The Messenger, 2004 (1-3. szám)

2004-01-01 / 1. szám

Cíjaplatn’ő Corner by Rev. Dr. Joseph Posta

“You are no longer a slave but son! And the fact that you are a son makes you an heir, by God’s design” (Galatians 4:7)

I have a great respect and admiration towards the American-lndian culture, which, as we know from history, the white man despised and damaged mercilessly. In American-lndian culture it was considered important to instill a sense of destiny in the young male Indian as he entered teen-age hood. An Indian youth would be dispatched alone into the mountains or the desert; there to meditate on life and to seek inspiration for the direction his own life would take. A majestic waterfall might deliver the message that he was destined to become a strong and powerful leader. As he reflected on this, the youth would choose a name for himself in keeping with the source of his inspiration, like Mighty Waters. Or, the message might come to him in the distant chant of the Medicine Man ministering to the sick. If this inspired him to dedicate his life to the alleviation of human suffering, he would choose a name like Good Medicine. The Indian youth was taught to take the name he bore as seriously as life itself, to regard it as a profound expression of his life’s destiny - something to be lived and lived up to. Yes, a real sense of commitment to a purposeful life - something to be lived and lived up to. In Biblical times, people’s attitudes towards names and titles were much closer to the Indian’s than to ours today. In Luke 2:21 we read: “When the eighth day arrived for His circumcision, the name Jesus was given the child, the name the angel had given Him before He was conceived.” The symbolic name the angel had given Him was ‘Emmanuel’, which means God with us. Properly invoked, the name of the Messiah is, in itself, a profound statement of Christian faith. Jesus’ messianic mission - His destiny, was to reveal to the world the Good News that God is indeed with us. Thus, Jesus’ destiny is summed up in His name: “God with us!” Jesus is precisely what His name says He is. Jesus is “God with us” - which tells us that we are loved by a God who will never abandon us. In Old Testament times, St. Paul’s time, in our time, and for time eternal, God reveals Himself to His human creatures as “Father”. In Paul’s words, “The proof that you are sons is the fact that God has sent forth into our hearts the spirit of His Son which cries out Father” (Gal. 4-6) For this reason, each one of us bears a name or title which also is not subject to change. In Old Testament times, in Paul’s time, in our time, and for all time, by God’s design, every human creature bears the title, “Child of God". And because God is our Father, because we are God's children, St. Paul can summarize our final destiny in the one word “heirs”. Again in Paul’s words, “the fact that you are a son makes you an heir.” Because we are children of God, we are destined from all eternity to share in our Father’s Estate. Because we are children of God, we are destined to share in our Father’s Kingdom. By God’s design, the building of the Kingdom is a family affair. In Jesus' words “The Kingdom

of God is amongst you” (Luke 17:21). By God’s design, His Kingdom will come when the community of man comes to regard the title “Children of God”, as seriously as life itself, as a profound expression of life’s destiny, as something to be lived and lived up to. By God’s design, His Kingdom will come when it has been finally structured by us, the children of God, in the image of our benevolent, compassionate and forgiving Father - who loves us and will never abandon us. The Kingdom will come, Jesus tells us, when we learn to “love one another as He loved us.” That, by God's design, is our means of living up to the name we bear here at the Ligonier Bethlen Nursing Home for more than 80 years, as we serve our brothers and sisters in Christian love. That is our destiny, by God’s design - in this New Year and in all the years to follow. Happy New Year!

AN INDIAN PRAYER

This Indian prayer had been sent to me in 1982 as a gift from Sioux Indian children of Red Cloud Indian school, Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

O’ GREAT SPIRIT,

Whose voice I hear in the winds,

And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me! I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom.

LET ME WALK IN BEAUTY, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.

MAKE MY HANDS respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

MAKE ME WISE, so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.

LET ME LEARN the lesson you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

I SEEK STRENGTH, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.

MAKE ME ALWAYS READY to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.

SO WHEN LIFE FADES, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame...