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January 7,1982
The Rubble And Riches Of Our Inner World
BY DOLORES R. LECKEY
Eugenia Ginzburg’s “Within the
Whirlwind” is an autobiography that tells of a
woman’s survival in the Stalinist prison
camps. It records cruelty and unimaginable
tenderness, and it vividly illuminates the
essence of human life.
In one section the author asks: Is the need
for repentance and confession an integral part
of the human soul?
That was a question that she, a Jewish
communist intellectual, often discussed with
the German Catholic camp doctor whom she
later married.
The question was answered for her in an
encounter with a prisoner whose life she
saved. The man regarded her with silent
adoration, grateful beyond words for her
saving intervention. Then she learned that he
had been a member of the dreaded Nazi Secret
Service.
One day, when he offered her some small
gifts as further signs of his gratitude, she
found herself saying terrible things to him.
Then she told him she was a Jew. He turned
ashen white, and Ms. Ginzburg thought he
must be afraid she would denounce him as a
Nazi and worsen his plight in the Russian
camp.
Then she realized it was not fear but pangs
of conscience tormenting him. He knelt
before her, repeating: “I’m a Christian ... it
wasn’t as if I wanted to!”
At that moment, Ms. Ginzburg writes, she
experienced him as a fellow human being and
felt that the need to say “mea culpa” (through
my fault) knocks at the door of everyone’s
heart sometime.
Jesus placed forgiveness at the center of
Christian love. “How many times must we
forgive wrongs?” he was asked. “Seventy
times seven,” he replied - meaning there are
no limits.
Jesus linked effective prayer with
forgiveness: Before you pray, forgive those
who are against you. An unforgiving attitude
blocks prayer. Words of forgiveness were
among the final words Jesus spoke on earth -
“Father, forgive them!” Those were prayerful
words for his executioners.
Forgiveness is essential for human growth,
for peace and for reconciliation. All who
would be truly human must enter into the
process of giving and receiving forgiveness.
The Christian tradition recognizes our
need to confess and repent through the
sacrament of reconciliation. Yet, according to
statistics, fewer and fewer Catholics
participate in the sacrament.
Why is this so, if confession is such a
central human experience?
First, I think we must take into account
the effects of our technological environment.
In a world with little silence and little
solitude, it is easy to become unaware of the
extent of our own freedom and responsibility.
We become unconscious about what we do
and why we do it.
Furthermore, in a production-oriented
culture, we can fall into an unreflective, active
way of life, losing touch with our inner world
and our motivations. The crucial events of our
lives - the sin and grace - can go unnamed.
Then too, it is clear that some thoughtful
modern Christians are seeking ways to
understand their behavior and to strengthen
their life commitments. But some are seeking
insights, not through the sacrament of
reconciliation, but through psychoanalysis,
counseling and various kinds of group
therapy.
This suggests to me that there is need to
examine the values inherent in the sacrament
of reconciliation. Perhaps we need to recall
that preparation for the sacrament offers an
opportunity to sort through the rubble and
riches of our inner world.
Ministers of this sacrament perform an
intimate ministry. Pastoral counseling,
spiritual direction and ritual action all become
part of this sacramental encounter.
Perhaps a reordering of priorities is needed
so that quality time always can generously be
given, by priest and penitent, to this event.
I feel certain that ordinary men and
women are willing to rediscover the sacrament
of reconciliation. People are hungry for truth,
for mercy, for intimate sharing of the joys and
pitfalls of Christian journeying.
I can envision reconciliation rooms in
churches across the country as resting places,
pilgrimage sites for Christians who have set
out on the journey toward God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - the famed Christian
writer who died at the hands of the Nazis
during World War II - once observed that this
sacrament has value for the community as a
whole, as well as for the individual.
In “Life Together,” Bonhoeffer pointed
out that when we remember another human
being knows us in all our petiness, weakness
and small-mindedness, we are less likely to
consider ourselves superior to others.
When we ourselves have experienced
forgiveness, we are more disposed to extend
that forgiveness to others.
KNOW
YOUR FAITH
(All Articles On This Page Copyrighted 1982 By N.C. News Service)
V J
Rejection
A PRIEST LISTENS to a boy during the sacrament of
penance inside a reconciliation room. Father Kenneth Leech,
an Anglican priest writes that penance is “the most intimate
and most personal of all sacraments.” Here, “every human
being comes alone face to face with God. Here Jesus confronts
me with the choice between death and life, between
selfishness and discipleship.” (NC Photo by Carolyn A.
McKeone)
Reconciliation
BY KATHARINE BIRD
At Mass one Sunday my pastor told the
story of an encounter with a distraught
woman which apparently made heavy
demands on his skills as a counselor. The
woman, distraught and weeping, told him that
her husband had committed sucide not long
before.
