The Right To Life. Everyone has a right to their body. That includes unborn children.

 

The Right to Life

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” (Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, 1948)

Fr. Malloy’s Midweek Message.  May 24, 2023

Friends,

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and must be protected.  The Keystone of Catholic Social Teaching is the Dignity of the Human Person.  All persons have the right to be respected by all, especially by the laws of the state.  This teaching about the dignity of the human person enlightens moral choices concerning issues such as the death penalty, euthanasia, abortion, a living wage, war, and a whole number of matters pertaining to biochemical manipulation of human life from stem cell research to cloning.  The Catholic Bishops state: “We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.”

Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, much is being debated about the issues concerning abortion.  As a Catholic and Jesuit school, it is good to know the Catholic church’s teaching on the dignity of human life.  Everyone has a right to their body.  That includes unborn children.  One has a right to one’s body while in the womb of their mother.

The Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, teach that we must defend the most vulnerable among us. “As we Jesuits survey our culture, we cannot help but see abortion as part of the massive injustices in our society. A spirit of callous disregard for life shows itself in direct assaults on human life such as abortion and capital punishment. There are less direct but equally senseless ways we undermine life, through violence, racism, xenophobia, and the growing inequality of wealth and education. We also seek justice in ensuring that pregnant women and mothers have the resources they need to care for their children and live full lives. These realities compel us to speak out in defense of life and human flourishing.”

On April 26, 2023, a panel of five women testified before congress on the issues surrounding abortion.  Both pro-choice and pro-life views where shared.  Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst. (pictured in the upper left photo) an OB GYN doctor, eloquently and forcefully spoke in defense of unborn children.  Her testimony begins at minute 35.  https://www.c-span.org/video/?527656-1/senate-judiciary-hearing-texas-abortion-pill-ruling . She notes the racial disparities among “abortion rates, abortion mortality, and non-abortion related maternal mortality, between black and white women.”  Sadly, here too, systemic racism threatens lives.

Dr. Wubbenhorst testified (her remarks are edited here.  See the video above for her full discourse)

    “Abortion not only poses risks to the mother; it is also by definition always lethal to an embryo or fetus, an unborn child, a human being, a member of the human family, not a clump of cells or potential child, but a child assuming the human form. Abortion’s goal is to kill that human being. It neither treats nor prevents any disease and is therefore not health care. This is reinforced by the fact that the majority of OB GYN 's do not perform abortions. Studies show that the percentage that do is declining and has been for decades, from a high of 40% in 1985 to between 7% and 24% at present. …

 

    Since Roe v Wade an estimated 17 million unborn African Americans have been aborted in the United States, which is more than the populations of the countries of Senegal and Cambodia respectfully, and slightly less than the entire population of the Netherlands.  This means the deaths of not only the 17 million black people who were aborted, but all their descendants, their families hopes and dreams.  Annually, approximately 300,000 black women undergo abortion every year, while in 2021 there were approximately 518,000 births to black women. A number that continues to decline.

 

    There are substantial racial disparities in abortion rates, abortion mortality, and non-abortion related maternal mortality, between black and white women.  38% of abortions occur in black women.  A rate which is 2 to 3 times higher than that of white women, even though we compromise only 12% to 14% of the total US population.  An estimated 684 black children are aborted every day.  African American women also have a two to three times higher mortality rate from abortion compared with white women.  Therefore, black women have the highest rates of abortion and the highest rates of maternal mortality. Both of these facts cannot be true if abortion reduces maternal mortality.”

Choices surrounding these matters are often difficult.  As Pope Francis says, we must do much more to accompany and help women and men who, in distress, see abortion as their only alternative.  We must remember that the one who teaches “Thou shall not kill” (Matthew 19:18) also counsels “Thou shall not judge (Matthew 7:1).  As we continue to investigate and learn about the issues of life, may God guide us to all truth and loving choices.  May we always protect the vulnerable among us.

Peace,

Fr. Rick Malloy, S.J.

Keep Safe.    Keep Sane.    Keep Smiling

 

“We have done little to adequately accompany women in very difficult situations, where abortion appears as a quick solution to their profound anguish.” – Pope Francis

  

El Derecho a La Vida

“Todo individuo tiene derecho a la vida, a la libertad y a la seguridad de su persona.” (Artículo 3 de la Declaración de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas, 1948

El Miercoles Mensaje del Padre Malloy, S.J.  24 de Mayo, 2023

Amigos y Amigas,

La Iglesia Católica enseña que toda vida humana es sagrada y debe ser protegida.  La piedra angular de la doctrina social católica es la dignidad de la persona humana.  Todas las personas tienen derecho a ser respetadas por todos, especialmente por las leyes del Estado.  Esta enseñanza sobre la dignidad de la persona humana ilumina las opciones morales relativas a cuestiones como la pena de muerte, la eutanasia, el aborto, el salario digno, la guerra y toda una serie de asuntos relacionados con la manipulación bioquímica de la vida humana, desde la investigación con células madre hasta la clonación.  Los obispos católicos afirman: "Creemos que cada persona es preciosa, que las personas son más importantes que las cosas, y que la medida de cada institución es si amenaza o mejora la vida y la dignidad de la persona humana".

