PRIESTLY MINISTRY OF HUMANS ON THE EARTH OF THE LORD

Ecological Reading of the Liturgical Prayer of the Qurbana

Authors

  • Paulachan Kochappilly Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK)

Keywords:

Celebrative Ethics, Creation, Earth, Ecological Ethics, Nature, Oriental Liturgy, Priestly Ministry, Qurbana, Revelation, Syro-Malabar Church, Thomas Christians of India

Abstract

This article is an ecological reading of the Liturgical prayer of the Qurbana of the Syro-Malabar Church of the Thomas Christians of India in order to demonstrate the priestly ministry of humans on the earth of the Lord. Human beings celebrate and they are called to minister to the celebration of life in fullness, responding to the image of God, which we might call as priestly ministry of humans on the earth of the Lord. Remembrance initiates people to praise and thank God for the faithful, free and friendly relationships. The Liturgy of the Eucharist reminds human beings as ministers of remembrance and relationship and draws the roadmap for the celebration of life. In this Liturgy of the Oriental Church, the author traces the dynamics of a transmission of values in order to initiate a transformation from within in such a way that the worshipping congregation might appropriate the right relationship with the world in their daily ordinary life. Seen the creation as divine revelation, we are given an invitation through the second g’hantha (prayer of inclination) of the Qurbana to follow the chief actions of a priest, which each one has to perform in the celebration of the Liturgy and in the ordinary life. Hence, the author proposes that a renewed understanding of the values and vision celebrated in the Liturgy and the concomitant commitment to the manifold realities and relationships will help Christians to fulfil the priestly ministry of humans on earth of the Lord.

Author Biography

Paulachan Kochappilly, Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK)

Prof. Dr Paulachan Kochappilly, CMI is a native of Kalady, India and holds a Doctorate in Moral Theology from Accademia Alfonsiana, Rome. He is a member of Bijnor Mission Province of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. His doctoral dissertation, Celebrative Ethics: Ecological Issues in the Light of the Syro-Malabar Qurbana (1999), is published by Dharmaram Publications, Bangalore. Some of his publications include, Evangelization as Celebration (2002), Life in Christ: Eastern Perspectives on Christian Ethics (2010). Most recent publications are: Spectrum of Ethical Imagination and Action (Bengaluru: Dharmaram Publications, 2019) and A Milestone and the Roadmap for the Syro-Malabar Church: Significance of the Memorandum of Father Placid J. Podipara, ed., (Bengaluru: Dharmaram Publications, 2019). He is a Professor of Moral Theology at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram. Dr Kochappilly has served as the Dean of the Faculty of Theology and the President of Dhrmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bengaluru, India. Email ID: paulachan.kochappilly@cmi.in

References

The Order of the Syro-Malabar Qurbana, Mount St Thomas, Kakkanad, Kochi: Syro-Malabar Bishop’s Synod, 2015.

St Ephrem, Hymns on Paradise 5, see Sebastian Brock, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World of St Ephrem, Placid Lectures, Rome: CIIS, 1985.

Paulachan Kochappilly, “Ecological Crisis and Christian Response,” Theology for Our Times 18 (March 2016), Bangalore: Indian School of Ecumenical Theology, Ecumenical Christian Centre.

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Published

2018-09-30

How to Cite

Kochappilly, P. (2018). PRIESTLY MINISTRY OF HUMANS ON THE EARTH OF THE LORD: Ecological Reading of the Liturgical Prayer of the Qurbana. Asian Horizons, 12(03), 500–513. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/ah/article/view/2262

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