The awe, the mystery of it

 

I am asked during this time of the pandemic that it must be difficult being alone, to which my reply naturally arises.  Alone?  This is happily a reflective time.  This is an extraordinary time that has proved for me to be a grace filled time, a freeing time.  I never planned it this way but this is how it has unfolded. 

I have experienced this as a time when you see others for who they are – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Definitely, this time has seen the rising up of humanity with people reaching out to each other, being kind and generous in ways not usually seen.  I have seen strangers who have lived in the same building for so long, now becoming friends as they stop and sit and chat.  I hear people asking who might be having problems at this time and how they may help.  So it goes on. 

This time has also served to show up our weaknesses and the limitations of humanity. In my sphere of influence, I see leaders who have shown themselves in the best of times to be simply lack lustre, who are now showing themselves in times of lockdown and crisis to be no leader of note at all.  What has struck me is how these ones lack respect for others, maybe even for themselves.  If this is so, I ask how can they be a leader?

Respect is a key word of this time, as is solidarity.  The small issues of life have become big as they raise the wider questions of social behavior.  Arriving late to mass is no longer just a personal happening but an issue of respect for others, as people need to allow time to follow guidelines and be seated in set places, then allowing all who gather to join in the time of worship.  Livestreaming of masses and now lack of space in churches due to social distancing raise the basic questions around community and gathering.  

Who is out there?

Who is coming now and who isn’t? 

How do we all blend in together? 

So authority is clearly shown as being based on respect and not on the exercise of control.  It is not about issuing orders for running mass in these times but about gaining trust and cooperation for allowing mass to occur together. 

As I peeked from the inside of a quiet cathedral at the Corpus Christi adoration outside, I was taken by the dramatic and external action of the moment.   I ask.  Does this action speak of the mystery and freedom of God or is it our presenting a God on tap who is safe and predictable for our own worship?  Fact is we don’t control God.  This virus reminds us who is in charge.   Thus we approach God with respect and happily give up any urge for control so as to be open to the change needed in our lives, world and church.  I wonder.  Are we becoming the mystics as predicted by Karl Rahner who boldly stated that the Christians of this century would be mystics or nothing at all?    

{from a piece written for elsewhere on  26^th June, 2020 and worth sharing now)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is freeing

As I travel through this pandemic, I find that I no longer have the same roles in my work; that life is just not the same; that I am gaining new perspectives on all sorts of things.  Do I find this frightening?  No.  Rather I find myself questioning what is going on , with the result that the word 'mystery' keeps ringing bells in my mind.  In the midst of all, I find this a freeing time, feeling freer than I have felt for an age.  Maybe the pandemic has blown that needed sea change my way, forcing me not to wait for making plans and preparations. Just do it!  

The day after I write this, my daily news briefing from CNA, Singapore, features an article entitled - "We are not returning to a pre-COVID-19 world".  It is the Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry stating that his island nation needs to map a new path now for creating a new economy.  This is our age.  Whether the individual, society or church, we are facing the opportunities and fears of building a new stage on which we are to live together.  This is more than a business or survival quest.  It is a spiritual quest.  

My experience of this pandemic naturally speaks strongly to me.  The real action of what I experience has been emanating from the grassroots and essentially happening at the depths of our existence.  

I have seen what has been going on around me.  What is it all saying?  I have seen leaders in my world being shown up for who they truly are.  If they are limited and chaotic in normal times, all they can do in a crisis is do what they always do, exercise control.  How could they?  I was taken into new ways of working from home and of livestreaming mass which I naturally found deeply spiritual.  These ways gifted me with a deeper sense of communion with others and a new contemplative perspective for life. I have also seen good leadership flourish in this pandemic, enforcing the right messages -  We are in this together/  Leave no one behind.  Human solidarity is essential to life.  The key themes arising out of this crisis consistently remain respect and responsibility. 

So we are called to new ways of being and operating.  I see these ways being based on spirituality and on the good of all, including me, upholding the rights and dignity of all, including me.  I could go on but I won't.  All I want to share is that for all these reasons, and more, this is a time when needed and overdue change is staring at us at all levels - for myself, for society, for church.  But much more, I find this such a freeing time.      

