Hindi bawal ang Orans at paghahawak-kamay sa Ama Namin

Noong nakaraang buwan, naglahad ako ng sarili kong opinyon hinggil sa usaping ito. Mabuti naman at muli itong binigyang-linaw ng CBCP ngayong buwan (bagama't ginawa na nila ito noon pa mang 2005). Sana nama'y hindi na ito muling maging isyu sa hinaharap, at tigilan na ang mga walang basehang panghuhusga at pagdudunung-dunungan.

SOURCE: https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/cbcp-liturgy-body-clarifies-hand-posture-during-lords-prayer

SOURCE: https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/cbcp-liturgy-body-clarifies-hand-posture-during-lords-prayer

Pentekostes: Kaarawan ng Simbahan?

Duccio di Buoninsegna artist QS:P170,Q15792, Duccio di Buoninsegna 018, edited using ULEAD PhotoImpact 12 by McJeff F., CC0 1.0

"Iniisip ng ibang tao na mas importante ang isang araw kesa sa ibang araw. Sa iba naman, pare-pareho lang ang lahat ng araw. Kailangan nating mag-decide talaga. Yung mga nagpapahalaga sa isang araw, ginagawa nila yun para i-honor ang Panginoon."

(ROMANS 14: 5-6 PVCE)

Sa tuwing ipinagdiriwang ng Simbahan ang Linggo ng Pentekostes, naging karaniwan na sa marami ang pagbati ng "Maligayang kaarawan!" sa Simbahan, kaakibat ng pagbibigay-diin sa halos 2000 taong edad nito. Subalit may ilang mga Katolikong "apolohista" ang tinutuligsa ito, at iginigiit na ang "tunay na kaarawan" daw ng Simbahan ay hindi Linggo ng Pentekostes kundi Biyernes Santo. Batay ito sa kanilang pribadong interpretasyon ng mga nasasaad sa Catechism of the Catholic Church kung saan literal nga namang sinasabi kung paano "iniluwal" ang Simbahan mula sa tagiliran ng Panginoong Jesus:

"The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. 'The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.' 'For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.'' As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross." (CCC 766)

Ang mga ginamit na batayan dito ng CCC ay ang mga dokumento ng Vatican II (Lumen Gentium at Sacrosanctum Concilium) at ang mga katuruan ni St. Ambrose. Ang tanong: Katumbas na rin ba ito ng pagsasabing ito lamang ang tanging maituturing na "kaarawan" ng Simbahan, at sinumang magtuturo ng naiibang petsa ay nagtuturo ng maling aral? Ganyan ang pananaw ng ilan, at buong sigasig nilang pinagsasabihan ang kapwa nila Katoliko na tigilan na ang pagbabatian ng "Maligayang kaarawan!" sa Simbahan tuwing Linggo ng Pentekostes. Isang kabalintunaan lamang na hindi nila ginagamit ang CCC 766 para tuligsain din ang pagkilala sa Mahal na Birhen bilang "Bagong Eba," gayong malinaw din namang nasasaad dito na ang Bagong Eba ay ang Simbahan! Nangyayari ang mga ganyang kabalintunaan dahil tulad ng ginagawa ng mga Protestanteng Pundamentalista sa Biblia, isinasailalim nila sa kanilang pribadong interpretasyon ang CCC. Hindi nila ipinagsasaalang-alang ang kabuuang aral ng Simbahan at ang mismong buhay na tradisyon ng Simbahan.

Dapat nating maipaunawa sa mga "apolohistang" ito na ang pagturing sa Pentekostes bilang kaarawan ng Simbahan ay hindi naman isang "makabago" at "di-pinag-isipang" pausong kaugalian. Sa katunayan, mismong sa Lumen Gentium ay may sinasabi rin hinggil sa kung paano nga ba itinatag ng Panginoong Jesus ang Simbahan: "Rising from the dead He sent His life-giving Spirit upon His disciples and through Him has established His Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation." (LG 48) Malinaw nitong sinasabi na ang Simbahan ay naitatag bilang pandaigdigang sakramento ng kaligtasan, nang ang Espiritu Santo'y nanaog sa mga alagad. Kaya nga't noon pang ika-18 ng Mayo, 1986, sa kanyang sulat-ensiklikal na Dominum et Vivificantem, tahasang sinabi ni Pope St. John Paul II:

• "...the Second Vatican Council speaks of the Church's birth on the day of Pentecost. This event constitutes the definitive manifestation of what had already been accomplished in the same Upper Room on Easter Sunday. The Risen Christ came and 'brought' to the Apostles the Holy Spirit." (#25)
• "The time of the Church began at the moment when the promises and predictions that so explicitly referred to the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, began to be fulfilled in complete power and clarity upon the Apostles, thus determining the birth of the Church." (#25)

Hindi ito magkakasalungat na mga aral, kundi magkakaibang paraan lamang ng pagpapaliwanag sa iisang katotohanang ipinahahayag. Sa gayon, mas lumalalim ang pagkakaunawa natin sa kung paano nga ba nagsimula ang Simbahang Katolika, at kung paano tayo pinababanal ng Diyos sa pamamagitan ng kanyang Simbahan. Walang anumang "malisyoso," "mangmang," o "heretikong" layunin ang mga Katolikong ginugunita ang kaarawan ng Simbahan tuwing Linggo ng Pentekostes, lalo pa't isa itong kaugaliang minana lang naman natin mula mismo kay Pope St. John Paul II!

