I attended the conference of Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP last night at the Centro Pro Unione here in Rome. His topic was The Challenge of Reciting the Creed Today. I braved the winter cold not so much because of my interest on the topic but to find out if Radcliffe was an engaging speaker as much as he is an excellent writer. With some of my friends, we have agreed that good authors are rarely good speakers too. And I need to admit, yes, he really is good in both. His approach is positive, practical and challenging.
What remained with me of his hour-long exposition? Three things: 1) To say, “I believe in God the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth…” means recognizing the gratuitousness of life and creation, and in response, awakening and nurturing a deep sense of gratitude for everything that is. 2) To say “I believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God…” is to delight in the mystery that God chose to be human like us, and in response, to keep up the struggle of exploring and understanding the intelligibility of life and of our world, despite all the darkness surrounding us. 3) To say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit…” is to enter deeply into the meaning of our relationships and realize that the love that binds us together is the very love that flows between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is not “an additional person” in the Trinity.
Two things that touched me: 1) the example of Fr. Shigeto Oshida, a Japanese Dominican priest and Zen master (deceased last November in Takamori). Fr. Shigeto, preached the retreat to the Bishops of Asia once and he started it by asking the bishops to go out into the field and plant rice! Yes, there was plenty of resistance, of course. But just the same he made them do it, so that they may realize that they are simply “collaborators” in the plantation of the Lord. They can start, but it is God who brings forth the harvest. 2) the Christmas greetings of a child who wrote his granddad (Radcliffe’s brother): “Granddad, I love you very much, more than I love God!” The comment of Radcliffe to this, associating it to the third part of the creed is – “I’m sure God won’t be jealous; because the “love that is more” comes from God himself – the Holy Spirit!”
What remained with me of his hour-long exposition? Three things: 1) To say, “I believe in God the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth…” means recognizing the gratuitousness of life and creation, and in response, awakening and nurturing a deep sense of gratitude for everything that is. 2) To say “I believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God…” is to delight in the mystery that God chose to be human like us, and in response, to keep up the struggle of exploring and understanding the intelligibility of life and of our world, despite all the darkness surrounding us. 3) To say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit…” is to enter deeply into the meaning of our relationships and realize that the love that binds us together is the very love that flows between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is not “an additional person” in the Trinity.
Two things that touched me: 1) the example of Fr. Shigeto Oshida, a Japanese Dominican priest and Zen master (deceased last November in Takamori). Fr. Shigeto, preached the retreat to the Bishops of Asia once and he started it by asking the bishops to go out into the field and plant rice! Yes, there was plenty of resistance, of course. But just the same he made them do it, so that they may realize that they are simply “collaborators” in the plantation of the Lord. They can start, but it is God who brings forth the harvest. 2) the Christmas greetings of a child who wrote his granddad (Radcliffe’s brother): “Granddad, I love you very much, more than I love God!” The comment of Radcliffe to this, associating it to the third part of the creed is – “I’m sure God won’t be jealous; because the “love that is more” comes from God himself – the Holy Spirit!”
Was there anything that challenged me? Radcliffe’s answer to the question that came from us—the audience: What about the last part of the Creed – “I believe in the one, holy, catholic church…?” Smilingly, he admitted that he didn’t say anything about this for the simple reason that his time was up! Anyway, he admitted that that was a tough question because many say they have no problem with God, Jesus and even the Holy Spirit. But they have problems with the institution! And sadly, he admits, our Church is getting more and more monolithic. By itself, institutions are good and necessary. But the challenge is how to keep them open, creative, not monolithic! My dictionary says “monolithic” is “massive, rigid, totally uniform!”
