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Newsletter
No.19 February
2005
My Lord,
I would like to explore with you the feelings that assail me with regard to the tragedy in South East Asia.
The tsunami disaster… we know how it happened. We have witnessed its horrible effects. We are reeling in its consequences. But why did it have to happen in the first place?
Behind this question lies my belief that you are a loving God. But you who love so much humankind (your family), why let something like this to happen? Surely you do not want this suffering, destruction … this waste?
If you could not prevent this tragedy what sort of a God are you? Who are you? Who do we look up to in our moments of need? Who are we addressing our prayers to? Who do we trust?
Something inside me is telling me to stop, be silent and bow my head and praise you. Something inside of me is telling me to keep on believing in you… not to point the finger at you for what befalls humankind and the created world.
Perhaps man should first point his finger at himself.
He who aspires to know it all;
He who wants to explain away everything;
He who finds it easier to accuse someone else;
He who looks to justify himself all the time;
How convenient it is to look away from self… and place the blame squarely on you. The truth is that you were always man's scapegoat!
Yet this tragedy has created a tremendous burst of "humanitarian energy"… a tsunami surge of human compassion, sympathy, empathy… that goes beyond all sectarian boundaries. We are witnessing a scene that has put the whole globe alive with true human feeling of love and solidarity.
We all… different countries, peoples, cultures, religions, political blocks of different persuasion… we have come together to face a common threat, the power of blind, brutal and unforgiving nature. All this effort is a silent witness that we (the whole human family) know how to share something in common… the defence and respect of human life.
Dear Lord, to try and find an erudite answer as to the how this sea-earthquake happened is an academic exercise… it means very little and does not quench the human quest for meaning. We want to know why it had to happen. Why it had to sweep away innocent lives so cruelly? Why, now in its aftermath survivors are forced to start life all over again… and it will never be the same again?
Yet, I cannot help not noticing the contradictions… we were all so deeply touched as we followed the news bulletins and the pictures that were being transmitted from the various sites of the disaster. But we do not seem to experience the same feelings with regards to abortion… countries show so much indifference to the thousands of orphans the victims of civil and at times "religious" wars. We do not shed any tears to innocent victims of landmines who are killed or maimed for life… many thousands of children die every year because available and effective medicine doesn't reach them. We seem to be suffering of amnesia all the time. It is not enough what happened in Germany in the concentration camps. The nations have vowed never again… but since then we had the genocide in Cambodia, in the Balkans, in Rwanda and now at this very minute in Darfur, Sudan. We are so indifferent when in the name of terror strategies we kill cold bloodedly innocent people… we take life so easily in the name of an ideology or belief… the cause to fight for is worth more than human life. We are so arbitrary and capricious with human life, we do not mind to cause suffering or wound human life as it suits us!
Dear Lord, I do not have an answer for all the suffering of humankind. Deep down I know that I should not blame you. You are a loving Father who has shown us so much love through the presence of your son Jesus. You are a suffering Lord and you never tire to pick up our pieces time and time again so that we can lift ourselves up again and continue on our journey.
I am bruised but I believe you are our hope in difficult moments like these… I do not want to think of an answer … I just want to love and to humbly keep on trusting you.
A wounded and trusting soul,
Amen.
IGNATIAN MAXIMS
83. It should go with modesty and indeed with prudence that, when others do something reasonably and in order, and are aiming purely to do God's will, we either approve, or at least do not disapprove without adequate reflection.
(Letter to G.A. Schenaldo, 24 February, 1554, M.I, Epp. VI, pp. 347-48)
84. It is not because superiors happen to be very prudent, or very good people, nor because they are endowed with any other gifts of God Our Lord, that they are to be obeyed, but because they stand for Him and have His authority.
(Letter to Jesuits in Portugal, 26 March, 1553, M.I., Epp. VI, pp.669-681)
85. The more universal the good is, the more is it divine. Therefore preference ought to be given to those persons and places which, through their own improvement, become a cause which can spread the good accomplished to many others who are under their influence or take guidance from them.
(Constit. S.I., p.VII, c.2, {622 d,e}
86. Be convinced that your Lord loves you - something I am quite convinced to be true - and repay Him with this same love, paying no attention to wicked thoughts, however disgusting or provocative, demeaning or dispiriting, when they are against your will. To be completely or even partly free from them is something that neither St Peter nor St Paul ever attained.
(Letter to Teresa Rejadell, 11 September, 1536, M.I. Epp. I, pp.107-109)
87. If a person making a spiritual retreat is going along in consolation and full of fervour, he/she should be forwarned against making any unthinking or precipitate promise or vow, and the more unstable in temperament the person is known to be, the more should that person be warned and admonished.
(Spir. Exercises 14)
Fr Arthur Vella S.J.
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Book Review:
Moral Discernment
by
Richard M. Gula, S.S.
What should I do? How do I know that I am doing right? In the midst of so many changes in church, society and culture, many are bewildered about knowing what's right and discovering what ought to be done. Because making moral decisions is such a central part of our lives, Moral Discernment proposes to help adults who are trying to be critical about their faith and moral living to interpret how conscience works in making moral decisions.
This book begins by laying out an interpretation of the nature of the moral conscience, not as law unto itself, but as the judgement of practical reasoning informed by the various sources of moral wisdom found in the community. We can act in conscience when we have proper knowledge, adequate freedom and a sufficient degree of emotional stability. Building on the foundations of an understanding of the moral conscience, Richard Gula then develops a model of moral discernment. This model engages three spheres of influence on the process of discernment - social, situational and personal. The last chapter moves from the theoretical model of the process of discernment to the practical application of providing moral guidance in the pastoral domain. Here is a "survivor's guide" for providing moral guidance in the midst of moral and theological pluralism.
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Richard M. Gula is professor of moral theology at the Franciscan School of Theology of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkely, California. He is the author of numerous books, including Reason Informed by Faith, To Walk Together Again: The Sacrament of Reconciliation and Ethics in Pastoral Ministry (all published by Paulist Press).
- Publisher: Paulist Press New York
- ISBN: 0-8091-3734-8
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