The Value of Contradictions

The General Constitutions of the SFO has as its purpose, the application of the Rule of Life. Recently I had the pleasure of making a direct connection between the gospel reading of the day and a particular article I was pondering. What a joy.

 

… [Secular Franciscans] discover in [Christ, poor and crucified] the value of contradictions for the sake of justice and the meaning of the difficulties and the crosses of daily life. With Him they can accept the will of the Father even under the most difficult circumstances and live the Franciscan spirit of peace, rejecting every doctrine contrary to human dignity. (SFO General Constitution, Article 10)

Notice how this article is embodied in the following Gospel passage (Mk 3:1-6).

Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us." Then he said to the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Looking round at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Jesus is prophesized to be 'a sign that is contradicted' by the world [Luke 2:34]. A contradiction can be viewed as an opposing statement. When we speak of someone becoming 'a sign that is contradicted' we mean an individual who contests the accepted thinking and pays a price for his or her stand. Wherever the Church insists on justice and human dignity over degrading circumstances it too becomes 'a sign of contradiction', and it is 'spoken against' (i.e. resisted), even violently, by those who seek to marginalize its voice and minimize its demand.

The wisdom of the world tries to seduce us into dropping our mantle of contradiction and so we too often fail our responsibility to fight injustice. Most often we just can't put our (withered) finger on exactly what is the problem because we've grown accustomed to following twisted rules created for promoting self interests. But as the gospel passage shows, even well intentioned rules (including religious rules) can interfere with God's plan to reach out to his beloved children and offer healing and salvation.

This is not a small problem. It's the curse of legalism where the letter of the law opposes the spirit of the law. So many of our attempts to solve social problems end up in these horrifying paradoxes; where we reap unintended consequences. These consequences are frustrating and often difficult and painful and are suffered unevenly. The Church, even if it doesn't own perfect solutions, nevertheless acts as a 'sign of contradiction'; opposing dark outcomes and continually casting light into shadowy areas.

We don't relish our duty to confront injustice because of the pain involved. Yet we're called to this role for the sake of the gospel and we must carry these crosses and count them as holy because they counter the attacks on 'God's will for his children'. This is the basis for human dignity. It's not difficult to see that this is what Jesus was doing when he carried out the will of his Heavenly Father by healing on the Sabbath, and in doing so opposed the heartless thinking of the Pharisees at a terrible cost. 'They went out immediately and took counsel to put him to death.'

This same 'opposition' is an integral step in our own mission; 'to build a more fraternal and evangelical world so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively' (SFO Rule, Art. 14).  Unfortunately, being 'spoken against' is difficult and painful. We can expect to be ridiculed and persecuted for promoting causes that are 'signs of contradiction'. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also. (Jn. 15:20) But this is at the very core of our call to be Gospel witnesses.

Defining Progress

Christianity does not have a notion that history always progresses, that, things are always getting better for mankind. When we read the Book of Revelation we see that humanity actually moves in circles. Over and over there are horrors that then dissipate, only to be followed by new ones. Nor is there any prophecy of an inner-historical, man-made state of salvation. The idea that human affairs necessarily get better and better has no support in the Christian outlook. What does on the other hand, belong to the Christian faith is the certainty that God never abandons man and that man therefore can never become a pure failure, even though today many believe it would be better if man had never appeared on the scene. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger – Salt of the Earth)

At some point in my life I began to see the world from a less self-centered perspective and began to thing and act in ways that would hopefully bring about material progress and better living conditions for others in our temporal state. Later I began to realize this goal must be pursued not only in the realm of natural sciences and technology but in the moral sense of changing our behaviors to reflect a spiritual view that causes individuals to rise above natural inclinations. For Christians, the template of this behavior is the person of Jesus Christ.

We profess a Faith of love, and compassion; mercy and justice, which calls for true solidarity among Earth's inhabitants. Very importantly, this solidarity arises when we conform ourselves to Christ and it dissolves when we look to uniting without Him. In this sense, true human progress is attained as mankind unites spiritually and in a manner that is faithful to its real destiny, union with God.

We grow our relationship with God, in the very soil of humility and personal sacrifice, all the while faithfully trusting in an invisible seed of divine life in each individual, whether seen or unseen. And we can do this even in the midst of uneven human behavior which seems to cycle between inspiration towards God and monstrous depravity. In other words, each soul can (and should) faithfully move towards God even if the world seems heading towards calamity.

I've tried to avoid being easily fooled by humanistic movements of misguided hope where mankind is 'saved' by technology, education, schemes of social welfare, or some new political philosophy. This can be difficult at times, because we are truly inspired to show our Faith's reality in concrete love and compassion: to help alleviate suffering and misery in the name of our Lord of love. Real Christian love arises in sacrifice and self-giving and is the only way in which the world becomes a better place.

