What Kind of Times are These?

"Not too long ago, a priest told me that he canceled his subscription to the New York Times because he felt that the endless stories about war, crime, power games, and political manipulation only disturbed his mind and heart and prevented him from meditation and prayer.

 

That is a very sad story because it suggests that only by denying the world can you live in it, that only by surrounding yourself by an artificial, self-induced quietude can you live in a spiritual life. A real spiritual life does exactly the opposite: it makes us so alert of the world around us, that all that is and happens becomes part of our contemplation and meditation and invites us to a free and fearless response."

Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out (1975), page 35

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what kind of times are these

when even in the midst of a fretful normalcy

disaster looms?

 

the creeping darkness

edges toward us

disaster

 

the empty reservoirs of drought

the smoldering ruins of bombed-out cities

the hot hate of racism

and the looming threat of authoritarianism

 

the proliferation of lies

the embrace of power over service

money over people

 

what kind of times are these?

 

these are times that try our souls

which is nothing new

 

there is perhaps nothing new under the sun

 

what kind of times are these?

what do we do with times like these?

 

do we simply hide?

avoiding as best we can, any contact with the harsh realities that surround us?

do we dump the Book of Faces, turn off our TV’s

close our eyes to the realities?

 

do we create our own reality?

a world in which climate change is just a myth

elections are stolen

where might makes right

and the wealth will surely trickle down?

 

do we respond to hate with hate and violence with violence

do we enter into the endless cycle of retribution

do we embrace the culture of open carry

voter suppression

the world of manipulation and coercion

 

do we seek a legislated theocracy?

 

or do we become people

touched by Love

who while painfully aware of the world and its woes

choose to accept that pain (acknowledge it)

carry it

and transform it?

 

my love of Jesus

makes me painfully aware of the pain of the world

the pain of the planet

the pain of Ukraine

the pain of those people around me

who are suffering

 

and I am called to enter into to it

not flee from it

I am called to face it fiercely

not with fierce hate

not with domination or manipulation

not with toxic patriotism or toxic individualism

 

but with

as much as I am able

with fearless love

 

Jesus said he was the vine

if Jesus is a vine, I am a measly twig

 

but if I am connected

if I abide

if I access the love, forgiveness, hope, and peace

of Jesus

 

I can love

 

I cannot stop the war in Ukraine

but I can encourage a friend

I cannot silence all those who minimize and marginalize

but I can welcome those whom others might exclude

I cannot stop haters from hating

but I can respond to hate in a way that will, perhaps, perhaps,

stop the cycle of hate and violence

 

what kind of times are these?

times that need people who are willing to

contemplate, meditate, study, pray

breathe

 

who are willing to be embraced by Love

and pass it on

to a suffering world