QUO VADIS CHRISTIAN FAITH, CHRISTOLOGY, RELIGIOUS LIFE TODAY?

INTERVIEW WITH DOMINICAN THEOLOGIAN

Fr. Felicisimo Martinez Diez is a Spanish Dominican (Prioro, Leon, 1943) dedicated to teaching, preaching and writing, especially on Christology and theology of religious life. He is a well-known professor, theologian and writer. His books have being translated into different languages. He is living with the Dominicans in Macau through April 2011 at St. Dominic’s Priory, I had the pleasure of interviewing him.

Question (Q): How are you doing? What brought you here to Macau this time?

Answer (A): I came to Macau this time to teach the course “God One and Triune” at the University of Saint Joseph. This is the main reason for my stay here. Moreover, to my classes at the university, other activities have come up such as a public lecture on Christology at the same university, a short formation course to our Dominican Novices in Rosaryhill, Hong Kong, and a Holy Week Retreat also in Rosaryhill for our two Dominican communities there in Hong Kong.

Q: Going over your latest writings and speaking engagements, your dominating theme is Christology – Christological themes. You wrote two books on Christology that continue to be well-received. Why this apparent “obsession” with Jesus?

A.: It was not my intention to write on Christology, for I was convinced that this task belonged to others better qualified than me. However, little by little I was directed to the ministry of the pen and the computer. First, I wrote with all the passion of a call, a book on Saint Dominic and his foundational project of the Order of Preachers. At the end I realized that to be a Dominican is a particular way of living the religious life. Then I was tempted to write on religious life as a project of life. Finally I became aware of the fact that religious life is only a specific form of living Christian life seriously.  Then I was “obsessed” by the need “to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection” (Hb 12:2).

Q: Let me ask you some questions on Christology. What is new in Christology today?

A.: It is presupposed that there are no new truths or new articles in the Christian Creed. However, there are new and very fertile interpretations of the eternal truths or of the unique articles of the Christian Creed. In this sense, recent Christology is doing a great contribution to the progress of all theology and the purification of Christian piety and spirituality.  Some of the new contributions in Christology are the following: the development of studies that have permitted a better knowledge of the historical Jesus (this has a deep influence on the presentation of the Christian message); the recovery of the human condition of Jesus (this has allowed us to fight against docetism and monophysism in theology and, above all, in Christian spirituality). Other new contribution is the discovery of the salvific dimension of all the mysteries of the person and life of Jesus: the mystery of the incarnation, life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus (in this way salvation is not connected only or principally with the suffering and sacrifice of Christ, but especially with his love and fidelity). Another important contribution of current Christology: the emphasis on the theological and salvific dimension of the resurrection, as a result of seeing more and more the resurrection of Jesus  as a revelation of what God is – the God of life and justice -, and of what God wants and can do of the human being.

Q: How could we preach Christ today?

A.: Today perhaps it is good to begin our preaching of Christ from his human dimension, from his most profound human condition, because it seems to be from this condition that his personality ends up seducing people – even before acceding to faith. It is surprising to us how significant the person of Jesus is for persons from other religions, for some atheists and agnostics. May be we must begin making clear the admirable perfection of the human being revealed in Jesus. In the long run, however, we can only preach fully of Christ by announcing frontally the Christian kerigma, the mystery of the Crucified-Risen One, which is not according to human arguments but which is effectively the supreme answer to the expectations of the human being: a life in plenitude. I do not really know if we should begin with this one or the other; I am inclined to begin with the presentation of the human condition of Jesus. Perhaps it will depend of the existential situation of the listeners. Here prudence and pastoral discernment are the deciding factors.

Q.: With St. Francis, St. Dominic was called “Christ of the Middle Ages.” If Dominic would be born today what do you think he will do? What is your guess?

A.: Probably Dominic would have done the same things but “actualized,”  that is, adapted – as Vatican II asked – “to the changing conditions of the times.” For instance, for sure he would have committed himself to the service of humanity through the ministry of preaching or evangelization in its various forms (personal dialogue, catechesis, theological teaching, preaching…). He would continue being convinced that the fundamental problem of the human being begins with the theme of sight: some people see and some do not see. The greatest number of our errors in life is not due to a bad will, but to a lack of awareness. In Christian language, and according to the writings of St. John: some people believe and some do not believe. And the principle of Christian life is not the purpose of amendment, but the experience of faith. Moreover, I am sure that Dominic would have insisted on certain values that for him were not renounceable: to be human, profoundly human with all (on this consists the mystery of the incarnation); to value and channel friendship as a form of evangelical charity; to practice compassion; to search for new forms of evangelical poverty, of real solidarity with the poor, etc, etc.

