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The restlessness of the believer, the ability to ask questions, the fruitfulness of humour. These are the three appeals that Pope Francis echoes in the book “Questions of God, Questions to God. In dialogue with the Bible” written by the English Dominican preacher Timothy Radcliffe (awarded the title of ‘doctor of Divinity’ by the University of Oxford, and from 1992 to 2001 master of the order of friars preachers), and the young Polish biblical scholar Łukasz Popko (lecturer in Jerusalem at the Ècole biblique et archeologique).
The book, published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana in October 2023, with a preface by Pope Francis, is a dialogue between two experts in Sacred Scripture who investigate the meaning and existential scope of 18 questions from God to man and from man to God, in both the Old and New Testaments.
In the interview, on the occasion of the presence of the two authors at Theological Faculty of Triveneto in Padua (9 May 2024), we are guided by the three insights offered by the pope in the preface.
What is the restlessness of the believer? Why is it important to remain restless?
Timothy Radcliffe (TR): «Antoine St Exupery famously said that if you want people to make boats, give them a taste of the sea. Then they will discover how to make boats by themselves. There is in every human being a thirst for infinity: infinite love, truth and beauty. No one will be satisfied for ever by just a little love! God is that infinity for which we long. Some saints, like Gregory of Nyssa, thought that even in paradise we shall for ever be journeying more deeply into the mystery».
If restlessness is a positive thing, how is it nourished?
TR: «We keep this alive by opening ourselves to the gospels in which Jesus is always inviting us to go further. Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. But anyone, even if they have a different faith or no faith, who loves truth, beauty or has been touched by deep love can be our ally. When I was in Chicago recently, an old Dominican said that we Dominicans remain alive as long as we study. If we stop, we die, even if we are not physically dead for another ten years!».
Jesus loved to ask questions. Why does he choose this form of interaction with man?
And for man, what does it mean to ask questions?
Łukasz Popko (LP): «Jesus asked questions because the Word of God reveals itself through the human language, therefore, it uses all means of communication proper to the human language. Questions not only have the function of obtaining information. For example, when Jesus met a blind man, he asked him: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:51). The blindness was not a secret. The nature of problem to be solved was clear. Nevertheless, the centre of Jesus’ attention was not blindness but the blind man. That is why he asked the question “What do you want?”: to give him back the control over his life. The needy person is not just a passive object, an occasion for a miracle like the water which should be transformed into wine. Conversations and questions express and form our nature as persons».
Can one address any question to God?
LP «I do not recall any question which would be prohibited or for which God would punish the daring human. To the contrary, some of the questions addressing God and transmitted through the Scriptures could be shocking: Why have you abandoned me? Why are you asleep? Why have you done this to us? They are actually a form of reproach. The great treasure is that they come to us as to serve as inspired texts; God teaches us how to pray and how to talk to Him. Let us consider the three friends of Job who kept defending God over against Job’s fierce and long defiant questions addressing God. At the end, God said “You have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job” (Jb 42,7)».
What are the prerequisites for really listening?
LP «The book of Job is probably also a great example of listening. Suffering and angry Job needed to say his things, maybe also even when they were exaggerated, and over the top, and unfair. God gave him time to do it. The Book of Job is a great book, not about the silent God but about the listening God. Yes, to listen one needs to be silent. Maybe this explains the silence of God in some moments of our life? Listening is about making space and giving time, sometimes a lot of time!».
In the introduction to the book, Pope Francis emphasises the role of humour “as a human expression that comes very close to grace”. An element that can “reconfigure”, if one can say so, the believer’s style?
TR: «Certainly in my British tradition, there is no opposition between being humorous. In fact we often say the most serious things with a joke! Humour sheds an unexpected light on the world and each other. It opens a new perspective! It liberates the mind to see we transcend the mentality of the market, where everything has a price, and rejoice in gift. Friends laugh together because of the beautiful gift of friendship. Also in the Old Testament, in Proverbs, Wisdom is playful! There is a childlike ludic quality to wisdom which liberates the mind from a dull and literal seriousness! It is hard to find many jokes in the New Testament, but Jesus has a joy and laughter! Even St Thomas Aquinas shows humour in his writings».
I would add one last question, to broaden the reflection. Man today, in the world of post-truth, amidst technology, social media, fake news and slogans, finds it hard to keep mind and heart, emotions and actions together. What helps us to regain the integrity of our person?
LP: «The richness of impulses which go through our senses in much greater than we are able to digest. Our brains have, therefore, the capacity to select and turn off the information which is not needed; like the background noise of the train during our journey. It is necessary if one is to focus. The choice what to listen to and what to turn off depends on our actions, on the direction of our movement. While riding a bicycle or driving a car on a motorway I cannot admire the landscape. This is reserved for a peaceful walk or just a sitting position. Maybe this is also the reason why so many people are stuck in their life journey and instead of protagonists of their own life stories become the observers of the life of others.
The very moment you will start walking, and by necessity it will be walking in some direction, you will get the criteria for evaluating which data is important and which is not. The informative chaos is not the fault of the mass media, it is the perception of the aimless consumers of information.
It is also the movement which gives us coherence. I do not believe in once for all self-made persona produced in front of a mirror or through the series of selfies. It is superficial and not true. We become what we are while walking, loving, making mistakes, taking risks, and so on».
How do we return to loving the truth?
LP: «By analogy, to the plethora of external impulses there is also a plethora of internal impulses and information, sometimes contradictory. Even a monk in his hermitage finds peace not by eliminating this internal information but by putting them in order, according the hierarchy created by the aim he heads towards in his life. That is why the crisis happens often in the moments where one changes the direction, the life aims shift and by necessity one slows down or stops completely. When we do not know where to go, all directions become equally important and the impression of overwhelming internal and external chaos creeps in. When we lose the movement, we lose not only our direction, we lose also our shape; like a spinning top that stopped spinning. Heading somewhere is also an occasion to verify and falsify our life choices. Even the couch philosophers, sceptics, and relativists, when function in this world, must have at least some pragmatic notion of truth. There is some chance that the experience of mistake will teach me something. Looking at the infinite set of reflections will not».
Paola Zampieri