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Rafael
Aragón, OP I was asked to prepare a reflection and present some aspects of the reality of religious life in our country for the XXXIII Meeting of the CLAR Board of Directors in November 1999 in Nicaragua. The invitation came after a meeting of theologians with a group of religious, who frankly shared their opinions on the country and the Church. The theologians were deeply concerned by what they heard, what they saw in visits to different areas and in their personal dialogues with many of us. This marked the spirit of the event. Introduction There are two aspects that synthesize the problem at hand. First, there is the isolation, marginalization and even lack of understanding of religious life by different ecclesial authorities in the country. Religious men and women, particularly those living in inserted communities, feel unprotected, alone and even isolated from the ecclesial surroundings. There has been no lack of complaints, not only about our pastors but also about CLAR, which was once close and in solidarity with us, but which has grown distant. Second, there is what we can call the "dark night", the lack of utopian and hopeful horizons that is common today among religious and felt very strongly among us. Nicaragua was a paradigmatic reference for many religious and Church people because of the possibility of carrying out a project that united the utopia of the Kingdom with a concrete process in our history. "This is what we lived and what we dreamed and we gave ourselves to it with such intensity that it seemed like we were touching heaven", some religious said. Today, Nicaragua is the poorest country on the continent, suffering economic, social, human and, above all, moral setbacks. Nicaraguan reality today may be where human weakness, sin in all its expressions, the force of evil, is manifested most clearly. This is not only seen in the force of the powers that be in the world, which drown the dreams of the poor by blocking their historic process and confronting them with a fratricidal war, but also within us and in the deterioration of leaders, who once risked their lives for the poor and are now seduced by power and dragged down by their interests. Unhappiness is not a product of nostalgia for the past but is produced by direct contact with human weakness, which makes us distance ourselves from the past and recognize our own limits. Starting from these contradictions, the drama of life invites us to think we are not only heirs to grace but also the first transgression of God’s will and that we all take part in this first disobedience of human nature. Plural manifestations of religious life This way of seeing and judging reality is not common among all the religious in the country. It is expressed in different forms and in different experiences. In our reflection, we refer more to this sector of consecrated life which, inspired by the Council renewal, opened itself to a process of constantly updating its charismas and being faithful to the Gospel and the signs of the times in the Latin American Catholic Church. It is common to hear that we are in a time of crisis and in Nicaragua we are living this with even greater intensity because of the country’s historic connotations. The word "post" is generally applied after a conflict (wars or natural disasters) or an important event in the history of a people that profoundly affects their lives and structure of the nation. The "post" period is normally one of great difficulties, enormous challenges and new possibilities. "History shows us that the majority of times peoples are divided (by internal conflicts, scare resources, foreign intervention) into opposing groups, which leads to a hardening of contradicting positions. In the end, the wealthier sector tends to win with a more pragmatic solution. This appears to be our situation in Nicaragua. A broad section of society and the Church intensely lived the years of the revolution, inspired by a great historic utopia that did not come to pass, which is why the dissatisfaction and frustration of this group is so great", wrote Margot Bremer in Alternatives (# 14) . Many of the religious who participated in the meeting with the theologians belong to communities that arrived in the country in the 1980’s to accompany the people in the process of building a new society and were motivated by the expectations of the time. Today, they have lost their horizon and continue to be hit by the profound decomposition of the people and their leaders. They live the tension of people who have lost the reference point that fed their hope. Another aspect is the ecclesial situation and the growth of new religious expressions and movements within and outside the religious community that have a very different reference point. On 2 February, the Day of Consecrated Life, we celebrated the Eucharist with the papal nuncio in Managua cathedral. Managua has the most modern cathedral in the region. It was inaugurated in 1992. It was the first time we had gathered in the cathedral for this kind of meeting. From the altar the concelebrants could see a significant gathering of young religious women, mainly novices and professed, wearing colourful habits of many different styles. The image was closer to the pre-Council time than the spirit of renewal inspired by Vatican II. This event forced me to highlight the plurality of experiences and styles in today’s religious life and to be