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REFLECTIONS AND CELEBRATION!

O GOD OUR LOVING FATHER,

we come before you knowing that you

have given us community, and that we

have broken it.

We are conscious that we alone cannot

restore wholeness into our brokenness,

that our wholeness comes only from you,

Our Creator.

Move us.. disturb us.. shake us now,

O Lord,

That we may begin to restore something

of the wholeness which you have created

and entrusted to us.

O GOD, OUR LOVING FATHER,

we pray for this ASSEMBLY

which we are opening at this time.

That you may bless our labours in our attempt

to understand the Asian reality

informed by the rich resources of

your Gospel and your Spirit.

While we are together here,

we want to be a sign of your community

of love,

which you have promised and demonstrated in Jesus.

KUM BAH YAH. OUR LORD. AMEN.

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Come Lord, Jesus

Chorus:

Come, Lord Jesus,

the light is dying,
the night keeps crying:

Come Lord Jesus.

1. Christ, come quickly,
there's danger at the door,
Poverty a-plenty,
hearts gone wild with war,
There's hunger in the city and
famine on the plain. (Chorus)

2. Want demands a-hearing
in far too many lands.
The sick go unattended,
death deals a heavy hand,
The dreams of men are empty,
their cup of sorrow full. (Chorus)

3. World awaits in darkness
a mighty burst of light,
To set the lame man leaping,
to give the blind man sight,
We have the prophet's promise,
we await the Prince of Peace. (Chorus)

4. Clouds shall send a Saviour,
like softly falling rain.
Yet mighty in his power,
to free us from our chains.
His shield will be compassion,
his weapon liberty. (Chorus)

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CORTEZ

I start with the confession that I find it difficult to reflect for a mixed group like ours — students, workers among farmers and labourers, and men and women of various living faiths. But, we must dare reflect — in fact this is why we are in this assembly — to gather into one, if possible, our aspirations for ourselves, our fellow Asians, and all of humankind towards the liberation of all through reliance on our own capabilities and resources, on our own willingness to pay the price for a just and humane society.

The theme of our Assembly — "The Struggle for Self-Reliance in Asia Today" — begs several questions which have been the guiding reference of the staff and the Preparatory Committee in preparing for this meeting. First, "What is the 'reality' we have to face in Asia as we struggle for self-reliance?" Second, "What is the role of students in the reality and the struggle?" Third, "What is the role of Asia's living religions towards the attainment of the goals of this struggle?" And last, "What is the role of Christian students in the struggle for liberation?"

The first two questions have been meticulously discussed and expounded in the keynote address and seminar papers prepared for-the Assembly. I am sure that that will not be the end of that — we shall be wrestling with these, hopefully, with newer insights as we go on in the daily sessions and even in informal conversations. It is to the last two questions,

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therefore, that I would like this short reflection to zero in.

The record of religions in Asia in relation to revolutionary processes has not been a source of pride for us. In fact it has been an accusing finger pointing at our direction! Religions have been found to be in collusion with holders of powers and working against genuine people's endeavours to overcome domination and oppression. Of course, in the course of the long history of Asia, there have been exceptions to this general record.

And it is not as if the living faiths in Asia are wanting in teachings and values on justice, peace, equality which all spell out answers to man's need or clamour for liberation.

Buddhism teaches the limitation of desire. Just think of the simple mathematics of this. If desire (which can be extended to greed for wealth and power or translated as simple unabated consumerism) is limited, then there would be enough to pass around for all; the few (the elite) would not want to gorge themselves with the vast resources and products and wealth of the land. This sounds a bit simplistic, but it must work out if put into practice. The truth is that the teaching has never been really taken seriously, at least to a proportion that it would be a deterring factor in the unabated drive for more and more material acquisition influenced by systems and forces of exploitation and domination.

Islam is rich in teachings and traditions on brotherhood. For the overcoming of the oppression of other Muslims, solidarity is expressed in various ways and means. This particular faith proclaims as its highest goal the good and well-being of others, loving and caring for them.

The Christian faith is replete with teachings and exhortation centered on the need to establish justice throughout the earth. This is the tradition of the Old Testament and is borne by one of the passages read:

"O ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth.

They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.

