When I was a young and idealistic priest… in search of a path on how to live and work among Muslims, I stumbled through the help of Frs. George Anawatti, OP and Jacques Jomier, OP and their Dominican companions in Cairo during the early 80’s to touch base with a tradition that began and is identified with Frs. Louis Massignon and Charles de Foucauld. It is the Badaliyya movement… or a Ransom/Substituion Movement.
It is a tradition that draws inspiration from the whole reality of “being a ransom/substitution” before the Lord beginning with Jesus Christ… to mark the relationships with our Muslim neighbors.
This a tradition retrieved by St. Francis of Assisi by being a threat to no one and loving in his powerlessness and poverty all without exclusion thus being empowered to call even the avowed enemies – called at that time as the “Saracens” as “brothers” and “sisters”. Francis lived as a LITTLE and poor brother to all – semper minor!!!
In our contemporary times, Frs. Louis Massignon and and Charles de Foucauld through the mystical paths… discovered anew this inspiration and lived the hospitality of God as both guest and host and fulfilling in their lives and prayers whatever may be lacking or ambiguous in our relationship but at the same time always remaining as “little” brothers to their Muslim neighbors.
Bapa Eliseo Mercado, OMI
No comments:
Post a Comment