Parallel Points

Seeing God’s hand both explicitly and implicitly in history

07/19/2018

Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19 The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level. Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD, we look to you; Your name and your title are the desire of our souls. My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world's inhabitants learn justice. O LORD, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done. O LORD, oppressed by your punishment, we cried out in anguish under your chastising. As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so were we in your presence, O LORD. We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind; Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth. But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who lie in the dust. For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth.

On my recent trip to my homeland of India, I was pleasantly surprised to discover some parallels in historical milestones between India and Christianity. Note-worthy events on one side of the planet were paralleled by outstanding occurrences on the other. While God was writing explicitly in one line of history, he was operating implicitly in the other, because anything good that has ever happened anywhere on the globe was due to God’s grace. Let me point out just five remarkable parallel points.

First, most of the history of the Old Testament, the 46 books of the first half of our Bible, occurred between the 15th century and the 5th century B.C. (before Christ). That period spans the return of the people from slavery in Egypt (Exodus) to the period of the people’s return from slavery in Babylon (Ezra and Nehemiah). Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in India, during this same time-frame (15th to 5th century BC), the Vedas were being composed. The Vedas are the sacred books of Hinduism. Hinduism is the reason there are sacred cows sitting in the city streets of Delhi, and why only veggie burgers are served in the restaurants in India. Both bibles were being penned in roughly the same period of history.

Secondly, the book of the prophet Isaiah (our first readings all this week), was written in the 500’s BC. The whole book of Isaiah – one of the longest in the Old Testament with 66 chapters – is an eloquent prophesy about the coming of Christ. Meanwhile in India (Nepal to be exact) Gautama Buddha lived in the 500’s, and had his moment of enlightenment, and sparked the religious revolution called Buddhism. Isaiah spoke of the coming of the light of Christ, and Buddha had a glimpse of that light in his religious reveries.

Thirdly, we fast forward to 1626, which is when St. Peter’s Basilica was completed in Rome. Interestingly, below the central, main altar is buried none other than St. Peter himself, our first pope. At almost the same time, in 1632, the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, began the construction of the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. It is actually a mausoleum for Mumtah Mahal, his favorite wife (yes, he had more than one). Notice that buried in the heart of both buildings are two people both cultures honor, revere and venerate; both buildings were built by love, and almost at the same time in human history.

Fourthly, the 1700’s saw the rise of the period of colonization. The Spanish colonization brought the conquistadors to the shores of central and south America. The Mexican people are a blend of both Spaniards and native indigenous people. That colonization is why we have two Spanish Masses at I.C. every Sunday. Meanwhile, in the 1700’s the British colonization was underway in India, driven by the desires of the East India Company opening trade routes. And thanks to that colonization, I speak English today (and Spanish, too), and why the fellow who answers your question about your credit card statement is in a call center in India instead of China.

Fifthly and finally, the mid-1900’s was monumental in the Catholic church because Pope St. John XXIII was elected as the Holy Father and convened the Second Vatican Council. That council made vast changes in how Catholics practiced their faith on a daily basis, like Mass in English instead of in Latin. At the same time in India, Mahatma Gandhi was seen as the father of the nation, and called for the non-violent liberation of India from British rule, which India obtained in 1947.  Incidentally, do you know when Indian Independence Day is celebrated each year? It is August 15, the annual feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Two great men, indeed fathers in their own fields, were both advocates of greater freedom, and paved paths of peace.

I realize that not everyone is a fan of history and this sermonic stroll into the past probably put some of you to sleep. But remember the words of the Spanish philosopher George Santayana: “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” It is also said that God writes straight with crooked lines. Sometimes, God’s authorship of history is explicit and he signs his name, like in the case of Christianity. But sometimes he prefers to stay anonymous, like in the history of India.

Praised be Jesus Christ!