Tras la decisión de Dobbs del Tribunal Supremo, se está debatiendo mucho sobre las cuestiones relativas al aborto.  Como colegio católico y jesuita, es bueno conocer la enseñanza de la Iglesia católica sobre la dignidad de la vida humana.  Toda persona tiene derecho a su cuerpo.  Eso incluye a los niños no nacidos.  Uno tiene derecho a su cuerpo mientras está en el vientre de su madre.

La Compañía de Jesús enseña que debemos defender a los más vulnerables entre nosotros. "Cuando los jesuitas examinamos nuestra cultura, no podemos evitar ver el aborto como parte de las injusticias masivas de nuestra sociedad. Un espíritu de cruel desprecio por la vida se manifiesta en ataques directos a la vida humana como el aborto y la pena capital. Hay formas menos directas pero igualmente insensatas de socavar la vida, a través de la violencia, el racismo, la xenofobia y la creciente desigualdad de riqueza y educación. También buscamos la justicia garantizando que las mujeres embarazadas y las madres dispongan de los recursos necesarios para cuidar de sus hijos y vivir una vida plena. Estas realidades nos obligan a pronunciarnos en defensa de la vida y el florecimiento humano."

El 26 de abril de 2023, un grupo de cinco mujeres testificó ante el Congreso sobre cuestiones relacionadas con el aborto.  Se compartieron puntos de vista tanto a favor del aborto como a favor de la vida.  La Dra. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst. (en la foto superior izquierda), ginecóloga y obstetra, habló con elocuencia y contundencia en defensa de los niños no nacidos.  Su testimonio comienza en el minuto 35.  https://www.c-span.org/video/?527656-1/senate-judiciary-hearing-texas-abortion-pill-ruling.  Señala las disparidades raciales entre "tasas de aborto, mortalidad por aborto y mortalidad materna no relacionada con el aborto, entre mujeres blancas y negras".  Lamentablemente, también en este caso el racismo sistémico amenaza vidas.

La Dra. Wubbenhorst testificó (sus comentarios están editados aquí. Ver el vídeo de arriba para su discurso completo)

       "El aborto no sólo supone riesgos para la madre; también es, por definición, siempre letal para un embrión o feto, un niño no nacido, un ser humano, un miembro de la familia humana, no un grupo de células o un niño en potencia, sino un niño que asume la forma humana. El objetivo del aborto es matar a ese ser humano. No trata ni previene ninguna enfermedad y, por tanto, no es asistencia sanitaria. Esto se ve reforzado por el hecho de que la mayoría de los ginecólogos obstetras no practican abortos. Los estudios muestran que el porcentaje que lo hace está disminuyendo y así ha sido durante décadas, desde un máximo del 40% en 1985 a entre el 7% y el 24% en la actualidad. ...

       Desde el caso Roe contra Wade, se calcula que 17 millones de afroamericanos no nacidos han sido abortados en Estados Unidos, lo que supone más que la población de los países de Senegal y Camboya, respectivamente, y algo menos que toda la población de los Países Bajos.  Esto significa la muerte no sólo de los 17 millones de personas negras que fueron abortadas, sino de todos sus descendientes, las esperanzas y los sueños de sus familias.  Anualmente, aproximadamente 300.000 mujeres negras se someten a abortos cada año, mientras que en 2021 hubo aproximadamente 518.000 nacimientos de mujeres negras. Una cifra que sigue disminuyendo.

       Existen disparidades raciales sustanciales en las tasas de aborto, mortalidad por aborto y mortalidad materna no relacionada con el aborto, entre mujeres negras y blancas.  El 38% de los abortos se producen en mujeres negras.  Una tasa que es de 2 a 3 veces superior a la de las mujeres blancas, a pesar de que sólo comprometemos entre el 12% y el 14% de la población total de Estados Unidos.  Se calcula que cada día se abortan 684 niños negros.  Las mujeres afroamericanas también tienen una tasa de mortalidad por aborto de dos a tres veces superior a la de las mujeres blancas.  Por lo tanto, las mujeres negras tienen las tasas más altas de aborto y las tasas más altas de mortalidad materna. Ambos hechos no pueden ser ciertos si el aborto reduce la mortalidad materna".

Las decisiones en torno a estas cuestiones suelen ser difíciles.  Como dice el Papa Francisco, debemos hacer mucho más para acompañar y ayudar a las mujeres y hombres que, angustiados, ven en el aborto su única alternativa.  Debemos recordar que el que enseña "No matarás" (Mateo 19:18) también aconseja "No juzgarás" (Mateo 7:1).  Mientras seguimos investigando y aprendiendo sobre las cuestiones de la vida, que Dios nos guíe hacia la verdad y hacia opciones amorosas.  Que protejamos siempre a los más vulnerables.

