20171127
INCULTURATION
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Daniel 1:1-6,8-20 ©
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In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched on Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord
delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hands, with some of the furnishings
of the Temple of God. He took them away to the land of Shinar, and stored the
sacred vessels in the treasury of his own gods.
The king
ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to select from the Israelites a certain
number of boys of either royal or noble descent; they had to be without any
physical defect, of good appearance, trained in every kind of wisdom,
well-informed, quick at learning, suitable for service in the palace of the
king. Ashpenaz himself was to teach them the language and literature of the
Chaldaeans. The king assigned them a daily allowance of food and wine from his
own royal table. They were to receive an education lasting for three years,
after which they were expected to be fit for the king’s society. Among them
were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who were Judaeans. Daniel, who was
most anxious not to defile himself with the food and wine from the royal table,
begged the chief eunuch to spare him this defilement; and by the grace of God
Daniel met goodwill and sympathy on the part of the chief eunuch. But he warned
Daniel, ‘I am afraid of my lord the king: he has assigned you food and drink,
and if he sees you looking thinner in the face than the other boys of your age,
my head will be in danger with the king because of you.’ At this Daniel turned
to the guard whom the chief eunuch had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael
and Azariah. He said, ‘Please allow your servants a ten days’ trial, during
which we are given only vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then
compare our looks with those of the boys who eat the king’s food; go by what
you see, and treat your servants accordingly.’ The man agreed to do what they
asked and put them on ten days’ trial. When the ten days were over they looked
and were in better health than any of the boys who had eaten their allowance
from the royal table; so the guard withdrew their allowance of food and the
wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. And God favoured these four
boys with knowledge and intelligence in everything connected with literature,
and in wisdom; while Daniel had the gift of interpreting every kind of vision
and dream. When the period stipulated by the king for the boys’ training was
over, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king conversed
with them, and among all the boys found none to equal Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael
and Azariah. So they became members of the king’s court, and on whatever point
of wisdom or information he might question them, he found them ten times better
than all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Daniel 3:52-56 ©
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You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
Blest your glorious holy name.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest in the temple of your glory.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest who gaze into the depths.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest in the firmament of heaven.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Rv2:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Even if you have to die, says the Lord,
keep faithful, and I will give you
the crown of life.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mt24:42,44
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready,
because you do not know the hour
when the Son of Man is coming.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 21:1-4 ©
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As Jesus looked up, he saw rich people putting their offerings
into the treasury; then he happened to notice a poverty-stricken widow putting
in two small coins, and he said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in
more than any of them; for these have all contributed money they had over, but
she from the little she had has put in all she had to live on.’
INCULTURATION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ Dn 1:1-6. 8-20; Dn 3:52-56; Lk 21:1-4]
How can a Christian retain his or her identity in a country that does
not accept Christian culture? This is the question for our reflection
today. Today, societies are becoming more and more
cosmopolitan because of mass migration and globalization, especially in the
cities. Although in many countries especially in Asia, Africa and Latin
America, there is still a strong dominance of one culture over the rest, there
is an increasing presence of people from other countries, races, languages and
religions.
Understandably, one of the most important tasks of every government is
to ensure that the people are united in love and work together for the good of everyone. Without
harmony and unity, there will be no peace but division. When there is
division, the whole country will be put at risk, as there is no security.
No business will invest in a country where there is social disorder. In
more cosmopolitan cities and countries, the way to unite people is to impose
secularism on all peoples in public life. In other countries, where
there is a dominant religion or culture, they seek to impose its religion and
culture on the minority groups. But this causes tension and resentment.
Unfortunately, the simplistic way of building unity has always been
through the imposition of a common language, culture and religion for everyone.
Unity is achieved through uniformity. This was what the kings in ancient
times all tried to do. This was the case of the Babylonian King,
Nebuchadnezzar. After conquering Jerusalem and making it into a vassal
state, he carried all the treasures from the Temple back to Babylon. He
also brought all the talented people from Jerusalem to work for him as well. He
knew that the country could not progress unless he had wise, intelligent and
knowledgeable men to help him. Among the many Jews that he brought back to
Babylon were four outstanding young men, namely, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and
Azariah.
But it was not enough to have talented people to serve under him.
He also sought to transform them into Babylonians as well.
He did this by making them study “the language and literature of the
Chaldaeans.” They were also assigned “a daily allowance of food and wine
from his own royal table.” Besides, they were given an education which
included history, mathematics and astronomy. He even gave them Babylonian
names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed′nego. In other words, it was hoped that by
dressing them up like Babylonians, making them share the same history,
literature, language and culture, they would be more accepted by the rest of
the people.
All these means of inculturation can be accommodated.
