TH221 E CELEBRATING GOD’S PRESENCE

AS A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Topic 1: Theology of Signs and Symbols

ANAMNESIS versus AMNESIA
(We Remember. We Believe. We Celebrate. We Love.)

Objective: At the end of this session the student is able to design a ritual-celebration that
incorporates remembrance, believing, celebrating and loving using relevant signs and
symbols coming from the student’s ordinary everyday life and experience of love.
.

From “Responding to God” to “Celebrating God’s presence”

Welcome to the third theology subject/course in Adamson University’s
Theology Curriculum on Faith Journey towards Social Transformation.

In Theology 1, Searching for God in the World Today, we saw that “theology” is
about reflecting on the ordinary, the everyday life. Theology is a process or a practice of
consciously and methodically reflecting on our experience of God in the ordinariness of life and
social and historical events of the world; using the methodology of “see-discern-act/pray.”
Ultimately the goal of theology is for us to have a deeper and intimate relationship with God-
in-Jesus.

In that course, we talked about our everyday; “Revelation-Faith,” the Bible, Jesus
of Nazareth, His death and resurrection as a life given for the sake of the Kingdom so that
all may experience kaginhawaan or salvation.
St. Vincent de Paul is an example of one who tried to follow Jesus in his own
ways in his time. Today, we are also invited to retell the story of God’s life and love by
following Jesus as students.

In Theology 2, Responding to God’s Call by Becoming Fully Human, using the same
methodology of “see-discern-act/pray,” the course dealt with what it means to be truly
and fully human from the Christian perspective. This is our way of responding to the
invitation of God-in-Jesus whose Spirit is ever-present and active in the world.

We started with the Christian vision of humanity that challenges us to become truly
and fully human and fully alive as the image of God in our realities of body and soul, male
and female, in our everyday life, experiences, and relationships of love and failure to
love, suffering, and goodness of God, and even in death.
 To be truly and fully human and fully alive, we focused on the need to practice
virtues or good habits (or “mabuting gawi”) in everyday life. The practice and “perfection” of
virtues as good habits or habits of being human or habits of the heart are what will help
us and shape us to become good persons with the help of a community and role models. Together
with Sacred Scriptures and the example of St. Vincent de Paul, and using the rich
resource of the Filipino culture and tradition, we reflected on the virtues of hospitality and
gratitude (“pagmamagandang loob”), prudence and temperance (“paglilimi at pamumuhay
ng sapat”), self-care and integrity (“pangangatawan ng loob”), fidelity and mutuality
(“katapatan sa kapwa”), temperance and risk-taking (“pagtataya at hiya”),
reconciling/forgiving and compassion/mercy (“pagbabalik-loob at pagmamalasakit”), and
finally, justice, courage and hope ( “bahala na” with “katarungan”). The opposite of
virtue is vice or “masamang gawi” or “di-magandang gawi”). Vices are obstacles to
becoming truly and fully human, and therefore they move us further away from our
true selves.

Celebrating God’s Presence

In this Theology 3, Celebrating God’s Presence as a Christian Community, we
will realize that we are not alone in our journey of becoming truly and fully human and
fully alive. God-in-Jesus continues to be present to us as a pilgrim People of God - the
church. The church-community of today continues to proclaim in words and deeds the
liberating message of Jesus by being relevant in its mission of evangelization in the
context of new challenges or “signs of the times”, especially those that affect severely
the poor and the suffering, in the spirit and example of St. Vincent de Paul.

From this understanding of the church in solidarity with the whole of humanity and
the whole of creation, we are able to better understand the sacraments as celebrations of
God’s active presence of love and life in the world and as a challenge for us (as church-
community) to give witness to its story as the sacrament of Christ’s saving unity and
fellowship in the world.

Let us “Discern”

1. We Remember
Many of the items or objects we shared to our group are not really important or
valuable in themselves. Most of them are ordinary, everyday objects or items, almost
easily accessible and readily available to almost anyone. Yet, we cannot deny and
neither can we ignore the fact that for people they are meaningful and important,
something that is considered prized or cherished possessions. What makes these
objects/items important or meaningful is that they are somewhat link either to a
person, event or experience that we have in the past that we find meaningful and
significant; though not exclusively pleasant. It can be that the object/item is linked to
a parent, a present or past lover, a friend, a good and inspiring teacher, or maybe even
an enemy. It can also be that the object is linked to happy memories from the past and
which continue to give us strength or courage. Even after that “One Moment in Time” is
over we continue to hold on to such experience, and it continues to influence our life.
They may be moments of successes or failures, struggles, joys and hopes, grief and
anxieties, etc.

