Categoria: Idiomas

Discussing abortion, for love of life

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

It is hard to believe that some people defend abortion for abortion’s sake. Abortion involves eliminating life or interfering in a vital process that culminates in human life. Personally I am against abortion because I love life in each of its phases and in all its forms.

But this does not blind me to a macabre reality that must not be ignored and which defies good sense and public authority. Each year nearly 800,000 clandestine abortions are performed in Brazil. Every two days a woman dies, victim of an improperly performed clandestine abortion.

This reality must be confronted, not by the police but with a responsible public health policy and a realistic sensibility. I consider the attitude of those who intransigently defend life in the embryo and do not adopt the same attitude facing the thousands of children abandoned in misery, without food or love, wandering in the streets of our cities, to be hypocritical, (Pharisaic). Life must be loved in all its forms and ages, and not only in its first awakening in the mother’s womb. It behooves the State and all of society to create the conditions so that women generally will not need abortions.

On the steps of the Cathedral of Fortaleza, I myself assisted a famished mother, begging and nursing her child with the blood of her breast. She had the figure of a pelican. Perplexed and filled with compassion, I took her to the house of Cardinal Dom Aloisio Lorscheider, where we gave her all the assistance possible. For such reasons abortions occur, always painful, that profoundly affect the psyche of the mother. I will narrate what Leon Bonaventure, the eminent psychoanalyst of the Jungian school wrote, and which was mentioned in his introduction to a book by another Jungian psychoanalyst, Italian Eva Pattis, titled, Abortion, lost and renewal: paradox in the search of feminine identity, (Aborto, pérdida y renovación: paradoja en la búsqueda de la identidad femenina, Paulus, 2001).

Leon Bonaventure relates, with the subtlety of a fine psychoanalyst for whom spirituality constitutes a source of integration and curing of the wounds of the soul:

«A priest was confessing a woman who had aborted in the past. After listening to the confession, the priest asked her: “What name did you give to your child?” The woman, surprised, remained silent for a long time, because she had not given her child a name.

“So” –said the priest–, “we will give your child a name, and if you agree we will baptize him”. The woman nodded her head in agreement and they symbolically did it.

Afterwards, the priest made some reflections on the mystery of life: “life exists” –he said–, “that comes to the light of day to be lived in the Earth, for 10, 50, or 100 years. Other lives will never see the light of the Sun. In the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, December 28th is the feast of the Holy Innocents, the newly born who gratuitously died when the Divine Child was born in Bethlehem. May that day also be the feast day of your child”.

And he continued, saying: “in the Christian tradition the birth of a child is always a gift from God, a blessing. It was a custom in the past to go to the temple to offer the child to God. It is never too late to offer your child to God”.

The priest ended by saying: “as a human being I cannot judge you. If you sinned against life, the very God of life can reconcile you with life. Go in peace. And live”» (p. 9).

Pope Francis always recommends mercy, understanding and tenderness in the relations between priests and the faithful. That priest lived avant la lettre those profoundly human values that also belong to the witness of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. May those values inspire other priests to have the same humanity.
Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Faith and Politics beyond fundamentalism

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

We are in an election cycle. Many sectors of the different Churches, the Roman Catholic included, mobilize around projects for the country and candidates for several positions. This is the moment to clarify the relationship between faith and politics.

In the first place, we should distinguish between politics written with a capital P, and another with a small p, or between social politics (P) and party politics (p).

Social politics (P) is related to the common good of society; for example, the organization of health care, the school system, transportation, salaries, etc., are related to social politics. To struggle for a neighborhood health center, uniting to bring a bus line to the top of a mountain, is to engage in social politics.

That form of politics means the common search for the common good. All citizens and all Christians, Catholics or Evangelicals, can and must participate in that level of politics.

Party politics (p) represents the struggle for state power, to control the municipal, state and federal governments. The function of the political parties is to obtain power, to change it (the process of liberation), or to wield it as it is presently constituted (to govern the state as it exists). The party, as the very word implies, is a part, a piece of society, not all of society. Each party represents the interests of groups or classes that undertake projects for the whole society. If they achieve state power (govern) they will try to put into practice public policies according to their program and their party’s vision of the problems.

In terms of party politics, it is important to consider the following: to understand the party’s program; what place the people have in this program, whether it was discussed by the bases, whether it considers the historic demands of the people; whether it provides for popular participation, through its movements and organs, in its conception, implementation and control; who are the candidates that represent the program, what is their biography, whether they are on a blacklist, whether they have always maintained an organic link with the bases, whether they are truly allied with and representative of the causes of justice and necessary social change, or whether they want to keep social relations as they are, with all the contradictions and injustices that implies.

This mode of political power has been historically exercised by our elites for their own benefit, forgetting the subject of all power, that is the people.

How does faith enter into all of this?