Indeed, when a migrant enters into a new country, it is necessary for him to
know the language of the people so that he could communicate with the rest of
the people. Studying their history and literature is also a necessary
part of inculturation so that he can feel with the people, understand their culture,
their thinking and their values. This will help him to be more sensitive
so that he would not say or doing anything that could offend the locals. For
the sake of unity, new migrants cannot be living in their own enclaves,
isolated from the larger community. It is necessary that new migrants
adopt the language and the culture of the society they now belong. In
this way, there will be greater assimilation although it might not be the best
way to promote unity. But it has always been the tendency of those
societies with a strong homogenous race or religion to impose their culture and
religion on others.
A better approach is to promote unity in diversity.
This is particularly so if the society is less homogenous and more
cosmopolitan. In such a situation, uniformity will not work. In fact, it
will cause resentment and hostility. When we apply the principle of unity
in diversity, it necessarily requires all cultures to be open to each
other. We adopt and accept what each culture can contribute to society,
thereby enriching everyone. It is the way of integration rather than
assimilation. In integration, all cultures retain their own unique identity but
are integrated in such a way that the different communities are able to enjoy
and even embrace each other’s culture.
The biggest mistake that most leaders fail in promoting unity is to
confuse culture with religion. Culture is a way of
life. It expresses implicitly the values of the people. Culture is
expressed through signs such as dressing, gesture, actions and
celebrations. Culture celebrates what is common among the peoples and the
values that they have in common. Many of the cultural expressions are in
the form of human values and aspirations.
Religion is connected with culture but it is not identical with
culture. Religion entails the worship of the
Sacred. It is concerned with the worship of God or of a deity. The
way we revere God and express our common faith is through the means that are
available to us, the signs that all can understand. So religion is also
inculturated because the values of religion are expressed in the culture which
the people are familiar with. So in Asian countries, kneeling, bowing or
clasping the palms of both hands together are symbols of reverence, respect and
honour. These gestures and signs could be rendered to man or to God, depending
on who is being honoured, the values that are being expressed.
Once we understand the connection between religion and culture and the
distinction between the two, we would not be fighting over the gestures and
signs used by people sharing the same religion but expressing it according to
their cultures and customs. Only certain critical signs of a
religion cannot be inculturaized e.g. the bread and wine for the use of the
Eucharistic celebration. But the non-essential signs could be adapted
accordingly. What one practises in his country may not be the same way it
is expressed in another country, although the meaning and intention is the
same.
But this is just how far we can go when we seek unity through
uniformity. When it comes to religion, we must respect people of other
faiths. Their beliefs are rooted in their God
experience or in the way they were raised as God-fearing people. Religion
is a matter of the heart, of faith and not always logical or rather, beyond
reason. When we seek to impose our faith on others, then this is where
the tension comes in.
This was the mistake that the Babylonian kings made, but they
fortunately learnt their lesson. In the first
instance, King Nebuchadnezzar had to put the three young men to death because
his officials complained that they refused to worship the golden image.
They were put into the fiery furnace but the angel saved them from death.
Hence, the king exclaimed, “Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or
language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed′nego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for
there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.” (Dn 3:29)
Later on, King Darius signed a decree that “whoever makes petition to
any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the
den of lions.” (Dn 6:7) This resulted in Daniel being
arrested and thrown into the lion’s den. When saved by God, King Darius
made another decree, “that in all my royal dominion men tremble and fear before
the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring for ever; his
kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.”
(Dn 6:26)
It was because the king saw the power of God protecting Daniel from being eaten
up by the lion. Faith requires a personal encounter with the living and
mighty God. Once there is such an encounter, our perception of the faith
would change accordingly.
In matters of faith, no compromise is possible.
Hence, whilst Daniel and his friends were willing to assume the culture and the
language of the Babylonians, they were adamant in remaining faithful to their
religious values and beliefs. They were not ready to betray their
conscience and their faith just to enjoy the benefits of power, glory and
success. They were ready to give up everything for their faith. And
this was what they did. They rejected the food from the king’s table
because of the fear of being defiled, especially if the food was offered to
idols or because they served pork. They refused to bow down to worship
any image including the king. On such religious matters, they stood
firm. God was with them and rescued them from their enemies.
Today, we are called to imitate Daniel and his three friends in being
firm in our faith, even when we accept inculturation. We
should indeed immerse ourselves in the cultures of the people we live with for
better understanding and integration. Unity and harmony are values that
the gospel promotes, and they are essential to the mission of the Church.
We are called to work hard for the good of all in whichever community we
belong, regardless of race, language or religion. We must strive to serve
the country, as Daniel and the three young men did, to the best of our
ability. But let us be firm in our faith like the poor widow who gave
everything to God without reservation. She did not reserve anything for
herself. She did not put her convenience and life before God. We
too must surrender our lives to God for the service of humanity and for His
greater glory.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh,
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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