more objective in my observations without trying to make universal the particular experience I am addressing. Furthermore, the model of consecrated life that arose after the Council experience was neither homogenous nor universal, which can be seen in the plurality of forms and expressions in old and new congregations. Their external expression, piety and their way of living in the world demonstrates a way of seeing things that reinforces the traditional ecclesial model. What does all of this mean for us? First, it is an expression of the crisis in society and reverberates deep within the Church and in our way of interpreting the history of salvation. What is the meaning of the lineal vision of history that made us think from our first theology classes that everything moved toward one common good where little by little those who did not get on this train of history lost sight of the future? What is the meaning of this optimistic vision of the world that had so much influence in the Council and the proposals for the relationship between the Church and the world put forth in Gaudium et Spes? What should we think about the process of secularization in our modem society, especially in a country like Nicaragua that lived a profound change in all senses? What triumphed based on this rationality was not a coherent Christian experience. Pentecostal movements and the so-called free churches are what have sprung up in the neighbourhoods and among the marginalized masses. The same thing is true in the peasant communities. They were protagonists in the literacy campaigns and agrarian reform programmes within our process and are now abandoned. The most fundamentalist religious experiences are growing and multiplying in these communities. Christian base communities did not become references points for the faith of the poor. On the contrary, the fundamental evangelical movements and the traditionalist, pre-Vatican II Catholic religiosity have the largest numerical presence. Faced with modern rationality and the current crisis we find fundamentalism as the means for the re-conquest of the symbolic space. This situation of crisis responds to a loss of meaning in the world of the poor, particularly in relation to how power over this world is reconstructed in a religious and symbolic way. This is different in the diverse social levels, but it is developed in each group always in absolute terms. For this to happen it is necessary to eliminate the categorical difference between the divine and the human, which is why fundamentalism plays the key role in the growth of Protestantism. Is this not the phenomenon being observed in the masses of people excluded in rural and urban areas? In religious life, while we talk about the crisis in the model of modernity and question the paradigms of post-modernity, traditional manifestations continue to grow and offer security in a world that is insecure and torn apart. These manifestations are carried out in a generous spirit of giving and service to the poorest sectors. A traditional model of society generates a traditional model of religious life. When we talk about the Nicaraguan Church in international meetings we are always asked about the Christians of the revolution and the works of Ernesto Cardenal are recalled. People remember a series of past events and experiences that created an image of a great movement of committed Christians. These historic references, however, are no longer significant. They do not correspond to the cultural and ideological conditions of the majority of Nicaraguans today. We have not lived a homogenous process in religious life. There is a diversity of options. We never lacked those who from the beginning of the revolution, out of fear of a truly new adventure, turned to the most traditional forms of religious life. In the face of the crisis in the neo-liberal State, congregations that lived with renewing spirit have returned to a pastoral in education and health care and are working with the large institutions. There are also congregations that succumbed in the process, abandoning the ship in the difficult years or simply leaving the country because they felt pressured by external forces. There are other challenges today, but I am not that convinced that the current moment means that we are one step away from post-modernity. I have the impression that among us the post-revolution and everything it means does not necessarily lead to post-modernity. Instead, I believe that the post-modern paradigm comes from the predominant North-West cultural centralism that has been globalized and is brought to us through the media. I am participating in a meeting with (former) Chiapas Bishop Samuel Ruiz. I am writing these reflections in my free time during the meeting. Bishop Samuel is very loquacious and he presented us with a frank picture of the reality of the Church in his Diocese and the pastoral experience. We watched videos of his 40th anniversary of service in the Diocese and the ordination of more than 150 married deacons. What stood out in these events was the massive participation of Indigenous peoples, who have gained an awareness of themselves and have resisted the models of other cultural paradigms being imposed on them. Something similar may be happening among our mestizo population. Is the rise of popular religiosity a criticism of our model of evangelization that is inspired more by modem rationality than the life and culture of the people? Faced with the