La Paz,

P. Ricardo Malloy, S.J.

Sigamos Seguro.    Sigamos Sano.    Sigamos Sonriendo

“Hemos hecho poco para acompañar adecuadamente a las mujeres en situaciones muy difíciles, en las que el aborto aparece como una solución rápida a su profunda angustia.” - Papa Francisco

Holy Saturday: Be Amazed and Amazing

 

Holy Saturday  “… And They Were Utterly Amazed”

There’s an old joke about a guy walking in New York City.  As he passes a manhole cover, all of a sudden there’s a massive explosion underground.  The earth trembles and the manhole cover flies straight up, flipping over and over.  The New Yorker, not fazed in the least, looks up and observes the spinning 150 pound disc as it reaches its apex and starts flipping downward.  He looks intently and, without missing a beat, pronounces, “Heads.”  Nothing amazes a real New Yorker.  They’ve seen it all.

Too many of us today find it hard to be amazed.  Life becomes routine.  Marriage feels like a comfortable old coat.  Nothing our spouses say can surprise us.  Some feel they can predict what their better half will say before they say it.  Notice I didn’t take sides one which is the better half, the husband or the wife.  After a few years in a Jesuit community, it’s even worse.  At least you only have to listen to your spouse tell the same old stories over and over.  I live with twenty Jesuits who keep telling the same old stories over and over and over and over.  And they can probably predict what I will say on most topics.  And certainly nothing I say will amaze them.

This evening we heard Matthew’s Gospel.  But take a look at Mark.  Mark has a telling detail.  Mark’s Gospel tells us, “They were amazed.”  This resurrection is a new story.  This hasn’t been told before.  Nothing, I mean nothing, like this has ever happened before.  It begins to dawn on the disciples that the crucified one has risen.  The women are the first witnesses.  They proclaim: The Lord Jesus lives!  Hopes, dashed and broken, reignite. 

Can we allow ourselves to be amazed?  Can we open our minds and hearts and let in the joyous news that what happens to Jesus happens to us?  Can we believe it?  Will we live it?

But the angel immediately tells them, “Don’t be amazed!”  Get going.  The risen Jesus is heading to Galilee, the region where God among us began his annunciation of the new dawn, the reign of God’s breaking through into our time and space.  Get going.  It’s time to begin to live the way of life he articulated.  Don’t be amazed.  Be amazing.  Start forming the Body of Christ.  Be the Jesus who conquers death and gives us life and life eternal.  Be the Jesus who calls us to love everyone, even our enemies.  Get going and build with God the Kingdom of truth and trust, justice and joy, peace and prosperity, hope and healing, faith and freedom, love and life.

All the readings tonight speak the story of our God.  From the opening words of Genesis to the call of Abraham, to the freedom song of Exodus through the consoling words of the prophets Isaiah, Baruch and Ezekiel, we have a “Top Ten” of scripture readings.  The Psalms are the actual greatest hits of Israel, King David having been the world’s first Rock Star.  St. Paul reminds us we have died with Christ.  And Mark takes us back to the earliest accounts of the moment that changed all of human history, the resurrection of Jesus.

Let’s allow ourselves to be amazed by all this.  And let’s get moving.  Let’s be amazing.  Let’s live as disciples of Jesus.  When we see the equivalent of manhole covers flipping in the air like coins tossed by schoolchildren, let’s realize that something awesome and magnificent is happening.  When we see water poured on heads and lives transformed for eternity, let’s be stunned and astonished.  And then, let’s get moving.  Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to invigorate our lives and get us doing the deeds God needs done to make the reign of God real in our lives and in the lives of our contemporaries.

How?  By responding to those hurt, suffering, and crucified in our days.  Sr. Linda Stilling, SSND, a great apostle to the people of Camden, NJ, for over twenty five years used to say, “You have to stay with people in their pain, until you begin to feel the joy of resurrection.”

Holy Saturday is the time between the cross and the resurrection.  We wait for God’s response to the crucifixion.  Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome are responding to the horror of his murder.  They want to prayerfully anoint the body of the one they listened to and came to love, the one they had hoped would be the Messiah of Israel.  They find an empty tomb and it begins to dawn on them; the Lord of Life has risen.  The Lord of Life has risen.  Wait, really, the Lord of Life has risen.  This Jesus, their Rabbi and Lord, has overcome death.  They begin to hear again the words of the beatitudes and the parables.  The teachings of the Beatitudes and Matthew 25, feed the hungry, visit those in prison, begin to amaze them.  And they realize it’s time to get moving, to tell the world we are to pray the Our Father, reconcile with those from whom we are estranged, and take up our cross and follow Christ.

The great Jesuit preacher John Kavanaugh, S.J., writes of Holy Saturday: “Jesus entered the deeps of death, a plunge he need not have made, had he not loved us in our sorry state. But he went to death with a “yes,” with the utter trust of Abraham, the constancy of Moses, the bright reliance of Isaiah. In Easter’s vigil, we plunge with him: “Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Being like him through likeness to his death, so shall we be through a like resurrection” (THE WORD ENGAGED: Meditations on the Sunday Scriptures, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York (1997), pp. 53-55.)

