2019 Summer Course: Carmelite, Benedictine and Islamic Spiritualities

ISA welcomed as many as 26 participants including a lay minister, a Protestant pastor, a chaplain of a Catholic university in Mindanao, the heads of campus ministries in two major private universities and in one state university in Metro Manila, nuns and priests from Indonesia and East Timor, and the seven Carmelite novices now in formation.       

Lectures on Islamic spirituality were held in the morning of Days 1-5. Those on Benedictine as well as Carmelite spirituality were set in the afternoons of Days 2-3 and Days 4-5, respectively.
 

DEFINING TERMS

In the afternoon of Day 1, Fr. Marlon Lacal, O.Carm.. Provincial Councilor of the Philippine Province of Blessed Titus Brandsma, traced the origins and growth of a school of spirituality.   

Fr. Lacal defined a s school of spirituality as (1) a spiritual way that derives from a Source-experience around which (2) an inner circle of pupils takes shape which (3) is situated within the socio-cultural context in a specific way and (4) opens  a specific —– word missing on the future; (5) a second generation structures all this into organic whole, by means of which (6)  a number of people can  share in the Source-experience; when the Source-experience, the contextual relevance and the power to open the future are blocked, (7) a reformation is needed.

Source

He also defined a source-experience as the fundamental experience of specific people who are touched by God and are transformed in their specific situation. But this Source-experience will need pupils to assimilate, live out and give practical expressions to it.

“Only when a founder groups around him pupils who attempt to imitate him and sanctify themselves with the same means, and only when one of these pupil forges the practical instructions of his teacher into a single whole, do we have the fulfilment of the condition needed for the formation of a school spirituality,” said Fr, Lacal.

 Followers

To rise, a school of spirituality needs not just a Source-experience but also pupils who assimilate it, live out of it, and give it practical expressions. Such a school derives its shape from their joint  participation, and its origin, basic concept, and structuring from the context of  its circumstances and historical situation.

In terms of organization, a school of spirituality is characterized by specific values and goals to which its means are adjusted.  A school may exist for mission work or for education or for taking care of the sick. To this goal orientation and within the givens of faiths, a school of spirituality lays out accents which introduce a pupil to its value system and conceptual world.  These accents also display the inner coherence of the school and contextualizes it within Christian spirituality.

Other elements

Having been in direct contact with the Source-experience, the first generation gives the school its basic form while the second and later generations moves to make it accessible to many more.  Slowly these generations forge a complex that is organically whole and has all the elements indispensable for spiritual advancement.

More important than the connection with the larger whole is accessibility. After all, the Source-experience was one or more person(s) devoted to the quest for God’s touch. The more a school becomes a system and a method, the more the unique way of a pupil is put under pressure and the more he or she is asked to accept and incorporate this spirituality into one’s life.

Lastly, Fr. Lacal said that the need for reform usually comes from several directions: “Access from the Source-experience has become blocked by over-organization; the original synthesis is no longer relevant to the socio-religious context; the combination of means is no longer experience as useful. When the pupil can no longer link their spiritual journey to that of the school, the most pressing need then becomes renunciation.”

BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITY

 Sr. Christine Pinto, OSB, president of St. Scholastica’s College, opened her talk with a video documentary on how Nursia, the birthplace of St. Benedict (480-547), is still rebuilding the basilica, the monastery he had established and other landmarks after the 2016 earthquake.

She said, “Benedict was called `blessed in name and in grace.’ He had complete trust in the providence of God.  And he had the gifts of prophecy and of working miracles.”  

From the library of her institution Sr. Pinto borrowed copies of The Life and Miracles of Saint Benedict, written by the first monk to become pope, St. Pope Gregory I, as Book II of his Dialogues, and asked the participants of the summer course to present vignettes of his life.

For example, Group 5 dramatized how even if he himself was not by the river, St. Benedict rescued the novice Placid from drowning. The group member-actress cried out like Placid, “The abbot was here. I saw him. He was wearing his cape.”

She explained, “His works of wonder showed St. Benedict’s care and compassion for the people around him. He understood the weaknesses of his monks.

Making the Rule

Sr. Pinto recounted how at age 20, Benedict moved to Rome in his desire to become a monk. But disillusioned by the corruption, he fled to Monte Cassino, where he attracted adherents and developed the Rule of St. Benedict (RB, 530 A.D.) to help institute reforms.

She introduced the Rule, starting with the Prologue (“Listen carefully, my child, to the Master’s instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart… We intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service”) and the 73 chapters of the Rule.  She then lent the participants copies of the Rule from the library of her college and asked them to read it overnight.

Sr. Pinto started Day 2 with a video of Monte Cassino itself and then discussed the Rule at length. She pointed out that St. Benedict is said to have copied the Prologue and the first seven chapters from the work The Rule of the Master and with the guidance of the Scripture, St. Augustine, St. Basil and St. John Cassian, monk and theologian who introduced to Europe the practices of the Egyptians desert fathers-hermits.

She stated that St. Benedict saw monastic life as a way of seeking God in a community led by an abbot. He had rules on spiritual doctrines (Chapters 4, Tools of Good Works); 5, Obedience; 6, Silence; and 7, Humility) as well as on the discipline and structure of the monastery.

To concretize Ch. 7, Sr. Pinto provided music sheets of a song set to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” but enumerating the steps to humility as part of Benedictine spirituality.

She asked twelve participants of the summer course to come to the front, hold up flash cards (“Step  6: A monk is  content with the lowest and most menial treatment“) and reflect on the  virtues while the rest sang key phrases per step, led by a novice who could read musical notes.

In the succeeding chapters, St. Benedict made rules focused primarily on prayer, work and study. For example, he listed in Chapter 16 (Performing the Divine Office throughout the Day) the following schedule of prayers: Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline and Matins. 

The participants had an experience of such prayers when Sr. Pinto flashed on the screen the following liturgy for Easter Wednesday: Opening Hymn, Alleluia, Scripture Reading, Concluding Prayer with the Cantor, and lastly, Acclamations on the peace and love of Christ.

