Forming Human Fraternity Through Faith-Experience Shared in Dialogue

February 14 is the so-called Valentine’s Day, an imported holiday celebration from the USA. We have been Filipinizing it culturally with questionable results? You judge.

Recently the UN honored Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayyeb of Cairo thru a decree on International Human Fraternity Day to be celebrated every year on February 4. Since almost everything about Feb 14 is Love, perhaps we can just say, on the occasion of the UN-organized Fraternity Day on February 4, 2021, that forming human fraternity is a form of human love. Or, to be more culturally correct, every human being can say fraternally to the other, “You are my Valentine”!

Does this sound like a joke? It does, but it isn’t, seriously.

Being a sister or brother is interchangeably being human whose common language is Love for the poor and the needy in our common identity as members of the human family. This is easily understood in Fratelli Tutti. Also in the historic Abu Dhabi Document, co-signed by the Pope and the Imam, and jointly issued on 4 February 2020. The joint statement is titled Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together (HFWPLT).

Anyway, what are the dynamics of this dialogue where faith-experience is shared? Or, why do we call this sharing a form of dialogue?

A short answer, to begin with:

Human friendship, we have been saying for more than 45 years of Interreligious/Ecumenical or Interfaith and Intrafaith dialogues, is the bottom-line of all dialogue.

WE here refers to Muslims, Protestants and Catholics in the unique tripartite organizations called —

1. Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC),
2. the Mindanao Tripartite Youth Core (MTYC their youth affiliate),
3. the Imam-Priests-Pastors Forum (IPPF),
4. the World Vision Mindanao Development Committee (WVMDC).

The bottom-line of friendship is the inevitable result of years of TRIPLE —

• the dialogues of life,
• the dialogues of collaboration, and
• the dialogues of doctrinal experts.

NOW THE FOURTH DIALOGUE, SHARING OF FAITH EXPERIENCE: Its dynamics is summarized in brief by the following:

Problems, difficulties, tensions, struggles, etc., easily called for —

SILENT REFLECTION (small/big group)
AND SHARING of one’s personal
FAITH and/family RELATIONSHIPS
with GOD
with ALLAH
with MAGBABAYA,
with DEITIES, etc.

These reflections and sharings happened in many of the gatherings of the BUC, MTYC, IPPF, and MWVDC. There are records of them. These activities are believed to have formed human fraternities thru interpersonal sharings called dialogue.