Build bridges, not walls

As one who lives and passes this border daily through the few cracks in this long wall, I am deeply heartened to read Patricia's righteous equation here: "While some of the most notorious of these have fallen, like the Berlin Wall or the Iron Curtain, others are in the process of being built, like the one along the U.S.-Mexico border."

Indeed we in the north cut ourselves off to our own eternal loss like this selfish giant from the great life and vitality and Catholic community across the border, not only by this tall physical wall but also with tight walls around our hearts and minds and souls, excluding "the other," our own sister and brother, with prejudice and hatred and selfishness, refusing sanctuary to the stranger at the gate, the love which Jesus requires of us.

Likewise we find in our presently reforming the reform church the same attitude as described so eloquently and accurately here: " . . .there was a tendency to erect both virtual and real walls around themselves as if to separate God’s chosen from the rest of humankind. These walls protected the clean from the unclean, the seemingly good from those thought to be evil, the saved from those outside the pale of God’s salvation. These walls even crept into the Jewish Temple; although God-fearing non-Jews were allowed in, they were relegated to a certain court, separate from those thought to be God’s chosen ones."

Jesus calls us to universal and altruistic and pacifistic and all compassionate love, not to division. Jesus calls us to transcend all divisions and walls and to embrace all in love, even the declared enemy, unquestioningly, in love, as God is love.

"...a walled-in garden soon becomes a desolate place."

Oh, and how high are the walls built by the hierarchy of the Church that separate them from the people of the Church and from one-half of the nature of God and man.

I have this fantasy that one day all the priests, bishops, cardinals and even the Pope will dress in the attire of the day. For now, that would mean all these prelates wear business suits. Most priests do now. Perhaps bishops, cardinals, popes could keep their small caps in colors which show their rank; or they would all wear the priest's collar, but in a color of their rank - with blue for the Pope. But, no more rings, no more lace, no more long skirts on men. And, the Swiss Guard will be in modern police uniforms. And the women among the hierarchy and Swiss Guard will be in the female version of modern suits or police uniforms, skirts or pants.

Part of that walled garden is desolate because the "she" of God is absent.

Patricia Datchuck Sánchez, thank you for expressing my thoughts so clearly and eloquently. When will we recognize that Our Lord consistently built bridges, not walls.

One of the more controversial verses in the Bible would seem to refute this very thought provoking article....Matthew 10: 34-39. It would seem that with Jesus it is Truth that separates out the goat from the sheep. The sword He brings is a symbol for Truth. It is he who accepts, receives the Truth of Jesus that shall receive a prophet's reward. In the verses just preceding Mathhew 10 we are warned about coming persecutions...warning the disciples that they will be as sheep among the wolves and to beware men who will deliver them up..they will be hated by the world and persecuted by those who hate His name. Only those who endure to the end of these persecutions will be saved.So Matthew is warning us about the dangers of those things that WILL divide and conquer us but not to fear those who can destroy the body but rather fear that which can destroy, divide, the body from the soul. Those who acknowledge Jesus and proclaim His Truth have nothing to fear. Whoever denies Jesus, he will be denied by Jesus before His Father in Heaven.
It seems there are divisions which will come...that we should be aware of and
avoid at all costs. Matthew warns us about the divisions that matter in terms of man's eternal soul. Many of the divisions spoken about here contribute to the divisions that can separate us from God...and we need to discern between those divisions that affect live here and those that would have eternal effect.

Thanks for such a thought provoking article which is relevant at the present moment when our country and our world is so ripe with people wanting to tear down walls and others building them. It made me recall the Smothers' Brothers routine ..."Mom liked you best !" How much of what we project onto how we define God, as the Israelites did in saying that they were God's chosen people, in fact has its origin in each of us individually wanting to be mom's favorite, the best loved child. Most parents truly attempt to love their children for the unique person each child is, although we often fail to do that 100% of the time. Isn't that at the center of our need to build walls, whether visible or invisible. There is a psychological/emotional stage that needs to be negotiated when we are very young children that builds the basis on which we develope compassion/altruism, that helps us to see "the other" that helps us walk in the shoes of another human being. In order to negotiate that stage, a child needs to first have experienced acceptance, love and nurturing. How does the scripture go about the importantt part is not that we love God, but that God loved us first. The God of our childhood are our parents, whose love we need to feel first, before we can love ourselves and others. It helps us become bridge builders.

Yes, there are still many walls in our world today that need to come down. Perhaps we should begin to tear down the walls that we have built around our hearts so that we can see clearly with love the other walls, which need to be taken down. Only then will we see and understand with love all that separates us from God and each other. And, with love we will come to know that we need God and each other. On that day, we will understand Jesus’ Gospel message of loving and serving each other. When that happens, men of the Church will come down from their thrones and pedestals. The scales will fall from their eyes and they will see and love ALL of the Body of Christ. The marginalized will no longer be banished behind walls.

Material walls are ineffective. In our U.S. we have over 12 million illegal immigrants that have profound impact on citizens, government and income. Do foreigners have any faith obligations to knock down walls in their respective home and country locales? What are faith obligations toward governments, foreign and domestic? Are you saying that people of near poverty means should give shelter, cloaks, care and jobs to those without?

Perhaps the "nanny state" is not understood fully.

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall..." R. Frost wrote in his poem"The Mending Wall"....It seems we-THE Church- need to get back to the Gospel message of inclusiveness and mend walls instead of building them. Stephanie

I admire and respect your posts so much Charles Scanlon---you say it all. Thankyou--and ATF--your post follows suit altho' I have no great wish to prescribe what the hierarchy wear except that it would be good to see them lose the affrontingly extravagant garbs they cling to at present---cross dressing is not my idea of a mark of holiness.