The Rule also has chapters on community structure and discipline. For example, Chapter 20 is on Reverent Prayer while Chapter 33 is entitled Possessions. Other examples are Chapters 48 (Daily Work), 53 (Receiving Guests) and 54 (Receiving Letters).

“On no account let them exalt anything above God,” wrote St. Benedict in the penultimate chapter; this became Sr. Pinto’s Power Point slide “That in all things God may be glorified.”

Relevance

The Rule of St. Benedict continues to be applied today.  Sr. Pinto gave out a summary of her Ph.D dissertation at Duquesne University (Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania) with a schema of the core virtues of  Benedictine education.

She wrote: “Christ-centeredness is the very basis of all other Benedictine values. Education and formation should begin with acquiring the interior disposition of silence and restraint of speech; listening; humility; obedience; discretion; stability in imitation of Christ and for the love of God. These values are taught, learned shown, imbibed and practiced as a community with … daily  prayer, study and work, and a structure of discipline and order. The other values of stewardship, hospitality, service; justice and peace that are woven into the daily life of a Benedictine school are also lived (or practiced) beyond the school walls, out to the society and the world.” 

Sr.Pinto also handed out excerpts from Chapter 4 (Tools of Good Works) which she called The Legacy of St. Benedict and sub-divided into eight exhortations. The seventh (“Listen readily to holy reading; devote yourself often to prayer…)  invokes the listening heart in the Prologue.

She ended her talk by citing what she called an important contribution of St. Benedict to the Church, Lectio Divina. She explained her hand-out on this by saying, “This is a prayerful reading of the Scriptures for us to be able to listen to what our Lord wants us to see, and then to dialogue and see the in action the fruits of Lectio Divina.

“We may be familiar with its components of reading the Sacred Scriptures followed by meditation, prayer, and contemplation. To these are sometimes added compassion and action. They do indeed complete the sequence.” 

CARMELITE SPIRITUALITY 

The speaker, Sr. Ma. Elena Tolentino, O.Carm. entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Family in 1982  She had her Simple Profession in 1984 and her Solemn Profession in 1989.

In 1993 she was sent to Burgos, Pangasinan in the Diocese of Alaminos as one of the foundresses of the Carmelite Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Here, she served as  Formator until 1999 and as Prioress until 2014.

Starting 2011 Sr. Tolentino has been the Coordinator  of the Stella Maris Federation of the nine O.Carm. monasteries in the Philippines From 2008 she has been on the Secretariat of the Nuns as appointed by the General Curia of the Carmelite Order in Rome.

Brief history

The Order started as hermits clustering around Mount Carmel in the Holy Land to devote themselves to God.

The Order has no specific founder but its members identify themselves with the Prophet Elijah and live under the protection, inspiration and guidance of Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, “Our Mother and sister.”

Sr. Tolentino told the participants, “At the time of the Crusades to the Holy Land, hermits settled in various places throughout Palestine; some of them, following the example of Elijah, a holy man and a lover of solitude, adopted a solitary life style on Mount Carmel near a spring called Elijah’s Fountain. They stayed in cells or nearby, pondering the Lord’s law day and night and keeping watch through prayers unless attending to some other duty. This is Paragraph 11 of the Rule of Life given by St. Albert.”

In their cells the hermits prayed the Psalms, the canonical Liturgy of the Hours, or a certain number of the Lord’s Prayer if one could not read or write.  And in an oratory built among their cells, they heard Mass daily in common, per Paragraph 14 of the Rule. 

In celebrating the Eucharist in common, they received a rhythmic structure, a pivot to where they could come as one and from where they could go to do God’s will during the day.   

“These hermits prayed in many ways; there was no single method,” Sr. Tolentino said at the Summer Course. “But they had a commitment is to pondering the Lord’s law day and night, unless they were asked to do something else.  That was the mark of the first Carmelite hermits.  That is the mark of Carmel even today.”

She added: “Through the centuries this way of life changed, as was relevant to the times. The Carmelites became mendicants and established monasteries in the cities.  They had to minister to people in various ways and to pursue higher learning.  But they had prayer and contemplation to keep on purifying their hearts, their communities and their practices and laws.”

From the Holy Land the Carmelites began to migrate to the West to escape persecution and to give expression to their desire to lead a life “in which, with the help of God, they would have the joy of working for their own salvation and that of their neighbour.”

In Europe the Carmelites institutionalized their way of life in a Constitution which was approved by Pope Honorius III in 1226, Gregory IX in 1229 and Innocent IV in 1245. In 1247 it was approved by Innocent IV as an authentic rule of life amended to suit Western conditions.

Contemplation  – the heart of the Carmelite charism

At the Summer Course on Spirituality, Sr. Tolentino said she was very much interested in helping others to move further deeper into contemplation. 

She pointed out, “All spiritual writers say that contemplation is a sheer gift.  We cannot make it happen.  The best we can do  …  is to prepare ourselves to receive this singular gift.  Fr. Miceal O’Neill, O. Carm. calls it `open attentiveness.’”  

She added that it is contemplation which unifies, purifies and makes integral and flowing and fruitful the fundamental elements of Carmelite charism, namely; prayer, community and service.

The Constitution of the Friars continues to uphold contemplation. Paragraph 17 says, “The tradition of the Order has always interpreted the Rule and the founding charism as expressions of the contemplative dimension of life, and the great spiritual teachers of the Carmelite Family have always returned to this contemplative vocation.”

 Sr. Tolentino also quoted Bro. Gunter Benker, O. Carm, who has been involved in formation programs as a member of the Carmelite Province of Upper Germany and of the Formation Commission of the Order itself.

He said: “Contemplation … is the most essential and basic value of our vocation because it means nothing less than entrusting ourselves in any situation of our life to the unlimited love of the true God without clinging to any other means of security so that He may heal our wounds, purify our motivations, transform our feelings and our thinking according to the principles of His kingdom, which are so different from what we normally were taught to believe.”