Chicago’s former Cardinal George tells a story of being in Africa visiting missionary priests of his order.  Several African tribesmen came into the parish center to learn of Jesus.  One man refused to enter.  Cardinal George engaged him in conversation and gently asked him why he did not want to listen to the lessons about Jesus the others wanted to hear.  The man replied, “I’ve decided that it makes no sense when I look at my life - that God would love us, that God would sacrifice himself for us, that God is stronger than the spirits who harm us.  I don’t believe it.  It’s too good to be true” (Francis Cardinal George.  2009.  The Difference God Makes. New York, NY: Crossroads. Pp. 259-260)

That guy is unable to be amazed.  For him, the world is what it’s always been. 

For us who have been given the gift of faith and have opened our minds and hearts to the radical realities of our Triune God, the world changes again this night.  The dawn brings the power of the love of God, the God we experience in the community of the church, the God we receive in the Eucharist.  Let’s allow ourselves to be amazed.  Let’s get going.  And Let us pray.

 

Sábado Santo "... Y Quedaron Totalmente Asombrados"

Hay un viejo chiste sobre un tipo que pasea por Nueva York.  Al pasar junto a una tapa de alcantarilla, de repente se produce una gran explosión bajo tierra.  La tierra tiembla y la tapa de alcantarilla sale volando por los aires.  El neoyorquino, sin inmutarse lo más mínimo, levanta la vista y observa el disco de 150 libras que gira, llega a su cúspide y empieza a voltear hacia abajo.  Mira atentamente y, sin perder un instante, pronuncia: "Cara".  Nada sorprende a un auténtico neoyorquino.  Lo han visto todo.

A demasiados de nosotros hoy nos cuesta asombrarnos.  La vida se convierte en rutina.  El matrimonio se siente como un viejo y cómodo abrigo.  Nada de lo que digan nuestros cónyuges puede sorprendernos.  Algunos creen que pueden predecir lo que dirá su media naranja antes de que lo diga.  Fíjense que no he tomado partido por cuál es la media naranja, si el marido o la mujer.  Después de unos años en una comunidad jesuita, es aún peor.  Al menos sólo tienes que escuchar a tu cónyuge contar las mismas viejas historias una y otra vez.  Yo vivo con veinte jesuitas que no paran de contar las mismas viejas historias una y otra vez.  Y probablemente pueden predecir lo que voy a decir sobre la mayoría de los temas.  Y ciertamente nada de lo que diga les sorprenderá.

Esta tarde hemos escuchado el Evangelio de Mateo.  Pero echemos un vistazo a Marcos.  Marcos tiene un detalle revelador.  El Evangelio de Marcos nos dice: "Estaban asombrados".  Esta resurrección es una historia nueva.  No se había contado antes.  Nada, quiero decir nada, como esto ha sucedido antes.  Los discípulos empiezan a darse cuenta de que el crucificado ha resucitado.  Las mujeres son los primeros testigos.  Proclaman: ¡El Señor Jesús vive!  Las esperanzas, defraudadas y rotas, vuelven a encenderse. 

¿Podemos dejarnos sorprender?  ¿Podemos abrir nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones y dejar entrar la alegre noticia de que lo que le sucede a Jesús nos sucede a nosotros?  ¿Podemos creerlo?  ¿Lo viviremos?

Pero el ángel les dice inmediatamente: "¡No los asombreen!".  Ponganse en marcha.  Jesús resucitado se dirige a Galilea, la región donde Dios entre nosotros comenzó su anuncio del nuevo amanecer, el reino de Dios que irrumpe en nuestro tiempo y espacio.  En marcha.  Es hora de empezar a vivir la forma de vida que él articuló.  No te asombres.  Sé asombroso.  Empieza a formar el Cuerpo de Cristo.  Sé el Jesús que vence a la muerte y nos da vida y vida eterna.  Sé el Jesús que nos llama a amar a todos, incluso a nuestros enemigos.  Ponte en marcha y construye con Dios el Reino de la verdad y la confianza, la justicia y la alegría, la paz y la prosperidad, la esperanza y la curación, la fe y la libertad, el amor y la vida.

Todas las lecturas de esta noche hablan de la historia de nuestro Dios.  Desde las palabras iniciales del Génesis hasta la llamada de Abraham, pasando por el canto de libertad del Éxodo y las palabras consoladoras de los profetas Isaías, Baruc y Ezequiel, tenemos un "Top Ten" de lecturas bíblicas.  Los Salmos son los grandes éxitos de Israel, ya que el rey David fue la primera estrella de rock del mundo.  San Pablo nos recuerda que hemos muerto con Cristo.  Y Marcos nos remonta a los primeros relatos del momento que cambió toda la historia de la humanidad, la resurrección de Jesús.