Such remembering of those “special moments in time” is usually facilitated by

signs and symbols around us: ordinary objects that bring us to such moment or
experience by pointing to it and somehow making it present once again to us. These
signs or symbols transform ordinary time, ordinary space, and ordinary meaning into
sacred time, sacred space, and sacred meaning (Mircea Eliade). At this point an example
might be in order: (The teacher may also share a story from his/her own experience,
instead of the one given below.)

You are in a restaurant or mall and suddenly you hear a familiar song being played in the
background. The song is your favourite (what is it for you?) Suddenly you tell yourself “it
is our theme song”. By “our” you are actually referring to a “special someone”. At this
point the song or music is a sign (it points to a particular event, person or experience)
until you start “to lose awareness or consciousness” of your present time, space and
meaning and the people with you and somewhat begin to be “transported back” to that
moment in time where you are with that special someone, enjoying his/her company,
laughter, jokes and sharing of life’s tidbits, of experiences. Now the music has become a
symbol (it makes you present to the experience or making the experience present to
you again). You continue to linger with the song until you are “re-awakened” by a strong
tap on your shoulder or your elbow being shaken by a friend, asking what is happening to
you because they seem to have lost you in the group. And you simply smile; you are
inspired and renewed by that short, flash experience of sacred time, sacred space, and
sacred meaning, and say “I’m fine. I’m okay. What is that again?” The smile now replaced
by a big, wide grin.

Who knows how long such a grin will remain in your face and lips. Who knows how
long you will remain inspired and renewed. But such is the power of remembering or
anamnesis – something or someone is remembered by reliving it or him/her.
Anamnesis not only evokes the experience of the past but also continue to affect,
influence, and inspire the future. In life we do a lot of remembering. That is part of
being human. WE REMEMBER.

The opposite of anamnesis is amnesia or forgetfulness or the refusal to

remember. There are many reasons for amnesia – it can be medical or physiological
condition, or an unconscious or unaware tendency not to remember the past,
particularly the saddest or painful ones. Amnesia is also a disposition in life of not
seeking the value or worth of things, people or events that happen to us. We just live
the day with no meaning or significance, and nothing affects us or disturbs us. In
anamnesis however, we decide to give meanings to things and people that affect us.
They become part of our memory not simply of the past but the memory say something
about our present life and it points to some more meanings about the future.

2. We Believe
Such objects or items that you consider “cherished or prized possessions” are
treated as such by you because they are linked to experiences that you consider sacred,
i.e. important, meaningful and mysterious in (your) life. Joseph Martos calls such
experiences “key-experiences of life”. The following are key experiences we all share in
life: birth (newness or renewal of life); adulthood, love, friendship, community; human
frailty, weakness, sin, and forgiveness and reconciliation; sickness, near-death
experience, care and compassion for others; commitment and fidelity to family;
courage, risk-taking and fidelity and loyalty to one’s (role in) society; and death, justice
and hope. They are called “key-experiences” because they open up to us deeper
meanings in life and influence the meaning we give to all our other experiences. Tad
Guzie calls such experiences “lived-experiences” which for him are “the rhythm that
makes life human”. It is what human life is all about. It is by focussing on such
experiences that we discover gradually the meaning and depth of our true and full
humanity.

We treasure our “lived experiences” or “key experiences” because deep down

within us we know that this is what it means for us to be truly and fully human: to
live a life of love, friendship and community; a life of forgiveness and reconciliation,
care and compassion, commitment and fidelity, courage and risk-taking, fidelity and
loyalty, justice and hope. To focus on them and to treasure anything (signs and
symbols) that allow us to get in touch with these realities is for us to believe that
after all life is not in vain. Together we can disagree with the writer of the book of
Sirac/Qoheleth when s/he writes “Vanity of vanities; and everything in life is
vanity.”(Ecc.1:2) and proclaim that life has a deeper and richer meaning unfolding
itself in our experiences. That is what we believe. That is why WE BELIEVE.
3. We Celebrate
Can you imagine what will happen the moment we forget what it means to be
truly and fully human? What happens when those items that you consider cherished or
prized possessions no longer mean anything to you because you can no longer recall or
remember the people, story, event, experience associated or link with those
items/objects? What will happen when we can no longer recall or remember those
experiences that make us truly and fully human; and when sign and symbols no longer
point to or make present experiences that inspire and renew us to live as one? What
happens if all humanity suffers from a kind of massive “Humanity-Amnesia”, or
massive “Humanity-Alzheimer’s Disease”?

The National Institute of Aging of the US reports that symptoms of Alzheimer

may include increase memory loss and confusion; problem with one’s own identity and
role, and that of others; problem recognizing even family and friends; inability to learn
new things; confusion with time or place, changes in mood and personality, among
others. Life would be in chaos. Everyone is confused; no meaningful past, no
meaningful present and no meaningful future. We simply do not know what to do.
We simply will not know how to live; and much more to live as truly and fully
human beings!

