What is dialogue from the heart? Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc speech

Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc speech

(Mars 18, 2014)

 

Nowadays, there is a great need for a dialogue from the heart in the application for a better inter-religious and ecumenical exchange.

 

To dialogue is to cultivate an open mind and to reach out to others with a humble heart.  To dialogue is to participate and to enter into the Trinitarian mystery, the mystery of God's revelation. It is because God is open to new revelation. If one experiences the profundity of God’s Spirituality of Openness, that person will surely witness in-depth inter-faith dialogue and openness. It is also to participate into the mystery of Exodus. 

 

What is dialogue from the heart?  It is to develop an attitude of humility where one reaches out to others through listening and an open heart.. It is humility par excellence. 

 

Fr. Tomas Halik, a Czech priest received the 2014 Templeton Prize worth 1.8 million dollars.  He wants to use the prize for activities related to the dialogue between churches and between believers and non-believers.  He loves the Holy Father.

 

Fr. Halik said that a person with a humble heart is humble by nature.  That person listens to people, leads people and welcomes everyone. Moreover, he is at ease with anyone because his heart is full of love. But if the heart is filled with pride and arrogance, it can’t love and dialogue has no place in one’s heart.  Only humble people are capable to love, it is because loving is to put others above oneself. It is to stoop down before others with a humble heart as Jesus has shown us humbling himself on the Cross for our sake.

 

True dialogue happens in the heart, mind and the inner recesses of one’s being. Pope Francis as a man raises cultural proximity and makes other people feel close and comfortable.  It is a dialogue that gives birth to a new culture of nearness. It is the culture of the true Gospel, and people share the Good News with one another creating a culture of closeness.

 

I think it’s a good idea and let us ask God for His Spirit that He may bless us with an abundance of love in our hearts.  It is because without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life, it’s difficult to get close to someone and it is impossible to dialogue from the heart.

 

Moreover, we are invited to look at our faith dimension.  Fr. Tomas Halik has pointed out that to practice and promote dialogue is to re-think at our view of faith.  One needs to have an open heart. It is because Faith is more of a way/path rather than a castle or fortress. Faith is not a rock but a river. It creates a spiral movement or a lively flow of sharing the mystery of the Trinity as well as in one’s reaching out to others in humility.

 

 

 

Vietnam has realized this reality long time ago but little done in practice.  In the book “Road or Castle” which was written by the famous writer Nguyen Ngoc Lan much mentioning this truth.  It is a vibrant new look when it comes to rock imagery. We think God is a progressive rock.  Such view needs  soul-searching from every Catholic to ponder on.

 

To tell you the truth, I am not really good at this experience about inter-religious dialogue, I think, as Pope Francis said to himself, I am also a weak person of guiltness; however, I am also a man with an open heart and wants to become close to everyone. So I enjoyed this kind of dialogue in following the way the Holy Spirit illuminate deeply in our hearts.

 

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Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc concluded his sharing invoking the Holy Spirit to accompany us in our witness and living out the inter-faith dialogue.

 

 

Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc

Translator: Sr. Fenecia