many trying vicissitudes, the Christian communities formed by the Apostle conserved intact the legacy he left them. …..This apostolic lineage, beloved sons and daughters, is the proud privilege of the many among you who glory in the name of Thomas Christians and we are happy on this occasion to acknowledge and bear witness to it."

St. Thomas had grown in his faith and reached the climax of Christian faith and proclaimed ‘My Lord and My God.’ And this faith marked in his Martyrdom at Mylapore, Inida. And thereby from his blood the Christianity flourished in India.

The christian faith we inherited from St. Thomas the Apostle is not to be put aside as part of a tradition, but it is a matter of faith which is to be practiced. The practicing faith cannot be torn apart in times of problems and crisis, but need to be tackled with ardent Christian love. In which one has to suffer or embrace martyrdom as St. Thomas did.

In this respect faith can have different realms as suggested by Marcus Borg, in The Heart of Christianity. He categorizes them by four Latin terms for faith that each have a distinct emphasis. Briefly, they are: assensus: accepting a statement to be true; this might be called "head belief" fiducia: trust or reliance on God, fidelitas: faithfulness, living for God. visio: a way of seeing reality; in particular, seeing God's grace at work

When we celebrate the feast of St. Thomas and the first anniversary of the Syro-Malabar church in London being officially recognised by the Catholic dioceses in London, it is time for us to recollect where we are.

Since 2002 I have been visiting the various Syro-Malabar Communities in the United Kingdom particularly in S various parts of London, Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Manchester, Glasgow and Kent. In 2002 there were only very few priests available for the pastoral care of these communities. In the beginning, lay leaders played an important role in the formation of the communities, keeping up their unity alive and active through the formation of Small Christian Communities of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

Thanks be to God, that the efforts and encouragements of the Priests and the community leaders weren’t a waste and its effect is manifested throughout our communities. The presence of the priests now and then in the community gave the communities a rare chance of attending the Syro-Malabar liturgy.

When the community was slowly taking a shape, and with the increase of its members especially after 2000, the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church was aware of the presence of many of its members in England. And more priests were being sent to England so that they would be able to cater to the spiritual needs of its members as well. It must have created some fear and anxiety in the minds of the Syro-Malabar faithful over here. And so naturally the community asked this question. Are we to have a separate church here? If we did follow the Syro-Malabar Church how will its future impact be on us and our future generations, negatively or positively?

The answer is very simple, while we, the Syro-Malabar Christians, are indeed a genuine and integral part of the Universal Catholic Church, we are also called and encouraged to keep up our tradition, faith, heritage and above all our Liturgy. It is a liturgy which is lived and fostered by our fore fathers for many years, it is a liturgy that gave birth to a culture and values, a liturgy that gave a form to a faith in action, and indeed this liturgy which has caused us to be here today to some extend.

And today that liturgy lived in action by our forefathers made us literate, and Kerala has achieved the status of being an 100% literate state in India, giving out an IT boom in the whole of India, and its phenomenal growth in the nursing and medical talents is in high esteem all throughout the world and apart from all these, it stands the highest in number in its priestly and religious vocations in the world today. This is where we stand in the world horizon today. Thanks to our liturgy and a liturgy lived out by our forefathers.

Let us make sure that, while following our tradition we are contributing to the society and the church in which we live. It will make the local church proud of us.

And so let us begin to live our Sacramental life as it is becoming to the Syro-Malabar Church especially the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist, baptism, and that of Marriage our own particular way, spirit and devotion. There are many chaplaincies of ethnic groups and rites are there in London. As all others, we need to have the opportunity to train our children particularly in our catechesis, in the pre-marriage course and other catholic educational programmes.

Therefore let us pray to Almighty God and our Blessed virgin Mother to sustain us and help us, to give us the wisdom to understand the necessity of keeping and living the faith and liturgy of our forefathers who lived it to the last drop of their blood. May St. Thomas, Our Father, shower his abundant blessings on us.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Biju John