January 9, 2008: Seeking the Light of Christ

“In a situation where habits, established institutions, social and economic structures are leading us to destruction, Christ is our one hope. In quietness and in unexpected places Christ is bringing something new to birth, something we cannot foresee and build our plans upon” (Christian Existence in a World of Limits, John B. Cobb, Jr). In Kenya, the bodies of children are being piled up in a Nairobi morgue, Churches are being burned, and people are running around with machetes. It is a country in the midst of a huge political crisis. In Pakistan, a few weeks ago, the former prime minister, Harvard and Oxford educated, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Voting in Pakistan’s democratic government has been put on hold. In the Middle East, regardless of your opinion on the war, civil unrest and consistent violence are realities no one can escape. Yet both the Gospel of Matthew and Isaiah today tell us “the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.” What is “the darkness”? Who defines “the darkness”? Is “the darkness” actual sin, a will-full thought, desire, word, action, or omission forbidden by the law of God made by an individual? Or is “the darkness”, sin that is inflicted on another caused by social sin, a sin committed on a larger scale from a community or a society? “How can people of conscience and faith be at peace with themselves or their society knowing what their comfort costs others?” (Gracias!: A Latin American Journal, Henri Nouwen). The reality is that many of us live in ubiquitous comfort, pseudo- security, we are quick to accumulate, and are profligate. Have we, affluent middle class Americans, been avoiding the cross for too long? Gaudium et Spes, a document of the Second Vatican Council and Catholic Social Teaching, calls us to reflect and convert our consumerist ways by stating that we are called to live in the world but not be of it. With so much suffering already rampant in this world, how do we take up the way of the cross by embracing poverty without intentionally inflicting suffering? For ourselves and for the sake of others in our world we must change our priorities towards what the Gospels call us to. We can do this by being advocates, seeking and fighting for the equality of basic human needs for all peoples so that the dignity of each person, created by God, can be preserved. However, to become better advocates, embracing poverty as a lifestyle, by being aware of issues of poverty and actually being frugal with our consumption, whether it be by food, money, or material processions, is what the Gospel’s call us to embrace. The liberation and resurrection of our true selves and others cannot be realized without the conversion and death of old ways. “To live by faith is to live in readiness to subordinate our past plans and projects, even those undertaken in obedience to Christ, to the new word that is Christ today…[we must be open] to the transformation of our imagination” (Christian Existence in a World of Limits, John B. Cobb, Jr). This is when we will see God’s true light.