SPEAKING before delegates of the 9th plenary assembly of Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, SDB of Guwahati, India said today’s society need “God-experienced” persons, whose lives are deeply immersed in the Word and the Eucharist.
“They hold out hope. The future of human history depends on them,” the archbishop said.
The Indian prelate delivered his talk titled “A Presence that Challenges and Strengthens” on August 14, before more than a hundred assembly participants representing bishops conferences of Asia, Oceania, America, Canada and Europe.
Menamparampil said a person’s deep spirituality is the fruit of the individual’s own experience of God.
“[It] is characterized by authenticity, sincerity, deeds matching words, capacity to endure for common causes, gentle joy and religious seriousness” he said.
The archbishop took note of the typical Asian characteristic of holding spiritual people in high esteem.
“Amazingly Asians seem to esteem persons of depth. By ‘persons of depth’ we do not mean merely persons of intellectual acumen, but those who are deep in their spiritual perceptions, human relations, and commitment to values and to the common good,” he said.
Menamparampil also noted that the effects of globalization that lead people to nurture superficial relationships and treat others as mere objects have led people to look for real spiritual leaders they can rely on.
“In this globalized world where ‘utilitarian values’ seem to count most, where people are caught into a network of superficial relationships, where achievement is measured in terms of possessions and success in mutual manipulation, where increasing number of people are only claiming their rights and are indifferent to their responsibilities, we eagerly look for ‘deeper persons’, persons society can count on,” he said.
The prelate also noted the secularistic tendencies that have affected even deeply spiritual people.
He said radical commitment to social justice and development without concern to people’s spiritual needs “contribute to building up a godless space in human society.”
“It is in such cases that the exploited easily become exploiters, and the underdeveloped become reckless consumers, totally indifferent to the needs of the less privileged,” he said.
The failure to answer their spiritual needs have led even some individuals to join “sects”, the archbishop added.
It is in that perspective that society extremely needs spiritually-profound persons, who have intimately lived the ‘word’ and the Eucharist, he said.
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