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Tuesday Conference

Theology e-weekly

To make humanity united in worshipping God

Theological Reflection on
Onam

Our Heavenly Patron

Dear Fathers,

Onam is the only festival which Christians celebrate

in common with Hindus it is the only festival which is
celebrated together even by the outcastes, untouchables and the
high castes. This is an excellent example of composite culture of
India. It also signifies the importance of love, unity and bond of
common brotherhood. So the other is not our hell, but a doorstep
to heaven.
Onam is a history of `summum bonum'. The
remembrance of goodness helps us to keep up our faith and values
and the belief in the ultimate victory of Good.

Onam is a festival of forgetting all differences and

coming together. This is not just one communitys
celebration attended by others. Festivals cannot
be limited to one caste or region.

Let us all come together to remember a time when

Page - 02

all people were treated with respect.

The Legacy of Mahabali

We need

A veritable Kingdom of God in the fashion of the early

intimate

Christian community in Jerusalem was in existence under the

transformation

Kingdom of Mahabali. If we can trust the archeology, it lasted

of authentic

until at least sixth or even to the eighth century AD. These

cultural values

periods were totally blacked out from history by destroying

documents and they survive only in the memory of the

into

community as legends and myth.

Christianity
With our own problems of

through their

caste

integration and

and

gender,

the

story

of

Mahabali will definitely seem unlikely

the insertion of

and therefore has the problem of

Christianity

being limited to a celebration. But

into the various

is it just a festival or is it much more

than that?

human
cultures.

There was neither anxiety nor

sickness, death of the children were

Redemptoris

never even heard of, no lies, neither

Missio (no-52)

theft nor deceit. India still cannot

figure out a way where all women
and men will be seen as equal.
This article is an attempt to make
a Christian reading of the festival Onam,
especially on the themes of self-sacrifice
and hope.

Onam should inspire us to seek freedom for the masses and to

improve the lives of people. The festival of Onam has to transcend
this in our theological circles and society at large.

Page - 03

Just as we
remember the
Supreme
Sacrifice of
Christ at

The Sacrificial Dimension of Onam

We call our central religious ritual, Qurbana, as the
great self-sacrifice, Maha Bali. Bali is the sacrifice of a great
King. Several important princes of ancient mythologies were
known as Balis (King Bali who saved a dove by offfering the
vulture meat from his own thigh, and Bahubali, the great
Jain Prince of Sravanabalgola, in Karnataka are examples).

Calvary
(Divyabali) by
way of the
ritual of the
Church-the
Eucharist or
Holy Qurbana,
Onam recalls
the Maha- Bali
or the great

The king had actually sacrificed everything he

possessed including himself to Vishnu or God. He had given
away Bhur-the matter, Bhuvah-the mind, and Suvahthe soul. These three combine to form the human.
This is in consistence with the exhortation of St.
Paul as he has said in his epistle to Romans:
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's
mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and
pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be

sacrifice of the

transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be

King.

able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing
and perfect will" (Verses 12:1-2).

The name Mahabali literally means

the Great Sacrifice.
Maha = Great; Bali = Sacrifice.
Onam

is

commemoration

all
of

about
the

the
great

sacrifice offered by the mahabali who

was in a way striving to be truthful to
himself and to the promise.

Page - 04

The Onam
festival goes
beyond
region and

Sacrificial Self-giving of Jesus & Mahabali

Mahabali can be seen on similar lines with Jesus
because of the way Jesus positioned himself and how he was
done away with by high priests because he started doing things
which they thought were meant for God and were anyway
disturbing their well established system.

community.

Mahabali and Jesus are similar because;

In Kerala it

1.Both Mahabali and Jesus were leaders who were

has become

passionate about equal rights and justice.

the festival

2.Both of them sacrificed their lives for the sake of their

of all
people.

subjects.
3. Their commitment goes beyond the earthly life. Those
who believed in their ideology, especially the poor and the
oppressed were not left to fend for themselves.
4. Both of them are done in by a conspiracy and although
they agree to being sacrificed are actually murdered in cold
blood.
5. Both Mahabali and Jesus offer hope as can be seen in the
past, present and future.

The Christians live in the

hope of `Parousia'-the second
coming of Christ as the ultimate
visit to his people. Onam
n o t h i n g

b u t

is

t h e

commemoration and celebration

of the coming again of King
Mahabali.

