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A religious Pied Piper...
in Zen Buddhist robes?
By Father David K. O'Rourke, OP
NC News Service
S everal years ago I was
working on the staff of
a human relations pro
gram for high school
students. The local
school district wished to
familiarize their student leaders
with the different social, religious
and ethnic backgrounds
represented in Southern California.
So we took groups of more than
100 older student leaders away for
a week at a time. There were
several religious leaders on the
staff, and I was the priest.
The rabbi, whom I shall call
Jesse, and I had a lot in common.
We were both good teachers, in
volved in community affairs and
leaders in our own religious com
munities. We had helped design
the program for high school
students and also were good
friends. We could not have ob
jected if someone had pinned an
activist label on us.
By contrast, there was a Bud
dhist monk who used to come to
our camp in the mountains for one
day out of the week. He was
friendly but restrained. He never
took part in any discussions of
social issues.
He sat smiling softly as our
debates roared on. Then he would
unpack a portable shrine, put on
his robes and demonstrate Bud
dhist ritual with great artistry.
And the youngsters absolutely
flocked to him. He w r as a religious
Pied Piper in a Zen Buddhist robe.
Jesse and I would grump as we
watched our Je wish and Catholic
youngsters offer incense and ring
bells, fascinated by the ritual.
“Here I am,” Jesse would
grouse, “trying to teach my kids
about creating a just society, and
they’d rather burn incense.”
“Maybe I should forget about
the bishops’ teachings on peace
and war,” I would respond, “and
focus on celebrating Mass in
Latin.”
Our comments about the “com
petition” were good-natured, but
the youngsters were pointing out
one of the realities of American
religion.
Both the rabbi and I, like many
of our colleagues, are involved in
major social issues. The quality of
life for all people in America is im
portant to us.
But the quest for justice, vitally
important as it is, represents only
one dimension of our traditions.
There is also the meditative and
contemplative dimension of our
lives. There is the human need for
the quiet in which stress can drift
away; for religious rituals that can
calm our unruly side.
It was this need, I believe, that
Jesse and I watched surface in our
youngsters.
Religions that emphasize quiet
and ritual, including ones with
their roots in the Orient, can exer
cise an appeal for Americans who
live under such great pressure. In
terestingly, the Catholic tradition
also is very rich in this area. It is a
dimension of the tradition that has
perhaps been underemphasized of
late.
But as Jesse and I continually
learned, the need is there and the
thirst seems real. We saw firsthand
that an encounter with another
religion may cause us to take a
dimension of our own faith more
seriously.
(Father O’Rourke is on the staff
of the Family Life Office in the
Diocese of Oakland, Calif.)
Inseparable traditions
By Father John Casteiot
NC News Service
T he first place St. Paul
headed when he
entered a town to
preach the good news
was the synagogue. And
he was arrested at the end of his
last missionary journey when he
went to the temple in Jerusalem to
fulfill a vow he had made.
The first generation of disciples
were all full-fledged members of
the synagogue. They even modeled
their worship on that of the
synagogue; in that regard their
legacy persists to this day in the
church’s Liturgy of the Word, the
part of the Mass containing the
readings and the homily.
After Paul’s conversion he still
worshiped the same God as ever.
It was just that he came to realize
that God’s saving plan had been
brought to a climax in his Son,
Jesus. True, Paul’s attitude toward
the Law became rather liberal, but
he still considered himself a Jew.
In Romans 9-11, Paul agonized
over the fact that his co-religionists
by and large did not accept Christ.
But in doing so, he showed how
close he felt to them, crying out in
an eloquent overstatement:
“I have great sorrow and con
stant anguish in my heart. For I
could wish that I myself were ac
cursed and separated from Christ
for the sake of my brothers, my
kin according to the flesh”
(Romans 9:1-4).
We often divide the early Chris
tians into Jewish Christians and
gentile Christians. This is
misleading. All the first Christians,
whatever their ethnic background,
were Jewish Christians in varying
degrees. They came into the Chris
tian community by way of
Judaism, at least to the extent of
being given a thorough grounding
in the Old Testament.