Q.: Besides Christology, another obvious theological interest you have is religious life. One of your best received books, may be the best received so far, is “Re-Founding Religious Life,” which has been translated into many languages and continues to be reprinted in its English version. How do you see religious life today?

A.: I see religious life in a critical moment. With this, I do not mean that it is in a moment of catastrophe, of apocalypses, of total disaster. Not that! Simply I want to say that we are living in a moment of deep, radical transformation. It is a moment of profound discernment, for which we need a serious practice of sincerity: we have to call things by their names instead of cheating ourselves with verbose, high-sounding and “politically correct” speeches. It is a moment in which we need to invent new institutional mediations to channel the nonnegotiable evangelical values for any model of religious life: the contemplative dimension and the experience of faith, the communitarian dimension and fraternal experience, the mission or service to this humanity. These are values of religious life, of the Christian life underlined by religious life all along its history: values we cannot renounce. A different thing is how we should organize ourselves today to be able to channel those values. Just an example: today mendicancy is penalized in some societies; therefore we must look for other versions of evangelical poverty.

Q.: With the number of religious men and women going generally down, does religious life have a future?

A.: Each one of us may draw his/her conclusions from the above given reflections to the previous question. Because what I have just said has a lot to do with the worry unveiled in this question. I continue giving examples: to be able to run many colleges, parishes, and many hospitals, many brothers and sisters are needed, unless we learn to administer them jointly with lay persons. For religious life be more significant evangelically, there is no need of so many vocations, but maybe there is a need of other type of vocations  or other type of response to that vocation. The future of religious life as an institution tasked with great works related to pastoral ministry, education, health… is not that clear.  But, why should not have a future a religious life in small communities with a more simple life and witnessing the main evangelical values: a few brothers or sisters living together, sharing their experience of faith, fraternal life, communication of goods, etc.; each one working where he or she can, and earning their bread with the work they do as any human being; giving good example of Christian life and the evangelizing and pastoral services that the circumstances demand and permit.

Q.: I have heard you say that, in general, the three most relevant themes which concern consecrated men and women today are: spirituality, community life and dedication to mission. Could you explain a bit the third, namely the motivation – or lack of it – for mission?

A.: Mission is important in life for any person, because a life without a fulfilled mission is a frustrated and failed life. This is experienced mainly at the end of life. And this is particularly true in persons who have made public profession, before the church and the world, of dedicating their life to preaching the Gospel. If the zeal for preaching the Gospel is absent then the meaning of life and fidelity to the profession made are also absent. At times the mission is lacking because there is no apostolic zeal. The apostolic zeal is made up of a deep experience of faith and of a great compassion towards suffering humanity. Speaking of preachers, Humbert of Romans, a Dominican of the 13^th century, says: “It is not the same to preach and to give sermons.” Anyone can give a sermon, but preaching can only be done from the experience of faith and from the love of humanity.  There is another motive for failing in the evangelizing mission: lack of experience of faith, hope and charity. The lack of these Christian virtues implies a lack of Christian passion, a lack of “virtus,” enthusiasm, evangelical courage. This lack or absence leads to the abandonment of mission. The mission is not possible without burning out, without renouncing, without giving up little by little our life.

Q.: Among the special problems which prop up in many religious communities and formation houses today one refers to the use and abuse of internet and other technological gadgets.

How could we moderate their proper and obviously advantageous use and avoid or at least minimize their harmful abuse?

A.: The new technologies of communication will be or are already the passage to a new culture. The same has happened always with all the new inventions of humanity. Therefore, we have to learn to live in this new culture, take advantage of all the benefits they offer, and face all the dangers it entails. However, this cannot be achieved by the road of a merely disciplinary attitude, by the way of mere prohibition or external control. The experience we have from the houses of formation clearly proves this. The good use can only be achieved through a progressive and permanent education to live this new culture of the new technologies of communication. And this education focuses, above all, on SELF-CONTROL, personal discipline, the dominion over the machine and its enchantments and seductions. The new technologies of communication are very useful instruments to work, to earn time, to obtain information, to facilitate communication, to… so many other positive things! However, if that control and self-discipline are not achieved, the new technologies may be turned into a machine to kill time, in a source of information that frightens and paralyzes critical thinking, in a corridor of rumor mongering and disinformation, in a way towards experiences absolutely virtual and illusory, etc. Education, education, education! And thus progressively grow in personal discipline, self-control, the domestication of the new technologies of communication.

