YUDHISTIRO ADI FRITRI TYASSANTO, A. Adoration: Living in Union with God and the World Dehoniana 2017, 21-31

Per la citazione: DEH2017-03-EN

Adoration: Living in Union with God and the World

Aloysius Yudhistiro Adi Fritri Tyassanto, scj 1 There were times when, in the southern part of Sumatera, the SCJ community was somehow identified with adoration, or the other way around. It appears that for Catholics in the Archdiocese of and the Diocese of Tanjungkarang, the SCJ is a congregation of adoration, or even, for some, adoration belongs to SCJ. This identification is related to the history of the mission in Sumatera. Though SCJ is not the pioneer of the mission, SCJ built the church in South Sumatera. The mission began in 1924, SCJ brought the mission out of the ‘small box’ of Tanjung Sakti. Moving the center of the mission to Palembang, the biggest city in South Sumatera, SCJ missionaries expanded the mission to , , Bengkulu, and built the church there. Inevitably, traditional devotion of the congregation was widespread together with the plantatio ecclesia in south Sumatera. Gradually, adoration became a sort of icon of SCJ. Back in 70’s or 80’s, in certain parishes, adoration became the primary devotion in a way that people recognized the presence of SCJ in a parish or community. 2 This leads us to ask how adoration, as a legacy of SCJ mission in south Sumatera, is practiced in our times. Since it is not possible in a very short time to make the research on the practice of adoration among the catholics in parishes, we will see the practice of adoration among the SCJ confreres.

ADORATION AND DEHONIANS IN INDONESIA 3 In fact, the widespread use of the term ‘adoration’ is quite recent. For many decades, people were more familiar with “astuti” (salve) or “sembah sujud” (bow down or fall down to worship), though it concerns the same thing. The practice of falling down to worship the Divine is already common in many cultural traditions in Indonesia, including in Javanese tradition [We

© Copyright riservato Centro Studi Dehoniani Roma – Sacerdoti Sacro Cuore di Gesù. Consentita la riproduzione integrale in fotocopia e libera circolazione senza fine di lucro. È vietato il plagio e la copiatura integrale o parziale di testi e disegni a firma degli autori – a qualunque fine – senza citare la fonte (Repubblica italiana, legge 18/08/2000 nº 248). Dehoniana will elaborate this cultural aspect later]. Here we just want to emphasize that adoration brought by missionaries already has its space in local prayer tradition. It makes the practice of adoration, on one hand, easier to accept, while on the other hand, adoration is a locus of inter-cultural encounter that requires efforts to better communicate not only the rite itself, but the theological conception that is in the background. Therefore, in the case of the practice of adoration among SCJ confreres, we will not only see how adoration is practiced, but also adoration as an event or moment of expressing one’s theological belief influenced by cultural tradition and religious formation. 4 In preparation of the theological seminar in Yogyakarta last July, Fr. Francis Purwanto, SCJ made a research based on the questionnaires given by the preparing committee1. Responding to the question about “what devotion do you practice”, either personally or in the community, many confreres mentioned that adoration is their primary devotion. 5 There were 105 Indonesian confreres who submitted their responses to the questionnaire. The number consists of 59 young confreres (age of 20-39), 32 mid-age (age of 40-60), and 14 senior. From 105, 97 mentioned that their personal devotion is adoration. Before exploring how they practice adoration, we would like to note some characteristics of Indonesian confreres. First, they are mostly Javanese (more than 90 %). Many of them (the age of 20-49) were born in Sumatera. This generation has less contact or attachment to the original Javanese traditions, compared to the older group, in terms of rituals. Nevertheless, they are still influenced by Javanese beliefs, values, and principles. Daily language among the Indonesian confreres is Javanese (the lowest level or vulgar, even for those who are not Javanese). 6 Second, concerning the formation as Dehonian, the older generation (above 57 years old) are products of the “integral noviciate”. It’s a system of formation that integrates noviciate with scholasticate. What they learned about religious life and spirituality were given in the midst of their philosophy-theology studies. The first vows were professed after finishing the study of philosophy and pastoral exposure. While the younger generation are products of the ordinary noviciate, which began in 1980. They have better situation in terms of learning about religious life and dehonian spirituality. How do they practice adoration? 7 There are, at least, two ways of understanding and practicing adoration. First, adoration as identity of being Dehonian. Up to 1990’s, influenced by

1 Survey on devotion in Asia, the result of the research on devotion that becomes part of the presentation of the Asian theological commission entitled “Dehonian charism and devotion in Asia”.