A new way

Sr. Tolentino revealed that she had once reached the point of finding it hard to meditate. Her prayer life became so simple that it almost disappeared. She experienced a heavy sense of tiredness and aversion for meditation but continued to pray. She also discovered the Centering Prayer method of Fr. Thomas Keating and was helped. 

“But after a while, I found myself with the same torpor and emptiness. Of course, for a Carmelite nun, empty prayer was better than no prayer at all.  I would console myself and remind myself that I seek not the consolations of God, but the God of consolations who gives according to his good pleasure.  At the same time I was fully aware that I loved God and I desired to be united with him, and prayer is the way.”

Looking back, she can now attribute to ignorance the sitting in dryness, darkness,  drifting  and staying in the chapel without interest: “We didn’t know that there was another way.  We were not up against a wall but in front of a door – a door that we never imagined.

“Our dry and dark experiences of our prayer were not a dead end but a way forward. Our prayer was developing naturally and positively.  This is St. John of the Cross’ greatest contribution to spirituality!  …  His writings are telling us that though the road is dark, it is in truth the wonderful way to get closer to Jesus. He encourages us to go forward on this road …  We are on the right track – the natural and usual way of simplification of prayer.”

This saint marks three ways towards illumination –  one, “active night of the spirit”; two, “dark night” or  “poverty of spirit’ empty of all sense images and reasoning; and “third night” or “tranquil night” or “the rising dawn” in order to connect it with the metaphor of the night:

Active night of the spirit

According to Sr. Tolentino, St. John of the Cross treats the active night of the spirit in books II and III of the Ascent of Mount Carmel. He describes the first [active] night of the spirit as pertaining to the lower sensory part of man’s nature. And he sees the second [active] darker night of faith as belonging to the rational, superior part; it is darker and more interior because it deprives the night of its rational light, or better, blinds it. But he says that  the darkness is actually a sign of progress and that it is wrong  to struggle for the sensible thoughts, images, affections and reasonings of meditation.

At this stage, prayer becomes naturally simpler, with less and less intellectual work or affective response. Such a kind of prayer helps because it is at this stage when want to give up discursive meditation but we have not yet arrived at infused contemplation. We must have courage to suspend our thoughts, imaginations and reasonings, and wait with confidence for God to show himself to us in a new way.

Such a gift comes gradually, according to our success in closing down our reflections and being more open and prepared for God’s infused grace. While waiting for God’s showing himself to us directly in contemplation, how should we pray? This is the most critical question for us.

John of the Cross points out, “We must persevere patiently in prayer in a simple attentiveness to God, without trying to force ourselves to say, do, or feel anything. Our only effort is to remain at rest and quiet; we do little more than wait and endure.”

The active night of the spirit is active only as attentiveness; it is a single act of faith and a general and loving realization of God’s presence. Yet this general realization is at times so subtle and delicate that it can hardly be perceived, even though we are occupied in it.

The active night is also active in a negative sense. Since  we deliberately refrain from sensible images, rational thoughts and affections, we freely commit ourselves to an inner austerity of prayer, which is the only way to truly reach the real God in a new way of prayer.

Passive night of the spirit

The passive night of the spirit is another stage in one’s spiritual journey, according to John of the Cross.  Here, the difficulty to meditate grows even greater than in the active night.  The old forms of meditation are no longer useful, while the new form of contemplation comes so gradually and is so tenuous and confusing.

Prayer often feels empty; personal activity has been reduced to nothing. At the same time, there is a new perception of God, even if it is only an undefined intimation of his presence. At worst it is nothing but a void; at best it is so fragile (unnoticeable) and slight that we doubt its reality. For a time, it is just a gleam in the night that does not seem to become nearer or clearer.  This can be fixed if we give up two things: first, our self-sufficiency (yet confidently remain open and receptive to God’s subtle action) and second, our older interpretation of God’s  presence. 

Here, the Holy Spirit can help guide us into infused contemplation because  Jesus  had promised that  the Paraclete will teach us everything we need to know about Jesus and God and that the Spirit will abide with us and guide us to all truth, including the infused wisdom of the spirit of Truth, which is the most sublime and complete knowledge we can ever learn.

Infused knowledge can come only by means of the spirit of Truth within us.  These promises of Jesus should help when we encounter darkness, weakness or aridity in our contemplation. The very nature of contemplative prayer drives us to rely on the Holy Spirit, for the essential nature of contemplative prayer is passive and dependent on the infused wisdom of the Spirit.

What we discover about God is an experience of the presence of God in a closer intimacy. We will experience him in four forms of contemplation: first, as an obscure and almost imperceptible presence in the soul; second, as an esteem and a desire for God, although without intellectual understanding why; third, as a communication of mystical knowledge and divine love to the intellect; and fourth, as contemplation acting upon the intellect and the will together.

In the early stages of contemplation, the experience itself is usually quite subtle and elusive. But slowly, this new way of experiencing God will have some clarity. God increases his light according to our ability and faithfulness in this way.

As to the content of contemplative prayer, it is an experience of God deep within us, accompanied at times with an infused sense of God’s goodness and love. We do not look for intellectual clarity or theological insight but for an intimate absorption in God. 

God’s part in contemplation during the passive dark night

What brings about God’s infusion of himself directly into the soul? What prepares us for this new experience?

We can begin with John’s terminology for contemplation; he calls it a passive dark night. It is a night because all the natural faculties of the soul are dark and empty.  It is passive because all the action comes from God; it is contemplation because it is the direct inflowing of God in the soul.

In Dark Night, Book II, John explains that this passive dark night leads naturally to a new kind of knowledge: “Even though this happy night darkens the spirit, it does so only to impart light.”  He means that the only purpose for this dark night of emptiness is for God to fill the soul with light – a process that brings a new and supernatural experience of God’s presence.

John assures us that as soon as natural things (human ideas and feelings) are driven out in our prayer, God will supernaturally infuse his presence. Once the natural void is created, God will fill it with his new and infused action of God. Our effort to empty the intellect of all natural thoughts, is the very condition for God’s grace to be free and unobstructed.

In the Living Flame, when John is speaking about the beginning of contemplation he insists that once the soul “frees itself of all things, it is impossible that God fail to do his part by communicating Himself to it, at least secretly and silently.”