Page - 05

Mahabali, an insulted prophet???

Matthew 5: 12 says, happy are those who are insulted,
persecuted and accused of all

kinds of evil falsely, for their

reward is great in heaven, for the same way they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.

People
belonging
to all
religions
in Kerala

Do Mahabali resemble some of the persecuted prophets, or

like Melchizedek, the Canaanite king of righteousness and
peace, resemble the Son of God (Hebrews 7:3)?
Mahabali is a vanquished king, defeated and rejected by
the Brahminic priesthood and the Aryan hierarchy. Do he
resemble at least in minuscule Jesus rejection by the then
priesthood and hierarchy?

celebrate
Mahabali
as the
leader of
all people.

Voice of our Nation on Jesus Sacrifice...

Keshab Chandra Sen, the great reform leader of Bengal
has said that what India needs is not more religious

sacrifices but self sacrifice. He cited Christ as the supreme

example of self sacrifice.
Rabindranath Tagore has congratulated Christianity
for introducing the idea of

vicarious suffering into Indian

religiosity.
Mahatma Gandhi was also very much moved by the self
offering of Jesus to humanity on the cross.

The story of Mahabali who lost his Kingdom to the

Aryans is an example of the values of self sacrifice and
vicarious suffering.

Festival of Hope

Page - 06

Onam is a festival of happiness, celebration and above all, hope.

Without hope, there is no life. Hope is a right of the poor and the
downtrodden. True festivals are peoples festivals which are a celebration of
protest, dissent and non-conformity. Just as protest is a right of the poor,
hope is also their right .
The hope filled slogan in Marathi is Ida pida javo, Bali-ca rajya yeva (let
troubles and sorrows go and the kingdom of Bali come). This has great

similarity to the expectation of the arrival of the kingdom of God. The re

-installation of Mahabali aims at bringing the glorious era back.

It can be a time when we vow and strive for equal opportunities

for all and reservation for those who have been thrust behind. It can
also be a time when we try to do away with all the corruptions that
have crept into society. This could be a time for cleansing.
Festivals in churches are no
different. Onam as the festival of
hope has huge potential and offers
valuable lessons for all. Nothing is
beyond reconciliation and one
should put out ones hand in a
reconciliatory mood of accepting and
respecting the other. Even in the
hardest and most difficult of times

hope stands as the reason to

live on.

Tuesday Conference wishes

Happy Onam...

Mahabali offers this hope through his presence with us in this

worship today. Jesus lives inside us as an ever present hope
that there is nothing which cannot be redeemed.

Page - 07

Conclusion

Our Reflections on Onam

moves us...
To be the signs of the Kingdom of
God through interiorization of the
vision of Christ.

To grow in communion with God,

self, others, and cosmos.

Onam is a festival of harvest and

sharing and the very concept of Christian
life is all about harvest and sharing (Gen
8:22, Deu 16:15, Mt 9:37, Heb 12:11, Rev
14:15). The legendary story of Mahabali
carries in it connotations of sacrificing of
our lives for others as Jesus taught us (Jn

To facilitate an on- going theological

15:13). The spirit of Onam is akin to

reflection on the concerns of the

the spirit of Christianity and we-the

universal Church and Church in

Christians who awaits the second coming

India, contextualizing the learning

of Christ - are supposed to absorb this

process.

festival as our own, in this spirit. It is

To integrate study and praxis in order

to respond compassionately to social

possible if we are able to see Christ

in place of King Mahabali.

realities.

Readers Desk
It is a bold step to publish a theological eweekly. I encourage to continue the same for
the benefit of priests and seminarians.
Fr. Mathew Vattakuzhy VC (Asst. Gen., VC)

Gladly I salute the efforts to do this work.

Attractive is the lay out. hope, it will take
new phases of growth as you go along.
Dr. M. Illathuparampil (Rector, Mangalapuzha)

It is well presented and easy to follow.

Congratulations to those who conceptulized it
&worked
hard
to
present
it.
Dr. John Kandathinkara, V.C. (Provincial, VC)

Congratulations excellent use of the emedia. The presentation and selection of

topics are very good.
Dr. Puthussery VC (Rector, Philosophate, Blore)