+ Anthony J.V. Obinna

Introduction

In the Forties and the Fifties a kind of political Messianism which arose in the wake of the reigning anti-colonialist nationalism took hold in many African countries. Buoyed by this political independence was in some cases taken with force, in others obtained peacefully with the consensus of Europe’s colonising powers around the Sixties.

The enthusiasm for national independence led to the creation of great development programmes by various African governments which announced ahead of time with near messianic tones that abundance of material and that return of cultural splendour which would turn into a radiant future for Africans by the Year 2000.

Today, some forty years since independence, the initial great euphoria has disappeared. Continuous political, economic and social crises have left a large part of the African populations prostrated and weakened by an even greater poverty. African governments and leaders are careful to use triumphant tones announcing food and homes for all by the year 2000, now round the corner. This vain political Messianism, this false millenarianism have left behind, in the many African countries, a widespread sense of frustration, desperation, betrayal, discontent which periodically explodes into brutal criminality, into civil war and into inter-ethnic violence.

Divine intervention

The crises and tragedies which struck Africa do not however supply a complete picture of the state and future of Africa. A silent but incisive divine intervention of history, mediated by the Church and voluntary associations, has made it possible to supply food, shelter, education, health services and clothes to thousands, and millions of Africans who would otherwise have been condemned to a premature death by the negligence of their governments.

This "divine" encouragement represents a continuous exhortation to Africans to embrace that path, that truth and that life which is absolutely capable of reverse the tragic destiny of Africa and of extending the radius of action of hope, of help and of the joy of Africans.

Looking after this divine intervention is none other that Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, the Son of God and the Son of Man, for whom Pope John Paul II is leading the world to celebrate the Anniversary of his birth with an extraordinary Jubilee.

Already with the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, entitled "Synod of Resurrection, Synod of Hope", Africa and Africans has begun to embrace with greater faith that divine encouragement which the Lord Jesus Christ incarnates. And us Africans, opening up joyously to the renewing dynamics of Jesus our Saviour, of the Holy Spirit our Consoler and of God our loving Father - the great themes of the celebration of the Jubilee - have an additional extraordinary opportunity to renew our lives give our nations the impulse and direction of a divine path for their growth and adequate development.

Human solidarity - The key to the direction

Solidarity with one’s brothers is nearly proverbial in Africa. Pope John Paul II focuses precisely on this subject in his post-Synod Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa (EA) with these words: "African cultures have a profound sense of solidarity and community life. In Africa it is unthinkable to celebrate a feast without there being the participation of the entire village" (n.43).

This type of familiar, peasant solidarity has its natural collocation in the life of every day and has always been a source of strength for individuals, families and small groups.

But in the wider, modern context of state, nation and international community, much more is requested than immediate identification and familiarity among people and groups to construct human communities and cultures.

There continues to be the inability by the majority of Africans, and especially by political leaders, to recognise and realise that the nation and the state are nothing else but wider modern families where each member possesses the same fundamental human dignity and the same rights as the President of the Republic and the State Governor, however fully responsible for the numerous political, economic and social tragedies which African states continue to experience.

Solidarity in African villages and the sense of community need to be revisited and expanded to access those families of the new humanity which we are about to become a part of. With his catechesis on human solidarity Pope John Paul II supplies authoritative directives to Africans for the reconstruction of that spirit of solidarity which includes small and large portions of humanity. His definition of solidarity is a true and proper invitation and a challenge to embrace the loving and thoughtful impulse of authentic solidarity.

"Solidarity helps us to see the "other" - be it a person, a people or a nation - not only as a kind of instrument, with a working capability and physical force to exploit at a low cost and then discard when it is no longer needed, but as our neighbour, a "help (cf. Genesis 2; 18-20) with whom to share, among similars, the banquet of life to which we are all indistinctly invited by God" (Agenda for the Third Millennium 1996, p.160).

Conceived in circumstances initially embarrassing, born in the humble shelter of a stable, then deposed in a manger and forced to exile when he still hadn’t celebrated his second birthday, Jesus begun from childhood to identify himself with all those who had known the suffering of misfortune, the pain of contempt and the uncertainty of "daily bread".

As an adult He joined the long line of Pharisees and Sadduceans, to wait for John the Baptist to baptise him. John was later to indicate him as the "Lamb of God" who takes away the sins of the world. This earthly identification of Jesus, the Son of God with the unfortunates, the outcasts, the destitute and the guilty of the earth, is what made the Good News so drawing for Africans. Together with the bishops present at the Synod of the African Church, Pope John Paul II sees Christ as the Good Samaritan who has come to heal the wounds inflicted to Africans during two millennia of history by all kinds of predators.