Q.: Any particular recipe for religious life in Asia?

A.: I have no recipe for religious life in any part of the world, and much less for Asia, a continent I know little of and with which I am not so familiarized. However, there are certain universal challenges for the future of religious life that will be more urgent in Asia, due to the fact that the model of religious life is, in general, western, European and Latin, and Asia is an oriental, Asian and not Latin continent. The challenge of inculturation is great: How religious life in community must be, or the Asian version of poverty and the communication of goods, or the model of celibacy and family relations, or the way to exercise authority and obedience…? For a genuine inculturation it is not enough to change the stoles, the habits, the decorations of our communities. There is a need to go deeply into the Christian experience and the experience of cultures. Who will be able to do this? Moreover, the challenge of inter-religious dialogue is no renounceable. Nobody like the religious should be available and prepared to put forward the radical Christian experience in dialogue with radical religious experiences of the Asian religions. Religions ought to meet together there, in the depth of the soul, where all is unified.

Q.: As a Dominican, you have been travelling all over the world giving lectures, retreats, advice to Dominican communities. How are the Dominicans in general coping with the crises of vocations and, perhaps, even with their identity and mission today in the different parts of the world?

A.: With great difficulty in all places. In some places, like in Europe, the vocational spring is, in general, exhausted for the moment. In many Provinces and Congregations, the efforts being carried out for the promotion of vocations are excessive. And the results of these efforts are limited. And perhaps, the greatest difficulty is the discernment of vocations. In one aspect, the candidates who wish to become religious are very peculiar persons and many of them – men and women – come with their personality already configured.  How may these persons be rechanneled towards the direction of Dominican life? In another aspect, the institutions – due to the lack of vocations – have the tendency to loosen up the criteria of discernment and the requirements for accepting them. Thus, at times, with the acceptance of some candidates come more problems than re-enforcements for the religious group concerned. Often, there is an abundance of vocations but insufficient number of formators and appropriate formation communities. Nevertheless, the gravest problem continues to be the problem of discernment. At times, Dominican life is considered by some candidates as an opportunity for social and economic promotion, as a unique opportunity to make an academic career, as an easy way to accede to the priesthood, and then… what?

Q: You are a member of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. How do you see our mission today?

A.: Very interesting and very demanding. Interesting in the sense that it is an opportunity to save what has been called “the missionary charism”. This charism or this vocation implies more than a few things, namely: leaving your country, learning new languages (sometimes very difficult and very complicated for the missionary), opening oneself to new worlds, facing new cultures and religions, making known the Gospel to “peoples that never heard the evangelical message.” I do not know nor am I the one to judge how such interesting things of the mission are lived today. The modern technologies allow us to have our soul in places different from those where our body inhabits.

Q.: Considering the multicultural context of our Province (and of many other Dominican Provinces and of religious Congregations), could you give us some advice as we face the future?

A.:  Who am I to give advice to anyone? My parents used to repeat that proverb:  “I sell advice, for me I have none” (in Spanish: “consejos vendo, para mi no tengo”). In any case, if I had to give an advice to myself to live in the new multicultural context of the Province, I would tell myself the following things: place your soul where your body is and do not be always busy and worried about the world of your origins and your dreams, because you are not in the latter; listen much and learn much before you begin to pontificate; try to accept with open and generous spirit multiculturalism, which is a fact, but do not remain there, try to practice interculturalism; do not judge more than what is necessary the other, the different one, and do not do it hurriedly; do as much as you can to make known in the most authentic form the Gospel of Jesus, but do not feel obliged to  convince others; let God decide the rhythm and the moment of the conversion of persons and peoples, let God save persons by the ways He chooses (St. Thomas said this already in the 13^th century); give time to yourself and give time to others for the sprouting and reform of Dominican life… To achieve these, there is a need of contemplative depth. I do not know if I would be able to put into practice so many and so demanding advices.

Q.: Would you like to add any other comment?

A.: I always wish the best to everybody, because we human beings have the right and the duty to be happy and to help others be happy. This is a fundamental part of our mission. Why should I not desire this also to all the brothers of the Province – to all men and women religious – who work in Asia?

Thank you very much, Fr. Felicisimo. Please come back to live with us at St. Dominic’s Priory in Macau next year and share your knowledge with our students and other students at the University of Saint Joseph – to impart your wisdom, not only on the Trinity but also on Christology and the theology of religious life. It is good, very good, to have you with us. Again, muchas gracias!  (FGB)

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