By Nchumbonga George Lekelefac, Doctorandus, University of Münster, Germany and Founder/CEO of Nchumbonga Lekelefac Institute of Research, Documentation, Language and Culture, USA
Teaching and Research are the two arms of the scientific activity of the human spirit. Teaching is the transmission of the knowledge acquired from research or from studying as learning from a Master of words or of works.
Research is that searching for, looking for, a certain reality in two stages the first stage of which begins with an apriori notion, a notion beforehand, of the thing that is being sought, and it ends with finding (perceiving, seeing, hearing) a sign of the sought reality (e.g. the footprint of a run-away thief seen on the ground, or the star of Jesus seen on the sky, or the image as the reflex of the face of the Sun seen in the limpid and sparkling, crystal-clear and mirror-like watermass), while the second stage begins from following the found sign of the sought reality and ends with discovering (through uncovering as removing the thing that covers) the sought reality and identifying it if what is seen upon removing the cover corresponds, conforms, equates, with the initial apriori notion of the sought reality and is coherent and consistent with what was believed to be the sign of that reality, otherwise it ends with a surprise when what is seen upon removing the cover does not conform, correspond, equate, with the initial apriori notion of the sought reality or is not related at all or is not coherent and consistent with what was believed to be the sign of the sought.
Professor Egbulefu did justice to the dependence of teaching on scientific research; for, while he taught, he, at the same time, catered, through research, for the production of more and more of the knowledge the transmission of which is the function of teaching.
In fact, while teaching Theology, he went on also producing Theology, he theologized, practicing thereby not only Scientific Theology (as analytic and argumentatively reasoning Theology) and Practical Theology (as moral, between-virtue-and-vice-discerning, and consequential principle-applying Theology) but also Mystical Theology (as contemplative and speculative, through-mirrors/specula-looking-and-seeing, and analogically reasoning Theology) and he has in recent times begun practicing also Technical Theology (as material-goods-producing and to-Technology-leading Theology).
Typical example or simple sample of his practice of Scientific Theology and Practical Theology together is seen in many of the several articles he wrote and some of the hymns he composed like the one with the title “Where Charity is”, the text of the Refrain of which by the choir reads: “Where charity is, where it is genuine, where love is selfless, God is there”, while the text of the Recital by the soloist reads in six stanzas as follows: 1) “Since ‘man is image of God’, we have to be godly. But what is godliness?” ; 2) “Since ‘God is Spirit’, Godliness is spirituality: deep, not superficial; sublime, not shallow; intelligent, not silly.”; 3) “Since God is Light, godliness is lucidity: transparency, not obscurity; radiant, not cram; liveliness, not dullness; cheerfulness, not melancholic; sunny, not rainy; humorous, not mournful; openness, not taciturnity; freedom, not inhibition; bilateral, not unilateral; cosmopolitan, not provincial; sincerity, not hypocrisy; frankness, not lie-telling; honesty, not dishonesty; candour, not trick-playing”; 4) “Since ‘God is Love’, Godliness is loveliness: beauty, not ugliness; naturalness, not artificiality; generous, not stingy; selfless, not selfish; elegant, not shabby”; 5) “Since ‘God is the Trinity: Father and Son and Holy Spirit’, Godliness is Trinitarian: it is Fatherliness and Fruitfulness and Holiness. And the way to these three is charity”; 6) “Charity is an infused virtue and charity is a charism, special grace from God; such grace is given gratuitously, provokes gratitude in the receiver and renders him graceful, so that he who loves is godly, lovely lovable”. (Spiritualitas Cantata of the Emmanuelite Congregation. Emmanuelite Hymnbook Vol 1, Rome 1996, pp 22-23).
Typical example or simple sample of his practice of Mystical Theology is seen in two of the numerous hymns and prayers he composed. The one is the latin hymn: “Nos homines viatores”, the other is the prayer: “Help us, O You Holy”. The two are intimately united as the prayer is an expansion of the contents of the hymn.