Our confidence that God will do his part soon and without fail comes not from our merit, goodness or achievements, but from the promises of Christ to send the Spirit of God to teach us everything and to guide us in the way of truth.

The tranquil night

By describing the tranquil night,  John of the Cross completes his treatment of the illuminative way to contemplation. In the Ascent of Mount Carmel, he calls it the third night, and in the Spiritual Canticle,  the tranquil night:  “In this night…the soul possesses and relishes all the tranquility, rest and quietude of the peaceful night; and she receives in God… a fathomless and obscure divine knowledge. “

 A very similar term, rising dawn, connects with the metaphor of the night:  “[The soul] very appropriately calls this light “the rising dawn,” which means the morning….This morning light is not clear… but just as the light at the rise of dawn is not entirely night or entirely day but is…at the break of day, so this divine solitude and tranquillity,   informed by the divine light, has some share in that light, but not its complete clarity.”

A question and an answer

Sr. Tolentino asked, “Now we have a fuller picture of the Carmelite Spirituality that is moved and guided by and hopes to attain authentic contemplation, which is sheer grace completely divine.  How is it that in our Carmelite communities, even in the monasteries of nuns, so very few are authentic contemplatives?  I have to pose this question to you because I want to propose a valid reason for this.” 

She quotes Gunter Benker, O. Carm, who says that it is the false self that stands in the way of  union with God, because of the false self’s dualistic thinking, its insecurities, doubts and pride. She again quotes John of the Cross about contemplation: “God leaves the intellect in darkness, the will in aridity, the memory in emptiness and the affections in supreme affliction… by depriving the soul of the feeling and satisfaction it previously obtained from spiritual blessings. For this privation is one of the conditions required that the spiritual form, which is the union of love, may be introduced in the spirit of the person.”

God does this to purify the self: “The false self must be annihilated in order for the Spirit to give life to the true self – the true nature, the spirit of the person will be freed to be united to God in the union of love. “ 

Sr. Tolentino told the participants how she is deeply convinced that the answer lies in this:  “We do not make it to the heights of contemplation because we are so good in avoiding the poverty of spirit that it requires. Even in these Carmelite habits, the false self makes a lot of ways, a lot of lies, so that it gets what it wants to the detriment of our true life in God, to the detriment of our effective witnessing and to the detriment of our transformation in Christ.” 

What are we to do?  At the Summer Course Sr. Tolentino suggested focusing on the moment at hand: “All that is required is being present in the reality of the here and now— not in the unreality of our thoughts. Peace, happiness, love, contentment, acceptance, wisdom, strength, and clarity come from giving attention to what’s in front of us, from being very present to life as it is showing up.”

She added that in experiencing whatever is happening, “we feel happy, at peace, grateful, and connected to life in a way that feels like life is living us and we’re responding easily and naturally to it. This is our natural state. It is a state of being and of pure experiencing, of inner silence… To be aware of the `broken record/sirang plaka’ that our ego always plays in our mind is significant self-knowledge. Humble acceptance is second.  We remain on the first step because when we become aware of their vicious, negative, afflictive thoughts, we start to defend them.  That is why I present to you today a very effective and wonderful Carmelite virtue:  CARMELITE SILENCE!”

Referring to Fr. Kees Waaijman in his article The Silence of Carmel about the  “silence of the tomb”, Sr. Tolentino explained: “Lent is the silence of the tomb  I believe that this kind of silence is the key to our spiritual progress, to our integral healing and to our transformation in Christ.  That is why I painstakingly discussed with you the dark nights of St. John of the Cross. 

“He took pains to explain our need to silence our minds and being before God so that God may unite us to himself in a very real but mysterious way and take over our lives. The active and the passive nights are actually graces …so that we are purified of our human ways of thinking, seeing and loving – purified of the illusions and programs for happiness of the false self.” 

But how do we keep silence during the day? 

Sr. Tolentino recommended stillness,  saying, “Be aware of what you are doing, not what you are thinking.  Be present to your senses, not to your thoughts.  If you develop this habit because you practice it day in and day out, then even if your egoic mind continues to play its broken record, you have learned not to pay attention to it.  So now we can conclude, that we become more spiritual when we are present down – here and now, not when we up there caught in the chaos of our thoughts.”

She also pointed out, “Almost 99% of the things that we always think about, worry about, complain about, whether it is ego-inflating or ego-deflating, is false, not true! What is reality, then? The only reality which really exists is love, which is the self-revealing God we have come to know in the Old Testament and more fully in Christ Jesus.”

Tying up: poems, hit songs and films

Sr. Tolentino ended her Powerpoint presentation by flashing on the screen a poem on being conscious of her reality and on becoming conscious of the bigger, eternal Reality before her. “In  the Carmelite silence – total receptivity, then the union of realities happen. My I am is embraced by the I AM….”

 She played a video of the pop hit Flashlight which includes the words “I’m stuck in the dark but when tomorrow comes… I got all I need when I got you and I look around me, I see sweet life.”

During one of the breaks in the lecture, Sr. Tolentino was serenaded by an excerpt of the film Sister Act where the character played by Whoopi Goldberg leads the nuns in singing Diana Ross’ “I Will Follow Him” first as a hymn to God and then as the real Supremes hit it was.     

ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY 101

ISA set the talks on Islamic spirituality in the five mornings of its Summer Course  and invited Fr. Eliseo Mercado, Jr., OMI, , member of its International Academic Advisory Board (IAAB).

The lecturer studied Theology and Missiology at the Gregorian University in Rome. He went for Islamic Studies at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome and at the Oriental Institute in Cairo, Egypt.

At present, he is professor at the Notre Dame University (NDU)  Graduate School in Cotabato City, Mindanao, the region where Islam missionaries first came to pre-Spanish Philippines.

From 1992 to 2002 Fr. Mercado was president of NDU, where he established its Peace Center   and instituted its degree program on Peace Education (masteral and doctoral levels).

