Joy and Piety

As a cradle Catholic, I've grown up in a spiritual family that spans races, cultures and languages and listening to many similar and contrarian views about what constitutes true piety and whether one can be both pious and joyful at the same time, this article is to expound a less known trait of true piety - Joy. The question may be asked - what constitutes true happiness and what makes you or me happy. A cheerful nature attracts and helps foster growth and developing good relationships. A sense of humour helps one tide over adversities and struggles in life. There is a saying that without humour one is like a vehicle rolling over rocky terrain getting bumped up and down endlessly. Humour make the journey of life richer despite the struggles - the troughs which all people necessarily go through at some point.

Religious practice does mean considerable discipline and human effort. There comes to mind images of parents and elders telling younger members in the faith with a stern face "say your Rosary" or "put away your phone, we're entering a Church". Many of us grow up with a false notion that religious are sad, gloomy, uncool and downright boring, but this is simply not true. At the surface, it may seem so but when you drink deep of the Sancta Fe, literally translated the "Holy Faith", you realise a sense of humour in the holiest and most adversely suffering servants of Christ, needless to say the Lord himself.

A leading example of this holy joy is the apostle Paul. A man who as he says in his second letter to the Coritnhians, chapter 11:
24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

 This man, wrote the letter to the Philippians from the prison in Rome while facing a death sentence, a letter that speaks of joy several times. I became consciously aware of joy in this letter, through attending a session by Anand Pillai, a man born into Hinduism, rated as one of the top 10 influencers in India and among the top 50 in the world and now a believer in Christ and the Gospel. This man survived the loss of his father and mother in a closely knit family within a span of few years. Driven to despair, he picked up the New Testament out of curiosity and the rest of his life is a living testimony of the transforming power of the Gospel of Christ. Being no stranger to suffering in his own life in various ways, this man bears witness to Joy in the midst of suffering.

Going back to the first century Rome, where Paul and several others like him suffered extreme pain, loss and suffering under a Roman regime that opposed the Christian faith and denied them the basic freedom of worship. Paul says to the Philippians in chapter 1, verse 4 of his letter:

I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

And again in verse 18:

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice

Here is a man who not only has come to terms with suffering in his life, he is at this point not wallowing in self-pity, but writing to people in Philippi a joyful letter of encouragement, unashamed of his suffering for a just cause. Therefore my dear friends, I'd like to emphasize this lesser know aspect of true piety - a joy unlike the passing joys of this world. A joy which no money can buy. A joy of knowing you are right with God and with people despite what has passed and what may come in the future. We enter into the holy week where we meditate on the Passion of our Lord Christ. Let us always remember that without the cross, there would not have been a Resurrection and the joy in the Lord who has overcome sin, death, evil and sorrow for ever and given suffering a new, Redeeming power and meaning; this Lord is with us and is the source of eternal joy. Amen.

The Crusades and their Interpretation

I used to play the game "Age of Empires" years back. In one of the episodes, you get to play Saladin, a general who fought the Crusaders. As you play the game (you are controlling the Persians), you see peasants crying "The Crusaders are attacking our caravans" and "The Crusaders are attacking our trade routes".

Few of us today have studied the historical facts of the Crusades. History tells us that Saladin won the war he was involved in with the Crusaders. It turns out that most of the Crusades after the First failed to achieve their objective - to free Jerusalem from the Muslims and making it available to Christian pilgrims.

Brief Background of the Crusades

Mohamed founded the Muslim religion by preaching about the one God, Allah. He claimed divine revelation from the angel Gabriel. After his death in 632, there was disagreement about succession. The Shia and Sunni divisions we have till today are based on two lines of succession - Ali, nephew of Mohamed and Abr Bakr, one of his closest disciples.

Military conquest expanded Muslim influence. They took Jerusalem in 638 A.D. By 700 they had North Africa and Middle East. Then, they took modern day Turkey. What was then Nicaea is now called Istanbul. So they covered areas all around the Mediterranean, entering Spain and the Iberian Peninsula in 711. By 846, a Muslim raiding party sacked St Pauls outside the walls and St Peter's Basilica. So there was a century long conquest without response.

In 1009 A.D, the church of the Holy Sepulchre, considered the holy shrine, where Jesus is believed to have been buried, was destroyed completely. It was not until 1095, that the First Crusade was dispatched to recapture Jerusalem.

Meet the Crusaders

Leaders all over Europe unanimously agreed that they needed to free Jerusalem for pilgrims to the Holy Land. People from all over Europe gathered and went East via Constantinople fighting different armies on their way to Jerusalem. The Holy City was captured by 1099.

Military historians agree that if the Crusaders went further, they could have dealt a blow to the communication center of the Muslim world and prevented them from recuperating, ensuring holding Jerusalem for long. But their objective was to make it possible for pilgrims to visit they holy places in Jerusalem, so they stopped there. Successive Crusades hardly achieved their desired goals. Saladin successfully defended Jerusalem and sent back the armies from Europe.

The Muslims expanded further in the centuries after the First Crusade, capturing Bulgaria and Serbia by 1390. Constantinople was next, captured in 1453. In 1492 they were beaten back from Spain, but they advanced from the Eastern side of Europe. After the lands around Black Sea, their land and sea assault challenged many lands. Their pirates sacked towns in Great Britain and Iceland about 1500. They laid Vienna to siege in 1529. In 1571 in the there was a great naval battle of Lepanto near Italy, where a a fleet of hundreds of ships fought on either side. Eventually, the Holy League defeated the Ottoman Turks, bringing lasting security.

Regensberg Speech - Pope Benedict XVI

The history of military conflict goes on, but the above summary of history between the 7th and 16th centuries, suffices for our context - the conversation quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his speech at Regensberg, Germany. The Pope quoted a conversation between the Byzantine emperor and an educated Persian. The emperor spoke about a verse in the Koran, sura 2:256. He spoke about the differences between Christianity and Islam.

During those days, the language was more brusque than it is today. The emperor spoke with the background of the violent history of Islam and said that violence is not needed to spread religion. At Regensberg, Pope Benedict XVII was speaking about this conversation in an academic setting. The intent was not to attack Muslims by any means. However, the media quoted what the Byzantine emperor said as if the Pope himself said it. Put plainly, it is an instance of something taken right out of context. This is the cause for misinterpretation that we know, leading to much violence.