From the moment in which Jesus manifests himself in his public ministry - bringing joy to the poor, freeing prisoners from their oppression and sin and healing every kind of illness, physical, psychological and spiritual - this is the great march of solidarity - a new, loving and zealous humanity came to light, a humanity in which each human being is invited to share and co-create. Pope John Paul II highlights the value that this march of solidarity implies for a new humanity.

"We must therefore love our brother, even if he is an enemy, with the same love with which God loves; and for love of that person we must be ready to sacrifice ourselves, even for the last of men; to give our life for our brothers" (cf. 1 Jn 3:16).

Of Africa one could rightly declare that the results obtained in the effort to create a more profound sense of humanity among the different ethnic groups, states, nations and religions, are due largely to the Christian spirit of solidarity of the first and current missionaries. Africans and non Africans have given witness through preaching, catechesis, education, health care, social works, economic development and the administration of sacraments.

This great march of solidarity must be further intensified and extended in Africa to incarnate more deeply and widely the love, reconciliation, justice and peace which are implicit in authentic solidarity.

Building solidarity in solidarity

In his Message for World Peace Day in January 1998, focused specifically on the inequalities and turbulence in African nations, Pope John Paul II spoke of "globalisation in solidarity, globalisation without marginalisation". The Pontiff considers this challenge the greatest one posed to our family of nations as we move towards the 21^st century. So that in Africa, like in Europe, America, Latin America and the Middle East, each will be able to identify himself with joy and feel that he is a worthy and respectable member of the human family, whose fundamental rights are those of being respected and legally safeguarded based on a divine and human imperative ("because from the justice of each one derives peace for everyone", 4-5).

Given the serious difficulties by many African leaders to recognise their countrymen as having the same fundamental human dignity and the same rights, the challenge of the Pope of globalising solidarity, of letting love, justice and peace flow as streams of the same river for each African could appear simply too idealistic to the great majority of government leaders. And yet this challenge must be supported.

Indeed, for the majority of common citizens in Africa - Christians, Moslems and traditionalists, a similar need and challenge could be considered impossible because the mechanisms of egoism and individualism have deeply and widely permeated every field of human life. Even among those who live in the ecclesial sanctuary and guide the path of the great march of solidarity it isn’t all so obvious. Although the Church represents solidarity for many, there are still many others who need to be led to the joy and freedom of that solidarity which Jesus Christ takes with him.

Since at different levels, everyone has their own share of fault in the failure to construct an authentic solidarity in Africa, no one can be exempted from the commitment of constructing solidarity. Each and everyone of us is unfailingly called to be a conscious part of the human solidarity which attempts to build and promote a wider solidarity.

The Spirit of the Great Jubilee

"Jesus Christ is the new beginning of everything. In him all things come into their own; They are taken up and given back to the Creator from whom they first came" (Tertio Millennio adveniente, 6).

If Africa wants to succeed in constructing an authentic human solidarity among its citizens, a new heart and a new spirit will have to be acquired by an always increasing number of leaders and citizens. Given the human resistance to the change, although in a positive sense, only divine grace can effect the needed transformation.

For this reason the spirit of the Great Jubilee mediated by God Father, by the Son and by the Holy Spirit must be invoked by all and for all so that the joy of God can flow more freely towards our minds, our hearts and our hands. In the great joy with wh8ich God our Father has created everything that is good and beautiful, every African is called to the challenge of creating and making his environment a place of joy and peace where all the creatures of God, especially human ones, are welcome. Should someone remain excluded from participating in the goodness and divine joy, others must raise their voices in their place or intervene to avoid it.

In the great freedom with which the Holy Spirit operates in every thing in every place, Africans will learn to use their talents with greater generosity, precisely in the distribution of those resources which God has placed in their hands.

The purification of their spirits and their minds by the Holy Spirit will be guaranteed in that sense. Solidarity grows in a measure directly proportional to generosity.

With the great humility of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to serve and not to be served, Africans, in a special way those who hold positions of leadership, will have to carry out a life which is more simple, more true and more prepared to pardon. There are too many claims and wounds in Africa. Only the jubilee Spirit of Jesus can triumph over them and lay the groundwork for the effective construction of authentic solidarity in Africa.

Since Jesus is the new beginning of all things, as Pope John Paul II opportunely taught us, we Africans have all the reasons and the need to embrace the divine encouragement, the great human solidarity and the Spirit of the Great Jubilee which continues to be incarnated in the unceasing pilgrimage of humanity towards God.