A long time ago now, I wrote a prayer for people to use before they got online and used the internet. Originally in Latin, it has been translated into many languages (sometimes more than once).
My page with all the translations is HERE. You can always find it by going to the list of Pages at the bottom of this blog.
I often forget to pray before using the internet. I often fail in charity when using it. This tool of social communication and research and entertainment has amazing upsides and spiritually deadly perils. We all should be very careful in how we use it – and through – use each other, “use” in the finer sense of “treat”.
It has been a while since I have received a new language version. Today I found a new one in my email box. By a strange coincidence, I was out with a priest friend today for lunch and the topic of the prayer came up in relation to an African language.
So, here is the newest version in ….
TAMIL!
எல்லாம் வல்ல நித்திய இறைவா! எம்மை உமது சாயலில் உருவாக்கியவரும், எம்மை நன்மையானதும், உண்மையானதும், அழகானதும் ஆனவற்றை தேடிட அருளிச் செய்தவரே! குறிப்பாக, இறை மகன் வடிவில் உமது ஒரே மகனும், எங்கள் ஆண்டவருமாகிய இயேசு கிறிஸ்துவை எமக்கு அளித்தீரே! ஆயரும், மருத்துவரருமான தூய இசிடோரின் பரிந்துரையின் வழியாக, இணைய தளம் வழியான எங்கள் பயணத்தில், நாங்கள் எதிர்கொள்ளும் ஒவ்வொரு நபரிடமும் அற வழியிலும், பொறுமையுடனும் நடந்து உம்மை மகிழ்ச்சியடைய செய்யும் விதமாக எமது கைகளையும், கண்களையும் கொண்டு செல்ல வேண்டுமென, எங்கள் ஆண்டவராகிய கிறிஸ்து வழியாக உம்மை மன்றாடுகிறோம். ஆமென்.
I hope that a Tamil speaking priest or two out there will check this for us. I am not, alas, fluent in Tamil.
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I didn’t even know Tamil was a language until just now but I must say that is a very cool-looking script.
Tamil does have a beautiful script, but it is spoken in India.
That’s very nice, Fr Z. If only the Church in Tamil Nadu and generally here in India were truly as orthodox and traditional-minded as you and most of your readers are! Not a single diocesan TLM celebrated regularly; heterodoxy, syncretism and relativism foisted upon the laity in the name of ‘inculturation’; open preaching by priests from the pulpit to packed churches in favour of women’s ordination; Masses celebrated by catholic priests dressed as Hindu purohits; an ‘Indian’ translation of the Bible that is just plain bizarre in regards to the extent of Hindu elements incorporated; ordained priests raising doubts on the existence of Hell and advocating universal salvation and the idea of an ’empty hell’ and don’t even get me started on the state of the seminaries here. I could go on and on……. The worst bit is the laity, the seed bed of future vocations, are being led to believe that this is how Catholicism has always been. They no longer see something amiss with such waffle being handed down to them. It took a trip to Europe for me to discover how very different things were just 50 years ago and how much has changed since then.
solideopileolus, TLM ? In Tamil Nadu ? I think there was one offered by the former Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore this January after a group of Catholic lawyers in Chennai had begged him for several years.
The TLM is actually offered in Tamil Nadu, BUT (and thats a big but) only by the SSPX priests based at Palayamkottai.
If you want to know whats going on with the Catholic church in Tamil Nadu – this is a good source : Aberrations, errors and other problems in the Liturgies of the Sunday Holy Masses at the National Shrine of St. Thomas .
I have no reason to doubt anything that author (who by the way is a Tamilian) says – because San Thome Cathedral Bascilica is my former Parish.
Tamil is of course a very beautiful language (but I however cannot stand the Tamil used in Tamil Masses). For a taste of how it sounds like try Pudhu Vellai Mazhai (That is a movie song – in India we don’t have movies without songs – and it is a legit site).
But FR! Whither now go we? Shock! you’re NOT FLUENT in Tamil! [Indeed not. I do confess it.]
solideopileolus:
From Fides et Ratio of John Paul II no. 72:
In India particularly, it is the duty of Christians now to draw from this rich heritage the elements compatible with their faith, in order to enrich Christian thought. In this work of discernment, which finds its inspiration in the Council’s Declaration Nostra Aetate, certain criteria will have to be kept in mind. The first of these is the universality of the human spirit, whose basic needs are the same in the most disparate cultures. The second, which derives from the first, is this: in engaging great cultures for the first time, the Church cannot abandon what she has gained from her inculturation in the world of Greco-Latin thought. To reject this heritage would be to deny the providential plan of God who guides his Church down the paths of time and history. This criterion is valid for the Church in every age, even for the Church of the future …
“Tamil is of course a very beautiful language (but I however cannot stand the Tamil used in Tamil Masses).”
Alas, the soul-numbing banality of vernacular Masses is universal!
‘Inculturation’ would make sense in India if there were a single acceptable uniting factor for all Indians, which might be incorporated into the Catholic Faith and its expression, but there just isn’t. The country is such a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities, that people of neighbouring states often can’t understand each other’s language, and can scarcely comprehend one another’s cultural mannerisms. Only one thing unites the majority of Indians and that is Hinduism, a pagan religion.
The church here is incorporating as much thought and philosophy from Hinduism as possible. One need only look at the New Community Bible, and its ringing endorsement by the Indian church hierarchy to see what direction they wish the Faith to take in India.
The NCB has been described as a “New Age” bible and a “Hindu-ised” bible. When it was introduced in 2008, there was a Catholic outcry against its commentaries and illustrations. It was withdrawn by the Bishops’ Conference of India and a ‘revised’ edition was brought out in 2011. The revised edition is not much less syncretized than the first. Its commentaries smack of relativism and religious pluralism. Cross references to the Gita, Islamic practices and the writings of Gandhi abound.
The Missionaries who brought Catholicism to India didn’t compromise on the Faith just to make it palatable to the locals.I don’t see why the contemporary Church should do so. As far as I know, the Church began to speak of inculturation as something favourable only after Vatican II.
I point readers to the following articles, one written by a layman and the other by a priest, to get an idea about inculturation in India:
http://inculturationinindia.blogspot.in/2009/01/basic-christian-community.html
http://jputhen.blogspot.in/2009/08/inculturation-in-india.html
Another thing about inculturation is that it makes a laughing stock of the church rather than attracting people of other faiths. It evokes feelings of aggression and suspicion against the church and the faith. The church opens itself to accusations of forceful conversions and of nefarious undermining of the local culture by the very non-believers it wishes to attract. As an example I direct readers to the following links detailing recent happenings in the northern Indian state of Jharkhand:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/adivasi-group-to-agitate-for-removal-of-tribal-virgin-mary-statue/article5062363.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10267977/Police-guard-tribal-Virgin-Mary-statue-in-India.html
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-19/india/40068873_1_mother-mary-tribal-woman-statue
Perhaps Fr. Z would like to chime in on the issues facing the Church in India in an article/blogpost sometime in the future.
On a tangential but related note, Pope Francis and his ambiguous statements are only emboldening the truly radical, liberal elements of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the laity. The revolutionary reformers are crawling out of the woodwork now that they sense a seemingly like-minded sympathiser on the Apostolic Throne. I do sincerely hope he proves them wrong.