Christ the King NAILED and HANGING on the Cross

Dhikr for the 34th Sunday of the Year (Christ the King) Year C

Readings: 2 Samuel 5: 1-3; Colossians 1: 12-20; Luke 23: 35-43

Selected Gospel Passage: “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power." And Jesus said to him: "truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23: 42-43

Meditation: Our King is Jesus hung on the Cross for his great love for us...  this reminds me of the story told by Elie Weisel at the Nazi Concentration Camp.  The night before a prison guard was killed. The camp rule said that for a guard killed, 10 prisoners were taken to be hung before all the prisoners of the camp.  So that morning, the Nazi gathered ten young boys... and they hung them before all the prisoners.  A loud cry came at the back: "'Where is Yahweh, our God!" And answer came back: 'There is Yahweh, our God, HANGING IN THE GALLOWS...'.  When we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, NEVER forget that the Christ the King is NAILED and HANGING on the Cross.

Visit:  www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

Badaliyya

The “other” person that journeyed (mystically) with Fr. Charles de Foucauld in that “enterprise” (Badaliyya) in the world of Islam is Fr. Louis Massignon.  One of the great contributions of Fr. Massignon in Muslim-Christian Relations is his monumental studies on Islamic Mysticism, specifically on the Life and Martyrdom of the Great Sufi Al-Mansour Al Hallaj.

Louis Massignon’s Meditation on Badal (Ransom)

In Charity.  It is an active and sensitive charity.  Solidarity understood as the ability to suffer with those who suffer injustice.  It is an attempt to liberate … at least to know how to protest with sorrow.  It is to accompany the poor with help and sympathy. Charity is shown with great delicate respect to a person before many and varied religious option.
                                       

With the Figure of Abraham.  The figure of Abraham is a mystery of election and exclusion.  Is it also a mystery of acceptance and a mystery of rejection?  Ismael vs. Israel, David and Paul…  Hadith has it: “No one is truly a believer until one prefers not for his brother what one prefers for himself.”

Being Badal – Ransom/Substitution.  Louis Massignon had “discovered” the reality of BADAL – Ransom/Substitution for the reparation of injustices and for witnessing to the poor and victims of injustices.  Ransom/Substitution demands an offer of the total self – similar to the test of fire.  The witness “par excellence” is the one who does complete or offered as a total ransom for all that is lacking in truth that God knows… Massignon found this in the life and martyrdom of Husayn at Kerbala in the Shi’a Theology.  Husayn is the vivification of the mystery of redemption.

The Ram in place of Isaac/Ismael
The Paschal Lamb for the first born of Israel
The tribe of Levi for the nation of Israel
Jesus for humanity.

Examples used by Fr. Louis Massignon…
The demand on the part of Christians at Najran – the Test of Fire
The offer of St. Francis at Damietta – the Test of Fire
The Desire of St. Raymund of Lull - Ransom
The acceptance of Fr. Massignon mystically to become Badal…
In their lives, each person is assured by Christ, ransomed by him and in return they assure and ransom others … assuming unto themselves all others and standing in the place of others notwithstanding their weaknesses before the mystery of God through via dolorosa unto the violent death of the cross.

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips.

3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…