Page 2 • Faith Today
Faith Today • Page 3
Making up is hard to do
By Jane Wolford Hughes
NC News Service
he old man gent
ly placed the
small bunch of
flowers, still wrap
ped in supermarket
tissue, on the
grave of a young woman who had
died some years earlier. He stood
there quietly for a short time.
As he was leaving, the old man
stopped to thank the attendant
who had given him directions.
Then, after turning to go, he stop
ped again and said, “She was my
daughter. I demanded a lot from
her and she ran away.
“I was too proud to go after her
and as time passed the hurt harden
ed me. For a long time I didn’t feel
much of anything. But now my
days are fewer; I knew I could not
go without telling her I loved her.
I didn’t expect she would be gone.
“I hope she can hear me, even if
it is too late and so little. At least I
made some peace with myself.”
Contrast that story with Scrip
ture’s parable of the Prodigal Son
who returns home, repenting his
wasted life. The father, hearing that
his son is homeward bound, has a
lavish banquet prepared and per
sonally runs out to embrace him
(Luke 15:11-32).
This is a story of hope. In it
Jesus really is speaking about all
lost persons and God’s welcoming
compassion for them.
This is a story of reconciliation
with which all can identify. For
how many can say they never have
experienced the pain of division
and estrangement to one degree or
another?
Reconciliation does not go with
the flow of today’s life. To become
reconciled one must stop, even go
back. Reconciliation demands
change in us.
We reach out hesitantly for
forgiveness. Each patching up of a
torn relationship is hard won.
Reconciliation may be the way to
peace of mind and restored love.
But it goes against the grain of the
way we are: We fear being hurt
again; we proudly resist admitting
we are wrong.
In some instances, we try to
separate the need for reconciliation
with others from our relationship
with God. But no matter how we
rationalize, we cannot embrace
God with one arm while cradling
personal angers, hostilities and pet
tiness in the other.
Jesus said it clearly: “If you are
bringing your offering to the altar
and there remember that your
brother or sister has something
against you, leave your offering
there before the altar, go and be
reconciled with your brother or
sister first, and then come back and
present your offering” (Matthew
5:23-25).
No question. It is hard to
forgive and forget and change —
especially in situations where
people are in constant rubbing
distance such as husband and wife,
parent and child or co-workers.
Reminders of what we are trying
to forget spread like corrosion
from old batteries. The power is
gone but the acid still stings.
“Reconciliation may be
the way to peace of
mind and restored love.
But it goes against the
grain of the way we
are....”
We can allow ourselves to turn
inward, living miserably in the
past. Or we can truly accept what
happened and allow the Christ of
Calvary to empty and reshape us
with the courage of St. Paul, who
wrote, “I have been crucified with
Christ. It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me” (Gala
tians 2:20).
The needed change comes when
we try constantly to become closer
to God. Then we know the joy
that “no human being will take
from you” (John 16:22). And then
we know what reconciliation is
about.
We will be different persons, free
of ourselves, respecting all others,
turned to their needs. Unlike the
old man, we will not walk in
loneliness.
Our companions will be many —
all those who have discovered the
mystery of reconciliation; those
who sense that reconciliation leads
away from the cross and into the
new life of Easter.
(Mrs. Hughes is adult education
consultant for the Archdiocese of
Detroit.)
Life* on the cutting edge
By Theodore Hengesbach
NC News Service
oly Week is the
most dramatic #
period in the
church’s liturgical
year. It draws us
^ into the last days
of Jesus’ life. We are invited to
wave palms in procession on Sun
day, participate in a foot-washing
ceremony on Thursday, shout our
responses as spectators to the
crucifixion on Friday and help
spread the new light from the
Easter candle through the darkened
church on Saturday.
The events of Holy Week are .
engaging because they are a
reminder that the struggle against
darkness and pain, and the need
for reconciliation are part of the"
adventure of every life.
A similar challenge can be found
in every era of God’s people. <
For instance, the opening
chapters of Genesis have all the
elements of an “edge-of-the-seat”
drama. What is going to happen*
next, we might ask, as the world
begins to take shape, Adam is left
to cope with his environment and
his companion Eve comes on the
scene?
The idyllic life of paradise seems
too good to be true. And it is. An
* enemy makes a proposition that
the couple can’t refiise and the
relationship between husband and
wife is strained.
Later a moment of prayer by two
brothers ends in Abel’s senseless
murder. Cain refuses to accept
* responsibility and is banished.
Finally, in retaliation for human
wickedness, a cleansing flood
obliterates all living things except
for a faithful few tossing about the
sea in a homemade vessel with a
precious cargo of animal pairs. We
* watch with Noah as he sends out a
dove to check for land.
The first chapters of Genesis
make for fascinating reading
because they tell of a real human
drama and invite us to participate
in it.
■* Like Adam and Eve, we are given
the task of tending our own private
“garden” and working to establish
a peaceful environment with
spouse and family; we are asked to
do our part to establish a world of
mutual friendship and communion.
» But shirking responsibility, heap
ing blame on others, seeking a way
oblivious to the needs and
legitimate requirements of others —
these rule today as they did before.
The seasons of Lent and Easter
ask each of us to examine the
adventure of our own life. Do trust
and caring predominate in our
marital relationship? Do we realize
that the answer to Cain’s question,
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” is
yes?
