Breaking the Word

Monday, January 28, 2008

Monday in the 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (II)
Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Backing the Right Candidate

Readings: 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10; Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 25-26; Mark 3:22-30

I’ve been reading CNN online and, of course, much of the news centers on the recently completed primaries in South Carolina. One thing I find striking about the videos and photos from those stories is the passionate enthusiasm with which some people support their chosen candidate. In one photo a woman is depicted braving winter temperatures, standing by the side of a street, holding up a sign with her candidate’s name on it. And then of course there is all the shouting and cheering and dancing when the candidate actually wins and makes his/ her acceptance speech. What, I wonder, makes people so sure that they are backing the right candidate?

Something similar seems to be happening in the first reading today. It begins with all the tribes of Israel enthusiastically acknowledging David as their king. And their choice turns out to be a wise one. David proves himself a worthy king. Not only does he lead their armies to victory over the stronghold of Zion, but he also ushers in a golden age in the history of Israel. Don’t we have here a classic example of backing the right candidate? But, once again, we might well wonder how the people come to choose rightly.

And it’s not just in the political sphere that we can observe the importance of backing the right candidate. Everyday we are faced with elections of a perhaps more mundane but no less significant sort. We need to choose from different points of view regarding how we want to live our lives. More or less consciously, we are faced with decisions regarding how we wish to relate with others, how to raise our children, what careers to choose, which friends to keep… How sure are we that we’re backing the right candidate?

Perhaps more than anything else, the readings offer us a spiritual perspective on the question. Consider how the people of Israel come to be convinced that David is the right candidate. From a plain reading of the text, the people do two things. In the days past… it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel…’ Attending carefully to David’s conduct thus far the people conclude that God has chosen him to be their king. What we have here is an example of spiritual discernment carried out on a national scale.

But it’s not always easy to discern God’s wishes. In the gospel, for example, although Jesus has been attracting huge crowds, the scribes reject him as one who relies on diabolical powers. Through his ministry, Jesus – not unlike David – has been bringing the children of Israel back to their heavenly Father. Yet the scribes somehow misinterpret his efforts. They accuse him of being possessed by Beelzebul. What seems to be lacking in the scribes is the crucial disposition for spiritual discernment, something that St. Ignatius of Loyola refers to as indifference. Part of this disposition is the resolve not to prejudge an issue but to be open to the truth wherever it may lead. Without indifference, we remain trapped by our own prejudices, unable to recognize what is right. Consequently, as long as we remain so trapped, we may end up not only backing the wrong candidate but even committing an everlasting sin.

What do we need from God in order to back the right candidate today?

1 comment:

AnonymousTue Jan 29, 08:44:00 am GMT+8
In my job, I deal with a wide spectrum of people: subordinates, peers and superiors. Over the years, I have cultivated this knack of 'sizing up' people within several minutes of the first encounter. Needless to say, I'm not always right, but I dare say that I am 75% of the time.

I have always asked myself when assessing an individual: do I look at his/her track record? Emotional Quotient (EQ)? Character? Vision? Capacity to motivate/lead others? All of the above?

Spiritual discernment is far more tricky because many nebulous factors come into play. For one, the person discerning may not be "in tune" with matters of the Spirit, or may not be sufficiently grounded in the Faith to make a judgement call. Then s/he may be distracted by other non-spiritual considerations (God's ways are not our ways; His thoughts are way above our thoughts). In short, spiritual discernment is multi-dimensional.

Many years ago, a good priest gave me this advice for spiritual discernment: by the fruits you can judge if the tree is good or bad. It is a maxim that holds true for me even today.

Deo gracias.
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Breaking News: Ordinary Time

Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time begins on Monday after the Sunday following 6 January and continues until Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inclusive. It begins again on Monday after Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the First Sunday of Advent. This is also the reason for the series of liturgical texts found in both the Roman Missal and The Liturgy of the Hours (Vol. III - IV), for Sundays and weekdays in this season. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 43-44

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