2 Dehoniana the tradition of Paray le Monial that was perceived as the core spirituality of our congregation, adoration manifested the spirit of reparation as the way to love and honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. It relates to the idea of repairing other’s sin or disobedience toward God. Back then, the primary model of adoration was based on the Thesaurus Precum with meditation on Christ’s agony in Gethsemany and His sufferings. Since postulate, in every community, especially formation houses, adoration is an obligatory prayer/devotion everyday. There is also Holy Hour every first Thursday and the votive mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the First Friday Mass). A part of devotional and liturgical rites, adoration is an important topic in conferences, homilies, meditations, recollections, and retreats. The emphasize is put on the fidelity in doing spiritual exercises as a way to holiness and expression of honoring and loving God. The importance of fidelity in doing spiritual exercise is related to the life of faith and pastoral works, as a foundation and support. 8 In the last twenty years, there has been a tendency of decreasing the emphasize on reparatory adoration according to Paray le Monial tradition and emphasize more on various themes of Dehonian spirituality, such as Ecce Venio, Sint Unum, etc. It doesn’t mean that the older model above has been abandoned. It’s more in the changing of perspective. Adoration turns out to be a way of living the Dehonian values and spirituality. On the other hand the emphasize is not only on the fidelity in doing the rites, but more on the spiritual disposition. Adoration is not primarily the ritual, but the spiritual manner of adoring and loving God according to Fr. Dehon’s spiritual heritage. 9 The survey attests the success of this method of formation, in terms of practice and role of adoration. Among the younger generation of SCJ in Indonesia (20-39 years old), more than 60% understand the role of adoration as a way of living in union with Christ and of expressing Dehonian spirituality, while the older generation emphasizes more of the role of adoration as expression of faith and support for pastoral. It appears that formation in recent years bears good fruit for the young Dehonians (20-39 years old) who emphasize the aspect of interior life and Dehonian spirituality in their understanding of the role of adoration. 10 Second, adoration as an encounter with God related to personal search of the Divine. 11 A part of the question on the emphasize or nuance of adoration and its relation to the tradition and spirituality of the congregation, there is another way of practicing adoration as a moment of personal meditation (according to Javanese tradition: a way to deepen the interior life and to draw the divine power), a moment of silence and moment of union between God and man. This practice doesn’t refer to a special way of adoration, out of what we have

3 Dehoniana seen above. In this case the trace of cultural background is quite visible. We will take a short look at the mystical tradition of .

JAVANESE MYSTICAL TRADITION 12 In Javanese spiritual tradition, adoration, as spiritual disposition, is very well known. down or falling down to worship God is a valuable spiritual manner that manifest faith. It relates to the theological and anthropological conception of Javanese spirituality. In Javanese theological concept, God is the One, the Creator of all beings in the universe. He exists, though invisible and beyond reason. 13 Javanese people believe in some characters of God, such as2: - Gusti ingkang Akarya Jagat: the Creator of all things; - Gusti ingkang Murbeng Dumadi: who creates beings from nothing; - Gusti ingkang Murbeng Gesang: who rules over all existences. 14 They call God by several names: - Gusti Ingkang Maha Agung, the greatest One; - Gusti Ingkang Maha Kuwaos, The Omnipotent; - Gusti Ingkang Maha Wikan , The Omniscient; - Gusti Ingkang Maha Asih, The All Loving, also named The All Merciful; - Gusti Ingkang Maha Mirah, The Most generous. 15 In Javanese anthropological concept, man, as the highest creature, has all the divine attributes but in a limited level. Man is regarded as the small world (micro-cosmos) while God is the big world (macro-cosmos). To reach perfection, man, recognizing his limit and fragility, has to surrender and fall down in order to receive guidances throughout his life before finally living in union with God (manunggaling kawulo Gusti)3. 16 The way to union with God consists of four steps4: 1. Neng (jumeneng): literally means stand up. It is phase where someone is awake to do meditation. It requires concentration to revive the spiritual awareness and turning the bodily awareness as a way to put one’s self in God’s frequency. Mortification or ascetism is important in this phase. 2. Ning (hening): silence. In this phase a person puts himself in total silence, focusing his mind to the true light. When mind is connected to divine light one will enter to true peace. Being in true peace, one

2 Wirid Hidayat Jati. 3 Wirid Hidayat Jati, a text that is attached to R. Ng. Ronggowarsito, a famous javanese spiritual teacher and author. 4 Wirid Purba Jati. The author is not clear, often just attached to Ronggowarsito.