Dejémonos asombrar por todo esto.  Y pongámonos en marcha.  Seamos asombrosos.  Vivamos como discípulos de Jesús.  Cuando veamos el equivalente de tapas de alcantarilla volteando en el aire como monedas lanzadas por escolares, démonos cuenta de que algo asombroso y magnífico está sucediendo.  Cuando veamos agua derramada sobre las cabezas y vidas transformadas para la eternidad, quedémonos atónitos y asombrados.  Y entonces, pongámonos en marcha.  Dejemos que el Espíritu Santo vigorice nuestras vidas y nos ponga a hacer las cosas que Dios necesita que hagamos para que el reino de Dios sea real en nuestras vidas y en las vidas de nuestros contemporáneos.

¿Cómo?  Respondiendo a los heridos, a los que sufren y a los crucificados en nuestros días.  La Hna. Linda Stilling, SSND, gran apóstol de la gente de Camden, NJ, durante más de veinticinco años solía decir: "Tienes que quedarte con la gente en su dolor, hasta que empieces a sentir la alegría de la resurrección".

El Sábado Santo es el tiempo entre la cruz y la resurrección.  Esperamos la respuesta de Dios a la crucifixión.  María Magdalena, María y Salomé responden al horror de su asesinato.  Quieren ungir en oración el cuerpo de aquel a quien escucharon y llegaron a amar, aquel que esperaban que fuera el Mesías de Israel.  Encuentran una tumba vacía y empiezan a darse cuenta de que el Señor de la Vida ha resucitado.  El Señor de la Vida ha resucitado.  Espera, de verdad, el Señor de la Vida ha resucitado.  Este Jesús, su Rabí y Señor, ha vencido a la muerte.  Empiezan a oír de nuevo las palabras de las bienaventuranzas y las parábolas.  Las enseñanzas de las bienaventuranzas y de Mateo 25, dar de comer al hambriento, visitar a los encarcelados, empiezan a sorprenderles.  Y se dan cuenta de que es hora de ponerse en marcha, de decirle al mundo que debemos rezar el Padrenuestro, reconciliarnos con aquellos de los que estamos distanciados, y tomar nuestra cruz y seguir a Cristo.

El gran predicador jesuita John Kavanaugh, S.J., escribe sobre el Sábado Santo: "Jesús entró en las profundidades de la muerte, una zambullida que no habría tenido que hacer si no nos hubiera amado en nuestro lamentable estado. Pero fue a la muerte con un "sí", con la confianza absoluta de Abraham, la constancia de Moisés, la brillante confianza de Isaías". En la vigilia pascual, nos sumergimos con él: "¿No sabéis que los que fuimos bautizados en Cristo Jesús, fuimos bautizados en su muerte? Siendo semejantes a él por la semejanza a su muerte, lo seremos también por la semejanza a su resurrección" (LA PALABRA COMPROMETIDA: Meditations on the Sunday Scriptures, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, Nueva York (1997), pp. 53-55.)

El antiguo cardenal George de Chicago cuenta una anécdota de cuando estaba en África visitando a sacerdotes misioneros de su orden.  Varios miembros de tribus africanas entraron en el centro parroquial para conocer a Jesús.  Un hombre se negó a entrar.  El cardenal George entabló conversación con él y le preguntó amablemente por qué no quería escuchar las lecciones sobre Jesús que los demás querían oír.  El hombre respondió: "He decidido que no tiene sentido cuando miro mi vida: que Dios nos ame, que Dios se sacrifique por nosotros, que Dios sea más fuerte que los espíritus que nos hacen daño.  No me lo creo.  Es demasiado bueno para ser verdad" (Cardenal Francis George.  2009.  La diferencia que marca Dios. Nueva York, NY: Crossroads. Pp. 259-260)

Ese tipo es incapaz de asombrarse.  Para él, el mundo es lo que siempre ha sido. 

Para nosotros, que hemos recibido el don de la fe y hemos abierto nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones a las realidades radicales de nuestro Dios Trino, el mundo vuelve a cambiar esta noche.  El amanecer trae el poder del amor de Dios, el Dios que experimentamos en la comunidad de la Iglesia, el Dios que recibimos en la Eucaristía.  Dejémonos asombrar.  Pongámonos en marcha.  Y recemos.

Christmas 2020.  Covid Blues.  Christmas: Green Hope & Red Truth

Rick Malloy, S.J.

In 2019 it was, Stay away from negative people. In 2020, it was Stay away from positive people.

In 2020, I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing.

In 2020, The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house & their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!

In 2020, I saw a neighbor talking to her dog.  It was obvious she thought her dog understood her. I came into my house & told my cat.  We laughed a lot.

In 2020, Every few days you had to try on your jeans to see if they still fit. Pajamas trick you into believing all is well.

In 2020, we didn’t take showers (parfum de moi…) We just keep washing our hands.

In 2020, the virus did what no woman had been able to do before.  Canceled sports, shut down all bars & kept men at home!

