dimensions of god's love #1. HESED EMET

Hosea 2:19 "I will bethroth you to myself for ever, bethroth you with integrity and justice, with TENDERNESS (rahamin: feminine*) and LOVE (hesed: masculine*)." (New Jerusalem Bible, Hebrew translation from biblehub.com; *www.thedivinemercy.org/message/scripture)

according to a franciscan friar exorcist of batangas (i forgot his name) whose talk i attended on MERCY at the marian encounter at UST on may 29, 2016, citing the Dictionary of the Bible, mercy is interpreted in the Old Testament as both (1) HESED and (2) RAHAMIN in Hebrew.

i felt he was directly talking to me as i sat at one of the last seats at the last row, as he expounded on the meaning of HESED (BTW, he was holding the crucifix of his rosary while talking, with the beads wound on his wrist).

before writing this, i researched on some websites on the meaning of hesed. 

>there is no direct english translation of hesed because it cannot be captured by a word in this language. the closest biblical scholars came to is usually "LOVING-KINDNESS" or "lovingkindness" in other sites, which was coined by Miles Coverdale.

>Other English translations of hesed are kindness, love, mercy, steadfast love, "covenant-love" (Daniel Elazar), loyalty

>Hesed's equivalent in other languages:
--Greek: eleos = mercy, pity (c/o Septuagint Translation)
--Latin: misericordia (c/o Vulgate c/o St. Jerome)
--Sanskrit: metta = loving-kindness, friendliness (c/o Theravada Buddhism) 

>hesed is also likened to agape = caritas

>"hesed" is also translated as "GRACE AND FIDELITY," considered a literary form called hendiadys (literally "one through two" in Greek; i.e., a complex idea is expressed by two words connected by a copulative conjuction) [source: www.thedivinemerayc.org/message/scripture]
Ex: Ex 34:6, 2 Sam 2:6, 15-20; Ps 25:10, 20:11-12; 85:11; 138:2; Mi 7:20)

>Fidelity is God's nature: He cannot deny Himself

"The juridical commitment on God's part ceased to oblige wherever Israel broke the covenant and did not respect its conditions.

But precisely at this point, 'hesed' in ceasing to be a juridical obligation, revealed its deeper aspect: it showed itself as what it was at the beginning, that is, as LOVE that gives, love more powerful than betrayal, grace stronger than sin."

[O] "This FIDELITY vis-a-vis the unfaithful 'daughter of my people' (Lam 4:3, 6) is, in brief, on God's part.

>Ez 36:22 "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, buty for the same of MY HOLY NAME."
(www.divinemercy.org/message/scripture)

NB: It becomes MERCY in consideration of human frailty. 

>And "the fruits of this love are FORGIVENESS and RESTORATION TO GRACE, the reestablishment of the interior COVENANT." (divinemercy.org)

>"Hesed" appears 23 times in the Psalms
>Context: COVENANT of love between God and Israel


1. HESED (mercy) EMET (truth*) = STEADFAST LOVE

*"truth" is the Greek translation of "emet" in the Septuagint; other primary meanings are: "SOLIDITY, SECURITY, & FIDELITY" (www.divinemercy.org)

>i translate this in filipino as TAPAT na PAG-IBIG
>in an excellent jewish rabbi homily on youtube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPbV9OyjHsE) titled "Chesed ve emet" = Steadfast Loyalty), 3 traits of hesed emet are enumerated:
a. No allegiance oath
b. No benefits (i.e., intrinsic motivation)
c. No conditions attached

OT Example #1: Ittai, the foreign mercenary (probably Philistine) who staked his life for David in their low point (flight from Jerusalem due to Absalom's treason)

2 Samuel 15
[19] David to Ittai (a man from Gath): "Why are you also going with us? Turn back and stay with King Absalom because you are a foreigner. This is not your homeland. [20] You joined me only a short time ago. Should i make you wander with us when i don't even know where I'm going? Turn back and take your kinsmen with you. May kindness and loyalty be shown to you."

[21] But Ittai said to the king, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I WILL GO WHEREVER MY LORD THE KING GOES, WHETHER IT MEANS LIFE OR DEATH."

David eventually made him leader of 1/3 of his troops against Absalom's army. He probably died because he is no longer mentioned.

OT Example #2. Ruth, Jesus' great grandma

Ruth 1
[16] Ruth to Naomi: "Don't beg me to leave you or to stop following you. Where you go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. [17] And where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me terribly if I do not keep this promise: Not even death SEPARATE us."

[In personality psychology, Dr. John Oldham calls this the DEVOTED Personality Style. The pathological form is the Dependent Personality Disorder.]

the sun is the center of the universe

"God is like a SUN. 
You can't look straight at it
but you know it is there."
-- Origen

"There are things you can't hide:
the Sun, the Starts, and the Truth."
-- Buddha

Iesus, Huios, Souteir (Greek for Jesus, Son of God, the Savior)

Source: M16 Galileo 17&18/05/16

Blessed Henry Suso (around 1295 – 1366), [German Dominican] The Book of Eternal Wisdom , dailygospel.org Monday, 7th Week of Easter

“That you may find peace in me”

“Lord, since the days of my youth my mind has sought an I-don’t-know-what with impatient thirst. So what was it, Lord? I still haven’t understood it entirely. It is many years now that I have ardently desired it, and I have not yet been able to grasp it… And yet that is what draws my heart and my soul and without which I cannot settle down in true peace.

Lord, I wanted to find happiness in the creatures of this world, as I saw so many people doing all around me. But the more I sought, the less I found; the closer I got, the further away I was. For everything told me: “ I am not what you are seeking.” So is it you, Lord, whom I have sought for so long? Has the attraction of my heart always and constantly been struggling to reach you? Then why did you not show yourself to me? How could you put off this meeting for so long? On how many exhausting paths have I got bogged down? For the person whom you anticipate with so much love, is truly happy, the person whom you do not let rest until he seeks his rest in you alone. 

commandment of love: who is the center of your universe?

