Dear respected National Adviser Fr Jesu Benjamine SJ, TN-State Adviser Fr
Parthasarathi, Members of the AICUF National Council, and Students,
Let me, at the outset, congratulate you and thank all those who built up AICUF
for nearly one hundred years. Great has been their and your work amidst
challenges and hopes. St Ignatius, when hit by a cannonball, had a challenge but
he kept to his dream and hope and he became a leader of the Jesuits. And today
we walk in his footsteps.
The youth in general possess enormous power, and they have the potential to do
the impossible and the unexpected – Much depends on how they are motivated
and accompanied or guided. You are here as the representatives of this power to
reckon with in nation building. ‘Give me 100 energetic young men an I shall
transform India’, said Swami Vivekananda. ‘Give me just one generation of
youth, and I’ll transform the whole world’, said Vladimir Lenin. And Jesus of
Nazareth had just 12 men who practically reached out to the entire world and
made their best attempt to transform the world. And we are here to think how
we can transform the world for the better. A handful of people could make a
world of difference: There was one Nelson Mandela in South Africa, there was
just one Martin Luther King Jr in the United States of America, and there was
only one Mahatma Gandhi in India to make a world of difference in our world
history and people’s empowerment.
The youth could be directed to do the best or the worst. During the corona
pandemic we have seen how so many youngsters, especially Muslim brethren,
fearlessly volunteered to bury those who died of corona infection. When the
family members and close relatives were afraid of handling the corona-dead
these youngsters, without any discrimination of caste or creed, gave decent
burial as per the religious custom of the deceased. We can also give example of
the youth being used for destructive end. Recall the so called 09/11 Twin-Tower
attack in 2001. The youngsters were intelligent and highly motivated. They got
distinction in their engineering studies in Germany; they were licensed pilots
from Saudi Arabia; and they were taking special simulator training in the USA
for five years just to take a U-turn of the plane in flight with the ground speed of
about 900 Km/h without losing the balance. They hit the famous twin-towers in
New York. Prior to the destructive action they fasted and prayed because they
were brainwashed that what they do is something good. The youth are like the
raw-material – They could be used for constructive or destructive purpose.
Much depends on how we motivate them and how we guide them to do in life.
And the youth are not the finished products – They are work in progress.
There is a paradigm shift in the global scenario. Earlier, especially in the middle
ages it was top-down approach: If you enlighten the Ruler, the people would be
enlightened. If you convert the King, his people would embrace the same
religion. But later, the paradigm became bottom-up: If you build up the bottom
of the social pyramid, it would result in nation-building. The youth are the
fundament of any society and nation and we need to shape them up.
AICUF, as an offspring of Jesuit educational pedagogy, is there to look at the
society one lives in and to do the needful to make it better. The members of
AICUF are aware that we are born in an unequal or unjust society, but we also
know and are convinced that we should not leave the society as we find it. We
need to do our best to transform the society as a better place of unity, justice,
and harmony. We need to raise our voice and it might sound like a voice in the
wilderness. Think of the lone person who was thundering all alone 2000 years
ago. He said, “every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hills shall be
brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall
be made smooth” (Lk 3:5). It was John, the Baptist, who raised his voice against
the economic disparity, against social discrimination, against political
exploitation, against religious fundamentalism etc – His voice was heard by a
simple carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth. He echoed the voice heard in the
wilderness on the mountain top – That was heard by a group of 12. And today it
is heralded across the ocean and many have come forward to become the voice
of the voiceless. In our own days, we have seen how Fr Stan Swamy SJ became
the voice of the unheard Advasis and the Dalits. Of course, John, the Baptist,
Jesus of Nazareth, all his disciples, and now Fr Stan Swamy – all paid the price
of raising their concern against dominion and power on behalf of the needy and
the helpless as well as hopeless people. And we are here to take inspiration from
them all and many more – We are here to ask ourselves the three questions that
St Ignatius of Loyola would often put forth:
- What have I done against social and religious fundamentalism in order to
bring about unity and harmony?; - What are we doing in the present context of covid-19 especially for the
continued education and formation of the youth; and - What should I do in the future to build up a fair and just society?
These could be your repetitive inner voice that could serve as impulse for your
deliberations for future planning.
AICUF has its origin from the Christian tradition. Could we ask, now, ourselves
the question what is Christian? Is it in professing the dogmas of an Institution
called the Church, whether local or national or global? Or is it universal
teaching for the wellbeing of all the people? Some of you might remember
Vinayak Narahari Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982), fondly remembered as Acharya
Vinobhave. He is considered as a National Teacher of India and the spiritual
successor of Mahatma Gandhi. He was an advocate of nonviolence and human
rights. He started the Bhoomidhan Movement. He would coax those who had
too much land, to share part of their lands with the landless. Here, I see in
practice what Jesus of Nazareth said 2000+ years ago, “Let him who has two
shirts share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the
same” (Lk 3:11). Or think of Jayaprakash Narayan (1902-1979), popularly
known as JP or Lok Nayak, meaning ‘People’s Leader’. He was an Indian
Independence activist, social and political leader. He wanted a ‘total revolution’
to revamp the Indian polity. JP, for me, seems to reflect what Jesus said, ‘The
Sabbath was made for people and not people for the Sabbath’ (Mk 2:27). Let us
be inspired by the past in order to influence the future by transforming our
present life.