In 2021, I need to practice social-distancing…. from the refrigerator.

 

All kidding aside, 2020 has been a year of years; a time unprecedented; an epoch of chaos, challenge, and change.  The year of the Covid shutdown, the year of Black Lives Matter Protests, the year of deathly dangerous and painful political partisanship.  One White House correspondent on Meet the Press summed up the year as “the year of alternative facts.” As this year ends, what do we really need to give one another?  I suggest we need to give one another the gifts of dialogue, truth and hope.

 

The philosopher Gadamer writes, “To reach an understanding in a dialogue in not merely a matter of putting oneself forward and successfully asserting one’s own point of view but being transformed into a communion in which we do not remain what we were” (1991, p 379.  Italics added). 

 

What a gift.  To really reach understanding with one another.  To listen and learn from one another.  To stop shouting and asininely asserting.  To begin to hear and heal.  Hear one another’s hurts and fears.  Heal our wounds and weariness. 

 

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  So proclaims the Gospel of John.  The WORD, in Greek, the LOGOS, is much, much more than a mere one syllable utterance.  THE WORD means understanding has come to live within us, in our heads and hearts, in our communities and countries, in our cosmos.  THE WORD is the ground of being that undergirds all existence.   THE WORD is wisdom that reality is good and beautiful and true.

 

THE WORD is reason, the awareness that reality makes sense, that our lives have deep and desperately significant meaning.  Think of George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life.  Without George, Mr. Potter destroys social life, for the greedy and selfish do not live according to THE WORD.  The mean and mendacious, the stingy, sad, and sinful lot, live according to the lie, not according to the WORD of truth and faith and hope and love.  When lies rule, all is lost.

 

William Shirer in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960) observes:

 

“I myself was to experience how easily one is taken in by a lying and censored press and radio in a totalitarian state. Though unlike most Germans I had daily access to foreign newspapers, especially those of London, Paris and Zurich, which arrived the day after publication, and though I listened regularly to the BBC and other foreign broadcasts, my job necessitated the spending of many hours a day in combing the German press, checking the German radio, conferring with Nazi officials and going to party meetings. It was surprising and sometimes consternating to find that notwithstanding the opportunities I had to learn the facts and despite one’s inherent distrust of what one learned from Nazi sources, a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one’s mind and often misled it. No one who has not lived for years in a totalitarian land can possibly conceive how difficult it is to escape the dread consequences of a regime’s calculated and incessant propaganda. Often in a German home or office or sometimes in a casual conversation with a stranger in a restaurant, a beer hall, a café, I would meet with the most outlandish assertions from seemingly educated and intelligent persons. It was obvious that they were parroting some piece of nonsense they had heard on the radio or read in the newspapers. Sometimes one was tempted to say as much, but on such occasions one was met with such a stare of incredulity, such a shock of silence, as if one had blasphemed the Almighty, that one realized how useless it was even to try to make contact with a mind which had become warped and for whom the facts of life had become what Hitler and Goebbels, with their cynical disregard for truth, said they were” (Kindle edition, loc 5761 ff.).

 

This Christmas, we need truth and hope more than ever.  THE WORD is truth.  THE WORD is not just in touch with reality, or just corresponding to reality. THE WORD creates and sustains reality, permeates and penetrates all the pulsating beauty and bodacious being of existence.  THE WORD has become human and we see the glory.  THE WORD takes on our human being and transforms us, giving us grace upon grace upon grace (John 1:16).  In Greek, grace is charis, from which we get the word charism, meaning a divine gift, a transcendent power.  Thomas Aquinas says grace is the ability to do what we could not do before.

 

The great grace and gift of Christmas is light.  This year we are all mesmerized by the Star of Bethlehem in the night sky, the closest Jupiter and Saturn have been for 800 years (https://www.space.com/great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn-2020-fun-facts).  “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

 

We cannot see light, but light gives us the power to see.  This Christmas, let’s give one another, give our communities and countries, our churches and cosmos, the gift of looking for, seeing and appreciating the light, the light that makes life possible, and pregnant with the possibilities of new birth.  Carl Sandburg once said, “A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.”  This baby, this light, this WORD, is God’s pledge and promise that life will go on forever.

 

And isn’t that our hope?  That, despite it all, despite the destructiveness of our days, light and life, goodness and grace, faith and freedom, joy and justice, peace and promise, love’s crashing into our stubbornness (Damn it, for God’s sake, wear a Mask!) will win in the end.

 

We need to grace and gift one another with hope these days.  But how?  More than 325,000 in the USA and 1.7 million worldwide lost lives to Covid.  Political tensions can terrify.  Families stressed and strained by months of isolation and/or too much togetherness, now face holidays on Zoom rather than in the warmth of fireside with “fire water.”  No traveling.  No visiting.  No cheer.  A year without Easter and, the final insult, the cancellation of Christmas.  How hope? 

 

“Hope it the thing with feathers // That perches in the Soul // And sings the song without the words  // And never stops – at all” – Emily  Dickinson.