29 april 2016 friday, 5th wk easter
(parenthetical notes and remarks mine)

message:

these past weeks and days, i feel a barrage of messages from the lord regarding forgiveness and theocentric thinking-feeling-acting.

the latest and so far, the most central but simplest actually, was this PM. fr rudy (as far as i could hear his name) of ermita church said:

one day, in our moral theology class, the professor asked us to take out 1/4 sheet of paper. he said it would only take 2 minutes and the rating would only be either a 100 or a zero!
the question was: "what was the commandment of love?"

the following day, the prof came with the results. he said, the papers on my right hand got it right and those on my left didn't. 

the wrong answer was: "love one another" (john 14:17) period. 

the correct answer was: "love one another as i have loved you" (john 14:12).

this is the gospel reading of today. (i just supplied the verses, realizing upon re-examination that both are biblical, but the correct answer is more complete.)

the point, said the prof: loving one another (anthropocentric) rests on a very UNSTABLE / shaky foundation, i.e., HUMAN LOVE. while, divine love is reliable and valid (using psychometric technical terms), i.e., UNCONDITIONAL.

application:

i just added in my mind: "unconditional" doesn't mean setting aside the demands of justice, like setting boundaries and ensuring that sin is not repeated, as much as possible (avoidance of near occasions of sin)!

so, i go back to my "soul-searching" post-dubai quest for MEANING and PURPOSE (one of the five pillars of positive psychology / education!!!) after i was met with a socio-emotional tsunami that crescendoed to an overwhelming proportion upon return! 

c/o aristarchus of samos (+c. 230BC), copernicus (15th c)

my central insight at that time was: "the sun is the center of the universe" (this famous phrase would be recited by a gifted child in one of the milk ads!). this is the HELEOCENTRIC theory (by polish dominican 3rd order & canon lawyer-mathematician-economist-physician nicolaus copernicus, 1543 cf: wikipedia)  vs the debunked GEOCENTRIC theory.

plato & aristotle: geocentrists

the sun = god, the planets = fellow humans. we look to god in the midst of turmoil and disappointment with human frailty.

nicolaus copernicus

oh, today, i also ready on the t-shirt of people i met on the road along UN ave, aside from "love god" !!!, "the glory of man is not in the falling, but in the ever rising from the falling" (or something to that effect; this was a constant refrain by our late methods of teaching teacher sis edel, fmm in the novitiate!!!)

confirmation:

in the commentary of fr xene sanchez, svd (our regent at christ the king mission seminary college department in ~AY 1980-81, now a biblical scholar in congo), he concludes:

"jesus told those he has chosen to bear fruit. the love that 'tends towards the OTHERS' pushes us to be SENSITIVE TO THE NEEDS of our brothers and sisters. christ's love is DEMANDING which entails great SACRIFICES like F O R G I V I N G as HE (theocentric) forgave those who wronged him, even those who B E T R A Y E D him.

if this great commandment were put into practice there would have been no more conflicts, no more war."

pistis (faith in greek) and episteme (knowledge)

the discussion of prof tim wilson on youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=axARKdZ4eHo (9 minutes & 34 seconds) on plato's allegory of the cave made me reflect on two important technial philosophical terms: pistis (faith) and episteme (knowledge).

from the perspective of ancient philosophy, particularly plato's, pistis is classified in the realm of the cave (unenlightenment) to signify belief in mere opinion (doxa). while episteme (knowledge) refers to first-hand encounter of the object -- from shadows of actual objects to their reflections on water to the object itself, i.e., the SUN!

in theology, pistis is more important and higher than episteme. jesus said, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe (pisteusantes  = (yet) having believed, cf: biblehub.com)."

now, here's the compromise. through my exposure to protestant christians (particularly, evangelicals) and the infusion of pentecostal beliefs and practices in the catholic church through the charismatic movement, i saw how faith (pistis) becomes personal knowledge (episteme) in the personal testimonies of believers. 

this was my prayer-challenge to the lord after i left the seminary. and he answered me definitively 9 years later through a charismatic catholic healer who healed me of my ankle pain on july 4, 1997, feast of st thomas the doubter / the twin to show me in concrete that he is god the healer (exodus 15:26).

then, pistis and episteme became one.

here's a quote from carl jung that reflects this (thanks to my friend-colleage choncho sanchez who first pointed this quote out to me):

"i only believe (pistis) what i know (episteme)."

sun of justice / righteousness

malachi 4:2 

"but you who fear my name, the SUN (shemesh) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS will shine out with HEALING in its rays (literally "wings" or kanaph in hebrew); you will leap (paw the ground) like calves going out to pasture."

commentary (hermeneutics.stackexchange.com):

there is suggested an allusion to the sun god present in many cultures at that time like the egyptian sun god (a royal symbol) depicted in art as having wings.

the sun is the SOURCE OF LIFE -- physical (and spiritual)[jon lansing in ibid.)

tao and yin-yang in tao teh ching by lao tzu

Re: Creation and Nature of Things

Fr: Lao Tzu. Tao Teh Ching. (trans. John C.H. Wu). Boston & London: Shambhala (1990), ch 42, p. 64.

“Tao gave birth to One,

One gave birth to Two,

Two gave birth to Three,

Three gave birth to all the myriad things.

All the myriad things carry the Yin on their backs

and hold the Yang in their embrace,

Delivering their vital harmony from the

          proper blending of the two vital Breaths.

…

Truly, one may gain by losing;

And one may lose by gaining….”