Some gentiles converted to
Judaism before Christian mis
sionaries addressed their synagogue
congregations. In any event, ail the
first missionaries were Jewish and
they instructed their converts in
God’s saving plan, beginning with
Abraham’s call and continuing
through the whole Old Testament
period.
One of Luke’s purposes in
writing his Gospel and the Acts of
the Apostles was to convince his
gentile readers of their roots in
Judaism, By giving so much atten
tion to the missionary journeys of
Paul, the founder of their com
munities, Luke was getting across
the point that they went back
through Paul to the Twleve, to
Jesus, to Israel.
All the figures in Luke’s gospel
story of Jesus’ birth are devout
Jews, like the aged Simeon, who
“was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel”
(2:25). Mary and Joseph are a
devout Jewish couple, who have
the baby circumcised on the eighth
day (2:21) and bring the boy on
pilgrimage to the temple (2:41-50).
And look at the opening
sentence of Matthew’s Gospel:
“The book of the genealogy of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the
son of Abraham.” This is followed
by a family tree of Jesus that traces
his origins back to Abraham, father
of the chosen people.
If we speak today of a Judeo-
Christian ethic, it is because the
two traditions, Jewish and Chris
tian, are inseparable. Christians
never can forget their ties, their
debt, to Judaism. They never can
forget their roots without losing
their true sense of identity.
(Father Casteiot is a professor of
Scripture at St. John’s Seminary,
Plymouth, Mich.)
There's no place
• like home
By Rabbi Daniel F. Polish
NC News Service
1 remember this story •
from my youth: It is
said that when the
father of a family comes ^
home from synagogue
as the sun is setting on Friday
night he is followed by two
angels. One wishes the family *
well, another wishes it ill. When
the father reaches home, the
angels look through the window. .
If they find the home ready for
Shabbat (the Sabbath), if the table
is set beautifully with candles,
wine and wine cups for the kid- '
dash (the sanctification of the Sab
bath day), the family beautifully
dressed to greet the Shabbat as a %
special guest — then the angel
that wishes the family well says,
“May all of this family’s Sabbaths
be like this,” while his companion 1
is forced to say “Amen.”
But if the house appears as it
does on a regular weekday — the #
family isn’t ready, there is discord
— then the angel that wishes
them ill says, “May all of this
family’s Sabbaths be like this.” •
The other sadly responds
“Amen.”
What must be striking about this
story to non-Jewish eyes is that
the focus of Jewish observance is
in the home. Precious as the
synagogue is as a house of study,
a place of gathering and of wor
ship, the fullness of Jewish life is
lived in the home.
How much in keeping with this
is the well-known injunction of
Deuteronomy 13: “Thou shall *
love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul and
with all thy might. And these
words which I command thee this*
day shall be upon thy heart. Thou
shalt teach them diligently unto
thy children and shalt speak of •
them...when thou liest down and
when thou risest up.... Thou shalt
write them upon the doorposts of
thy house and upon thy gates.”
These words, repeated in every
Jewish prayer service, speak of ac
tions that in the main take place -
in the home: when we lie down,
when we rise up.
Jews have interpreted the
Deuteronomy passage by creating
a mezuzah, a small case with a
parchment inside containing these
words, the Ten Commandments *
and other words of Scripture. It is
traditionally hung on the right
doorpost of Jewish homes. We
kiss it when we enter and when
we leave as an expression of
reverence.
A mezuzah, traditionally hung on
the right doorpost of Jewish
homes, contains a small case with
a parchment inside on which are
written the Ten Commandments
and words of Scripture.
When Jews talk about their
religious life a common thread
soon emerges. Our formative
memories center around obser
vances at home.
In Eastern Europe, where most
Jews in America trace their roots,
people lived meagerly. But the
Sabbath was always a time for re
joicing. If there was one good
meal in the week, it would be
served Friday night as the Shabbat
was greeted.