Double Tragic

Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki

This coming Sunday marks the 75th anniversary since the dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki, for over 400 years a centre of the Catholic Church in Japan, despite long periods of most violent persecution.  Despite all suffering, this neighbourhood remained over time a vibrant Christian community.  Finally, a Catholic church could be built there in the 1870s by those Christians returning home from the last period of persecution in Japanese history. 

In 1945, the cathedral on this same spot found itself only 500 metres from the hypocentre, so being obliterated with the loss of souls who were at church in preparation for the upcoming celebration of the Assumption of Mary.  As my friend, a young, Japanese Augustinian said, in contemplating the history of tragedy and loss around this one church - "It is just unfathomable.  Too sad."

I had thought - Imagine going to church and ending up in the centre of the world's second ever atomic explosion.  People would not have even known what it was.  It would have been a truly apocalyptic horror.  Just double tragic.  

Such is our world or thus have we made it?  So goes the last line of "The Mission", given by the fiery Jesuit to the political Cardinal.  

We live in an age where there is much hope for needed change in our world but the trap or fear is that too many human beings know only one way which may be labelled as "fight, conquer and survive'.  There is another way for humanity.  We must fight for it but not with bombs and destruction.  Kiasu!

We are fragmented

Last week, I was part of yet another Zoom meeting, during which one participant shared an inspired reflection on our age from a bishop in the USA.  It has stayed with me.  As I remember it, the bishop voiced that our church of this pandemic is a fragmented church in need of transformation.  What so struck me was the use of the word "fragmented" as it was such a precise and powerful description of where we find ourselves.  This gave me another 'wow' enlightenment.  

Then following on from hearing the use of this word for the first time in describing our age, I heard it used again from a totally different quarter of society.  Uncanny!  I then took the word to posit that whether, individual, community, society or church, we are experiencing fragmentation at all levels, highlighting the need for global transformation, not just church transformation.  

The latest of many signs of this fragmented world I am seeing is the issue of holidaying in Spain.  There an upsurge in the virus is happening due to social misbehaviour during a pandemic, with some sections of society not showing respect for the virus nor responsibility for the good of others.  So the UK response is to enforce a blanket quarantine for all holiday makers returning from Spain.  This one story is showing how fragmented is our world.  So the story goes on.  

In the Church, the story of Archbishop Vigano, in his publicly opposing Pope Francis, highlights the deep level of fragmentation in our Church.  This good archbishop did not get what he wanted and so he goes full speed making unruly accusations against the Pope.  He is but one example of the abuse of power which is highlighting deep divisions and a fragmented life within the church.  

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Whether church or world, fragmentation is real which is challenging us to face it full-on.  Transformation is the truly needed response but one wonders how, when and if ever.  Then, if it does not happen now in the midst of the chaos of a pandemic, when will it ever happen?  

Then along comes someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who stands up to the abuse of power in a public forum, the US Congress no less.  She speaks out so eloquently, so respectfully, so forcefully against the structural abuse of power under a system of male patriarchy.  Hers is one voice in our crazy world speaking out for the dignity of all.  All lives matter!  Dignity for all!

Here lies the key.  Our world and church are screaming out for transformation, transformation based on the dignity and respect deserved by every human being.  As my great friend and companion in the Order says from Rome - 

Viva la revolucion del evangelio! 

(He is Spanish.)

The New Normal

Are we seeing in this photo the new normal at play?  I think not.  Rather I conjecture we are seeing the well known and tired human conditioning to do things my way.  To take it one step further, don't care for anyone else, do it my way, the easy way and don't get caught.  In this age of the pandemic, this typical human attitude to life assumes new levels of censure, with behaviours in the opposite direction now being purposefully demanded.   Even when alone, we are being challenged at this time to be conscious of the other for, during a pandemic, we can never think we are living in some lone bubble.     

We are reading about establishing travel bubbles to allow safe travel between designated countries. Still one must ask if such a concept works.  Surely, it will only succeed under strict standards of cooperation and responsibility being enforced and respected at every level and by everyone.  Just one loose canon, just one lax action and the bubble is burst. 

