Historical Christianity

Keywords : Desires, Worldy pleasures, Catholicism, Protestantism, Gregory the Great, History

Yesterday we had Lebanese food. Very healthy stuffs. I wish I could describe them all but I’m one who’s not exactly a food connoisseur. I eat anything and almost everything. All I know is there were eggplants mixed with olive oil, and Lebanese bread called ‘foul’, chicken shawarma, and something that looked like yogurt plus also something that looked liked beans. Oh yes, and lots of nice round, yellow-green olives and also leafy mint. Alright since we’re on the topic of food, let me boast by saying I’ve tasted traditional arab coffee. Not Arabica ok? It tastes weird. A typical Chinese like me wont crave for it again. Not sure exactly how the concoction is made but I was told they have ginger and cloves mixed into it. Believe me, it tastes horrible. It took me 10 min. to finish the drink the size of a typical tiny chinese tea cup.

The temperature outside was damn bloody hot. I was told this is not even summer yet. My Jordanian friend was a bit exaggerating I guess when he said this weather is considered winter in Jeddah. Whew! I’m bracing myself for what summer is in store…55 degrees celcius!

This morning I reluctantly joined a Filipino Christian fellowship group. I just happen to be there in one of the guy’s home and didn’t know such a gathering was in store….

Well, If the muslims are divided into 2 categories namely, the Traditional Muslims and the Fundamentalist Muslisms (jihadists…etc.), we also have the Traditional Christians(catholic) and the Fundamentalist Christians (have you been saved and are you sure you are going to heaven if you die now in front of my nose?). The pastor, in his characteristic long-winded sermon was full of gusto and can easily woo anyone who’s a newbie in religion to fall into submission. He continued to ‘khaw peh, khaw bu’ and I almost fell asleep. I’ve heard the same old stuffs probably a hundred times and they strike me as…what’s the term for ‘lack of depth? His talk was not even at the level of the popular book, ‘Purpose Driven Life’. Many people will say the book is very profound. Ask any priest and they will say it’s a yawn. It is very difficult to understand what I mean unless one has been exposed to a solid catholic world-view. Or one has read the writings of Chesterton-the apostle of common sense, CS Lewis, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lixeus, St. John of the Cross, or Newman’s ‘Development of Christian Doctrine’, or something more contemporary like David Armstrong’s apologetics, and of course, Thomas A Kempis’ classic ‘Imitations of Christ’ and numerous others I cant recall now with my slowing brain. Well trust me, the fundamentalist christian’s world-view is like drinking artificial flavoured orange water against real fresh squeezed orange juice.

Sorry I cant help being opinionated about religion especially since I am now living at the historic city of Jeddah, it being one of the epicenters of religious history. “Jeddah” is an Arabic word for grandmother and is believed to be where Eve had been buried. Yes, Adam’s wife….The other day I was just loitering at the sidewalk waiting for a friend when a total stranger passed by and greeted me with ‘Asalamu alaikum’. It means ‘Peace be with you’ and I should reply: “alaikum salam” which means “And also with you”. Sounds familiar? This is how they greet each other. Our ‘Hello’ equivalent. This was also how Christ greeted the apostles, if you remember after the Last Supper and this is how at Mass we greet each other. My Egyptian friend said that after every prayer session, and before leaving the mosque, they would look to their left and then to their right with the greeting. This is because muslims believe that we are all given two guardian angels each by God- one always at our left and the other stationed at our right.

Going back on the topic of Christianity. On the surface, Protestant theology seems to be true while catholic theology seems to exhibit characteristics that is prone to suspicion. But if one is to be inquisitive and willing to take the necessary steps to probe and dig deeper, to study and play detective. With a rational and objective mind, one will clearly see how true and beautiful catholic theology is. The detective will be surprised to find that all the pieces of the puzzle fits neatly and perfectly together. One will also discover that protestant theology does not hold water. It tries to explain itself but will eventually result in a frustratingly circular argument that cannot be resolved. Its very existence is self-contradicting and in order to rationalize its existence, one has to adopt an irrational mindset. As Newman would have it : "To be deep in history is to cease being protestant". On the other hand, the beauty of catholic theology is its simplicity. Even a child can understand, and yet it has been said that it is deeper than the ocean and no single human being has ever probed its full depth.

1 hour later the pastor passed the baton to this chap named Rom. He said he was in seminary for 8 years before but later left. And that he belonged to S.V.D. That sounds very very familiar. Did I just hear ‘SVD’ mentioned in a protestant sermon? I tried to open my eyes and wake up to make sure that what I just heard is not my subconscious going into la-la land.

Rom continued by saying in his recent visit to Manila , he met one of his fellow-seminarian friend who also left the seminary almost at the same time as him. Now after the long hiatus, his friend told him that he now has decided to re-enter the seminary to start again where he left off. Rom said that this friend is a fil-Chinese with his last name being Banson. Anyway Banson showed him to his room inside the Benedictine ‘monastery’ near Mendiola. (is there one there?). it was a tiny and humble room, with a wooden bed and a stale pillow. No soft mattress. By the side, is a small table with a little lamp and a bible. Nothing else. The room, absolutely bare. Rom asked Banson to explain his reason for re-entering the seminary. Banson said he wasn’t happy or content with life in the middle of the world and believes he will find true freedom of spirit inside the Benedictine cloister. Those words have more weight when coming from someone who seems to have a lot of things made for him. Banson, Rom explained, stays in New Manila and is the heir to Mercury Drug + a host of other businesses and franchises. Here is a man who has tasted the world and found it to be lacking.

Hmm…I’m always fascinated with people like Banson. Perhaps we and the world may ask: “What madness would make a man renounce everything and all the pleasures of the world to suffer and deny himself for the sake of something or someone unseen?” But to the world, he may in turn reply by asking: “What vanity wills one to cling on to temporal and external consolations when all pleasures of this world are fleeting? We get wearied by the very same things that we love to possess….When we do not have them, we eagerly pursue and desire them, but when we have obtained what we desired, almost immediately we get weary and tired of them. We are like children who when they do not have a toy, will scream and jump and cry, but when the child obtains the toy, he / she almost immediately throws it to the side and quickly forgets about it. Strange yet true. Some theologians explained that it is because our hearts have an infinite capacity for happiness, and nothing finite can fill and satisfy it! (but only what is infinite). Echoing one of my personal favourite saints - St. Augustine , the womanizer-turned- saint. After many years of a life lived in pursuit of worldly pleasures and honour, he finally wrote his famous words: “Oh Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee”.

Come to think of it, it seems like whatever it is that consoles us- soft things, possessions, praise and honour, bodily comfort and pleasures, soon becomes the very same things that afflict and confounds us in other ways. We often find ourselves chained and becoming slaves to the very things we seek…70 years quickly passes and in a short while, death comes to greet us. “He who was dressed in a king’s robe is now covered with worms...” Who was it who said something like: “when I visit the graveyards, and watch the tombs of men who ruled kingdoms and empires. The very same men whose glories were admired by many and whose words instilled fear in many men. And now when I see their tombs lay side by side with other dead men, all forms and manner of awe and envy in me instantly disappear”.