This meal is accompanied by
singing and storytelling. Candles
are lit to welcome the Shabbat
and the kiddush is sung. It is a
meal that can stretch into the
night as family and friends ex
change news or teach stories from
the tradition and sing.
For most Jews, the most power
ful childhood memory is the Seder
ritual with which the Passover is
greeted. Again a meal is served.
This service is a good bit longer
and more structured. We read
from our Haggadah, the story of
the exodus from Egypt. Special
blessings are said, songs sung and
special foods eaten, each a symbol
of some aspect of the story of our
liberation.
It is also a custom for every
family to build a succah — a frail
booth — in its backyard at the
Feast of Booths, the autumn holi
day of Succot. Then friends and
relatives are invited to share a
meal under the starts and to say
the blessings expressing gratitude
for the freedom we earned
thousands of years ago and which
is our fortunate lot today. And it
is a time to give thanks for the
bounty of the harvest that sustains
body along with soul.
Of course this is in addition to
study, prayer at meals, the morn
ing and perhaps evening worship
which traditional Jews practice
every day in the home. Tradition
talks about the family table
becoming a mikdash ma 'at — a
small sanctuary. By investing the
home with sanctity, the rest of
the life there is changed.
The religious experience felt
there becomes associated with the
family’s love. To live a truly
Jewish life, every moment must be
infused with sanctity and every
place with holiness.
In our homes we feel the
presence, the nearness of God. All
of this so that “we may remember
and do all his commandments and
be holy unto our God.”
(Rabbi Polish is senior rabbi at
Temple Israel in Los Angeles.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Pope John Paul II met with Jewish leaders in Miami during his 1987
U.S. visit. He was addressed by a rabbi and also delivered an address.
Then he met with interreligious leaders in Los Angeles. Among those
who addressed him was a rabbi. Why does the pope meet with Jewish
leaders? Why is this important?
The Holocaust of the Jews during World War II is an event that can
never be forgotten by Jewish people. Recently Pope John Paul II made
it known that the Vatican will develop a major document on the
Holocaust and on anti-Semitism. Why is a profound understanding of
the Holocaust important for Catholic-Jewish relations?
If Christians enter a Jewish synagogue for a religious service, what
are some things that might seem familiar? What will seem different?
Why does Dominican Father David O’Rourke suggest that the major
world religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, have
something to teach each other?
Second Helpings. “We in the church have tended to look on the
Hebrew Scriptures only as prelude, only as giving us glimpses of the New
Testament message. We have generally failed to appreciate its spiritual
richness in its own right,” write Servite Father John Pawlikowski and James
Wilde in When Catholics Speak About Jews. Sensitivities about Judaism need
sharpening; consciousness needs raising and prejudice needs confronting,
they say. The book is “about healing a relationship through the kind of
preaching and teaching demanded by Vatican II” and its historical docu
ment on Christian-Jewish relationships. The book intends to help people
become better informed “about how to handle complex scriptural texts on
the delicate matter of Jewish-Christian relations,” the authors add. (Liturgy
Training Publications, Archdiocese of Chicago, 1800 N. Hermitage, Chicago,
Ill. 60622. 1987. Paperback, $5.95.)
Your Will Can Be A Prayer
Your Last Will and Testament can be
more than a legal document. It offers
an opportunity for serious reflection
and prayer — a holy process of putting
all things in order.
That’s because writing a will requires
more than a mere listing of posses
sions. It’s also a time to review the feel
ings you have for your family, friends
and the Church. Doesn't it make sense
that such an important document be an
extension of your faith? Your will then
becomes a statement of your belief in
God and His Church.
Extension’s latest will planning
booklet, “Your Will Can Be a Prayer,”
offers suggestions on how you can
make the drafting of your will a simple
spiritual exercise. Write today for a free
copy.
The Catholic Church
EXTEIVSIOM Society
Dear Father Slattery:
□ Please send me Extension’s free will planning kit.
Rev./Sr./Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms.
Address
City State Zip.
Birthdate / /. Telephone ( ) _
This information will be kept strictly confidential.
FT 0938
