Goa is a place blessed with great beauty of nature. It is a place of abundance. Everyone feels a welcome in Goa. God’s welcome is enshrined into Goa and Goans. The serenity, peace and sense of freedom one feels in Goa bring people from all over the world. The sense of welcome that people feel stays away and beyond the market economy that has come to rule us . The market economy cannot be equated to the economy of abundance. Nature follows economy of abundance. It gives and gives. It does not give to get. Market economy only gives when it gets. Market economy is profit oriented. The economy of abundance simply gives. Goa with its natural beauty as well as cultural openness continues to give and give. There seem to be efforts to plunder this abundance of Goa both economy and politically today. Goa is on sale as well as effort to divide Goans are on acceleration. This is why Goans are agitated and are on the streets to save Goa and themselves.
Within this economy of abundance, we may have to see the place of great religious festivals and other cultural events that mark the Goaness of Goans. The great Hindu zatra’s and pompous feasts of the Patron saints in the villages among the Catholics display the economy of abundance. The economy of abundance at its face value appears to be a wasteful expenditure. At the most, it looks to be an unproductive expenditure but this celebrations in the spirit of abundance releases excess energy of catharsis in our society that keeps all of us together and enables us to lead a peaceful, and healthy life. Tourism in Goa is based on the economy of abundance. People flock to Goa in search of such wasteful and unproductive expenditure and return back rejuvenated and revitalized to continue with their life. This is why an economy of abundance that follows closely our natural world is not a wasted experience. It is truly an economy of life (natural, human and divine).
The economy of abundance seems to be the economy of the divine. God does not follow the market and gives only when we give. God just gives and gives like the sun that continues to shine to give us light. Within this divine economy of the divine abundance, we may locate the ritual of exposition of St. Francis Xavier. We are celebrating the 18th exposition of the sacred relics of St. Francis Xavier. People will come from all over the world and our country. They will spend money, time , energy wastefully and will not regard it as a wasted experience. Some of the people will come walking for days and enter into penance and sacrifice. These people also do not think that what they do is wasted experience. The economy of the market might see it as an unproductive and wasteful expenditure. In fact, these indulgence into the abundance appear to be our entry points into the divine economy of abundance. These wasteful excesses belong to the divine economy of abundance.
Our tourism and capitalist market encourage us to engage into wasteful expenditure. The market economy cunningly persuades us to buy things that we do not need. In this regard, we may say that the market is also pushing us to abundance. But it does not come close to the divine economy or even natural economy of abundance because it gives to get. It is in no way closer to the economy the simply gives and gives. It cannot be considered as giving a pure gift. It gives and simultaneously takes. As long as there is giving to profit , there is no economy of abundance. It simply follows the calculus of the market. Humans appear to truly belong to the economy of abundance. This is why perhaps, we are vulnerable and can be manipulated to indulge into excessive consumption unproductively as well as to pursue vain glory by the market forces.
The logic of abundance and the logic of market are contradictory. They cross each other. The market has attempted to capture and colonize the economy of abundance and we wastefully keep consuming things that we do not really need. Divine abundance is genuine wasteful expenditure. Look at that the passion and death of Jesus. It belongs to God’s abundance. We may also align the life of St. Francis Xavier into this divine abundance. He sacrificed everything, his family, wealth, fame etc., for the sake of God and his people. Sacrifice is wasteful expenditure for the market. But sacrifice and self-denial belongs to the divine economy of the abundance. The saint, thus has become a door to this divine economy of abundance. People of all walks of life have understood this fact. This is why they flock to him throughout the year. Of course on this occasion of the exposition of his sacred relics, people will seek to enter divine abundance through him.
The 18th exposition of the sacred relics of St. Francis Xavier is not another ordinary event that just arrived after the passing ten years. It is indeed a special time for Goa, Goans and all people of good will. It is a time of divine abundance. This does not mean that it is the only time of divine abundance. Divine abundance belongs to the economy of abundance and cannot be fixated by time and place. Divine abundance opens only to people who come together with force and power of strong intension and purpose to seek God. Exposition is one such moment of abundance.
The divine gives us through his creation. The divine love is wasteful. The divine loves and loves and wants nothing in return. St. Francis Xavier, though a man of his time and marked by the vulnerabilities of his time has become a channel of divine abundance. We do have to count ourselves blessed that the divine continues to reach us in several ways . This is why our brokenness and unproductive lives can enter the economy of divine abundance through the celebrations of the exposition of the relics of St Francis Xavier. May this celebration let divine abundance bring blessings and enable us to flourish with happiness, health and peace. Divine abundance calls us to rise beyond the market principle of profit and embrace unmeasurable of abundance. The measure of this abundance is love and the measure of love is to love without measure.