Over the course of several hours, the pastor
related, the woman’s central concern
gradually became apparent: She was petrified
that she was responsible for her husband’s
drastic decision. Overcome by guilt, she had
examined and re-examined their life together
to see where she was to blame. Finally, unable
to find any comfort, she had called the parish
hoping to tell her fears to a sympathetic
person.
Then, with the experienced pastor’s
careful approach, the death became the
occasion for the woman to review some of the
threads of her life with her husband, with its
mixture of happiness and sorrow.
Finally, through this encounter, the
woman was able to gain some perspective on
her husband’s tragic death. Though it would
be untrue to say the woman’s sense of worry
was removed during a single session, she
nonetheless left with her anxiety somewhat
alleviated.
Listening to the pastor’s story, it seemed to
me that the woman provided a vivid
illustration of an experience that is common
to most people at some point in life.
Faced with a situation which horrifies us or
with something which strikes us as
overwhelmingly evil, we are apt to feel
helpless and alone. Then pastoral counseling
and even the sacrament of reconciliation can
prove their great value.
Christians believe Jesus brought
reconciliation into the world. He showed us
what our relationship with the
compassionate, reconciling Father should be.
Father Kenneth Leech, an Anglican priest,
writing in a book called “True Prayer,”
describes sin and penance. He views sin in
primarily theological terms since “it has to do
with our relationship with God.”
According to Father Leech, living in a state
of sin means one is separated “from God,
from others, and from oneself. Through sin,
the face of God is obscured.”
Penitence, Father Leech goes on to say, is a
commitment to examine one’s own inner
motives and intentions, and, bringing them
into consciousness as much as possible, to
acknowledge them.
The Anglican priest calls penance “the
most intimate and most personal of all
sacraments.” Here, “every human being
comes alone face to face with G>d. Here Jesus
confronts me with the choice between death
and life, between selfishness and
discipleship,” Father Leech writes.
In preparing for the sacrament, people
look inward. Father Leech points out the
purpose of self-examination is repentance
“and we can only repent of what we know.”
Therefore, he says, “We try to look
beneath and beyond the facades and
pretences which we build around us, to see the
reality of our own sin. This involves facing . . .
our lack of faith, our unwillingness to trust,
the defenses by which we protect ourselves
against the reality of God.”
Sometimes people turn to the sacrament of
reconciliation during a crisis - impelled by a
sense that something has gone terribly awry.
At such times, the sacrament can seem very
comforting.
But penance serves us well in more
ordinary situations too. Through talking
regularly to a spiritual guide, we can become
more aware of where we want to go, of how
we might get there, and even of what we are
doing well.
As Father Leech writes: “Regular
confession should be seen as an important
aspect of regular prayer. Its purpose is not
only the removal of sin but also the recovery
of the Holy Spirit.”
A Journey Toward Trust
Mark 3:20-35
BY FATHER JOHN J. CASTELOT
Mark ends his bright little interlude on the
selection of the Twelve Apostles on a somber
note. The last name in the list is “Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed him.”
This serves as a sort of transition to the
next section, in which the evangelist pursues
the theme of rejection.
That theme is intensified in many ways
now. We meet for the first time a technique,
called “bracketing,” which Mark often
employed with powerful, dramatic effect.
Bracketing involves starting one story,
dropping it to tell another, and then finishing
the first. The second story, therefore, is
sandwiched between the two parts of the first.
In this case, Mark tells about the family of
Jesus coming to the house where Jesus is
preaching. Their attitude toward Jesus is
made brutally clear: “He is out of his mind.”
At that point, some scribes arrive from
Jerusalem charging: “He is possessed by
Beelzebub,” and, “He expels demons with the
help of the prince of demons.”
After Jesus answers their charges, Mark
picks up the first story at the point of the
family’s actual arrival at the house.
In using this arrangement Mark gives
dramatic expression to the tragic truth that
the attitude of Jesus’ closest relatives was
pretty much the same as that of his enemies.
Mark demonstrates an unpleasant thesis here:
Jesus came “unto his own - and his own did
not accept him” (John 1:11).
His family may have been embarrassed by
the hostile attention he was getting from the
leaders, and came to “take charge of him. ”
The family’s conviction that he was mad
was similar to the assessment of some enemies
that he was possessed. In that time, insanity
was akin to diabolical possession in the
popular mind.
Jesus’ answer was masterful. He was
obviously performing exorcisms, defeating
the powers of evil at every turn. It would be
ridiculous to say that he did this by the power
of Beelzebub - a contemptuous name for
Satan. This would mean Satan was fighting
himself.
