fsimon wrote:
MariaChristi
Idol worship like that which existed in mexico is present in India too though their may not be human sacrifice
I too like the feast
Dear simon,
Perhaps you are referring to the fact that at the time of Mary's apparition to St. Juan Diego there was "human sacrifice" being offered to appease a false sense of God and in that case they were participating in a form of idol worship. Carl Anderson, an American who is presently leading the Knights of Columbus, gave an Address at a recent Conference on "Ecclesia in America" and referred to the apparitions in Mexico thus:
Quote:
...The heart of the Mesoamerican culture at the time of the apparitions included an expectation of war and a distorted need for sacrifice. Aztec culture constantly referred back to desolation: “War and Death set the tone for every lecture and ceremony that would accompany the Indigenous all his life.” To be literal, their perception of reality, articulated through their religion, made war, death and sacrifice conditions for human flourishing. In this worldview the freedom to live was enabled only by war and death. The expectation of war and the necessity of death for some was the daily prerequisite for the human flourishing of Aztec culture.
Perhaps in India, there is also a "distorted need for sacrifice" and many in your country are worshiping idols. Mr. Anderson draws some real parallels to modern culture worldwide in his address. Mr. Anderson continued in his Address thus:
Quote:
...today—despite having abandoned the assumptions of Aztec religion long ago—contemporary culture remains influenced by similar distortions regarding the prerequisites of human flourishing. Do we not encounter in society and in certain public policies an unspoken assumption that certain deaths are conditions for human flourishing?
Do we not see in our contemporary culture, a culture which in the words of Evangelium Vitae, “it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak?” Do we not also see with Blessed John Paul II “a structure of sin” in a culture that concludes that “a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. And that finds that “A person who, because of illness, handicap or more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favored tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated.”
This is the very definition of a culture of death and Blessed John Paul II did not hesitate to tell us so.
Let us pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, to guide us all.