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AA-Info n.4 - April 2024
“I seek the face of the Lord.”
EDITORIAL
Fr. Ngoa Ya Tshihemba
Superior General of the Augustinians of the Assumption
I have just made my first canonical and fraternal visit to the Province of Brazil. As it was the first time that I visited the country, the brothers, in addition to the essential moments of a visit of this kind, had the great idea of showing me around the beautiful monuments of their cities. And in Rio de Janeiro, there is no other choice than the imposing, world-famous Christ the Redeemer! The day before the visit, the brothers said that we should pray for favorable weather, because if there is a lot of clouds, we risk not seeing the face of Christ... Luckily, the weather was not so bad, but you still had to be patient and attentive, because from time to time clouds came and covered that face! It was impressive to see how expectant the tourists were. In waiting, they were busy looking at things that could be appreciated from afar, like the famous stadium of Maracana. And when finally the clouds freed the face of Christ, it was enough for someone to say “He is here! » or “It happened! » so that everyone takes out their camera for the souvenir photo.
This phenomenon, daily in this place of Corcovado, reminded me of the song of Odette Vercruysse which gives its title to this editorial and which you have certainly listened to more than once. Here is the chorus and the first verse which, for me, deserves to be meditated deeply, especially during this Easter season.
R./ I seek the face of the Lord I seek his face deep in your hearts.
You are the Body of Christ You are the Blood of Christ, You are the Love of Christ…
So? What have you done with Him?
This Easter season is a time rich in celebrations. The face of Christ is at the forefront of all these liturgies. From the decayed face of Good Friday to the luminous face of the Resurrection, our prayer is one: On us, Lord, let your face shine! In fact, the face in question is all simply his Presence. But in Rio de Janeiro as in all of our lives, this face or, better still, the presence of Christ the Redeemer is obstructed by clouds. And the clouds that hide the face of Christ are numerous, there is no need to repeat it.
So where is he? The readings of this Easter season bring out this search for the face, that is to say the presence of the resurrected Christ. From Mary Magdalene through the apostles to our time, it is the question within us: Where is He? It happens that we look for him where we want to see him and how we would like to see it, and as a result, often we look elsewhere, even though it is already there. Perhaps we are looking for a luminous face of Christ, without wrinkle or stain, but alas, the one that presents itself often seems not to meet these criteria.
The Easter season is the time of encounter with the Risen One, the Redeemer. Let’s look for his face (his presence). But after all, it is he who will reveal himself to us, as he did to his disciples. It’s not our search, but his grace which will make us see his face. And maybe we will then have the same feelings and the same motivations to continue to announce the hope of the Gospel, without anything to stop us, and we will be able to say, like the apostles Peter and John, to those who come across our way: “As for us, it is impossible to remain silent about what we have seen and heard. » (Acts 4, 20)
To seek and find the face of Christ the Redeemer, there is no need to go to Rio. It is in the faces of these thousands of people displaced by wars, in the faces of these civilians who, under the bombs or in the camps, must make difficult choices. Like these women in Goma, who must choose between prostitution and hunger: a “brutal reality”, wrote the newspaper La Croix on the situation in DR Congo. Unfortunately, these suffering faces of Christ do not always make the headlines of the newspapers of the world. Perhaps a rereading of the work La trace d’un visage, published in 1992 by our brother Bruno Chenu, can take us back to thinking about our relationship with God and the face of others. There is an indelible link there.
May the joy of Easter give us new life, and may the spirit of our founder Father Emmanuel d’Alzon “pushes us to make the great causes of God and man our own, to take us where God is threatened in man and man is threatened as the image of God.’’ (RL no. 4)
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