The sudden death of a great luminary, mentor and a friend Fr. Felix Wilfred has sent feelings of shock , sadness and sheer inability to process the event in depths of our being. The loss a great Asian theologian has brought a feeling that time is out of joint. We seem to be pushed in a zone out time wherein a sense of untimely death of Fr. Felix makes us feel that time is not on our side.
Although there is a death sentence attached to all life, and everyone who is born is old enough to die, a death of a close friend like Fr. Felix is difficult to mourn. This is why all among us are conjugating his life. I felix , You felix, he/ she/it felixes, We felix, You felix , They felix. We have been and we will continue to felix for the rest of our life. This thirst to felix manifests the impact of the influence that he has made on our lives.
It a paradox that the sad tone of felixing that has engulfed us has a layer of joy that is inhabiting his very name. It tells us that the sources of the self of the great theologian Fr. Felix Wilfred are in us and in the works that he produced. We therefore, can still meet him and hear the echo of his voice in his writings, ideating in conferences, editing and institutions that he built. He will continue to give himself to us in his writings and the institutions that he has left behind. They have inspired tens and thousands and will continue to blow away lakhs and more.
Fr. Felix will go on felixing in his works and in our works. His works have breathed life, nurtured faith and opened new horizons to theologize in India and in Asia. Rooting his theologizing in the context and being fully sensitive to the plight of the poor and the plural religious condition of Asia, he developed theology of dialogue that challenged the Church to move from an inward looking community to a community that engages society, culture and public life. Infact , he took theology in the public arena making the public sphere the locus theologicus par excellence. His theology will not die. It will live on , posthuming his legacy. Hence, the joy that is oozing from his very name tells us that his theologizing will posthume and will continue to influence generations to come in Asia and India. Fr. Felix felixing and producing theology that touched the Church in Asia, therefore, will not fail us in this death.
Many of us who have been cradled in our intellectual growth through the person and work of Fr. Felix do feel the loss acutely. This is our felixing with our present plight. His memory is too strong and returns to us as we process his absence with a heavy breath. But the same resurrection of our Lord Jesus that influenced our beloved Fr. Felix to live, breathe, write, and, theologize brings Fr. Felix back to us in a new avaatara of after life that will felix us offering cheer in the collective sense that makes us confident that he has run his race, won the prize and kept his faith.
The theological legacy of Fr. Felix has great promises to keep. It has to be alloyed in our thinking, theologizing, prayer and dialogue with every dynamic, living and breathing context of Asia and India and new paths have to be felixed by us. This felixing will be a fitting tribute to our beloved Fr. Felix. Beginning with the psalmody of rich tributes that we have been offering to Fr. Felix these days, we have a long way to go and many promises to keep before we finally sleep and join Fr. Felix. While we experience this surplus force of mourning the death of our friend and mentor Fr. Felix , we will certainly feel a forward propelling force that will lead us to paths that Fr. Felix has opened and even will enable us to push the limits that will make room to theologize on new wings in Asia. Fr. Felix has rushed ahead of us but he has not left us orphaned. He has left us a mission. He has shown us the way . The wheel of time , will move on and we have take the legacy and mission of Fr. Felix further and enrich the Church and our societies in Asia.
This adieu is difficult for everyone among us. It is hard to me too. I being from Goa had been lucky to be part of some of Fr. Felix’s holidays along with my friend Fr. James Poniah. This happy memories had opened several of my engagement with the endeavors of Fr. Felix and Chair of Christianity in Madras University. He chose to be Philosophy expert at his Cross cultural Study Centre of Asia in Chennai. Hence gripped with sadness, this little writing is part of my mourning of this great untimely loss. We will all somehow continue to walk the path of the legacy of Fr. Felix has left for us. The concentricities of our works with that of Fr Felix will bring us back to him living in his texts, ideas, institutions and theologies. While the circle of life will move on, time with its habitual untimeliness , will also take us where Fr. Felix is gone. Like Fr. Felix for us , those who knew us may also feel that time is not on time . It is untimely or out oof time and taken us before time. But all of us have to live our death. We have to say the last Amen ourselves. It is this Amen that will unite us with Fr. Felix and our Lord Jesus Christ forever where time is always on time. Till then let felixing go on !