Faith has to do directly with God and with God’s design for humanity, but it is within society and is a creator of opinion and decisions. It functions like a bicycle; it has two wheels through which it becomes effective in society: the wheel of religion and the wheel of politics.

The wheel of religion becomes concrete through prayer, celebrations, preaching and the reading of the Scriptures.

Through the wheel of politics, faith is expressed by practicing justice and solidarity, and denouncing corruption. As we can see, politics here is synonymous with ethics. We have to learn to maintain equilibrium over the two wheels to be able to act correctly.

The Bible considers the wheel of politics as ethics more important than the wheel of religion as cult. Without ethics, faith becomes empty and fruitless. Practices and not preaching are what have worth to God. Better than proclaiming, «Lord, Oh Lord» is to do the will of the Father, that is love, mercy and justice, things that are practical, and therefore ethical.

Concretely, faith and politics are together in people’s lives. Faith includes politics, that is, a Christian because of being a Christian, must strive for justice and social well being; s/he must also opt for programs and persons that are as close as possible to that which is understood as the project of Jesus and God in history. Pope Francis emphasized that when he was in Brazil.

But faith reaches beyond politics, because faith also refers to eternal life, to the resurrection of the flesh, to the transformation of the universe, something that no social politics, no political party or state can promise.

The passage from faith to party politics is not direct, that is, from the Bible is not directly deduced the support of a given political party, a person’s the duty to vote; or how much the minimum wage should be. The Bible does not offer solutions, but the inspiration to be able to make a good choice of party, and to create a dignified wage. For a Christian who follows the line on which Pope Francis keeps insisting, politics should be:

–liberating: it is not enough to transform the society that exists; what is important is a different model of society, one that is more inclusive, and through participation, facilitates social justice.

– liberating, starting with the poor and excluded majorities: it must begin from the very bottom, because that way no one is left out; if it started with the salaried worker or the bourgeoisie, it would omit, from the start, almost half of the excluded population.

– a politics that uses liberating methodologies, that is, one that facilitates participation by the people, from the bottom up and from the inside out; a politics that offers more than a representative/delegating democracy, but a participative democracy through which the people with their organizations help to discuss, decide and solve social questions. That was the great demand of the June 2013 demonstrations, which is firmly entrenched now.

– a socio-ecological democracy that respects the rights of Mother Earth, of the eco-systems, the animals and all beings of creation with which we maintain interdependent relations.

This kind of politics is one of the highest forms of social love.

Charisma and charismatic: what kind of energy is it?

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

Charisma, carma, Crishna, Cristo, crisma and caritas posses the same Sanskrit root, kri or kir. It refers to the cosmic energy that refines and vitalizes, penetrates and rejuvenates all. It is a force that attracts and fascinates the spirit. A person does not posses charisma: the person is possessed by charisma. It is as if the person, regardless of personal merit, is possessed by a force that irradiates to others, astonishing them: if they are talking, they become silent; if they are focused on something, their attention turns to the charismatic person. Charisma is something surprising. It is in humans, but it does not come from them. It comes from something higher and superior. Nietzsche says that when he was hiking in the Alps he would be possessed by a force that would make him write. It was something other that used him. Nietzsche would take his notebook and write down his best intuitions.

Anthropologists introduced the word mana, taken from the Melanesian culture. The mana-personality irradiates an extraordinary and irresistible power that, without violence, imposes itself on others. It attracts, enthuses, fascinates, commands. In our Western tradition, it is the equivalent of charisma.

Who are the charismatic? In fact, everyone is. No one is denied that cosmic force of presence and attraction. We all carry within something of the stars whence we come. The life of every person is called to shine, according to what a singer says, to be charismatic in one way or another. Jose Marti, the Cuban thinker, one of the best of Latin America, put it well: there are human beings who are like stars, they generate their own light, while others reflect the brightness they receive from them. Some are suns, others, moons. No one is outside the light, be it their own, or reflected. In the end, all of us are in the light to shine.

But there are charismatics and charismatics. In some, this force of irradiation implodes and explodes. They are like a light shining in the night. They attract the gaze of everyone. All the bishops and cardinals could have paraded before the gathered faithful; there could have been impressive figures from the intelligentsia, of administrative capacity and apostolic zeal, but when he was still with us, all eyes would have been fixed on Dom Helder Camara, an eminent carrier of charisma. His figure was insignificant. He looked like a suffering servant without beauty or adornment. But from him emanated a force of tenderness that, together with the vigor of his words, was softly imposed on all.

Many can speak, and there are good speakers who attract attention. But let the emeritus bishop of Sao Felix do Araguaia talk. His voice is hoarse and sometimes it almost disappears. But in that voice there is such strength and persuasion that people are left agape. It is charisma that makes a fragile and weak bishop appear to be a giant. Today almost unable to speak, due to advanced Parkinson’s disease, his writings and poetry have the strength of fire. He is a magnificent poet.