In his passion and death, Jesus
calls for the re-establishment of
friendship, harmony and commu
nion — for reconciliation.
“Turn the other cheek,” Jesus
says. “Do good to those who hate
you.” “Love one another as I have
loved you.”
The elements of real life are
revealed in the book of Genesis,
just as they are in the dramatic in
cidents of Holy Week. We are call
ed to live on the cutting edge bet
ween the threat of enmity, dishar
mony and strife, and the call to
friendship, concord and
communion.
(Hengesbach teaches at Indiana
University in South Bend.)
Accepting the olive branch
By Father John Castelot
NC News Service
•
t is maddening to
go through life
knowing that one
has deeply hurt a
dear friend. Usual-
_ ly there is a
chance to repair the hurt and to*
experience the sweet relief of
reconciliation. But suppose the
friend dies before the opportunity
presents itself? Then one has to
carry that nagging remorse day in
and day out.
This was the prospect Peter fat
ed. He had let Jesus down in his
most difficult hour, had denied him
publicly in most cowardly fashion,
even while Jesus bravely was deny
ing nothing. On his way through
the palace courtyard the condemn
ed Jesus had turned briefly, caught
Peter’s eye and just looked at him.
That one look was enough. It cut
right through to Peter’s heart and
he had to run away to hide his
tears from the bystanders. And
now Jesus was dead. He would
never know how sorry his friendT,
the “Rock,” was. What agony!
But wait. Jesus is not dead. He is
risen and here he is, asking the ,
heartbroken fisherman that all-
important question: “Simon, son of
John, do you love me?” (John
21:15).
Three times Jesus asks the ques
tion, giving Peter the opportunity
to balance off his triple denial with
three heartfelt protestations of love.
What a blessed relief. Not only
does the Lord accept Peter’s
earnest avowals, he entrusts his
own people to his care: “Feed my
* lambs...feed my sheep” 0ohn
21:15-17).
The reconciliation is complete,
with the Lord actually showing
confidence in this man who had
shown himself most undeserving of
confidence. But such is the amazing
<* forgiveness of the risen Christ.
By no means to be overlooked is
the fact that he takes the initiative.
One would expect the guilty party
to seek reconciliation.
But the Lord always seems to
make the first move, more eager to
patch things up than we are.
Peter’s case is far from unique.
Writing to the Galatians, St. Paul
recalled his former hatred of Christ,
his active persecution of Christ’s
followers. But then “the time came
when he who had set me apart
before I was born and called me by
-his favor chose to reveal his Son to
me” (1:15-16).
Again the amazing divine initiative
stepping in to reconcile alienated
* friends.
But reconciliation is a two-way
street. The Lord can offer
« forgiveness; he can hold out the
olive branch, but people have to
accept it.
About the risen Lord’s power to
forgive, there can be no doubt. It
is interesting to note how many
stories of reconciliation are woven
into the death-resurrection
accounts.
St. Luke tells us that “Herod and
Pilate, who had previously been set
against each other, became friends
from that day on” (23:12). Luke
tells us, too, of the dying Jesus’
promise of salvation to the repen
tant thief (23:42), and of that
almost incredible plea for his
heartless executioners: “Father,
forgive them, they do not know
what they are doing” (23:34).
The constant greeting of the
risen Christ was the richly elo
quent “Peace be with you” (John
20:19).
The author of Ephesians, refer
ring to the former hostility between
Jews and gentiles, wrote: “It is he
who is our peace and who made
the two of us one by breaking
down the barrier of hostility that
kept us apart...reconciling both of
us to God in one body through his
cross, which put that enmity to
death” (2:15-16).
Earlier St. Paul had written: “I
mean that God, in Christ, was
reconciling the world to himself’
(2 Corinthians 5:19).
(Father Castelot is a professor of
Scripture at St. John’s Seminary,
Plymouth, Mich.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Jane Wolford Hughes insists that true reconciliation calls for change
in people. Why is this so?
The church’s people are not called merely to await reconciliation in
a passive way, says Father Eugene LaVerdiere. They are called to serve
actively as reconcilers. But how? Father LaVerdiere tells about
something that happened to him on an archaeological dig in the Middle
East. Why did this event stand out for him as an example of what
reconciliation means?
What does reconciliation mean for you? Where is reconciliation
needed in the world — in your world — today? Why is the Easter
season an especially appropriate time for thinking about what recon
ciliation means?
Second Helpings. Jesus saw to it that both the act and the attitude
of forgiveness were given prime consideration in his ministry, Father
Isaias Powers says in Quiet Places With Jesus. Yet “of all the lessons of
our Lord, this is the area where we especially would like a Tightness of
touch’ from Jesus, and a lot of loopholes,” Father Powers says. For most
people prefer to dwell on remembered hurts and past rejections and
allow a single slight from others to weigh more heavily than all kinds of
loving acts. But, the priest adds, on this one point Jesus is “fierce and in
sistent... forgiving one another from our hearts.” The book comes with
three tapes which provide 40 guided meditations on biblical passages.
They are meant for use especially during Lent and Easter. (Twenty-Third
Publications, Box 180, Mystic, Conn. 06355- 1978. 824.95 )
0xtoisum ©agasinc
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