crisis of modernity we find ourselves without cultural and religious points of reference to respond to their vital needs. Traditional models are growing within the Church and we are being invaded by sects. At the same time, the Christian base communities and the congregations that offered a prophetic witness, heirs to a long and significant experience at a crucial time in history, are in a state of agony. Analysts insist on talking about a rupture in time, with some affirming that there has been a radical change in the traditional paradigms of Western culture. In theological circles they talk about new emerging subjects and a new theological rationality. This is, undoubtedly, something that questions us. Prophetic spirituality, paradigm of the consecrated life When we talk about religious life we are referring to the most elaborated expression in its prophetic manifestation. Each moment in history has a referential religious expression and its own way of expressing hope. This is a characteristic of the revelation transmitted through Holy Scripture. The dark night of suffering is theologically expressed in the Book of Job. Popular wisdom surges in the absence of great prophets. The post-exile Books are a clear reference to the new way the people had of knowing the God of Life in other vital, historic spaces. Following Jesus, the original paradigm of all Christian life and religious life in particular, is central to the search for stimulation in the field of spirituality. Concern for the brother and sister and mercy on the weak and sinners are unquestionable attitudes for Christian action. Statements such as "Tomorrow’s Christianity will be mystical or it will not be Christian" grab my attention. I ask myself: Are we living a crisis of spirituality today that is the fruit of our activism and our radical commitments? In February, we Dominicans commemorated the 450th anniversary of Fray Antonio de Valdivieso. He was the first martyred Bishop on the continent because of his commitment to the defence of the original peoples of this land. On 24 March we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s martyrdom. The Conferences of Religious and the Major Superiors met in San Salvador during this time to reflect on the issues of prophetic spirituality and martyrdom. I do not think that spirituality was absent from these commitments. There are many examples of brothers and sisters within the plurality of charisms and the ministries of the People of God who sealed their commitment with the blood of martyrdom. Is it possible to give one’s life for others for a dignified and noble cause without a profound spirituality? It is hard for me to believe that spirituality is our first challenge today if we mean by this that we were committed and active in the past but lacked spirituality. I know that we are living in other times and that there are other challenges facing religious life, but this means that there are other angles to the same spirituality. Is prophetic spirituality not characteristic of Christian tradition, of Jesus and his followers and the divine gift of consecrated life? We are certainly no longer in the 1970’s. There are people who cringe when we relate our experiences or remember the past. It is true that this was not their experience and we cannot get stuck in our own nostalgia. We need to look toward the future and not lament what was or could have been. It is also legitimate, however, to affirm that history is a reference point. "History is the teacher of life", said the elders and if we turn to the Bible we will find that while the history of the People of God is not repeated it is not forgotten. The memory of the exodus is an inspiring line that crosses through the Old and New Testaments. The desert becomes a constant theological reference point. St Matthew tells us that Mary and Joseph relived the experience of Egypt with their newborn child. Before beginning his public life Jesus has the experience of the temptations in the desert. The Church itself will flee to the desert where it will live for 1,260 days, according to the Apocalypse ( Rv 11). Historical reference is important in Christian spirituality and in genuine Latin American spirituality, which has grown among us on the fertile ground watered by the blood of the martyrs. This spirituality has been characterized by following the historic Jesus. Today, believing like Jesus and following him means having a historic vision of reality. Jesus had a dynamic concept of time, which was not cyclical or enclosed but open and lineal, the alpha and the omega, and a concept of God as he who walks before us, opening the future and allowing us to build history. The people who are troubled at the ease at which we have moved from social and economic analysis to cultural analysis as the starting point of our theological reflection have reason to be concerned. The prophetic vision of history is a determining factor. It is the vision of Jesus’ historic praxis and is at the heart of the reality in all of his expressions. Today, the new People of God are walking in a history where the conditions for a prophetic attitude are not possible, which is why new paradigms are arising. Should religious life always aspire to be a prophetic sign for the People of God? Is giving oneself over to the ministry prophetic? If the prophetic mission is the most important part of religious life shouldn’t we always aspire to it? As such, is our crisis a product of a lack of