Fabulous piece of writing Patricia and I can't wait to get hold of "The Selfish Giant". Thankyou.

Please everyone give thought to the wall built by modern day Israelis. There to push Palestinians from their homes and land and to ghetto and deprive them of all humanly decent services and rights. We in UK and you in US are utterly culpable of aiding and abetting.

One of the most frighting wall that we build is mistaking unity for uniformity.

The Selfish Giant and other stories by Oscar Wilde, are available online. I just re-read it. Wilde had personal experience with walls, real as well as figurative, the latter still maintained by the church and society. And society would not be so eager to build these walls if so many of our religious leaders did not only tacitly but explicitly encourage them. God be with the ones who seek to build bridges .

As an Orthodox Jew, well versed in foundational Jewish texts and Jewish history (especially the history "torn out of Church histories), I would like to add some needed nuance to this article - consider this a "teaching moment" about your "elder brother" in faith.

- Oscare Wilde, "...today's sacred texts": Interesting view. However, Mr. Wilde was a known anti-semite and his views should be at least considered biased. As to "todays sacred texts" - that is at the heart of the our religious differences. Since Jews read their texts in the same language as the original (no translations, no mistranslations, no re-interpretations) and have the benefit of a continuous 3,300+ year oral tradition - most of which from the very prophets who taught their visions to their students giving us the author's own voice - "today's" Jewish texts are in fact the old, original texts. Hence, they have survived the revisionist, conversionist impulses of others.

- "...and there was a tendency to erect both virtual and real walls around themselves as if to separate God’s chosen from the rest of humankind...": It is a shame that members of the Church still hold onto this ancient anti-semitic stereotype (enemies of G-d, resistant to a 'new' religion, erring in their own religion, etc.). It is a mark of immaturity and arrogance to think that religion should be based on a Christian faith template. The Hebrew Scriptures calls Israel first and foremost to be a "holy people and holy nation". Does anyone not see the irony that no where in the Hebrew bible does the word "religion" occur? This is because G-d ordained and commanded a group to be a people (ethnicity) and a nation (borders, defined laws, etc.). These are atypical elements of a "religion" - which at best is an outer garment of a people or religion. The people of Israel are constituted as a people and nation, with elements of a faith. That makes Judaism asymmetrical to other religions, hence harder to classify and compare. All nations have borders, inclusionary requirements, conversion (naturalization) procedures, immigrant and citizen requirement differentials. So to the people of Israel - when you consider them as a people and nation.

Judaism was never meant to be functionally universal because G-d himself provided a dual covenant in the Henrew Scriptures (one for Gentiles and one for Jews) with no limititation on who achieves salvation (Judaism has never preached that only Jews are "saved", like other so called monotheistic, peaceful religions). Judaism requires Jews to follow one covenant, with many laws, and others to follow at least the 7 Noachide laws (often considered natural laws) with no limitation to obligate themselves beyond (all to their credit), with no obligation to convert for salvation. Judaism is the only "equal opportunity religion, no conversion required" for heavenly salvation! The universal element of Judaism is that all people can improve, repent, attain heaven - hardly a "walled off view" of humanity. The notion that we resisted inclusion has been shown by history to be a wise choice - given the barbarism shown to us by others.

- "...no walls in the prophets visions...": This is hardly the case when you read all the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures and add in the voice and teachings of those same prophets written down and held by their own people for Jewish posterity. The system presented as a whole (not "out of context quotes" calls for the re-inforcement of Biblical laws in terms of the original laws, as well as the restitution of those same laws in the "end of days", when Jews return to their Land.). Those laws include requirements of justice to foreigners among the Israelite people, obligations when living in the Israelite nation, despite being different in whatever way you want to describe. But then one would need to be aware and trained in the entire Hebrew canon and religious teachings - which parallel in sophistication and development anything in any other religion (unless one considers that faithful effort a prejudicial waste of time).

- "...pleaded with those who continued to remain behind walls of rejection and disbelief..": The prejudice of this statement should be obvious - it is demonization of anyone wishing to remain a Jew, in his/her homeland and faithful to a fully articulated covenant. The statement is supersessionist in intent, no matter how nicely worded. The Vatican has stated that supersessionism is no longer acceptable in Church teachings. Please understand that any teaching that says in essence, you must eliminate yourself, your people, your nation and your history of faith as documented by the Hebrew prophets asks Jews to essentially - disappear. Is that not what many empires have tried to do to the Jewish people? Is that not what Hitler sought, by other means? Note about disbelief - even the Vatican recognizes Jews belief in our Father in heaven and always have. It is belief in a particular man as a messiah that is at issue, not in G-d Himself, for reasons any serious author can understand if researched.

Today, according to the news and the UN, there are political and economic walls in Morroco, the US, South Korea, Botswanna, Saudi Arabia/Yemmen, Cyprus, Thailand, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Spain (Catholic!). Yet few words are written about those. Why do you think such a double standard motivates the author and people with similar views? I am just asking that people think, research before they write.

Finally you come to your point, "...like the one along the U.S.-Mexico border."
I don't know about you guys, but where I live in Houston I don't see the mass immigration of Mexicans making "the garden ... even more beautiful and alive by the songs and dancing of the happy young ones who gathered there."
You have a good heart, but open your eyes.