The hymn articulates the ladder of ascent of the praying human spirit on the spiritual journey to God the Father (itinerarium ascendens spiritus humani ad Deum Patrem).
The text of the Antiphon of the hymn reads: “Nos homines viatorum sumus a Patre ad Patrem per Filium in Spiritu Sancto cum Maria”, while the text of the three verses read: 1) “Per Sanctum Johannem Apostolum et Sanctum Josephum Custodem assequimus Mariam Matrem Redemptoris; Per Mariam ad Jesum verum hominem ascendemus”; 2) “Per Sacramenta Christi in Ecclesia habitat Spiritus Sanctus in nobis; Per Spiritum Sanctum ad Christum verum Deum ascendemus.”; 3) “Per Christum Jesum, verum Deum et verum hominem, Viam unicam in quam omnes verae semitae vitae confluunt, ascendemus ad Patrem.” (Spiritualitas Cantata of the Emmanuelite Congregation. Emmanuelite Hymnbook Vol 1, Rome 1996, p. 25).
In English the hymn is singing the facts that the spiritual journey of us human beings as travelers coming from the Father and going to the Father, through the Son in the Holy Spirit with Mary, is structured in such a way that we reach Mary the Mother of the Redeemer through St. Joseph the Custodian of Jesus and St. John the beloved Apostle of Jesus, and then through Mary we ascend to Jesus the true Man, while to Christ the true God we ascend through the Holy Spirit that dwells in us ever since we received Him in the Sacraments of Christ in the Church, and then we ascend to the Father through Jesus Christ, the true God and true Man, as that only Way to Life into which all true pathways to life flow.
And during this mystical journey the human spirit is neither dumb nor deaf nor blind but rather talks systematically to those who matter in the matter of our salvation, for it talks first to St. Joseph and St. John to lead us to Mary, and then talks to Mary to lead us to the true Man Jesus, and talks to the Holy Spirit to lead us to the true God Christ, and then talks to the Godman Jesus Christ as the only Way to the Father to lead us to the Father, and then finally talks to the Father obediently according to the order and themes of the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer that Christ our Lord and Master and Saviour has taught us as His disciples. Such a comprehensive but systematic talking to those who matter in the matter of our salvation is the content of the following prayer “Help us, O You Holy” prayed constantly on behalf of himself and of fellow humans by Prof Egbulefu in his spiritual life as a traveling prayerful man of God in humble and courteous, deep and intimate, spiritual contact with the Holy persons in heaven.
“O You Great St. Joseph, the divinely Trusted, and Great St. John, the divinely Beloved, both of You into whose care the ever Virgin Mary was divinely entrusted at different stages of her life, lived with her one after the other and are very well known to her, and You know her by far better than we do and she is too big for us to approach her directly; may you kindly accompany us to her, lead us to her, and in her presence help us by speaking first to her on our behalf that she may listen to us favorably when we talk to her.
“O Immaculately Conceived Mary, Most Great Virgin for life, Great at the relatively superlative degree of greatness, and Mother Grace filled, in the sight of your immense majesty as of One infinitely greater than us we did not pretend to know you well, nor consider ourselves fit to approach you directly, hence we requested Great Saints Joseph and John to lead us to you. We thank you for allowing us stand in your presence and ask this one thing of you: kindly accompany us to Jesus your Son, true Man, with whom you lived on earth and are living in heaven and whom you know incomparably better than we do, lead us to Him, and in His presence help us by speaking first to Him on our behalf that He may listen to us favorably when we talk to Him.
“O Most Great Holy Spirit, Great at the absolutely superlative degree of greatness, since You are God and thus not merely superior but supreme to us and we can have access to You only through the mediation of another being than ourselves, You whom we have thus received from God the Father in the Name of Christ as of the Son of the living God through the Sacraments of the incarnate Son of God in His Church, particularly through the Sacrament of Confirmation and, most frequently, through the Holy Eucharist, we beg You to accompany us till into the heart of Christ, true God, with whom You are intimately and inseparably united, and whom You know most profoundly; lead us into His presence and help us by speaking first to Him on our behalf that He may listen to us favorably when we talk to Him.
