19 DEC OSIJEK: ADVENT SPIRITUAL RENEWAL FOR FOUR CATHOLIC ASSOCIATIONS

Organized by the Institute for New Evangelization “Saint John Paul II” in Osijek, an Advent spiritual renewal was held at the Archbishop’s Vicariate on December 16 for four Catholic associations: the Association of Catholic Intellectuals, the Osijek branch of the Croatian Catholic Medical Association and the Osijek branch of the Croatian Catholic Society of Nurses and Technicians, and the Catholic Association for Helping the Elderly and Disabled “Veronica’s Scarf”

The focus of the meeting was a discussion by biblical scholar Rev. Dr. Ivan Benaković, professor at the Faculty of Theology in Đakovo, on the topic “How to Encounter Jesus Today”, explained with two biblical examples (Psalm 37; Luke 1:39-45) and wrapped up with an introductory and concluding prayer of blessing.

The evening meeting was opened with a welcome by Rev. Dr. Sc. Davor Vuković, head of the Institute and spiritual leader of Catholic intellectuals and doctors, who greeted the intellectuals with leadership (president Prof. Dr. Sc. Ružica Pšihistal), doctors (prim. Dr. Sc. Jadranka Arambašić), nurses and technicians (Anita Kovačić, mag.med.techn) and volunteers of Veronica’s Handkerchief (Ines Maldini and spiritual leader Fr. Zoltan Dukai) gathered together for the first time for spiritual renewal. He especially thanked Benaković for his cooperation.

After the prayer, the biblical scholar shared his impressions from his recent participation in the World Congress on the Future of Theology in Rome, where the meeting with God was discussed in the context of considering what theology should be and what topics to deal with, explaining the important awareness that we can meet God today. Namely, in questioning whether theology must happen in an encounter with people and the world or does it happen – it arises from an encounter with Christ, he emphasized that theology begins with an encounter with Christ, the God-man, and Christ is encountered today. “How do we come to an encounter with Jesus Christ? Directly or indirectly; should we use God’s means – the Bible to come to God or human ones? It was said (it was said) that many of them, who have all the sacraments; go to mass, confess, receive Holy Communion, do not know how to live their faith, spirituality…

The meeting is the source for theological discourse about God. The Bible teaches us to come to God because it is the source of discourse about God, but how does it do that? “By speaking and storytelling. In the Old Testament example (Psalm 37), the emphasis is on encountering God in everyday life, in an experiential way, e.g. in joy and sorrow, the experiential path to reaching God is an experiential path. In the New Testament example (Luke 1:39-45), the example of Mary’s encounter with her cousin Elizabeth, which we will hear about on the fourth Sunday of Advent, an encounter occurs in the ordinary, an encounter of people as a reason for joy created by the Holy Spirit, and today this can be our encounter with God in a house, apartment or hospital,” said Benaković, and after the interpretive reading, he reflected on the thematic verses of Psalm 37, emphasizing that we encounter God in delving into ourselves, and these specific sentences point to consideration for the purpose of examination of conscience. Namely, the lines ( Do not be enraged at the wicked, do not envy the wicked) penetrate into the necessary giving up of committing spiritual sins (anger, envy, wrath towards another person, pride), and these sins, said Benaković, are more wicked than material ones.

He emphasized that in the continuation of the psalm one should listen to Trust in the Lord and do good, teaching how in this way of surrendering one’s ways to God one encounters God and God’s victory occurs in the world – at work, in relationships with people, and this means “you have not given up on what is good because you draw your strength from God, who tests the believer like gold in a crucible, and you feel within yourself what is good, noble and holy, and this is God’s law deeply inscribed in the nature of every person”. Considering the verses (37, 25-29; 35-38), the biblical scholar explained that “one reaches God by living concrete relationships, by living Christ”, and “by avoiding evil, not getting involved in intrigues and doing good, the quality of life will be better; if we protect ourselves from what is evil and if we make healthy distances in our decisions, you will remain happy in your heart”. “A good man is renewed from within by God’s forces, within his heart he connects with the living God”, said Benaković.

Reflecting on selected verses from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:39-45), he discovered how the encounter of Mary and Elizabeth in the ordinary is an encounter with God in the Holy Spirit, and he asked whether we still live a culture of encounter, of dialogue with man? “Entering a house in the ordinary is entering the house of an old, sick man, and this is what the association ‘Veronica’s Scarf’ does – it shares its everyday life in an encounter with a man, and one encounter changes his life because you are a place of joy for him, bringing light, sunshine into his life. It is important to think about where to recognize God’s power, and that is precisely in an encounter, in the proximity of another man. An encounter also moves my inner self… Every time we speak badly, we leave the space of the Spirit of God. There is no greater happiness for a priest than when two brothers are reconciled, families are reconciled – this is the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit. Diabolos separates, breaks, and the cross of Christ unites, when we stand under the cross and confess ourselves to be little. “Crying when meeting another person is healing because you gain a brother, which we will discuss in the Year of Forgiveness,” explained Benaković.

Answering the question of how to encounter Jesus today, the biblical scholar concluded: “Let us live a theology of simplicity, a culture of encounter, conversation, and story! Let us open ourselves to the Spirit to permeate our relationships – God is therefore encountered through experiences of encounter – in them we experience Joy, but we also sin every day. God stands as a father who waits with open arms for us to return to him. Dad always loves children, even if they are not good. It is a theology of reality, a theology that touches hands, feet, head, ears, everything that we are.”

The biblical scholar concluded the spiritual renewal with a prayerful encouragement for living Christian, Catholic thought, praying to the Lord “for all who want to be God’s in the world, and that is not always easy, that you always shine your light on us; that you give us your Spirit so that we can be people of simplicity, of ordinaryness who will, above all, bring Christ and your strength to other people; let us be the ones who will reveal your face and the beauty of true being in God to the world”. The meeting joyfully ended with a meal of fellowship and refreshment.

Text and photos: Nevenka Špoljarić