Therefore, because they trample upon the poor and take from him exactions of wheat, you have built houses of hewn stone, but shall not dwell in them, you have planted pleasant vineyards but shall not drink their wine ...

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." (Amos 5)

In the New Testament, one discovers the same tradition in the words and teachings of our Lord both in the Nazareth Manifesto (Luke 4) and the account of the Last Judgement (Matthew 25).

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4)

"When the Son of God comes in his glory, and all the angels

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with him, then he will sit on his throne . . . Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, 0 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was in prison and you came to me'... " (Matt. 25)

Injustice is an ancient issue. It was true in the Old Testament days, it was still a part of the reality during the ministry days of our Lord as it is the dominant picture of the social scene in most if not all of Asian countries and of other Third World nations of the world today. What is tragic is that in the course of history, Christians — individually and collectively — have been found wanting in putting the teachings of their Lord into practice to combat the evils of an unjust society. A theologian once said, perhaps in desperation, that Christ came to proclaim "faith" but it was the "church" that developed. What a clear and unmistakable indictment on the dismal performance of the Christian community!

Let us now hurry to the last question — which touches on the role of Christian students in the whole arena of the Asian struggle. SCMers and Catholic students present here who genuinely are part of people's movements in their own contexts, working with fellow students and youth, with farmers, with the labouring masses, must have discovered the loneliness of their own existential posture. For you, who have taken this decisive commitment, are among those who respond to present day realities in Asia, seeking to find ways by which your faith may relate to the claims of the world and the challenges of the arduous processes of history. You are among those who remain in the abiding hope that the church would someday turn its eyes to the need and clamour for justice and peace in Asia and the whole world.

And some of us who still are groping and are faltering in the search for meaning in it all, for some assurance that the contradictions will finally find unity at some junctures of the struggle, should be able, we hope, to take some further steps as we try to learn from each other during these days of our coming together. For whether we belong to the first category or the second, we all are, I am sure, among others in Asia, committed to MAN as the proper SUBJECT of history. We must, therefore, continue to dare raise the 'political' question alongside the 'God' and 'Faith' questions. We must not rest until true justice and peace in Asia, in the world, shall belong to the least among us!

TANG

The past few days we have spent on piecing together the Asian reality and identifying the forces which have moulded our countries, our peoples, ourselves. It was not a mere intellectual exercise. The Asian reality is a challenge to our faith. A faith rooted in Christ — of courage, strength and honesty. In our Asian situation we cannot afford to be apologetic Christians,

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especially since we are a minority. And secular society cannot be ignored. This challenge came up clearly in yesterday's plenary on the role of faith. Faith is not something to be taken for granted. With this in mind I chose these verses. Perhaps we can reflect on 2 points. Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I choose you". I think it's important to stress that even when we talk of self reliance, we must recognise that we are only self-reliant in Christ. We must avoid making ultimates of ourselves, our ambitions, our ideals, in the name of God and the people. There is joy in Christianity. 'These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full". My prayer for all of us for today and the next few days is that we may bring the love and joy of Christ with us wherever we go.

B. KUMAR

When everybody returned to the Centre, I was observing that some of us were not quite happy about the field trip. Some were complaining that they didn't have enough sleep, their legs ached, the toilet was not good, the bathroom was not good. Well, that is the reality for us today. And when we talk about our involvement and commitment to the people, the biggest question that we face today is — are we ready to be involved as a result of our commitment?

This is the challenge for us today. I would like to give a small example. Let us take some water in a glass. Let us assume this as the world. Let this sugar be the agent. If we want the water to be sweet, i.e. change its status, we have to put the lump of sugar in it. The sugar cannot melt outside and see that the water gets a new status. Unless it gets into the water and dissolve itself, completely disfiguring itself, this water won't change. Unless it gets into each and everyone of the water molecules and identifies itself with the water, it cannot bring about sweetness in the water.

This is the task before us. Unless we get into society, unless we sacrifice

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ourselves for the task, we cannot bring about any change. This calls for commitment. God's call today for us is towards commitment — which may mean the cost of our own lives. And I leave this question before us — whether we are willing to take up the task and the cost.