 

How hope? Sing.  Communicate.  Zoom.  Don’t eat too much junk food or drink too much wine, but indulge wisely and well.  Watch the movies. Decorate the tree.  Walk outside on a 15 degree, clear star filled night and let the awesomeness of the universe caress you.  Play with children.  Sit late at night, in a room lit by Christmas lights, and gaze on the manger.  Know God is with us. 

 

Isaiah proclaims: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.  You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing” (Isaiah 9:1).  St. Paul attests, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all” (Titus 2:11).

 

Luke reveals, “And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:10-14).  And little Linus sagely tells us, “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”

 

Pope Francis addressed the world in an op-ed article in the New York Times on Thanksgiving Day.

“If we are to come out of this crisis less selfish than when we went in, we have to let ourselves be touched by others’ pain.  … the danger that threatens in a crisis is never total; there’s always a way out: “Where the danger is, also grows the saving power.” That’s the genius in the human story: There’s always a way to escape destruction. Where humankind has to act is precisely there, in the threat itself; that’s where the door opens.

This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities — what we value, what we want, what we seek — and to commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of.

God asks us to dare to create something new. We cannot return to the false securities of the political and economic systems we had before the crisis. We need economies that give to all access to the fruits of creation, to the basic needs of life: to land, lodging and labor. We need a politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We need to slow down, take stock and design better ways of living together on this earth.

The pandemic has exposed the paradox that while we are more connected, we are also more divided. Feverish consumerism breaks the bonds of belonging. It causes us to focus on our self-preservation and makes us anxious. Our fears are exacerbated and exploited by a certain kind of populist politics that seeks power over society. It is hard to build a culture of encounter, in which we meet as people with a shared dignity, within a throwaway culture that regards the well-being of the elderly, the unemployed, the disabled and the unborn as peripheral to our own well-being.

To come out of this crisis better, we have to recover the knowledge that as a people we have a shared destination. The pandemic has reminded us that no one is saved alone. What ties us to one another is what we commonly call solidarity. Solidarity is more than acts of generosity, important as they are; it is the call to embrace the reality that we are bound by bonds of reciprocity. On this solid foundation we can build a better, different, human future.”

 

There’s the hope.  We can dream big.  We can come out of this crisis better.  We can allow ourselves to be less selfish.  We can open our hearts to feel others’ pain.  We can delve into dialogue and come out “transformed into a communion in which we do not remain what we were.”  To all who receive him he gives power to be sons and daughters of God (cf. John 1:12).

 

Have a Blessed Christmas.  Un Prospero Año Nuevo.  Jesus again begins the Dialogue.  He calls us to live and to love Truth.  He is our Hope.

And may we stay away from the frig in 2021.

Shame-Less and Grace-Full. Karen McClintock

A beautiful, challenging and thought inspiring reflection. My spiritual director in the novitiate, wise and gruff old Henry, told us. "Comparisons are odious." So true. Don't worry about measuring up to someone else's expectation. Be free and love and follow your deepest truest desires - Peace Fr. Rick

************************************************************

Shame-Less and Grace-Full

by Karen A. McClintock

http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9869

My parents were graceful dancers. They often went to dance clubs and then returned home to dance a little longer around the living room. I come from a line of elegant people. So I wasn’t surprised when my parents made clear to my older sister and me that we would attend the Jeanne Borsky School of Dance. My parents believed dance was one of my callings. They said that I walked around the living room on the tips of my toes at the age of two, so we all hoped for my future stardom. As soon as my feet were strong enough to be crammed into little satin toe shoes, my mother took me to enroll in class.

In our pink tights and black leotards, fifteen delicate, bouncy girls lined up along the bar to practice our turnout. In walked Jeanne Borsky. She glided along the floor. Her hair was pinned up high on her head, and she wore thick pancake makeup, as if she were still in the spotlight on stage. She was old, yet ageless. I wanted to be graceful like Mrs. Borsky. She was perfectly balanced, flexible, and strong. This must be grace.

This moment quickly faded as we got down to the work of being graceful. The music had a beat that I found I couldn’t keep, Mrs. Borsky’s smile began to fade, and before long I felt as awkward as a young giraffe taking his first steps. I forced my body into stretches and movements that felt more like contortions than beautiful extensions.

I learned that comparison is a form of shame. In ballet training you have to look exactly like the others. We were all mercilessly compared to the best students in the class. We were shamed for not properly executing the steps, for not conveying the right feelings, for not having the right body shape, for anything short of perfection. We soon learned to do each move correctly or else.

Here is what I learned about grace (and shame) at Mrs. Borsky’s. I learned that grace can be achieved only through hard work. I learned that grace is not free: either your parents pay for the lessons or you do. I learned that grace doesn’t come naturally. I learned that I couldn’t become graceful out of my desire to dance; I had to overcome my unworthiness by righteous hard work. Only when I had achieved the perfect line, the perfect form, the perfect leap into the air, then, maybe, I could enjoy the riches of grace.