From 2003 to 2004 he was adjunct professor at Georgetown University Graduate School, Washington, D.C., as a recipient of the Fulbright Senior Scholarship-Post Doctoral Program.

For many years Fr. Mercado was the parish priest of the Muslim-populated towns of Datu Piang, Dinaig and Maganoy in Maguindanao Province. He developed an interest in Islamic spirituality when he was field researcher for an Oblate priest doing his masteral thesis and befriended a number of leaders of the moves for Muslim independence.

Fr. Mercado contributed to the peace-building processes of the Government of the Republic of the Philippine-Moro National Liberation Front (GRP-MNLF) and to the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) Consultative Assembly, for which he received citations from President Corazon Aquino in 1988 and from President Fidel Ramos in 1997.

In Rome,  he was director of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate-Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (OMI-JPIC) Service, where his expertise in “Peace Mediation and Islam”  led to his congregation becoming accredited to the United Nations, the European Union (through the Africa-Europe Faith Justice Network) and to the World Social Forum.

Fr. Mercado returned to the Philippines in 2007. He continues to be involved in the peace process as Senior Policy Adviser at the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and as professor on Shariah  (Law of God)  at the San Beda University Graduate School of Law.   

Islam 101 and 102

For his five talks Fr, Mercado used a modular approach by dividing them into Islam 101, Islam 102, Introduction to Islamic Spirituality Parts I and II and lastly, Badaliyya. In the interest of brevity, however, certain topics covered by Islam 101 and 102 were combined for this report,   which is supplemented by research on a number of terms used in the PowerPoint presentation.     

Islam is one of the religions of the Peoples of the Book: Judaism, with the Torah; Christianity, with the Gospel; and Islam, with the Qur’an (Koran) which is written in Arabic.

Etymologically Qur’an means “reading” or “recitation”. In Islam, the Word becomes the Qur’an  while in Christianity, the Word becomes Jesus Christ  (Jn. 1:1). 

The Bible is inspired while the Qur’an was dictated word  for word  to the prophet Muhammad.  It is specified, “None but the purified shall touch it.”

The Qur’an  is  chanted and not read, like the Bible. Fr. Mercado pointed out.  Qur’anic  reading  has become a science  and an  art, involving contests at the national level.

Fr. Mercado then discussed the foundations of Islam – faith (Iman) and worship (Ibadaat or the Five Pillars of Islam).

Faith

Iman has six articles: Tawhid or Unity; angels; messengers; books; Day of Judgment, and pre-destiny. Verse 5, 4: 135 of the Qur’an reads: “O believers, beliieve in Allak and His Messengers and the Book he hath sent into down before. Who disbelieveth in Allah and His angels and the Book and his messengers and the last day  hath surely gone astray into far error.” 

Fr, Mercado also discussed the four schools (madhab) of faith. Hanafi is named after Iman Abu  Hanifa  (80/659 to  150/766).  It is the oldest and most liberal in its reliance on qiyas or analogic reasoning. It is also called the Kufa school (from a city in Iraq about 170 kms south of Baghdad).

Maliki is named after Shayk Malik ibn Anas (90/713 to 179/795).  It is based on ijma  or juristic consensus as  practiced in Medina, the second holiest site of Islam and the city to which the Prophet fled when he was initially driven out of Mecca from the Notre Dame de l’Atlas monastery sometime between 1993 and 1994. In Medina he first attracted followers, built a home (now the Masjid al Nabari or The Prophet’s Mosque), and lies buried there.

Shàfi´ is named after Iman  Shàfi´ (150/767  to  204/820),  one of the greatest  shayks in Islam. He was the founder of the science of usul (principles of Islamic jurisprudence), He began the science of ijma (opinions based on the consensus of the learned).

Lastly, Hanbalite is named after Iman Ahmad ibn Hanbal (164/780 to 241/855), who followed literally the Qur’an and the Hadith.  Being the most conservative and traditional of the schools, it has followers (Hanbalites) who are called by scholars as the first “fundamentalists” in Islam.

Worship

Fr. Mercado also discussed the second foundation of Islam, Ibadaat or the Five Pillars of Islam:  Shahada, also known as confession of faith; Saka(t) or ritual prayers; Zaka(t) or the poor’s due from one’s wealth/alms giving;  Syam-Sawin or fasting during Ramadan; and lastly, Hajj or pilgrimage during the month of the Hajj.  

For the confession of faith, Fr. Mercado intoned, “La ilaha  illa  Allah;  Muhammadu  rasulu   Allah” in the guttural Arabic he had learned abroad, He explained how the mere pronouncement of the formula is in itself an act of piety which must be  constantly  on a believer’s lips.

As for Sakat, it originated from Hadith during  the  nocturnal journey. Ritual prayer is done five times a day and involves ablution, intention and  specified  bodily gestures as well as orientation (qibla) towards  Makkah, the holy city and birth place of  Muhammad.   

Zakat is the obligatory sharing of a portion of one’s wealth with those who have less in life. According to Fr. Mercado, this Pillar purifies such wealth for lawful use.

Siyam/Sawn calls for fasting during Ramadan, when the Qur’an was revealed  to the Prophet during the Night of Power. Muslims from post-puberty to old age must fast from dawn till dusk of the 29-30 days of this ninth lunar month, said to be the most sacred in the Islamic year.    

Hajj calls for visiting the House of God (in Makkah) during the month of the Hajj. Like the Zakat (prayers), this Pillar of the faith has specific rituals observed around the Ka’aba (a mosque  which is the most sacred place in Islam), by the well of Zanzam which has never dried since Hagar searched for water to comfort Ismail, son of Ibrahim (Abraham), the valley of Mina (where stoning the devil takes place) and the Feast of the Sacrifice of Abraham (Eid-ul-Fitr).

Other aspects of the faith

Islam classifies human action into four types: first, those that are strictly enjoined (fard); second,  those that are advised to be done (mandūb); third,  those that are indifferent (jāiz); fourth,  those  that are advised not to be done (makruh); and fifth,  those  that are strictly forbidden  (harām).

