“…but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.“
mt 8:12
Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
And the prey of a foul command.“
I agree with our bishop, Patrick J. Zurek, in putting forth in his Holy Week homilies this year the Encyclical of Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, as the standard for love and unity in our diocese. Today, let’s reflect upon paragraph #246, current events and an occasional question in that regard:
CHAPTER SEVEN
PATHS OF RENEWED ENCOUNTER
MEMORY
“A serious mistake was made in bringing John Salazar to the Diocese of Amarillo for ministry,”
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek
246. Of those who have endured much unjust and cruel suffering, a sort of “social forgiveness” must not be demanded.
“Sometimes contradictions arise from a lack of knowledge, which, in turn, comes from a lack of transparency,”
Reconciliation is a personal act, and no one can impose it upon an entire society, however great the need to foster it.
“it will be important to examine with spiritual and theological humility the circumstances that led to the divisions, trusting that, although it is impossible to undo the sad events of the past, it is possible to reinterpret them as part of a reconciled history,”
In a strictly personal way, someone, by a free and generous decision, can choose not to demand punishment (cf. Mt 5:44-46), even if it is quite legitimately demanded by society and its justice system.
“I have worked hurricanes, but nothing like this: It is just a look of sadness you see on everyone’s face. It is heartbreaking,”
However, it is not possible to proclaim a “blanket reconciliation” in an effort to bind wounds by decree or to cover injustices in a cloak of oblivion.
“Why is your visit today important? Borders are places where the drama of human life — its suffering and aspirations — unfolds and they put squarely before us a moral choice — to build bridges of encounter or walls of fear,”
Who can claim the right to forgive in the name of others?
“There was a priest in charge of us, and it was a tremendous experience for me. I’m sure you’ve heard sad stories about what terrible experiences some of the Peter Pan kids had, but for us in Wilmington, we had each other, and we became very close,”
It is moving to see forgiveness shown by those who are able to leave behind the harm they suffered, but it is also humanly understandable in the case of those who cannot.
“most of the people who have lived their lives under the sign of Catholicism (in the Americas including the Caribbean) have been Native American and African descended, not European.”
In any case, forgetting is never the answer.
“In a document addressed to all Catholics, it will cover the broad range of Catholic social teaching,”
“The Glenn” in conjunction with the Laudato Si’ Action Platform has pledged to develop a Laudato Si’ Plan, which we can use to discern and implement our response to Laudato Si’. This part of the blog will update readers on this journey.
164. Beginning in the middle of the last century and overcoming many difficulties, there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home. An interdependent world not only makes us more conscious of the negative effects of certain lifestyles and models of production and consumption which affect us all; more importantly, it motivates us to ensure that solutions are proposed from a global perspective, and not simply to defend the interests of a few countries. Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan. Yet the same ingenuity which has brought about enormous technological progress has so far proved incapable of finding effective ways of dealing with grave environmental and social problems worldwide. A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water.
and promoting sobriety in the use of resources and energy. That is why growing some of our own food is part of our Laudato Si Plan.
“We are all grieving, whether we lost someone to the virus, or lost someone during the pandemic. But loss of life is not the only loss we’re grieving. Many people are grieving the loss of a job and income, a sense of safety, social connection, daily routines, plans and hopes for the future and even joyful events such as weddings, graduations and other celebrations.”
We no longer love.
A Reflection on Christian Life, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek
Today I pray that those of us in the Diocese of Amarillo, but especially those at St. Mary’s Cathedral and, “the few” , recall Bishop Zurek’s warning in “A Reflection on Christian Life“, to not lose focus on Jesus and thus “no longer love” and become unable “to leave behind the harm…suffered” from the legacy of clergy abuse in our diocese, “but to also understand “in the case of those who cannot… forgetting is never the answer” because that only drives the “children of the Kingdom…out into the outer darkness”.
