Breaking the Word

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Wednesday in the 4th Week of Ordinary Time (I)

Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest
Confronting Darth Vader

Readings: Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15; Psalms 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a; Mark 6:1-6

Sometimes it’s quite amazing how much theology and spirituality one can learn from a movie…

For some time now they’ve been playing and replaying the 6-episode Star Wars saga on the Star Movies channel. Last night I caught some of the third episode: Return of the Jedi. The climax of the story is the final showdown between the hero, Luke Skywalker, and the evil Emperor and his apprentice, Darth Vader, who is also Luke’s father. Strangely perhaps, our Mass readings bring to mind some aspects of the story. In a sense, although the final confrontation might well result in Luke’s own death, and although Luke has the option of running away, he really has no choice but to face his father if he is to complete his training in the Force and become a full-fledged Jedi knight. In this sense, it is his destiny. And it is a destiny which he willingly embraces, finding the courage to do so in his apparently irrational and impossible desire to help his father turn back from the dark side. In the final climactic battle, as Luke defends himself against all that the evil Emperor and his own father throw at him, he experiences the temptation to give in to his own natural reactions of anger and fear and the desire for revenge, and in so doing to slide down the path leading to the dark side…

What possible connection does this have with our readings today?

Isn’t it true that, whether we like it or not, each one of us has our own Darth Vaders to face – those dark areas in our world, in our lives, in our hearts, from which we often wish we could simply run away? Yet it is our destiny to confront and to triumph over them. And, in some perhaps inexplicable way, suffering has a crucial role to play in the process. Isn’t this what the first reading is getting at when it says that suffering is part of your training? Of course, we need to realize that not all suffering is due to our own fault. Suffering afflicts the guilty and the innocent alike. And indeed it often needs to be resisted and denounced. But isn’t that also part of the process by which we are led to confront the darkness in the world and in our own hearts?

Also, in this confrontation, it is important that we resist the temptations that Luke faced in the movie. It is important that we not let feelings such as anger and disillusionment, or skepticism and despair overwhelm us. As the first reading reminds us: be careful… that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; for then we ourselves become pawns of the very thing against which we struggle.

All this sounds very complicated and difficult. Too much for us to understand let alone carry out. Isn’t that why, especially during this period of Ordinary Time, it is important for us to let our gaze remain fixed upon Jesus as he carries out his public ministry? In a sense, he did not have to confront the darkness. He did not have to endure the painful rejection that we see him experiencing in the gospel today. He did not have to sacrifice himself. Yet he did, and for the same reason that Luke chose to confront Vader: for love -- love of us and of his heavenly Father.

How are we being led to confront our own Darth Vaders and so play our part in the salvation of the Galaxy today?

1 comment:

AnonymousThu Feb 01, 08:44:00 am GMT+8
My former boss (the Dean of school), an absolutely committed Christian, is an ardent fan of Star Wars. He was such a big fan that, at every opportunity, he used the modern day parable of Star Wars to teach moral truths and to evangelize, so when Fr Chris mentioned Darth Vader and the Jedi, warm memories of him came rushing back. When he retired as Dean, those of us who heard his Star Wars story often enough, got together to buy him a complete, authentic set of Star Wars memorabilia, replete with laser sabre! What else?

You see, both he and I (and those on the side of truth) lived and worked in true life situations which parallel the Star Wars epic - a constant struggle against darkness. In some instances, I dare add that "Star Wars" pales in comparison to our experience.

The inter-galactic battle between good and evil is played out every day in ordinary life. I'm glad Fr Chris drew the parallel between what Star Wars portrays and our very own Christian beliefs. You see, in real life, the dark side is far from dark; indeed it is alluring even seductive in its glitz and glamour. Those in "the dark side" get all the accolades, acclaim and awards while the rest of us mere mortals are left to plod along, depending entirely on providential Goodness. Like Jesus on the cross, sometimes we cry out in the silence of our hearts, "My God, my God why have you forgsaken us?". My friends, evil is very much alive and kicking in the world today. The frightening thing is that it manifests itself in ways that the world holds up as noble, desirable. In a sense, I am glad that I came "up close and personal" with the forces of darkness because (i) I can now appreciate how much more desirable goodness is, and (ii) I've had my baptism of fire and, through the grace of God, came through pretty much unscathed.

I am at once invigorated and chastised by Fr Chris' advice not to let bitterness or vindication or acrimony get the better of us because then we "become pawns of the very thing (evil) against which we struggle". Chastised because in my human weakeness, I did wish the earth would open up to swallow evil up. We do this by being focused on Jesus and, in my own personal experience, through fellow believers whose faith is so strong and unswerving that you find in it a bulwark against the onslaught of evil.

Yue Chee Yoon doesn't wear his Christian faith on his sleeve but boy, his evangelization is so awesome through the way he lives and interacts with others. He is my Luke Skywalker.

The Force is with us; some feel Him more intensely than others, but He is certainly with us.
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Breaking News: Easter

The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one "great Sunday." These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia. The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of the Easter season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holyday of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter (see no. 7).[R4] The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 22-26

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19