Mangangatuwiran naman ang ilang mga "apolohista" na kesyo sinabi lamang daw iyan ni Pope St. John Paul II noong 1986, at kalauna'y nagbago raw ang isip niya upang bigyang daan ang "opisyal" na doktrina ng CCC. Iyan ay isang di pinag-isipang pagpapalusot na lamang, dahil kung titingnan sa ating mismong pambansang katesismo, tahasan ding itinuturo ang Pentekostes bilang kaarawan ng Simbahan: "...ang Espiritu Santong ipinadala ng Ama at ng Kristong Muling Nabuhay, ang siyang nagluwal sa unang pamayanang Kristiyano, ang Simbahang mula sa mga Apostol." (KPK 1301) Kung mayroon mang mga dokumentong maituturing na "opisyal na interpretasyon" ng CCC, di maikakailang kabilang sa mga ito ang KPK, na isang katesismong ipinaprubahan ng Vatican noong ika-anim ng Marso, 1997 (at sa gayo'y napapaloob sa panahon ng panunungkulan ni Pope St. John Paul II).

Sa pagdaan ng panahon, patuloy na ginugunita ng Simbahang Katolika ang Pentekostes bilang kaarawan ng Simbahan, at ito'y tahasang itinataguyod ng mga Santo Papa (St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, at Francis), taliwas sa pagmamarunong ng ilang mga Katolikong "apolohista" na tinutuligsa ito.

ST. JOHN PAUL II

• [May 31, 1998] "It is in the meeting between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit that we find the very heart of what the Apostles experienced at Pentecost. This extraordinary experience is present in the Church born of that event and accompanies her down the centuries."
• [June 24, 1998] "On Pentecost the Holy Spirit descends and the Church is born."
• [June 10, 2000] "This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost: the Spirit, descending upon the Apostles, gave them the necessary light and strength to teach the nations and to proclaim Christ's Gospel to them all. In this way the Church was born and lives in the fruitful tension between the Upper Room and the world, between prayer and proclamation.... On the day when we celebrate the memorial of the Church's birth, we want to express heartfelt gratitude to God for this twofold, and ultimately one, witness, which has involved the great family of the Church since the day of Pentecost. We want to give thanks for the witness of the first community of Jerusalem which, through the generations of martyrs and confessors, has become the inheritance of countless men and women down the ages around the world."
• [June 3, 2001] "The Church is born as missionary, because she is born of the Father who sent Christ into the world, she is born of the Son who, dead and risen, sent the Apostles to all nations, and she is born of the Holy Spirit, who pours out on them the necessary light and force to accomplish their mission."

BENEDICT XVI

• [June 4, 2006] "On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended with power upon the Apostles; thus began the mission of the Church in the world.... The Church, gathered with Mary as at her birth, today implores: 'Veni, Sancte Spiritus! - Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love!'. Amen."
• [May 27, 2007] "Today, we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, in which the liturgy has us relive the birth of the Church"
• [May 11, 2008] "The Church which is born at Pentecost is not primarily a particular Community — the Church of Jerusalem — but the universal Church, which speaks the languages of all peoples."
• [May 31, 2009] "Today the Church throughout the world is reliving the Solemnity of Pentecost, the mystery of her birth, her own 'Baptism' in the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:5) which occurred in Jerusalem 50 days after Easter, precisely on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost."

FRANCIS

• [June 2, 2017] "Brothers and Sisters, may the forthcoming Feast of Pentecost — which is the birthday of the Church — find us concordant in prayer, with Mary, Jesus' Mother and our own. And may the gift of the Holy Spirit make us abound in hope."

"To celebrate the Church's birthday, then, we can look to three moments: the beginning of time, when the Church was conceived in the mind of God; Good Friday, when the Church was born from the heart of Jesus; and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first visibly sent the Church on a mission. All three understandings help us appreciate how God's plan for our sanctification continues to unfold through the Church."

FR. DAVID ENDRES
A Question of Faith: When was the Church Born?

DISCLAIMER:
Ang iyong mga nabasa ay pawang sariling pagpapaliwanag ko lamang bilang isang indibiduwal na Katolikong layko, batay sa aking sariling pagkakaunawa sa mga aral ng Simbahan, at sa gayo'y hindi dapat ituring na opisyal/pormal na kapaliwanagan ng Simbahang Katolika, at hindi rin kumakatawan sa panig ng alinmang samahang pang-Katoliko. — MCJEFF