Sr Arlyne Casas has written a book that offers encouraging stories about our experiences in encountering God and how our notion of God changes as we relate with believers of other faiths. From her conversations with fifteen friends of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths and different nationalities, it emerges that their awakening to God’s voice generally stems from listening to the poor, the marginalized and the exploited.
Sr Pat Fox, NDS, lawyer by profession and Human rights advocate, reviews the book as follows:
“In this book, Sr. Arlyne Casas offers both an inspiration and a challenge to our developing understanding of God. She analyses phenomenological and cosmological theories in the context of the lives of people from the three major Abrahamic faiths. Their stories show how their understanding of religion has developed from an often ritualistic practice into a deepening understanding of faith. This has led to a sense of personal call to grow in solidarity and compassion through an encounter with the other, especially the poor and exploited. Through this encounter, they come to know a God who cares for all, are able to even step outside sectarian boundaries, and work with people of other religions towards building a society where peace, justice and integrity of creation become a reality. Their religious awakening leads to a social awareness of responsibility for the whole cosmos. The book ends with some possible ways of our moving forward, aware that we can encounter God in every aspect of our world if we take that leap of faith into the unknown.”
Dr. Mina M. Ramirez, President Emerita, Asian Social Institute Malate in Manila hopes the book will “inspire us to reflect on God’s presence within us, above, and around us as we, belonging to the family of God, take active part to incarnate God in our ecological and social environment.”
Dubbed by Fr. Daniel Franklin Pilario of Adamson University in Manila as “a must-read for all God-seekers”, it is intended as a guidebook for teachers of Sociology of Religion and for advocates of interfaith and interreligious dialogue who promote the core values of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). Sr Arlyne also hopes it will serve as a work of reference for students of Biblical Theology, Sociology of Religion, Applied Cosmic Anthropology, and Pastoral Sociology, as they ponder on the importance of human experiences in finding the grace of God.
Read Sr Arlyne’s book: