PAULACHAN
KOCHAPPILLY
Globethics.net India, Bengaluru
Paper
Title: “Celebration of the Holy Qurbana as a Comingling of Earth and Heaven”
Abstract
Celebration presupposes coming together of people at a given time and in a given place in order to remember, relive, and renew the cherished and treasured story in view of future orientations and motivations to act in the context. Memorable and meaningful celebrations are held when celebrants retrieve the past and project the future in the present.
Celebration is structured through signs and symbols revealing the earthly and the heavenly dimensions of the memory. The celebration of the Holy Qurbana (the Eucharistic Liturgy) is a typical of this phenomenon.
The ecclesial community celebrates the mystery of Christ and the history of salvation making use of the words, gestures, postures, and materials from the earth, but always pointing to the heavenly reality. Communion in the sacred mysteries of the Holy Qurbana fills the faithful with an eschatological outlook for a cosmic commitment.
Celebration of the Holy Qurbana is a beautiful blending of earthly choir and heavenly choir and it confers on the celebrants an experience of heaven on earth: “Praise be to your mercy that has unified the inhabitants of heaven and earth.”
Dr Paulachan Kochappilly, Director of Globethics.net India, is also a Professor of Moral Theology at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram and has been the Dean of the Faculty of Theology and the Head of the Department of Theology, Christ University. His publications include Celebrative Ethics: Ecological Issues in the Light of the Syro-Malabar Qurbana (1999), The Folly of the Cross (2000), Evangelization as Celebration (2002), The Lord of Heaven and Earth (ed.) (2004), The Mystery of the Eucharist (ed.) (2006), Christian Leadership and Integration (ed.) (2007), Life in Christ: Eastern Perspectives on Christian Ethics (2010), and The Way of Life (ed.) (2011).
Dr Paulachan Kochappilly, Director of Globethics.net India, is also a Professor of Moral Theology at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram and has been the Dean of the Faculty of Theology and the Head of the Department of Theology, Christ University. His publications include Celebrative Ethics: Ecological Issues in the Light of the Syro-Malabar Qurbana (1999), The Folly of the Cross (2000), Evangelization as Celebration (2002), The Lord of Heaven and Earth (ed.) (2004), The Mystery of the Eucharist (ed.) (2006), Christian Leadership and Integration (ed.) (2007), Life in Christ: Eastern Perspectives on Christian Ethics (2010), and The Way of Life (ed.) (2011).