When I last wrote we were on the threshold
of the Winter Olympics in Sochi over which hung the threat of terrorism.
Now we are within two days of the Olympics
being over and while, thanks be to God, no terrorist act has yet occurred, just
a few hours from Sochi Ukraine is in the depths of violent unrest, perhaps even
on the threshold of a civil war.
While reflecting positively on events in
Europe in 1989 with the collapse of the old Soviet Empire Bl. John Paul in his encyclical
CENTESIMUS ANNUS noted: Where society is
so organized as to reduce arbitrarily or even suppress the sphere in which freedom
is legitimately exercised, the result is that the life of society becomes
progressively disorganized and goes into decline. [# 25.2] …..Europe cannot
live in peace if the various conflicts which have arisen as a result of the
past are to become more acute because of a situation of economic disorder,
spiritual dissatisfaction and desperation.[# 28.2]
In looking forward to the post-soviet era
world, not just in Europe but everywhere on earth where human beings dwell in
national communities Bl. John Paul also noted that: Love for others, and in the first place love for the poor, in whom the
Church sees Christ Himself, is made concrete in the promotion of justice. [#58]
People have lived within the boundaries of
modern Ukraine for tens of thousands of years and like most European countries
Ukraine has a history marked by conquest time and again as the various dominate
empires ebbed and flowed so that in the aftermath of WWI Ukraine was but an
afterthought, largely ignored by the leaders of the peace conference in Paris
1919, thus subsequently being engulfed in a war between Poland and the emerging
Soviet Union, resulting in a further fractioning of the country with the
Soviets getting the lion’s share and between then, through the great famine,
Stalinist oppression, the Second World War and its aftermath several millions,
if not tens of millions of Ukrainians would be killed, starved, be deported to
the Gulag. Finally becoming independent with the collapse of the Soviet Empire
is it any wonder the people are violently resisting being absorbed into Putin’s
empire?
The Church, and as Her voice the Popes,
always urge non-violent means of struggle, the revolution of tenderness if you
will, rather than recourse to various forms of armed insurrection.
Perhaps no Pope has spoken about this
tension between non-violent resistance and the immense pressure to throw off
the yoke of tyranny as eloquently as Pope Paul VI in his encyclical POPULORUM
PROGRESSIO reflecting on situations where the injustice cries out to heaven he
noted:….a revolutionary uprising – save
where there is manifest, long-standing tyranny which would do great damage to
fundamental personal rights and dangerous harm to the common good of the
country – produces new injustices, throws more elements out of balance and brings on new disasters.
[#’s 30-31]
The above was erroneously seen in its day
as an approval of armed revolution, which it clearly is not.
It is however a recognition of human
reality both that sometimes oppressed people rebel but at the same time
rebellions are inherently risky as you never know [Iran is a classic example]
what the aftermath will be.
The challenge is to follow the teachings of
Jesus about love, forgiveness, turning the other cheek.
It is MY challenge to become the one person
I can reasonably be sure, or at least hope, will be a peacemaker, a revolutionary
of non-violent tenderness: I.
While it is true in his Exhortation Pope
Francis is calling us to action, revolutionary action within the Joy of the
Gospel, primarily he is calling us to a profound personal conversion where the
revolution begins within myself is to overcome ego, greed, self-centeredness,
prejudice, etc., etc.
…Goodness
always tends to spread. Every authentic experience of truth and goodness seeks
by its very nature to grow within us…..[#9]
Be it the ongoing oppression in Russia,
Ukraine, North Korea, countless other nations, perhaps only sections within
nations [each of us in our own countries can discover, if we willingly look,
those who are oppressed], the challenge of the revolution of tenderness is also
to enter deeply into the luminous truth of the Gospel, for the Gospel, Jesus
Himself is about the kingdom of God [cf.
Lk. 4:43]; it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the extent that
He reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal
fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christian preaching and life,
then, are meant to have an impact on society. [# 180] Consequently, no one can
demand that religion should be regulated to the inner sanctum of personal life,
without influence on societal and national life, without a concern for the
soundness of evil institutions, without a right to offer an opinion on events
affecting society…….An authentic faith – which is never comfortable or
completely personal – always involves a deep desire to change the world, to
transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. [# 183]
The challenge is to impact the human family
for its betterment, for the spread of justice and freedom, love and hope, just
distribution of the world’s food, water, shelter, clothing, medicine, etc.,
MUST begin within my own heart, my own immediate family, neighbourhood, in a
word IF I am not a revolutionary of love’s tenderness for the people
immediately in my life, if I cannot see Jesus next to me, I will never hear the
cry of the poor from over the horizon!
As I approach the end of these reflections
on Pope Francis’ Exhortation unrest is erupting also in Venezuela, the United
Nations has finally started to raise its voice about the crimes against
humanity which are the daily reality of our brothers and sisters in North
Korea, the Central African Republic, Somalia – frankly if we were to take a map
of the world and look at each country with the eyes of our hearts, then truly
we would begin to hear the cry of entire
peoples….[#190]…the cry of the poor [#191…..with open hearts, strengthened by
the Holy Spirit we would begin not simply to live the Gospel but to incarnate it
in our very lives and thus We incarnate
the cry of the poor when we are deeply moved by the suffering of others…[#193]….Jesus
taught us this way of looking at others by His words and His actions [#161].
As I was writing someone called the hermitage
and told me about a handicapped man who in the extreme cold of this northern
city is out on a downtown corner each morning handing out a metro paper which
is distributed free of charge and how the person phoning me noticed the man’s
coat was threadbare, his shoes not proper for this climate and suddenly this
person was moved to take the man to a fine clothing store, buy for him a warm
coat, winter boots.
THIS is how we bring about the revolution
of light and hope; THIS is how we build the civilization of love, one person to
person incarnated act of love, respect, dignity, hope, kindness; THIS is how we
clothe Christ, love Him, touch Him for truly if I want to touch God I need only
reach out to the embrace of another human being.
There is much more in the Exhortation not
touched upon here.
Here in these essays I have simply tried to
give a sort of incentive for everyone to meditatively read, and then live out,
this call to the JOY OF THE GOSPEL, to
embrace, be converted by, live out generously, selflessly, joyfully the life of
Christ within our own lives truly imitating Jesus whose sacrifice on the Cross is nothing else than the culmination of the way
He lived His entire life. Moved by His example, we want to enter fully into the
fabric of society, sharing the lives of all, listening to their concerns,
helping them materially and spiritually in their needs, rejoicing with those
who rejoice, weeping with those who weep; arm in arm with others, we are
committed to building a new world…[#269]….Whenever we do so, our lives become
wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people,
to be part of a people.[#270]
During the Vietnam War I had returned from
a massive anti-war rally feeling pretty good about myself in that I was raising
my voice along with thousands of others against the war.
It was a hot summer’s evening when I was
out in the countryside helping friends bring in hay from the land of a very
poor family unable to afford to farm, but willing to rent their small acreage
to my friends whose farm was extensive.
I recall sitting on the porch with the man
whose land it was.
He had offered us some cold beer.
For him this was very generous as he had so
little.
Flush with my anti-war intensity I asked
him what he thought about the war.
He took a sip of his beer, paused and said
simply: “Well I figure there’s a man over there like me. It’s end of a hard day
of work. His wife is in the kitchen, cooking and singing. His children are out
playing in the field. I don’t hate him, he doesn’t hate me, so why should they
tell us to kill each other? That be what I think about it.”
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