For Fr D'Ambra, the Eucharist is a spiritual force that leads us to the encounter with Muslims
The PIME missionary spoke today at the symposium introducing the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu. “The point of comparison is Emmaus, where two disciples recognised the Lord as he broke the bread, and from that, they found strength to move at night without fear.” In addition, “The challenge, in my opinion, is to try to communicate to others what the Eucharist is, even though Muslims have a hard time understanding that."
Cebu (AsiaNews) – A theological symposium titled The Eucharist in the Church's dialogue with religions and religious traditions began today in Cebu, in Central Visayas, as a prelude to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) scheduled to take place in Cebu on 24-31 January.
The conference brought together scholars, religious and ordinary Catholics. On the first of the three-day event, Fr Sebastiano D'Ambra, a PIME missionary in Zamboanga, who founded 30 years ago the Silsilah Forum, a movement for dialogue and peace between Muslims and Christians based in Mindanao, spoke to AsiaNews about his own presentation.
The IEC’s focal point, Fr D’Ambra said, "is the spiritual force that should lead us to the encounter of others. The point of comparison is Emmaus, where two disciples recognised the Lord as he broke the bread, and from that, they found the strength to move at night without fear. This should happen to us at this time."
After the plenary session, those present (about 2,000 people) joined different thematic workshops. Mgr Lito Lampon, bishop of Jolo, and Minda Sano, a member of a community of lay people committed to dialogue and peace and president of the Silsilah Forum, joined Fr D’Ambra.
"We will talk about our experience,” the clergyman said just before the start. “We will talk about how we dedicated our lives to the mission of dialogue. We will present short documentaries that speak of our experience. Our hope is that we can stress to participants the importance of this dialogue.”
“First of all,” he went on to say, “we have to fight the fear that is inside of us. We have to struggle against violence in its various forms, Islamic State group or Abu Sayyaf*, as well as face the fear that paralyses us. Our job is to stay in the middle, inspiring some courage and bringing some light."
The Eucharist, to which the Symposium and the Congress are dedicated, "can play a key role in dialogue. For us Christians, it is a high sign of the encounter with God; it represents God’s ongoing love for humanity in history. The challenge, in my opinion, is to try to communicate to others what the Eucharist is, even though Muslims have a hard time understanding that."
For Fr D'Ambra "dialogue must be based on prayer and silence. The deep silence of a Christian is before the Eucharist. For me, meditation before the Eucharist is silence that leads to encounter. It keeps us in silence in order to allow us to meet others. Of course, Muslims and ordinary people do not see these things; yet, silence and spirituality (not the Eucharist) can be found in Islam as well.”
“Unfortunately,” said the PIME missionary, who is based in Mindanao, an area torn by years of fighting between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government, “a fruitful encounter between religions does not normally happen. Here people are concerned only by the peace deals and the Bangsamoro Basic Law**.”
“What is good about this Eucharistic Congress is that, for a while, people will be invited to go deeper. If we can communicate the right message, I think this can be of educational value.”
"I imagine that most participants will be Catholic,” the missionary said, “but the fact that others know that Catholics are meeting for this particular event, an international conference, can generate some curiosity."
* Abu Sayyaf is a terrorist group close to al-Qaeda.
** The Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL is a bill to establish a new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in lieu of the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
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18/01/2016 19:38