Forty years later, I am still shaking off the ill effects of the shame I learned at Jeanne Borsky’s School of Dance. And maybe you haven’t shaken off the cultural and church­taught idea that grace must be earned through hard work and self­incrimination.

After years of studying shame and overcoming no small amount of my own, I have come to see shame and grace differently. I also see my old ballet teacher differently. Jeanne Borsky knew a lot about ballet and a lot about shame, but she didn’t really know a thing about grace. Even though her body was flexible, strong, and well-shaped, as a teacher, she was mean spirited and her behaviors were ugly. I remember looking in the mirror and thinking of myself as misshapen and inadequate. This was not the experience I had hoped for or the one my parents had wanted for me.

Jeanne was a shame-­driven leader. I now wonder what experiences led her to such a place of negativity. I wonder if her dreams of stardom had fallen apart at some point in her career. Without greater self-worth, she didn’t know how to build our self­esteem along with strong and competent physiques. She couldn’t make genuine grace happen. What a shame that was!

I can only speculate on the causes of my dance teacher’s pain, but I know she is not unique in carrying and passing along shame. Shame begins in childhood and sneaks up on us during adolescence, and we hear it in the voices of our parents and peers. Sometimes we internalize those voices, and they become our own self-shaming messengers. You must learn that what you say to yourself about yourself matters. You must identify the source or sources of your shame and heal them. Once you’ve done that, you can move beyond cycles of shame that feed strongly into addictive behaviors, codependency, noxious secrets, and problematic relationships. You must also help in liberating others from their shame, be they friends, colleagues, or people in a congregation where you worship and serve.

While readers of this article come from many different theological backgrounds, I ask you to explore the shame-laden messages within your own religious teachings and practices. What we learn in Sunday school or Sabbath school and what we hear from preachers and rabbis shape our core self-esteem. Were you taught that you are a child of God, created in God’s image? Have you been repeatedly told that you have committed unpardonable sins? How you see yourself may be directly connected to religious teachings about your goodness and your shamefulness.

Many faith communities teach the doctrine of shame, often without knowing it. You may have been raised in such a congregation. For example, a core shame message in many Christian congregations is that you must be like Jesus at all times; anything less than that and you have failed. You just don’t measure up. You will never be good enough. These are the messages that people with shame are used to hearing. They feel at home with messages sent out from the pulpit, the newsletter, and worship that reinforce shame. They experience the familiarity of family within such a congregation if their own families of origin perpetuated shame. People with shame find shame-based congregations, because they are accustomed to being preached to, having fingers pointed in their direction, and the judgment of not measuring up.

You are hereby invited to become a shame­less leader in order to assist others in your congregational system to find a life of grace. You can heal the shame you have likely been carrying around for far too long. This shame may be rooted in childhood when you experienced parental disapproval or abuse. It may have come into your life as a result of sexual experimentation in your teens or young adulthood. It may have followed a marriage that ended or a relationship in which you carried secrets. It may be that you have taken responsibility for someone else’s shame and made it your own.

The faith community you participate in needs your help in creating a place of joy and grace. To do this, you must learn to recognize and heal the shame of your own upbringing, to recognize shame in the behavior of other leaders and clergy around you, to reduce shame-reinforcing theology, and to provide alternative messages of hope and healing.

According to the apostle Paul, we have inherited the immeasurable riches of grace. Jesus has pleasurably lavished grace on us (Eph. 1:5–10). While many church growth experts have been trying to fix the problems of declining congregations, weary leaders who spend time and money examining their inadequacies may increase debilitating shame. The longer our list of failures grows, the more we get locked into a core belief that we are incapable of doing anything differently. Very few people have taken the step of looking underneath the rocks for the affect of shame.

In worship one morning, members of the choir, dressed in their beautiful robes, processed into the chancel area, shuffled into place so that everyone could see the director, and after hearing their pitch, began to sing. The women in the front row started singing the melody and the men in the back row came in, but they were obviously not in sync. As they plowed ahead for a few bars, their faces became flushed and distorted, their shoulders drooped, and their breathing grew shallow. The choir director waved her hands to stop the pianist and looked up at them. The choir members all held their breaths like children about to be scolded. What would she say? This could have been a moment for shame. She might have sighed and said, “Let’s try again,” exposing her frustration and their failure. Instead she said, “I want to start over, because I have heard you sing this song beautifully.” They stood up taller, they breathed more deeply, and when they began again, it went off without a hitch. They were singing from a place of grace. They were led by a grace-based leader. You can become one too.
***************************************************

In Shame-less Lives, Grace-full Congregations, author Karen McClintock invites readers to become shame-less, so they can assist others in a congregational system to find a life of joy and grace. With skilled storytelling and gentle humor, McClintock takes readers on a journey in which we learn to recognize the many forms shame takes and explore and heal the shame of our own upbringing, particularly the shame-laden messages within our own religious teachings and practices.