Dear Friends,
Again, I am sitting here with the Interfaith Peace Garden, reflecting on the events of these days as they provide the spiritual yeast for political holiness. Spirituality can be understood as the search for and the lived experience of the Sacred. Holiness is the fullness/wholeness/fulfillment of that search and lived experience. The question becomes: "where is the Sacred for which I/we search and come to know in my/our lived experience?" For many, it may be in times of meditation or prayer. For others, as with many Christians, it may be in the bread of the Eucharist/the Eucharistic assembly. For others, in their own Scripture and scriptural gatherings. For some, all of these and more. For many in our world today, the search for and lived experience of the Sacred happens in solidarity and service with those who are poor,weak,and disenfranchised or in working on their behalf for justice that brings peace in our world. This latter can be the place of political holiness, the place where we find and know God in distressing disguise.
These days mark the fifth year of U.S.A. invasion, war, and occupation of Iraq. In this time, thousands of our women and men in military service have been killed. Many more thousand have been seriously wounded. People of Iraq, too, have suffered such great loss. In Iraq and surrounding countries there are many thousands of refugees and displaced persons and an astounding number of child-orphans. An invitation to the path of political holiness is found in solidarity and service to these persons, and in working for a just and timely end to these situations.
This month, in Ireland and parts of USA and elsewhere,are held commemorations of St. Patrick (389-461) It may not be widely known that Patrick suffered as a slave of the Irish long before he became an Irish model of holiness. Born in Britain (a Roman outpost at the beginning of the end of the Roman empire), at age 16 he was kidnapped by Irish raiders. He became a slave doing all sorts of tasks, among which was herding animals in lonely, deserted places. This enslavement and loss of family relationships moved him into a deep relationship with God. It is this that sustained him. Six years later he escaped. Later he became a priest and then Bishop in 432. Returning to Ireland, he turned his grievance into gratitude, his bitterness into forgiveness and love. His challenge: to find holiness with his people in the political-social upheavals of Ireland at that time.
Noteworthy is an account of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ as a young man. In 1914 World War I started in Europe. He became part of the military, not as a combatant-with-gun but as a medical orderly. He asked to be a stretcher bearer on the front lines. He did this for three years, bearing the wounded and dead from the battlefield. He served in the battle of Verdun where, in less than a year, both sides knew over 700,000 casualties. His grasp of political holiness deepened here. In his military division there were a Muslim majority. So much respect did they hold for him that they gave him a title which translated means "A person closely bound to God who is blessed by God's favor". He died on Easter Sunday 1955.
Women, as well as men, answer the call to engage in the endeavor of political holiness. It is a call to fast - from recrimination and for life. And when the Sacred is found or they are found by the Sacred,their path makes itself known - a step at a time. It is a path that brings peace within and peace to the world. It can only be an interfaith path, an inclusive journey on behalf of the integrity of the earth. "Today is the day for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity" (Rabbi Abraham Heschel).
In closing, we of the Interfaith Peace Garden wish you PEACE.
Sister Anne Field SSS
Letters from the Garden
