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PDF versionTaking responsibility for ourselves, our world
by Patricia Datchuck Sánchez on Feb. 26, 2012
Imagine that paper and pencils were distributed right now and each member of the praying assembly was asked to answer the question “What is wrong with the world?” How might you respond? In no time, most of us could probably fill both sides of the paper with a list of calamities: war, poverty, homelessness, violence, unemployment, famine, flood, greed, apathy, crime, global warming, flash mob vandalism, an out-of-touch hierarchy, child abuse, spousal abuse, elder abuse, earthquakes and more.
Now, as each of us considers our list, let us also ask, “Who is to blame for such a broken world?” and “For which of these incidents of human suffering am I culpable?”
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Before we cast blame on a generic scapegoat -- “those people,” liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, the younger generation, the “boomers” -- it may prove helpful to remember the words of the late Peter J. Gomes, who reminded us that just as the sins of a society begin with one individual, so the renewal and transformation of society begins with each individual (The Good Book, HarperSanFrancisco, 1996). Gomes quoted the old cry, “Lord, send a revival, and let it begin with me.”
(Illustration by Mark Bartholomew)Some of the good and upright among us may assert their innocence and refuse to accept any responsibility for this world’s predicaments. However, it could be argued that unless each of us plays an active part in alleviating the evils around us, then we remain complicit. In a word, we are all accountable for the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Gomes has insisted that each of us face life squarely and admit three things: Evil is real; the good are not as smart as they think they are; and the good need all the help they can get -- we cannot be good on our own. One of the first and best defenses against every sort of evil is the acknowledgement that the good must work together against it. For that reason, Gomes, a Baptist minister who served as assistant minister at Harvard Divinity School, highly recommended the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation. Confession not only cleanses a person spiritually but it also names evil for what it is, objectifies it and requires sinners to take responsibility for it. Once evil has been honestly engaged, then with God’s grace and the support of other believers, evil can be overcome by goodness.
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This action against evil in all its forms is not a swift or easy process. It is moved forward by the fervor we bring to the season of Lent now beginning. We come together, sinners all, to admit the truth of ourselves to God and to one another. We come together to acknowledge responsibility for our world and its ills and evils. We come to pray together and to listen as the sacred texts speak their timeless wisdom and extend their challenges to all of us.
Through the story of Noah and the great flood, the authors of Genesis remind us that no one goes it alone in this world. God has chosen to be bound forever to us and to our world in a covenantal relationship. This bond offers human beings and all living creatures a dignity that is to be respected and preserved. This covenant supersedes all the differences that divide us and all the controversies that place us at odds with one another.
Just as Noah and company were preserved in the ark from the floodwaters, those who are baptized into Christ are saved through the waters of the sacrament. Reflecting on this gift, the pseudonymous author of 1 Peter understood baptism not just as a physical cleansing but also as a spiritual purification that clears one’s conscience for doing what is right and good.
In a few terse words, the Marcan evangelist has attested to Jesus’ own encounter with evil and the fact that he did not struggle alone. With the Spirit to guide and inspire him and with angel messengers to support and strengthen him, Jesus emerged from this sortie with Satan to announce the reign of God, which is to be welcomed in repentance and faith. Today, we are recruited anew in the struggle against evil. To that end, we acknowledge our responsibility for it and our willingness to work toward its transformation.
[Patricia Sánchez holds a master’s degree in literature and religion of the Bible from a joint degree program at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in New York.]
This article is superb.
This article is superb.
Thank you for what you have
Thank you for what you have written. I, like you believe that it is only through co-operation and our own participation in making the shifts we want to see occur that we can create both the personal and public worlds we seek to inhabit. I have always been a great fan of Gandhi’s words: “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” To that end, I am working on a book, and publish a blog called “Don’t Just Stand There. Do Something.” It is for activists and others who want to see change but never think of themselves as activists. The blog make activism easy for the latter group and extols the virtues of individuals and groups in the already activist group. I hold a deep belief that each of us has a profound contribution to make and all we need is the inspiration to turn our ideas into actions, even simple ones, in order to manifest our passions and purpose. Again, thank you for your inspiring words.
Sex, the Devil and
Sex, the Devil and Objectified Sin: The TEMPTATION OF JESUS identifies evil in the specific — judgment in the specific, in dealing with sin, “choice” in the specific.
