By Jacob Peenikaparampil

Indore, March 29, 2020: World Health Organization (WHO) director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ message in the context novel coronavirus COVID 19 is concluded with the following statement: “COVID 19 is taking away from us so much. But it is also giving us something, an opportunity to come together as one humanity, to work together, to learn together and to grow together.”

The deadly virus has infected people of 197 countries of the world. It has affected and infected people belonging to all sections of society, both rich and the poor, educated and uneducated and high and low. In a way it has flattened the world. The USA, the mightiest of all countries in the world both in terms of military and economic power, has the highest number of infected people. The stockpile of deadly weapons with the USA proved to be powerless before the tiny virus. The data at 12 noon on March 29 show that 664,590 people are infected all over the world and 30,890 persons have died. The US alone has 123,776 infected persons.

Theoretically all of us know that we belong to one humanity. But in reality humanity is divided on the basis of various small identities. When human beings fight and kill each other on the basis on their small identities like religion, caste, race, culture, language, nationality etc. they are not conscious of the fact that they are one, and sons and daughters of one and the same God.

The situation of shutting down all worship centers in India motivated me to reflect over my identities and what is my most important identity or THE IDENTITY. In my case I have various identities. By nationality I am an Indian, by religion I am a Christian, by language I am a Malayalee and by profession I am a priest as well as a social worker.

As a Christian, I have been told from my childhood that I am different from the followers of other religions and I should not take part in the religious rites of other religions. Some of my religious teachers even have told me that the followers of other religions are idol worshipers and my religion is the only true religion and I am duty bound to propagate my religion and increase the number.

Even though I am a Christian, I have many small identities within the Christian fold. I am a Catholic and often I am told that the other sects and denominations within Christianity have deviated from the true path and I have to bring them back to the Catholic fold. Very often I am discouraged to take part in the way of worship of other Christian denominations.

Within the Catholic Church I belong to Syro-Malabar Rite and often I am told that I am duty bound to perform various rituals, especially the Mass and canonical prayers according to the Syro-Malabar rite. If I have to say Mass in the Latin Rite continuously for a long time I need permission. Often I am discouraged to say Mass in the Latin Rite. Sometimes I hear from some scholars and specialists that a lot of injustice was done to the Syro-Malabar Rite in the past.

Hence I have to struggle to reclaim the pure Syrian Rite and I see that many attempts are being made to regain lost purity. I also see that many parishes are being divided in the North and Central India on the basis of the two rites. In some places it leads to conflicts and fights within the tiny Catholic community. Money is being forcefully collected from the people to build another Church, although the existing church building of the Catholics is used only on Sundays and that too for two to three hours.

Within the Syro-Malabar Rite I belong to Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Congregation (CMI). I am always advised and reminded by my congregation to be conscious of my identity as a CMI and I should be proud of it. A Constitution Retreat was organized for the members of my congregation in 2019 and it was mandatory for all members in view of instilling the identity of the congregation in its members.

The CMI congregation has 15 Provinces and I belong to St. Paul Province, Bhopal, and within the province I am transferred to different houses periodically and membership in a particular CMI community or house is my lowest identity. I do not find much cooperation and collaboration among the different dioceses or among the religious congregations or between the dioceses and religious congregations.

On the contrary quite often I see competition and sometimes conflicts between the dioceses and religious congregations. Even within my congregation I find only a few examples of collaboration or joint ventures from the point of view of the mission of the congregation.

At every level I am told to hold on to the small identities without any compromise. I get the impression that my salvation depends on holding on to these small identities. Against this backdrop I reflected on what could be the most important identity. Jesus has taught his disciples only one prayer, ‘Our Father,’ God is addressed as ‘Our Father’ in this prayer, which is strictly speaking not a prayer, but a vision statement

For the followers of Jesus, the most important identity is that all human beings are sons and daughters of one God and hence they are brothers and sisters. Jesus’ last commandment to his disciples was, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

Love, beyond all human-made boundaries and restrictions, is the uniform of all followers of Jesus. According to the teachings of Jesus as elucidated in the Sermon on the Mount, spirituality is transcending all small identities and focusing on the highest identity that all human beings are sons and daughters of one God and loving them all without any discrimination.

The new coronavirus COVID 19 gives us an opportunity ‘to worship God in truth and spirit’, transcending all man-made divisions and segregation. Yesterday I watched the Rajkumar Hirani directed movie, PK for the second time for further reflection and learning. At the end of the movie, the director gives a message that there are two kinds of gods: the God who created us and who protects us, and the Gods whom we, the human beings, have created. The God who created us is love and He expects us to love one another. The Gods whom we have created are selfish, competitive, divisive and even revengeful.

The doctors and health care workers who risk their lives to save the lives of COVID infected persons, thousands of persons who are involved in providing essential services, taking the risk of being infected by the deadly virus, and thousands of volunteers who provide food and arrange accommodation to the millions of migrant workers who walk to their villages from the metros are worshiping God through their selfless actions and they are truly spiritual persons.

Let this opportunity help the followers of different religions to reinvent themselves by transcending their small identities and concentrate on the core teachings of their religions. The core teachings of all religions are universal values of love, compassion, justice, non-discrimination.

It is also an opportunity for the world nations to give up rivalries and cutthroat competition and adopt the path of collaboration and cooperation not only in stopping the spread of the deadly virus but also in recovering the economies once the COVID 19 is effectively tackled. Indeed it is an opportunity to create a new world order based on justice, equality, brotherhood and non-violent way of resolving conflicts.

(The writer is available @ jacobpt48@gmail.com)