“Lord Jesus Christ, incarnate Son of the living God, You alone are both true God and true Man, You the only Godman are also the only Way that we humans can follow to surely reach Our Father who is in heaven, other ways towards Him are each only a pathway that must first confluence in You as the only one High Way for them to be able, only through You, with You and in You, to lead to Him Our Father and to heaven our fatherland. And You are the only indispensable and the only infallibly efficient Mediator between God our Saviour and us humans that are so much in need of salvation. We thank You for allowing us to come into Your presence through the intercession of the ever Virgin Mary and the intervention of the ever living and shinning and victorious Holy Spirit, and we ask this one thing of You: kindly take us to Our Heavenly Father from whom no human can obtain favours except through You; and while we stand with You in His presence, help us by speaking first to Him on our behalf that He may listen to us favorably when we talk to Him.
“Our Heavenly Father, in the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ, may Your Holy Name be praised both now and forever everywhere; and may Your Government of the world be welcomed in every part of Your creation; and may all Your creatures learn to do Your Will everywhere, and all the time; thus we are begging You to grant to us today, and always, the means of the nutrition and growth and of the breathing and movement of the body and of the soul and of the spirit, and to have mercy on us and forgive us all our guilt, and not to allow any weight to fall on us that is too heavy for us to carry and to endure; liberate us from the traps set and the pits dug for us along the way to You by the Adversary and into which we have fallen, and heal us from the injuries that we have sustained through our fall, and re-put us onto the good and right road that leads to You from which we have deviated and fallen; and if You do these for us, we shall be perpetually grateful to You and shall use them to praise You, honour You and glorify You all the more and all our life. Amen.” (Emmanuelites. The Prayers of our Father Founder. Emmanuelite Motherhouse, Ohuru, 2021).
The ladder of descent of the praying human spirit on the spiritual journey to God the Father (itinerarium descendens spiritus humani ad Deum Patrem) has already been articulated in the traditional hymn of Blessings that is sung by the assembly of the catholic Christ faithful immediately after they have been blessed from the Altar with the Lord Jesus present in the Most Blessed Sacrament inserted into the monstrance by the officiating Ordained Minister of Christ. The movement of the praying human spirit on the ladder of descent begins from God and His Holy Name and passes proximately through Christ as true God and true man and His Blessed Name and Sacred Heart and Precious Blood and Presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and remotely through the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete, and Mary as the Great and Most Holy Mother of God immaculately conceived and gloriously assumed into heaven, and her Name as the Virgin and Mother, to St. Joseph her most chaste Spouse, and back to God in His Angels and in His Saints.
The climax of the mystical experience consists in the jubilation of the fascinated human spirit at the beautiful sight of the appearing and self-revealing God, the contemplation of the face and shape of God, the confirmation of the teachings of the Church on His trinitarian structure as the principle of the intelligibility of His words and signs and actions, and the celebration of Him by adoring, devotedly admiring and honouring, Him and praising and exalting Him above all beings. Such climax of the mystical experience of the grace-and-truth-filled God-worshipping human spirit upon the face-to-face-encounter with the God in our midst through and in the person of the sacramentalized heavenly Christ the Emmanuel is articulated by Prof. Egbulefu in a series of seven other Emmanuelite Chants in latin: “Et Verbum Caro factum est” p.28; “Rex Gaudii Apparet” (p 33); “Ecce Deus noster” p.28; “Amen! Benedictio et gloria Deo nostro” p.55; “Laudamus Te, Sanctissima Trinitas” p. 36; “Te adoramus ex toto corde” p. 51, and “Glorificabimus Te semper, O Christe” p.40 (the pages refer to: Spiritualitas Cantata of the Emmanuelite Congregation. Emmanuelite Hymnbook Vol 1, Rome 1996).