As to jurisprudence, Islam laws may follow the Qur’an, the Sunnah of the Prophet (his teachings and practices  which form the model for the way of life prescribed for his followers),  and reason. In Islam, Fatwa is a  religious decree issued by an ulama or a legal opinion or decree issued by an Islamic religious leader,

Muhammad

According to Fr. Mercado, the name of the prohet and the man generally known as Muhammad   means  “highly praised” in Arabic. In his youth, he was known to his people as al amin, the  “trustworthy”;  today, he is venerated and loved by more than a billion of the world’s citizens.

The role of the prophet is five-fold, Fr. Mercado also said.

The first is to recite (Qara’a) what God has revealed; second, to teach (Allama) what God teaches by the pen; third, to recount or remember (Haddata) the goodness of the Lord;  fourth, to call people who have forgotten (Dakkara) and fifth, to warn (Andara) or announce the Day of Judgment, one of the articles of faith in Islam.

Introduction to Islamic Spirituality

To introduce Day 4 of his talk, Fr. Mercado enjoined the participants, “Begin in the name of God”, and drew on the whiteboard tthe symbol for God’s name.

He also stressed that the People of the Book have a common spiritual ground: the desert, the  path and the guide:  “The three Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have a common matrix in the desert. It is no accident that our spiritual traditions are rooted in this very harsh condition.”

The desert, he added, represents asceticism because its harsh environment, in many ways, imposes a regimen on life that reduces needs to the barest minimum. Discipline and ascetical practices are introduced to reduce wants and needs, said to be the tools of the devil. And in such an environment, one soon realizes that  the sole reliance is on God.

As for the path (tariqa), in Islam it is always identified as the “straight path”. To quote Sura 1, it is “the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou art wrathful, nor of those who are astray.”

According to Fr. Mercado, spirituality is the journey through the Path that leads to life. This is physically lived by performing the Hajj, whose stages include embarking on the journey follwed by entering into the state of purity called ihsan, standing in God’s presence, showing a readiness to wait and heed his bidding, renouncing Satan, and doing the Great Sacrifice  of Idul-Adha.

The  right path is the Law of God (Shari’a).  Its faithful observance is walking through the straight path that leads to life,  symbolized by the spring of water or well in the desert.

Islamic law lays down the right movements of rituals as well as the right behavior and relationships in community, and above all, duties and obligations. This law was compared by Fr. Mercado to the rudder that keeps a boat in the right direction and keeps it from keeling. If faithfully observed, it leads to the resting place – to freedom and to life,  

Spirituality also involves true holiness. To quote Sura 2:172 of the Qur’an: “It is not piety, that you turn your faces to the East and to the West.  True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, to give of one’s substance, however cherished, to kinsmen, and orphan, the needy, the traveler, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms.”

And as for the guide , a shayk is someone who knows the way to the life-giving oasis in the dry desert. To symbolize the journey through the desert, Fr. Mercado included a picture of sandals, sand and footprints leading to buildings glimpsed from afar.

Fr. Mercado explained, “No one ventures into the desert without a guide.  The guide knows the way to the life-giving oasis. Even today, no one joins the Pilgrimage (Hajj) without a Guide, else he simply moves and moves around without visiting the House of God.”  

A guide is also mandatory in the journey to God, whose call must be discerned with the help of a guide.  This is the reason that God sent messengers and prophets through the ages.  On a personal note, Fr. Mercado  recalled having to walk with a guide to the desert where he meditated in one  of the caves of holy men. He emerged wiser (and not demented, as he said can often  happen). 

Remenbering God; journey of the heart

Aside from the spiritual grounds of  the desert, the  path and the guide, Fr, Mercado moved on to teachings on remembering God and on the journey of a soul.

The people who remember and are initiated to the remembrance of God are called the ahl al-dhikr.  They meditate on the Word of God and discover the mystery “hidden” in the Word.  They also devote life to pleasing the Divine (ridwan-lillah). Holiness is to “remember” and act and do what is pleasing to Him.  It is a lifetime life of remembrance and a life that is pleasing to God.

The Dhikr is the fourth of the images of God described in Labbayka. It is preceded  by the first image of God (Host); by the second image of the Lord (Companion in our journey), and by the third image (Pilgrim).

And in terms of  the journey of the soul, the first stage is the soul of the flesh.  Here, the faithful observance of the Shari’a is crucial since this is the way of the beginners.

The second stage is the spirit of test.  This is the narrow road and the way of the penitent; thus, it requires discipline, including ascetical practices.

The third stage is the listening spirit.  This means training one’s self to listen and to receive inspiration through a discerning heart The heart is not only the key or path to one other but os also the way one encounters God, who has a  uniquely all-encompassing divine knowledge of “what is in their hearts” (S 4:66, 33:51). God will also “ call you to account for what your hearts have earned….” (S 2:225).

Hearts that “fail to understand” (lâ yafqahûn) are far more frequent than those who do perceive the divine “Signs” and whose hearts are ‘âqilûn. Because of this, the “softening” and “humbling” or “purification” and “strengthening” of hearts are a necessity for a “sound” or “repentant” or “mindful” heart (qalb salîm or munîb).

The fourth stage  in the journey of the soul is the quiet soul.  The self is found; so is reality as one begins to experience closeness to God. The key word here is awareness/consciousness.

The fifth stage is the happy soul.  This is the beginning of a journey within God. There is joy.

The sixth stage is the soul seeking approval.  It is like “going away from God”and experiencing  darkness.

And the seventh stage is the soul of perfection.  The journey is God as well as  union with God.  A key phrase is “ To pitch our tent and to wait at God’s mountain” and a very powerful symbol of the person nearest to God’s Word is the murid, one who reads His Word in the Qur’an.   In this regard, Fr. Mercado said that the first command given to the Prophet was “READ” (Iqra); that is, to  read what God has revealed.

And so, the murid recites the Word of God from the heart and uses the Book (Kitab) as his guide.  He becomes absorbed in his whole being by God’s Word  and this, in a way, expresses the union between the believer and the living Word of God.  Fr. Mercado likened it to the partaking of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Still on closeness to God, Fr. Mercado showed sketches of Ibn-Arab (Andalusian Muslim scholar, Sufi mystic, poet and philosopher), Rumi (the greatest Sufi mystic and poet in the Persian language) and Al-Hallaj (Sufi mystic and martyr).