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lives in a spiritual realm while still keeping his consciousness. This enables a person to grasp signals from true soul. 3. Nung (kesinungan): being chosen. After experiencing the previous steps, one will be ready to be the chosen, to receive the special grace from God. In this phase, divine light will come from the Holy One, grasped by true spirit, through senses, than delivered to the soul before ruling over human body and being manifested in acts. One’s acts will always be positive and his life will be a blessing for many people. 4. Nang (menang): Winning-accomplishment. This is the phase where divine light defeats the evil power. When the divine light totally wins, man will be in union with the Divine. His energy will be synchronized and united with the divine energy. It is the phase of manunggaling kawula Gusti. 17 This mystical conception is manifested in rituals, such as: recited prayers, pilgrimage, fasting, meditation, and adoration (act of surrender- submission before God in silence). 18 From this short observation on Javanese tradition, we can underline some points: first, silence and meditation are very important in Javanese mystical tradition as the way to the union with God. It makes silent prayer more preferable for Javanese people, including adoration. Second, the theological root from javanese tradition helps Indonesian confreres to understand two important meanings of adoration that are in line with Dehonian spirituality: act of self-surrender before God and living in union with God. Indeed, the idea of manunggaling kawula Gusti as the reality of union with the Divine is not exactly the union that we understand in our Catholic faith, not the union as we believe in the union hypostatic of Jesus Christ. Third, the practice of adoration among Indonesian confreres also attests the encounter between the search of the true Dehonian identity or spirituality and the personal search of the Divine. It challenges us to deepen the understanding of our spirituality in order to make it integrated in one’s journey and to make it a Dehonian way of encountering the Divine and living in union with God.

THE IMAGE OF GOD AND ADORATION IN FR. DEHON’S RETREAT OF THE SACRED HEART 19 For Javanese people, God is the One, the Creator, ineffable and immutable. Before God’s glory and majesty, creatures have to fall down and surrender. This theological and anthropological concept is not strange in Fr. Dehon’s reflection. We can find this reflection in la Retraite du Sacré-Coeur. We would examine briefly this spiritual work of Fr. Dehon to understand his

5 Dehoniana reflection on the relation between God and man. Indeed, Fr. Dehon doesn’t mention adoration. He doesn’t explain about adoration either. Nevertheless, he enters into the spiritual journey of man who encounters God and struggles to live in union with God. Implicitly, we can see the way Fr. Dehon perceives adoration. 20 Fr. Dehon opens his retreat by meditating on the image of God. While entitling the first meditation “God is Charity”, he first points out that God is “infinite, independent, immutable and an eternal being”. Fr. Dehon portrays God as perfection of truth, beauty, and goodness. His greatness and perfection deserve adoration from creatures. 21 The perfect God lives in His perfection in the community of the Trinity: “The very life of God is the full and perfect possession of His being by intelligence and love. The life of God in Himself consists in knowing and loving Himself. This will be our life in the presence of the August Trinity”5. 22 Before the perfect God, the Creator of being, the only act and task proper for creatures is “knowing, loving, and glorifying”. The objective of knowing, loving, and glorifying is the eternal joy in God. Since God is the only being, there is no chance of living the eternal joy outside God. Then, through the trilogy “knowing, loving, and glorifying, Fr. Dehon insists on recognition of God as the source of life and the indispensability of dependence that creatures must show toward God. 23 But that’s not all yet, above all, for Fr. Dehon, God is charity. God’s love moves Him to communicate His Divine Life. This is the true identity of God for Fr. Dehon. Fr. Dehon points out three manners of God’s communication: creation, redemption, and eucharist. Through creation, His love extends itself over creatures, and especially over intelligent beings who bear the stamp of His hand since they are created in His image and likeness. Not only His love, God also communicate His happiness to creatures. God’s love leads Him to relation with creatures and for their happiness He facilitates creatures with everything needed to make them able to love Him and live in His happiness. More than just giving any means needed, God’s love manifests itself in redemption. Fr. Dehon writes, “Far from rejecting His creatures, God manifested the greatest benevolence towards them”6. God sent His Son to make Him visible, “to speak with them, and to redeem them from their sins”. Furthermore, the Heart of Christ is pierced to open an “inexhaustible source of graces” for man. In His self-giving, life is restored. In eucharist, Christ dwells in a mysterious way to be “a source of comfort, a victim offered as sacrifice of propitiation and petition, a divine food which would make them participators of the Divinity”. A part of this trilogy, Fr.