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The “demon of choice”, what is good, what is evil, is the conundrum of conscience. To put the “Temptation of Jesus” in context of the moment in his life, and the “diabolic” process of conscience (the back-and-forth weighing of consequences) consider this: (1) Jesus was struggling with the clarity of maturity. His age was after puberty but before maturity. If we believe in the full humanity of Jesus we have to consider the physiological circumstance (sexual) of his body at this time of approaching full manhood — his testosterone level had to be coming to peak; (2) choice is “diabolic”, which is to say, a process of back-and-forth searching and weighing consequences, good and evil.
Everything about life and nature is sexual, the back-and-forth weighing of male/ female relationships, resource consumption and preservation. I would suggest AS A RULE OF THUMB, any time the “devil” (diabolus) comes into biblical language, think metaphorical first and expect that what is at issue are matters of sex, choice between good and evil, and the human implications of males and females together, i.e., CHOICE—DIABOLUS; something sex-alienated hierarchs think of only in terms of sin, objectified in femaleness. And that is why the “bum rap” of sexuality, in clerical culture, is objectified on woman. Male arrogance presumes itself to be more Godly, less entangled in “dirty” earth-affairs. WOW!
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981142977
We all sin and fall short of
We all sin and fall short of the mark.
I know for a fact that I do.
But I also know that with God's grace I can be better and do better, and the more I do that, the better the world will becomel. And the more that many of us who recognize ourselves as sinners do that, the world will become even so much better.
May this time of Lent be for many of us a time to help the world recover from its great spiritual illness one person at a time.
This article and today's
This article and today's (Feb. 26) daily meditation from Fr. Richard Rohr (below) are incredibly synchronous. The final message from both is very clear - each of us need not only to take responsibility for our actions and words, but also for our collective role in creating a more caring and forgiving attitude towards those God places in our path.
See Richard Rohr's message: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--Discerning-Our-Comp...
This piece is another example
This piece is another example of Catholic Progressivism and irresponsible journalism. I offer 3 quick points.
(1) Christians faithfully living their lives according to God's Will should not have to appologize to anyone for anything!
(2) You can not correct the mistakes of people who have made wrong choices on the shoulders of the people who have made right choices. The only remedy given in Scripture for this problem is to repent and change!
(3) Peter was not anonymous! What does Patricia D. S. mean by writing "the pseudonymous author of 1Peter"? But more to the point; if Patricia is saying the action of Baptism is to link the believer with his or her salvation throught Christ, then I would agree with her. But if Patricia is trying to twist the doctrine of Baptism into a mechanism for justifying current social behaviors like OWS or ripping apart the Constitution or believing the HHS mandates do not infringe on religious liberty, then I believe she is dead wrong!
Andrew K
1. Even Christians who are
1. Even Christians who are living their lives according to God's will err. They will on occasion hurt someones feelings or do some actual wrong. Being Christian does not mean we are perfect. That is what I find wrong with confession to a priest - it tends to make some people think they don't have to say sorry to anyone else.
2. I think the bible put it something like a child will pay the price for the parent's sin and while I think you are talking about why should people who've worked hard for their money have to give it up in taxes for those who did not, do you recall if Jesus said "feed the hungry and care for the sick and poor only if they work as hard as you think they should?
3. To be baptized into Christ means to take on his way and that usually means to give of yourself to the point of death for the love of others who are Jesus (what you do for the least of these you do for me). I sure don't want to have to tell Jesus that because I am an American and have my rights I don't have to care about the people who are without jobs, homes or food because they had all those opportunities to get it for themselves even though they couldn't seem to. I don't think Jesus cares about our so-called rights if they cause others to suffer.
You sure seemed to turn this into a political argument against her article. Why?
Earthenvsl, I might shock you
Earthenvsl, I might shock you but I don't disagree with what you wrote. The difference is you haven't separated the wheat from the chaff. The Gospel does not instruct us to be inclusive. It warns us and instructs us to be separate, and to resist evil. I bid you well.
Andrew K
Okay, I have my pencil and in
Okay, I have my pencil and in my opinion what is wrong with this world is religiosity and greed.
Nice article.
1 Peter is attributed to
1 Peter is attributed to Peter. It was probably written by a follower and not by Peter himself.
One word - Disobedience.
One word - Disobedience.
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