He described them as “Friends of God” who exemplify Awliyâ’î (singular, walî) or people “close to” God who are perhaps referred to in the famous Qur’ânic verses 10:62-64:”…the friends of God, they have no fear and they do not grieve…theirs is the Good News in this lower life and in the next (life)…that is the Tremendous Attainment.”  Divine Messengers, prophets (anbiyâ’) and saints share  this spiritual state of proximity to God (walâya). 

Fr. Mercado closed Day 4 by showing a sketch of sandals tuned inward to a door that symbolizes the end of a journy and the world beyond it. 

Badaliyya

The five-day lectures concluded with Christian spirituality in the midst of Islam. To set this  spirituality in perspective, a slide for Islam 102 stated that the Christians in Arabia were mainly the so-called “heretics” who were driven out of the Byzantine Empire for their refusal to accept the Orthodox beliefs as defined in the early Christian Ecumenical Councils (Nicea in 325, Constantinople  I in 381, Ephesus in 431 and Chalcedon in 451).

This part of the talks explored the Badaliyya Prayer Movement. It was founded in Cairo in 1934 by Fr. Louis Massignon (1893-1967), a military officer of the French Legion, a world-famous scholar and academician on Islam, and a priest of the Greek Melkite Rite of the Catholic Church.

 Fr. Mercado presented St. Francis of Assissi and Blessed Charles de Foucald as earlier links between Christians and Islam. He called St. Francis’ capacity for compassion with the poor and “confraternization” with all elements and even death itself as the New Ethos.

This new way of life has many and varied relationships to nature, to others, to religion and to God.  In St. Francis, it was through Pathos (Sympathy) and Eros (fraternal communication and tenderness). Other manifestations of this new way were  his innocence, enthusiasm for nature and gentleness to all beings.

As background to discussing the meeting of St. Francis with the Sultan in the year 1219, Fr. Mercado recalled how St, Bernard of Clavaux had called for the Second Crusade by viewing Islam as the enemy of God and of the faith.  

In 1213 this view was used when the Pope issued the encyclical-letter  Quia Maior which established a comprehensive practical as well as religious framework for the Fifth Crusade in terms of material and spiritual support.

But these terms disturbed Francis so much that he traveled to the Holy Land and tried to dissuade the soldiers in Crusaders’ Camp from engaging in combat. He also foretold their defeat at the battle in Damietta.

Francis wanted to meet Sultan al-Malikal-Kamil in the fervor of his charity and in his desire for martyrdom, as Fr. Mercado put it during the Summer Course  when he flashed a slide of the painting by Giotto. 

Francis was willing to undergo the test of fire to prove his fervor for securing peace, but he showed such holiness that it was recognized by the Sultan and his Vizier as akin to the holiness of the Sufi (mystical Muslims).  He succeeded  in securing a truce and in ensuring a presence for the Franciscans as custodians of the Holy Land until today.

In honor of the Sufis, Fr. Mercado flashed a slide of a Third Eye decorated with the rays of the sun. Fakr-el-Din-Farsi , the Vizier, was a well-known and respected Sufi. On his tomb were inscribed these words: “This man’s virtue is known to all. His adventure with al-Malik al-Kamil and what happened to him because of the monk, all that is very famous.” 

The third precursor of the Badaliya Prayer Movement is Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916). Mystic, hermit and explorer, this Frenchman  entered the Trappist monastery at La Traape but left after three years to explore an alternative approach to holiness.

He went to the Holy Land and was for a time a gardener to the Poor Clares, who suggested  his ordination. Eventually, he was ordained as a diocesan priest and built a hermitage in the Assekrem  region of Algeria in 1911.

Charles befriended the Touareg tribe headed by Chief Musa, who had talks with a French officer at the Well of In Ouzzei on June 25. 1905 after a meeting the year before  at In Salah. Everything went well. Musa and his Touareg elders met with the French, sat in a circle  and discussed practical matters.

Musa  must have wondered what a marabout (Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa) was doing among soldiers.And the French marabout asked the same question:  “Will they be able to tell soldiers from priests and see us as God’s servants…? I don’t know.”

However, Charles de Foucald was shot dead in  1916 amidst the tensions between  France and the tribes.   He was at his hermitage when they broke in but panicked when French soldiers unexpectedly came in. Considered a martyr, he was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.    

As legacy , Charles conceptualized the congregation of the Little Brothers of Jesus, which was eventuallly established in 1933 and followed by the Little Sisters of Jesus. He also inspired the founding of the  Little Eucharistic Brothers of the Divine Will in Perth, Australia in 2013.   

Charles was a contemporary of Louis Massignon and co-worker Mary Kahil, an Egyptian Christian. They founded Badaliyya based on the Arabic word badal (“ransom”  or  “to take the place of” or “to substitute for another” which in Christianity refers to Jesus Christ sacrifing his life for all humanity). This mystical substitution by Jesus Christ inspired the martydom of many saints uniting their sufferings and death with the passion and death of Christ. 

In their statutes Badaliyya members agreed to pray for the Muslims, to treat them with respect, affection and kindness, and to personally live the gospel message of love in their daily lives.  They began sessions with a prayer in solitude before the altar called adoration. Then they read the spiritual writings of Foucauld or others, shared their thoughts and ended by praying together.

Fr. Mercado came to know of this movement in the course of his studies in Egypt, and founded a Philippine Chapter upon returning home.  Also, he had a classmate among the seven Trappist monks martyred in Thibirine, Algeria in March 1997 and beatified December 8, 2018 in the Diocese of Oran.  They chose to remain with the people despite the advice to flee the extremists.