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Dehon underlines the way God deals with sinners patiently, always recall them again and again to welcome them into His happiness and to restore their state as His children. That is the God that Fr. Dehon knows. 24 The extra-ordinary generous love of God towards creatures and His will to save them leads Fr. Dehon to the experience of love and generosity. God has loved us from the first and has given us anything needed to make us live in His love. It touches Fr. Dehon deeply as he writes in his resolution, “O my God, you are truly all love....you have first loved us. You gave your Son, and having given Him, you give us all...I will prove my love for you by fulfilling my daily resolutions with care, doing everything out of love for you, and seeking occasions to speak of Your love and make it known”7. This experience of love and generosity leads Fr. Dehon to the disposition of self- surrender to God. He expresses it in the second meditation that God’s love invites man to love Him above all things. By this term, Fr. Dehon insists that man has to orientate his whole being to God and to confide himself in the divine providence. Fr. Dehon often uses the word “confiance” in his meditations. We can also recall that in his life Fr. Dehon often said, “Fiat!”. It shows his insistence in self-surrender as a response to God’s love and generosity. 25 Fr. Dehon’s reflection on God’s love and generosity doesn’t stop there. He sees that the most admirable manifestation of it is the merciful Heart of Christ. He meditates on the admirable merciful acts of Christ who saves sinners, such as Zacheus, Magdalene, and Peter. The merciful Heart of Christ is the one who invites us to come to Him. 26 “No longer doubt, then, the mercy of My Heart even though you have till now seriously offended me... Come to me, I will fill you with graces. Like Mary Magdalene cast yourself at my feet. Come with childlike confidence, and like the prodigal son throw yourself into My arms and rest on My Heart”8. 27 How to come to the Heart of Christ? Fr. Dehon writes, “the devotion to My Heart is the most powerful means to work for the glory of my Father”9. In the Heart of Christ man finds the way to the union with God, since Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. 28 Fr. Dehon experienced the extra-ordinary generosity and merciful acts of God in his life. He finds the most precious manifestation of God’s love in the Heart of Christ. This experience of love and union with the Heart of Christ revives in him great desire to participate in expanding God’s love. Fr. Dehon entitles the last meditation in his retreat as “Zeal for the apostolate: The Reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Society”. In this meditation, Fr. Dehon

7 RSC 1. 8 RSC 19. 9 RSC 26.

7 Dehoniana expresses his belief that love must find its manifestation in justice, charity, mercy, and compassion for the little ones and those who suffer. The reign of love is described with the image of salvation in Luke 4,18-19. In other words, Dehon insists that the union with God must push one to put love ahead of the self-piety and concretize the idea of the Reign of Love in the World. It is as concrete as Jesus’s saying, “you give them something to eat” (Lk 9,13). 29 From la Retraite du Sacré-Coeur, we underline some points concerning Dehonian spirituality and adoration: first, Fr. Dehon doesn’t openly talk about adoration. But he is in a disposisition of adoration when he talks about God’s love and the merciful Heart of Christ. We can draw from his disposisition that adoration is primarily a spiritual disposition of a man who experiences God’s love and generosity. It is the way through which man engages himself in relation with God. For Dehon, God is not only the super powerful God that demands creature’s submission. God is the Love who invites creatures to live in His love. Second, the Heart of Christ is the place of encounter between God and man. In His Heart, man finds the way to the union with God. Third, the devotion to the Heart of Christ is the preferable way to come to His Heart. In this part we can understand the place and the role of adoration. Fourth, God’s generosity demands our generosity. The union with the Heart of Christ pushes us to imitate His mercy and generosity. Then, the devotion to the Heart of Christ must not stop in itself as our own way of salvation. It has to lead us to the encounter and engagement with others. This leads us to another important aspect of adoration: social engagement.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 30 In 2008, the Archdiocese of Semarang held a Eucharistic Congress. The background was the movement of “eternal” eucharistic adoration implemented in 24/7 adoration promoted in many parishes in the Archdiocese of Semarang began in 2007. The theme of this congress was “Sharing five loaves and two fishes”. This eucharistic congress promoted social aspects of eucharist and linked eucharistic devotion, including eucharistic adoration, to the social questions. By sharing five loaves and two fishes, the Church of Archdiocese of Semarang opens itself to the hungers in any manner, to fulfill Jesus’s demand to give them something to eat. It is the way to make eucharist and devotion not only integrated into life but more than that to be the driving force of solidarity and charitable concerns10. 31 The objectives of the Euharistic Congress of KAS are11: - Growing love and sense of devotion to the Holy Sacrament.