These great people and many others in the nation and in the world reflected and
lived out ‘people-centric’ Christian values. They are recognized by Karl Rahner
(1904-1984), a German theologian par excellence, as ‘anonymous Christians’.
And AICUF has been, in my opinion, trying to translate God-centered Church
dogmas into people-centered Christian values, namely ‘faith that does justice’.
You cannot preach to an empty stomach (Jam 2:16), for an empty stomach has
no ear!
Now, these people, though non-Christians, have lived out Christian values of
the other-centered. In a world of self-centered, these people lived out the
Christian faith as well as what St Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit Order, said,
namely: Your salvation is in the salvation of the people you serve. The Bible
says that God created human beings in his image and likeness (Gen 1:27). This
implies that each one of us contain in us a semblance of God and we bear a part
of God. Only when we all become one, we may get the one God who created all
of us. Hence, either we all reach God as a whole or we miss him totally. This is
the principle and foundation of our being meaningful for the lives of others. In
this sense, AICUFers need to transcend the Christian values and make them as
the yeast to transform the society for the better.
In your deliberations you would surely reflect on the challenging and pathetic
social and political situation in our nation. You would also think how the youth
could offer themselves to rebuild the society. You would realize that today the
youngsters are in confusion, which makes them hopeless and directionless.
They need direction, impulse to make the direction meaningful, and clarity of
purpose to live out concretely their obligation to the society. We need to ask
ourselves what do we have to offer to them who ask: “Why should I live today,
when I do not have means to study and possibility of getting a job?” You need
to show them the way who are not able to see light at the end of the long and
dark tunnel of lives in poverty and suppression. You need to assure them that
you would walk with them hand in hand and you would stand with them for
their reaching their goal of fullness of life. You need to have a plan with
timeline for the young who are on the road that leads them nowhere.
As National Council members and advisers, you have the challenge and the
privilege to offer them hope and confidence. The youth in any milieu need
mindset and momentum – Once they have set their mind to accomplish
something great, they would work rain or shine and if there is someone to
accompany them they would gain momentum to keep going till the end. They
should realize the meaning of the words in the Book: You are the salt and you
are the light of the world (Mt 5:13-14). They should bring in the values of
equality and equity, which would preserve, like the salt, the worthiness of social
life; and they should show the light of walking along the path of righteousness
and justice. In other words, they should know that they are the meaning of the
present society and they are the direction of the future society as they are the
saplings today and tomorrow they would be the banyan trees of the social
structure.
At times they feel inadequate or insignificant. But think of the history of David
and Goliath. David, just a little shepherd boy, challenged Goliath who was an
accomplished warrior. And with a little stone in the catapult David could bring
the giant Goliath to ground. We need to give now and then a shot of self
confidence and collective solidarity to face the giant and monster of social
discrimination. Sometime ago I read the book A Crusade for Social Justice
(2018 – Tamil) by P.N. Krishnan and now I read the book Republic of Caste
(2019 – Tamil) by Anand Teltumbde. One central theme in both these huge and
well researched volumes is lands and properties. The dominant castes wield
power because they are the landlords. And the suppressed castes, who do not
possess any property, concentrate on education. This has frightened the
oppressors as the balance of power would one day tilt towards the Dalits,
Adivasis, and the lower rungs in social system. The outward expression is
competing with the reservation policy in education and in job market. The real
power springs from education. Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) has rightly said,
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
world”. The Jesuits also believe that education is the key to eliminate all
problems in the society and we need to grow and be successful in getting
education as well as in imparting education. In Loyola (Chennai) we are
planning on starting Liberal Arts program which would include Political
Science as well. Jesuit education aims at formation of leaders – We need
charismatic and credible leaders for political and social justice.
Once education is guaranteed and is accessible to the people at the margin, we
need to do one more implementation of social principle. This is the Ubuntu
principle originating from Africa. It is a form of humanism which professes, “I
am because of who we all are”. It is the essence of a human being, the divine
spark of goodness inherent within each being. This is again building up a social
system with what little we have and expand to meet greater challenges. This is
reflected in the mantra of Dr Ambedkar: Educate – Agitate – Organize. I would
change the priority slightly: First educate, then organize people for a common
cause, and finally agitate with much bargaining power, when the people at the
bottom of the social pyramid become the power to reckon with.
Today social discrimination and religious fundamentalism are the cancers that
are corroding the fabric of society. And you are the ones who should show the
way for your companions. When we face any evil, social, religious, or political,
our choice is to face or to fight. I would end with the words of Swami
Vivenkananda, “Fly from evil and terror and misery, and they will follow you.
Face them and they will flee.” One such person, in our time, who stood with the
people to face social and political evil is Fr Stan Swamy. He could inspire us
today.
Let us be the change we want to bring in. And the change in us could cause the
ripple effect or the butterfly effect in influencing or impacting the rest of the
world. All the best for your individual reflections and for your collective
deliberations leading to action plan with timeline to transform the society.
Francis P Xavier SJ
13Aug2021