BALASURIYA

My thoughts this evening, first of all, is with the fire, also with the surge of the student movement. You will excuse me if I refer to the past many, many years of the growth of student movement. I remember, in 1964, in Washington, the Catholic Students and the Student Christian Movement (SCM), were together. Not only together, but they agreed on a wider ecumenism — even before Vatican Council. I guess we have gone ahead. But today, we have come to a significant point, where we want, in Asia, to come together.

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Let us think of fire, the fire that burns. If you want to join two metals together you have to warm them and bum against sufficient heat that they would get united. I think we don't want to get too united for the moment, but in order to work together, we need to bum away some of our differences and perhaps be wise enough to think of others.

I think also of the fire of the Old Testament, so often mentioned. I am not thinking so much of the fire when there is a victim to be found, but I think of the Lord leading the people to Liberation. He led them because he saw his people suffering oppression under the Egyptians, and the Scripture says the Lord did not like it. He asked Moses to lead them and he led them through the desert under a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

I think as we go through life, we will have many moments of suffering. I can think of our own student movement, the Catholic Students - in 1971, while we were in Bangalore for a month Chaplain Formation. And with us then was Ed dela Torre of the Philippines, who is now in the stockade. We can think of many others, who, according to their convictions, have been working for the peoples' liberation and inevitably it will mean suffering. It may mean suffering or defeat, it may mean suffering within the family, giving up our expectations of a more comfortable life. Let us think of this fire, as a remembrance of this evening, when we are together and when we are alone — to remember that there is a world group, youth and senior friends, people from all over the world, looking forward to a better world.

But we have to go through the desert, there is no alternative. We can look for the fleshpots of Egypt. We can join the bourgeois system, the capitalist life, or we can benefit from the fruits of socialism or from the establishment of Socialism. But the honest approach is that we have to be led by this fire. I can think of a student in Sri Lanka. We were discussing and

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at one moment, he said, "This is not enough, I must go and join my friends, my comrades". And he went out. Afterwards, you may agree or disagree, lie was involved in the rebellion — he is now in prison, he will be released shortly.

I do not say we agree or disagree but this is one of the problems that we have to suffer. So, in that, let us spend this evening in a reflective mood, so that in moments of suffering, when we have to take a decision, when we are asked to go forward, or do we go backward? What type of marriage do we take? What type of job do we accept? Are we going to join the system and reap the benefits or go the hard way and join the struggles of people, searching for a better situation? May this fire be a strength to us. May it be a light to us. May it warm us.

So I would like to invite you to pray for all, to pray for our family, that they may understand — so very often, the suffering of option is that they do not understand, we do not understand. The family does not make an option together.

The idea was that whatever hopes and inspirations we have, that we put it in the fire, perhaps to be burned - maybe the frustrations, or maybe we hope that they will be so burned and be linked together - to form a spirit, by which IMCS & WSCF forgetting their minor differences may be linked together with the vast struggle of so many others in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is more than Churches, more than Protestants, more than Catholics, it is more than religion. It is the whole of mankind — that we may belong to that.

Finally, the fire is also a funeral fire. In our land, we cremate, but to remember that death is a liberation. When we accept death, we have no more fear. Fortunately, we don't live forever. So, we can contest any enemy, any force, because our Lord says, "Do not be afraid of those who can take life away". Because there is something more worthwhile than life.

It is LOVE, it is Service, it is living for one another. That is divine. That is God. So when we are prepared to be put in the fire, then we have no more fear. That is the true inner liberation.

PANANAGUTAN (PILIPINO) Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang Walang sinuman ang namamatay para sa sarili lamang. Ref.: Tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa 't isa Tayong lahat ay tinipon ng Diyos na kapiling niya.

RESPONSIBILITY Nobody lives for himself alone Nobody dies for himself alone Ref.: All of us have a responsibility for each other All of us are gathered in the Lord as one family.

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O GOD, OUR FATHER

we thank you

for having been present

throughout these ten days with us

unseen,

but our faith told us that

you were with us.

With all our faults, our selfish interests,
you have accepted us.
Among our conflicts,
your unseen hand was there.

We ask pardon
and grace.

As we go forth

strengthen us in your hope.
Lead us in our courageous step,
and if we fall, forgive us.

Make us humble,
make us learn from others
as we go out to fulfill
our resolutions. AMEN.

(Bishop Leo)