Our true progress will be mirrored in human affairs as we grow in unity, but only if that unity is attached to the Body of Christ. This is the hallmark of understanding these cycles of descent to new horrors and tragedies. Our Lord's own temptation in the desert is a warning of how we can be drawn away from our real spiritual goals by crumbs of bread. In today's terms we are tempted to avoid suffering by terminating human life and labeling it compassion.

In a mystery of the spiritual life, individuals, groups, and societies are forced to roam about the desert in blindness groping for direction. Spiritual literature describes this as a time of purification and renewal. History and Sacred Scripture show us that the family of man has wandered often in the desert, but never alone.

Entangled Victims: A Misguided Torture Policy

My last post alluded to one of my strongly held convictions; that the manner in which we confront evil circumstances in our lives is of crucial concern to our own spiritual well being. After creating that post I had it reaffirmed as I was browsing about the blogosphere and dropping comments here and there. I'd like to weave these various inspirations together to show that we can easily become entangled victims when confronting evil; as our own chosen tactics often drag us down.

My first stop was to a blog called I Have to Sit Down., where a mother of seven and self proclaimed Lenten Theologian, named Simcha, explained in very clear terms her understanding of how evil is 'not something': actually, it's a 'lack of something'. After considering the Genesis story of 'the fall' she concludes:

"Worst of all, evil convinces you that your new perspective, your new insight, is the way things really are. Once you have the knowledge of evil, it's hard to see anything good."

This is a keen insight: she's telling us that what we have 'gained' by the knowledge of evil is a distortion or privation of 'good'. Since we've all inherited this 'gain/loss' we are now wounded and easily confused. In effect we've inherited 'darkness or sin' which is a 'diminution of the light of Christ'.

My next stop was Postmodern Papist where the author has been consistently speaking up and linking to other posts against the practice of torture. In one of his comments he remarks:

"I'm more and more convinced that the most pressing moral crisis this country faces is not relativism but consequentialism."

Well that sounds important and I think I know what it means; but just to be sure I 'Googled' myself into a crash course in 'consequentialism'; a philosophical construct identified [i.e. labeled] and opposed by Elizabeth Anscombe. [Professor Anscombe was a noted Catholic philosopher and mother of seven (that's two in one post!) who steadfastly promoted Pro-Life causes. She stood up to toast when the Vatican reaffirmed its stand against contraception. She participated in the English version of Operation Rescue and was arrested for defending life.]

I myself am not academically or editorially constrained; so let me characterize (even bend) this school of thought (consequentialism) into a common phrase: the end justifies the means. This is an unwise way of judging our own actions: in fact our actions really don't matter, as long as the outcome is advantageous or has a utility. Prof. Anscombe decried such thinking.

Of course this form of thinking is rampant in our culture today. This thinking (and its cousin utilitarianism) is imperative to what John Paul II termed 'The Culture of Death'. All actions are weighted against a desired end with hardly a thought given to who or what is trampled in the process. Under this system of thought it's easy to justify an abortion…simply look beyond all the actions involved and only consider any desirable end result…let's say for instance…'the goodness of life unencumbered'.

So what of our Nation's 'torture policy'? One way to see this clearly, is to note that no one (other than an unrepentant sadist) sees torture as good in and of itself. It is necessary to suspend our sensibilities, keep it quiet and in the dark, (or record the act then destroy the recording) and hope for a benefit. Again, it overlooks the action and hopes for a good result. Putting any action under light is a great way to test it legitimacy. Even the horror of war is able to be viewed and reviewed. We honor our soldiers and commemorate great battles and struggles. But the act of torture…can we view it and pin medals on those who perform it? Torture simply cannot stand up to the light.

In one of my comments at Postmodern Papist I concluded with this:

"When we oppose the practice of torture we are primarily concerned with the intrinsic evil of the act itself. Though sometimes we're defending those who are corrupt and not innocent, we need to keep in mind (if we're considering this in the light of Christ) that the torturer and his/her supporters are doing much spiritual damage to themselves as well. My spiritual worldview leads me to fight this evil [insert: ALL evils] in a manner that doesn't only consider the result, but also the means and the benefit to all."

This issue of torture (and by extension the battle against terrorism) points out an example of what I was trying to draw out in my last post: namely that we can't give in to the temptation of fighting evil with evil. I'm well aware that it's risky to bring out talk of 'Christlike actions' in a discussion about confronting the 'evil of terrorism': nevertheless when all is said and done, evil can never be eliminated with more evil.