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5th Annual Konkan Fruit Fest
Promenade, D B Bandodkar Road, Panaji, Goa
16-18, May 2008
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073789.html
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From: "Gilbert Lawrence" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I tried reading the full text of the Cardinal's speech that was kindly
web-linked
as well as the abstracts that were posted.
The writings were "Latin to me" with some Greek philosophy.
Aum supurlo Goenkar murree. I am man-enough to admit that I do not
understand
the concepts.
***Discourse on God will always be to some extent "Latin to me". But my
point is that the message of the Cardinal is to be taken, not just some
sentences
which are dealing with the theme in a different, but complementary
context--that of the dialogue with the
atheists. From the outset the Cardinal stated his faith in God revealed by
Jesus Christ.
Then he says that God is not "a fact in the world" (as object of empirical
sciences),
but a mystery (that cannot be known exhaustively), but should be embraced in
faith and love.
The Cardinal speaks of a personal God. What I am correcting is the wrong,
reductionist notion,
that we do not know whether God exists or not. "Mystery" is a living,
hidden, real, being.
Perhaps we can say that it implies that the Cardinal is an "agnostic", if we
read only those lines
and do not understand and misinterpret the word "mystery". The Cardinal does
not say that at all.
That is what I am trying to correct. In fact, the Cardinal has already
clearly proclaimed:
"I believe in the God revealed to us by Jesus, who is the father who
forgives us, accepts us, and loves us. He is the God who speaks to us about
who we are, how we should live and teaches us the ways that will lead us
into a responsible exercise of our freedom. If we close our hearts and minds
to him, if we forget or exclude God, then our lives lose both meaning and
hope".
God is a Father who loves us, a Person.
Why do you think of yourself as a "supurlo Goyenkar"?
Regards.
Fr.Ivo
.