10 ekaristi.wordpress.com 11 kongresekaristi.blogspot.com

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- Improving knowledge about the richness of eucharist and its aspects. - Facilitating formative events that enable the people to experience the presence of God in Christ. - Improving quality and communication in the community of the Church of KAS (communio). - Introducing inspiring figures from the Bible, saints, or from the history of KAS. - Growing the spirit of solidarity with society, drawing the spirit from Eucharist: sharing five breads and two fishes. 32 This movement is one part of the global planning of the Archdiocese of Semarang, known as RIKAS (Rencana Induk Keuskupan Agung Semarang). RIKAS consists of strategic ideas and planning that manifest commitments of the local Church of Semarang as a part of the Asian Church in facing the critical life issues of the society, such as poverty, interreligious dialogue, multiculturalism, and global warming12. Responding to the challenges, the Archdiocese of Semarang envisions the reality of the Church in 2033 as a “civilisation of love”. There are three strategic entry points: prosperity, dignity of life, and faith13. 33 The “civilization of love” is considered as the spirit given by Christ in His Words. He explains the reality of the civilization of love through acts and parables: multiplication of breads (Mt 14,14-21); healing the blind (Mt 20,34); parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10,33). Thus, in RIKAS, civilization of love is understood in line with the movement of Kingdom of God that offers true joy in Christ. Civilization of love has to be concrete. It has to deal with poverty and help the people to reach prosperity and dignity of life. Man is created in God’s image and likeness, therefore every offense to human dignity is offending God’s love. This vision of a civilization of love is manifested in many movements, including eucharistic adoration linked to the social questions, as it is promoted through the eucharistic congress. 34 As of today, the Archdiocese of Semarang has held three Eucharistic Congresses. The second eucharistic congress or KEK II was held in 2012 and chose “Live in Christ and bear fruit” (inspiration from John 15) as its theme. KEK III was held In 2016. The theme was “You have to give them something to eat” (Lk 9,13). 35 More than one hundred years ago, Fr. Dehon dreamed of the Reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in souls and societies. In the beginning of the foundation of the congregation, Fr. Dehon desired a reparation that was in the beginning merely spiritual. Always moved by the same desire, Fr.

12 Rencana Induk Keuskupan Agung Semarang (RIKAS) 2016-2035, p. 30-31. 13 Rencana Induk Keuskupan Agung Semarang (RIKAS) 2016-2035, p. 31.

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Dehon later insisted that the devotion of the Sacred Heart must penetrate to the social life to bring the cure to the cruel illness of our world. 36 In our times, the 21st century, what picture of the Reign of the Sacred Heart do we have? It is always an unending task to make our spiritual traditions penetrate to the social life of the people. In Asia, how does it deal with the questions of poverty, social fractures, intolerance, corruption, and structural injustice? We also have to consider the growth of secularism and digital world. In the upcoming years, it is also the case in Indonesia, the next generations will be less attached to their cultural roots and live with a global identity in the digital society. How do we talk about devotions in that context? 37 In the Archdiocese of Semarang, the Church has performed efforts for the “bruised, hurting, and dirty Church”, drew its force from eucharist and eucharistic devotions, including adoration. It reminds us of Fr. Dehon’s dream and the efforts he made. It leaves us with an invitation to walk along the same path.

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