The good news is that we humans have a way of ensuring that we do not
forget especially those experiences that are valuable or important to us. We not only
engage in remembering. We engage in re-telling. We share with others in the
community. In other words, we celebrate. The simplest way of sharing is through
simple story-telling. Through the simple story-telling process we allow people to enter
and be part of our experience and we in turn allow our experience, our story, to enter
their own experience, their own life. As a result the experience or story “grows”. It
acquires greater depth, more meaning and significance.
That’s what happen for example when you had your first date with your “crush”
and everything turns out well. You cannot wait to be back home so that you can call
and tell your best friend the most beautiful and exhilarating “story or experience” of
your life. The date lasted only for a few minutes or for two hours but the story telling
goes on until the early morning hours of the following day, around six to seven hours
and without sleep.

But sometimes mere story-telling is not enough. It is better if the sharing takes
place with as many people as possible with whom you share some affinity or
connection. And even much better if the whole community is involve. This is true
especially if the experience falls under what we have mentioned before as “key-
experiences” or “lived-experiences.” In some instances, the experience is so charged with
meaning and so overwhelming that we cannot “handle” it alone and somehow we want to share
it to the whole world.

Birth is one example of such experience. Do I simply engage in simple story-

telling during my birthday? Do I simply tell the story of what happen when I was born?
Do I simply do the story-telling every year; year in and year out? The same is true for
example with anniversaries; or lifetime commitment of love for a person; or even death
and mourning. Do we simply tell the story year in and year out? I think you will agree
that something more is required?

It is here that the value of ritual-celebration comes into the picture. Different
signs and symbols can be combined together to form an elaborate and intricate ritual
for the purpose of celebration. Rituals are “repetitious patterns of behavior involving the use
of signs and symbols which evoke the feeling of the particular event which initially called the
community into being with such power that it effects our presence at such event and at the same
time makes us also present once again to those events.”

A good example of a ritual-celebration is a birthday party. There you encounter

different signs and symbols: balloons, cake, drinks, food, people, gifts, greetings,
singing, etc. They all form an elaborate and intricate ritual for the purpose of celebrating
birth or the beginning of a new life. Of course the more we understand the signs and
symbols and their meaning in the celebration, the more we can understand and
appreciate the meaning of what is celebrated.

George Worgul defines celebration “as moments of focusing our minds and our
hearts, our total being to the reality or experience of our humanity.” They are moments of
invitation to get hold of ourselves and experience in a kind of “moment of truth” the
depth and reality of human life in the company and presence of others. The communal
celebrations enable us to have a communal interpretation of the experience, adding
depths and richness to our understanding of the particular event or experience. In the
process humanity is transformed; the individual and the community are provided with
a deeper understanding and appreciation of the meaning involved in the particular
event or experience. Most often, even after the celebration is over, the celebration-
experience continues to affect us.
We want our (key-) experience to reveal more, to unfold more meaning and
depth in relation to our life, our humanity. After all, meaning grows, deepens, unfolds,
develop. Humans do not want to forget. But Humans do not simply want to remember.
Humans need and want to celebrate. That is why WE CELEBRATE. When we
celebrate, we remember by believing in things that matter most to us as persons and
as a community.
4. We love (We live)
Although everything we do can be considered human activity, simply because
they are done by humans, there are some actions that can be considered more fully
and distinctively human. These are the actions that raise the whole of our life or
existence on the level of the genuinely human; they are actions/habits that make us
truly and fully human if and when we live by them. Examples of these are the key or lived
experiences we mentioned before.

In Theology 2 they were called virtues or virtuous actions, good habits, habits of
being human, habits of the heart. In this lesson they were seen deeply embedded or
attached to certain events or experiences (key-experiences or lived-experiences) as
their deepest and most profound meaning. They make us want to remember, to
believe, to celebrate. They are what are truly and fully human in life inviting us and
challenging us to live the very same meaning and depth we so earnestly seek and wish to
understand.

The best way to show what we consider really valuable and meaningful so
much so that we want or need to remember, believe, celebrate is by making them our
way of life, our communal lifestyle, living according to them. We live according to
what we remember, believe, celebrate. But what is the core of every true human value
or virtue? Donald De Marco believes that it is LOVE. James Keenan calls it Charity, the
mother of all virtues. As such, virtues are concerned more with the interior life than the
external act; virtues are more concerned with the heart than with the head. Love
brings together in a carefully balance way all the moral/human values. In the Letter to
the Corinthians, Paul writes: (1Cor 13:1-8)

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or
a clashing cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have
all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own, and if I handed my body over so that I may boast but do
not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not
rude, it does not seek its own interest, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over
injury, it does not rejoice over wrong doing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endure all things.

Love never fails.”

We have to live according to what we remember, believes, celebrate. That means WE
MUST LOVE.