There are politicians who are capable and great administrators. The majority masterfully handle the spoken word. But let Lula rise to the lectern facing the multitudes. He begins to speak softly, assumes a narrative tone, and searches for the best way to communicate. Slowly he gains strength, surprising connections emerge, the line of argument acquires the correct framework, the volume of his voice rises, his eyes become incandescent, his movements modulate his speech, and at a given moment his whole body is in communication, argumentation, and communion with the multitude, that goes from boisterous to silent and from silent to petrified, then, in the culminating moment, erupts in shouts of applause and enthusiasm. It is emanating charisma. It matters little the opinion we may have of his eight years of governance. In Lula the presence of charisma cannot be denied.

Not for nothing Max Weber, scholar of the charismatic power, calls it «the nascent state». Each time it emerges, the charisma seems to call forth the creation of the world within the charismatic person or mana-personality. The function of the charismatics is to be midwife to the latent charisma within others. Their mission is not to dominate them with their splendor, nor seduce them so that the people follow them blindly, but to awaken them from their every day lethargy. And, when they awaken, that they discover that every day life has within it secrets, novelties, and hidden energies that can always be awakened and can give new meaning of brilliance to life, to our short passage through this universe.

Let everyone discover the star that left its light and its imprint within. And if they are faithful to the light, they will shine, and others will perceive it enthusiastically.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

The Feminine Side of God

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

Early one sleepless morning, I returned to my usual work on the computer. Suddenly, it seemed that I heard something. I do not know if it came from the celestial world or from my mind in an altered state, but a voice, like a whisper, told me: “Son, I will reveal to you a truth that has always been there, in my Gospel writer Luke, but that the eyes of men, blinded by centuries of patriarchy, could not see. It is about the intimate and ineffable relationship between Mary and the Holy Ghost”.

And the voice continued whispering: “The one who is third in the order of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, is the first in the order of creation. He came first to the world; then came the Son of God. It was the Holy Ghost who soared over the primitive chaos, and took from there all the orders of creation. As is said by my Gospel writer Luke recounts, that Spirit creator told Mary: He will come to you, Mary, and will set up his tent over you. This is why the engendered Saint will be called Son of God. To set up the tent, as you know, means to dwell, to inhabit definitively. If Mary, perplexed, had not said her fiat, let it be done according to Your word, the Son would not have been incarnated and the Holy Ghost would have not been feminized.

Listen, son, to what I am telling you: The Spirit came to dwell definitively over this woman, Mary. He identified with her, united Himself with her in such a radical and mysterious form that within her began to take shape the holy humanity of Jesus. The Spirit of life produced the new life, the new man, Jesus. To you and to all the faithful it is clear that the masculine was made divine through the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Now go to the Gospel of Saint Luke, and you will see that through Mary of Nazareth, the feminine was made divine as well, by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost set up His tent, this is, He came to definitively dwell in her. Note that John, the Gospel writer, says the same about the Son: He set His tent in Jesus. Is it not the Spirit, the same voice whispers, that takes the prophet on a predetermined mission, and, when that mission is fulfilled, His presence within him ends? With Mary, it is different. He comes, dwells, and never leaves. She is elevated to the loftiness of the Divine Holy Spirit. Hence, logically, the engendered Saint will be called Son of God. Such is the case of Mary. Not without reason is she blessed among women.

Son, this is the truth you must proclaim: though Mary, God was revealed as both God-the-Father and God-the-Mother, also with the characteristics of the feminine: love, tenderness, caring, compassion and mercy. These virtues also are present in men, but they find a more visible expression in women.

Son, when you say God-the-Mother you will discover the feminine side of God, with all the feminine virtues. Never forget that no woman ever betrayed Jesus. They were faithful to Him even at the foot of the cross. While His disciples, the men, fled – Judas betrayed and Peter denied Him – but the women expressed a faithful love to the extreme. The women, well before the apostles, were the first to give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus, the greatest event in the history of salvation.

Maternity does not exhaust the feminine side of God, which is also revealed wherever there is intimacy, lovingness, gentleness and sensibility, which are perceptible in the feminine. Never let anyone, for any reason, discriminate against a woman for being a woman. Offer all the reasons that she must be respected and loved, because she reveals something of God that only she, together with man, can create, in My image and likeness. Support her struggles, gather her contributions to society, to the Churches, to the equilibrium between men and women. Women are a sacrament of God-the-Mother of all, the path leading us to the tenderness of God. Let’s hope that women embrace their divine side, found in one of their compañeras, Mary of Nazareth. The day will come when the blinders that cover your eyes will fall and then men and women will feel that they are made divine by the Son and by the Holy Spirit.”

When I came to, I knew with a clear mind just how much truth had been communicated to me. And, moved, I was filled with praise and thanksgiving.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,