prophetic weight? "The historical-eschatological characteristic of Jesus’ message is clear (scientifically speaking and with Biblical texts in hand) today. It is a characteristic that cannot confuse following him (Christianity) with morality, a system of worship, a doctrine or simply belonging to a determined religion. Jesus’ religion is an ethical-prophetic religion based on a historical-eschatological structure and not on the ontological-culturalist religiosity of the classical religious model (God above, human beings below). As such, it is responsibility with a final sense of history", wrote Jose Maria Vigil in Alternativas (# 14). What we feel and experience is that the prophetic vision is passing through a critical time. History seems to be closed to changes and the horizon of hope is dark. Today, the poor are excluded, refuse of a system that is living a schizophrenia of meaning. They are no longer subjects who are aware and fighters committed to social transformation. They cannot achieve what modem society is proposing for them. The news media, nevertheless, stimulates dreams in them that they will never be able to enjoy. Street gangs and the sects are the forced ways out of this world of marginalization. This is the reality that is affecting the religious life inserted in poor communities and even more so in the generation that intensely lived the utopia of social changes and today finds that the people are poorer and that there is more human and social deterioration. How do we escape from this schizophrenia? Crisis, Alternatives and Daily Spirituality Spirituality is a cultural way of living the faith. Modern spirituality was based on the values and goals of global utopian objectives for social transformation and changes. Today we talk more about the person and of giving witness. Religion is seen more as a spatial understanding as experience and grace. From religions as visions of the world and bodies of beliefs, norms and theoretical values, we have moved to religion as an experience and a spirituality of the small, the daily, with less utopia and more reality, according to Amando Robles in Alternativas (# 14). Solidarity of the concrete was born in Nicaragua as a result of Hurricane Mitch and it went beyond all expectations. No voices were raised, however, to protest against government problems and policies. The slogan was that we have to rebuild the nation. Is living this kind of experience of solidarity enough for us to express our prophetic vocation? Articulating small dimensions of life could be part of the divine gift but it does not fulfill the prophetic dimensions of religious life. It is normal that in the absence of prophetic voices the people called to live the ecclesial life would experience ill feelings and crises. Conclusion There is a lot of talk today about creating networks of small experiences and projects. We do not need to create networks but form a social and ecclesial expression of who we are and what we want. The traditional peasants have their social expressions, references for their identity and meaning in popular celebrations. Today, displaced to the city and stripped of these references and sense of meaning, they find meaning in the sects that are offering social space and a body of references. In Nicaragua, the revolution created these spaces in the massive demonstrations, recreating a social imagery and an inspiring source of meaning. Sporting stadiums and music festivals for young people play the same role in secularized societies. A coherent social identity for our dreams are reaffirmed in these demonstrations. Spirituality of daily life is necessary, but it is not enough. We need to recreate life on a small scale but we also need to be open to the utopian horizon, to a new heaven and a new Earth. In this sense, dreams are just as important as reality and public demonstrations are necessary to express these dreams. Raising personal awareness together with social expression is what we discover in the massive demonstrations held by Indigenous peoples. The demonstrations allowed them to express their vision of the cosmos while at the same time demanding political and social spaces that had long been denied them. Together with the daily struggle it is necessary to dream together that there can be a new heaven and a new earth for all and that this dream can be brought into line with our concrete reality. To achieve this we need to recreate a utopia with new symbolic references and historical flavour, recreate historic memory with new saints that embody and create social images that inspire and convoke us. We do not doubt the value of committed and detailed work being done by religious men and women in poor barrios. They are convinced of what they are doing, taking one small step at a time. This is not the problem. The lack of recognition and acceptance of these experiences is what is causing personal and group crises. The most important thing about the presence of CLAR among us was that it allowed us to express ourselves as Church and leave behind the marginalization and anonymity. It allowed us to feel part of this Body that we all form and live in greater communion, which transcends the experience of the small group and opens us to a broader sense of ecclesial community. This is what we needed. Thank you. Ref.: Text from the Author. In Revista CLAR (Colombia), Year XXXVIII, n. 2, 2000, in LADOC, Vol. XXXI, Sept/Oct 2000.
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