The second example Jesus uses is that of a
strong man whose house cannot be entered
and plundered unless he himself is first
rendered powerless. Jesus means that in his
victories over demons he has openly
plundered Satan’s realm.
Implicit in this argument is the assumption
that Jesus is acting by supernatural power. His
enemies admit that when they accuse him of
acting with the power of Satan.
If Jesus is not acting by Satan’s pbwer,
then he must act by an even greater
supernatural power - that of the Holy Spirit -
which his enemies do not recognize.
The conflict here is profound and goes to
the heart of the matter, the rejection of Jesus
as an agent of God. This is the blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit of which Jesus accuses
them, as Mark explains.
When Jesus’ family finally arrives at the
house, he is informed that they are outside
looking for him. For Mark, those who are
“outside” are those who reject Jesus.
The real point of the story is Jesus’ answer
to the question, “Who are my mother and my
brothers?” He gazes pointedly at those seated
around him and says:
“These are my mother and my brothers.
Whoever does the will of God is brother and
sister and mother to me.”
Not even the closest personal bonds
automatically suffice to qualify one for
membership in Jesus’ true family. One must
accept him and actively share his central
concern: doing the will of his Father.
BY DR. THEODORE HENGESBACH
Let me tell you a story about a young
man who was once deathly sick. He had
been ill periodically over a five-year period
and, on the most recent occasion, had been
hospitalized for a month. His condition was
steadily worsening.
The young man, due to the overall dulling
effect of heavy medication, was not as aware
of the seriousness of his condition as he
might have been. Largely at his insistence,
the attending physician sent him home with
a $40 prescription for uppers, which the
nurse euphemistically called “mood
elevators.”
Apparently, the young man figured out
latqr, the physician sent him home because
he had given up hope for his recovery. But
the young man commented rather bitterly
later, provision had been made that he
“might die laughing.”
As it happened, the young man then came
into the care of another physician who
performed radical surgery which saved his
life.
I tell this story - not because it has a
happy ending but rather because this
incident became the occasion for a spiritual
journey of belief for the young man. It is a
story about the development of belief in one
person’s life.
The graduate student was a Catholic - and
he had learned all about heaven and hell as a
child. Perhaps he had taken the teachings to
heart too much. Now, as a young adult, he
considered himself a sinner - guilty of
youthful failings.
As he lay in his hospital bed that frightful
evening, the young man pondered his
choices. Faced with nearly hopeless illness
and serious surgery, the young man found
himself in a state close to despair. From his
early religious education, he felt he probably
ought to go to confession.
But, because he had drifted away from
the church as his illness progressed, he found
himself thinking, mistakenly as he learned
later, that he could not receive the
sacrament validly. He wanted to talk to a
particular priest, a friend who might
understand his present believing - yet
unbelieving - state.
On several earlier occasions, this priest
had been a source of great comfort to him in
his spiritual journeyings. The priest had
helped the young man understand a little
better what was happening to him.
Now, however, the priest was 250 miles
away. The young man found himself unable
to ask a stranger to administer the sacrament
to him.
So, the young man underwent surgery
without the solace the sacrament could have
provided him - without the assurance of
being in a friendly relationship with the God
of his childhood faith.
Later, throughout his long recovery
period, the young man engaged in several
serious conversations with his priest-friend.
Together they explored what faith in God
means.
Previously, he had thought of the church
and the sacrament of penance as a kind of
protection from God, a way of hiding from
the wrath of God. Penance, in particular, he
had considered as a kind of insurance policy,
guaranteed to buy him entrance into eternal
life.
Now, talking with his friend, the young
man gained insight. Gradually he learned he
had to take responsibility for his own
actions. He learned to abandon himself in
trust to God.
The young man came to see the sacrament
of reconciliation as a kind of guide for
plotting his course through life. He learned,
finally, that talking over his doubts and
failings and sins with a compassionate
spiritual guide could be a valuable way of
checking his progress as a Christian.
Finally, the young man, aided by his
priest-friend’s gentle guidance, came to see
God more as a father and less as a judge.
And he was able to make what he believed
was his first real act of faith in God.
Discussion
Points And Questions
1. Two articles this week stress the close connection between the
sacramenl of reconciliation and prayer. Do you see a connection?
2. Why does Dolores Leckey think that Christians need the sacrament
of reconciliation?
3. What is one suggestion Mrs. Leckey makes for bringing Christians
back to the sacrament of reconciliation?
4. In Katharine Bird’s article, why would Father Kenneth Leech call
penance the “most intimate and most personal” of the sacraments?
5. What is so startling in tiie fact that the family of Jesus does not
understand what he is doing, according to Father John Castelot?