From the Notre Dame de l’Atlas monastery, Abbot Dom Christian-Marie de Cherge wrote his family in France sometime between 1993 and 1994: “This lost life, totally mine, totally theirs: I give thanks to God who seems to have wanted it entirely for that joy, despite everything and against everything. In these thanks in which everything is said, by now, about my life, including also you, friends of yesterday and today, and you, friends of this earth, beside my mother and my father, my sisters and my brothers, a centuple given according to the promise! And you too, friend of the last moment, who did not know what you were doing. Yes, for you as well, I want to foresee these thanks and this adieu. And that it may be given to us, blessed thieves, to meet again in Heaven, if God, our shared Father, so wishes, Amen! Insciallah.”

The martyrs of Southern Philippines

Fr. Mercado ended five days of talks on Islamic spirituality by sharing stories of priests, some known to him, who had died in Mindanao, hailed as the land of promise but marked by conflict after conflict. Chronologically, the seven martyrs from four congregations are:

Fr. Nelson Javellana, OMI; Archdiocese of Cotabato; November 3, 1971 

Fr. Javellana was concerned about clean and credible elections. He helped prepare a petition to the chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC)  on new procedures for just results.

On November 3, 1971 Fr. Javellana set out with twelve people to meet government officials at the airport. They presented their petition to the  COMELEC chairman who arrived on the 5:00 pm plane.  This done, they were returning to Esperanza when their bus was suddenly attacked by an unidentified armed band. Sprayed with heavy automatic gunfire, many, including Fr. Jevellana, died instantly. The rest were attacked and hacked to death.

 Fr. Jevellana had been a priest just short of seven months.   

Fr. Salvatore Carzada, CMF; Archdiocese of Zamboanga; May 20, 1992

Described as a “man of peace and a man of God,” Fr. Carzada was killed on May 20, 1992. Mufti Abubakar said, “I condemn the killing because it appears that here in Zamboanga, priests are no longer safe.”

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, OMI; Vicariate of Jolo; February 4, 1997

“Bishop Ben” always preached on the themes of harmony, understanding, brotherhood, peace and love. His wisdom did not lie in his words but in his actions, in his simplicity and gentleness, with the way he related with the ordinary man and woman on the street. He touched the lives of countless people in Jolo by consistently showing them simple gestures of goodness.

The bishop was shot dead by still unidentified armed Muslim extremists in front of the Cathedral of Jolo on February 4, 1997 at around 9:45 in the morning.

Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI; Vicariate of Jolo;  December 28, 2000

In June 1972 Fr. Inocencio was assigned to Cagayan de Mapun in Tawi-Tawi, where he became parish priest of Mapun Parish and director of Notre Dame of Mapun. He spent more than eight years in humble and faithful service to the people of the island.

In June 2000, he was assigned Chancellor of the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo and .chaplain of  Notre Dame of Jolo College. Six months later, on Holy Innocents’ Day of December 28, 2000, beside the Cathedral of Jolo, he was suddenly shot on the head by a Muslim extremist.  

Fr. Rhoel Gallardo. CMF; Prelature of Isabela (Basilan);  May 8, 2001 

This Claretian priest was kidnapped together with teahcers of his school. As part of his mission,  he offered his life and firmly lived out his convictions even to the point of death. 

.This firm conviction, in addition to his faith, enabled Fr, Rhoel to do what is supposed to be done by a shepherd, a missionary, a minister of God on earth.

Fr. Rufus Halley, SSC; Prelature of Marawi; August 28, 2001

This Columban priest might have given his life and compelled the Columbans to flee the area after the incident  due to imminent danger. But the call for lasting peace was  and is the battle cry of the people.

Peace is not only a gift but also a responsibility for all people of goodwill. At the end of the day,  we Christians are still bearers of the peace entrusted to us by the Resurrected Christ. We are encouraged  “to live in dialogue in the midst of divisions and conflicts and to build peace with all people of sincere hearts, who believe in your (God’s) love and compassion.”

Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI; Vicariate of Jolo; January 15, 2008 

Since 1998 Fr. Rey had been director of Notre Dame of Tabawan High School and head of the Oblate Mission Station there. There he ministered  to the people of Tabawan and neighboring islands through education, infrastructure and developmental projects to alleviate poverty.

Tabawan is a remote island in South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi. The people are more than 99% Muslims. The Christians are less than 1% and not all Catholics.

About 8:30 pm of January 15, 2008, Fr. Rey was praying in the chapel. When his killers arrived, he refused to go with them. He was manhandled and brutally killed.

Fr. Rey’s body was found just outside the school, left on a road near the shoreline from where the murderers had sped away in a motorized boat. His body bore several wounds from gunshots, stabs and lacerations in the head, face, neck, abdomen and on the back.

“At this point, I have done research on martyr-priests but I would also like to include lay martyrs, starting with the teachers, co-workers, drivers and other companions of these seven, ”  said Fr. Mercado as he ended his talk with a candle-lit ritual.

Ending his lecture series

During the morning break on  Day 5, Fr. Mercado led the participants in shibashi exercises which he firmly endorsed as a reason for his good health.

He had everyone feeling relaxed and yet, at the end of his talk, solemn with  what Fr. Mercado called a naming ceremony.He invited everyone, including the Secretariat staff,  to form a semi-circle facing the Holy Cross sculpted by the late National Artist Napoleeon Abueva. The nun-participant  from Indonesia, Sr. Carolina — === , Congregation? brought in the Bible, which the priest-particpant from Indonesia, Fr. —, SVD placed on the wooden Gospel stand of the altar.

Fr. Mercado then asked  the seven O. Carm. novices attending the Summer Course to form a semi-circle facing the participants  and then hold up white sheets of papers with the  names of the seven priest-martyrs, utter their names aloud, light candles from the Paschal Candle of Easter and light the candles of the other participants.

ISA Executive Director Fr. Rico Ponce, O.Carm. then offered congratulations to the participants for finishing the five days of the Summer Course.

Lunch was followed by the second lecture of Sr. Ma. Elena Tolentino, O. Carm. At the afternoon break Ms. Remedios —– of the Campus Ministry in thr state-run Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) marked her birthday with pizza and spaghetti, just as on Day 1, two ISA staff members and a participant were feted with chocolate cake and ice cream (dessert for all later). #  

Perla Aragon-Choudhury