Holding to a bubble philosophy in life, even at the best of times, is questionable and unsustainable as we do not exist on our own.  We are ever connected and interdependent.  Life is never about being isolated, thinking we are special or stronger or better.  We sure find that out when our self-imposed bubble bursts.

 More than ever, our asserting personal responsibility matters, having repercussions even for the sake of human survival.  Of course, responsibility does not come easily.  It does exact a personal cost.  To be the opposite may seem easier but it has consequences that we may rather not choose at the best of times.  In this extraordinary age,  being irresponsible may be about much more than being uncomfortable; it may lead to catastrophe.    

Thanks to a virus, the way ahead is set - we all win together.  This age is a great teacher in decent human behaviour.  Respect and responsibility rule always.  Bubbles are for the birds.  

A picture tells the story. 

R&R

A recent article in the Bangkok Post attracted my attention.  It is entitled "Thai massage loses its charm behind masks, social distancing".  It is a story about the 'used to be' thriving massage industry in  Thailand that is now far from thriving in a COVID-19 world because of the new normal with its guidelines for dealing with the pandemic.  

These guidelines apply to all social settings for the sake of upholding health and safety.  They determine how we come together, how we interact.  In the massage industry, this has had a huge impact on what is a simple, business engagement for pursuing individual well-being.   In the pandemic, the everyday massage has become part of the front line for fighting the virus.  As a massage can pose a danger to one's well-being, the response is to apply guidelines which make it some sort of 'out of earth' experience.   

I am seeing the continuing message that this pandemic is more than a health crisis.  It is teaching us how to be human and be human together.  This is shown in this case example of Thai massage where an ordinary interaction between customer and practitioner becomes something strange and uncomfortable and extraordinary for the sake of good in this age.  Welcome to the new normal.  

The key words in this new normal for human behaviour are respect and responsibility.  It is time for R&R.  We are being challenged to reinvent both life and business on the basis of R&R, even in Thai massage.  These two Rs lead to a third R of the new normal - Reinvent.  

Hold these 3 Rs as key words for good and decent human behaviour.  Respect and responsibility leading to reinventing as needed.  Somehow we had lost our way.  This pandemic is helping us refind our proper and shared way.  What a great opportunity for humanity!  This is a grace filled time.  We just need to recognize it and embrace it.  

What did you do on your day off?

Thailand is noted for its many public holidays.  This week had two. What to do?  Well, most Thais go to the beach or go home to family or just stay at home and relax.  However, if you are wealthy enough, you open your new road into your housing estate.  So what is so special, you may ask?  It was that, as I watched the simple road opening ceremony, I saw the owner being driven down his new road in his Bentley.  I automatically asked myself - how many Bentleys are driven around my hometown of Brisbane?  None, that I know.  Even if one in Brisbane could afford a Bentley, no one would surely buy one as too pretentious.      

The owner rightly treats his guests royally.  Shouldn't we all?

Social inequality is real.  The gap between rich and poor is a major concern in any nation's pursuit of peace and stability.  Unlike Cambodia or Laos, Thailand is not a poor country with its people having been largely raised out of poverty.  Sadly, this is not the full story, for Thailand knows a growing gap between its richest and the rest of society.  This increasing wealth gap has become its pressing issue.  Of course, Thailand does not stand alone on this as this only reflects a worrying world trend where peoples are becoming more divided, not united, on the basis of shared wealth.

   

This is happening amidst present and eager cries of the pandemic for human solidarity.  They are voiced in "Leave no one behind" and "No one is safe until we are all safe".  The medical experts and global leadership plainly state that this pandemic cannot be fought without all of us fighting it together.  The truth is that our future and strength lie in our coming together.  

Yet the harsh opposite ever raises its head, with division and social inequality being highlighted in so many ways during this pandemic.  What is worse is that divisions are being used in destructive ways for short term gain by powerful forces which are pursuing their own agenda of power and greed. 

  

Despite all, people are reaching out to each other with renewed vigor as never before in recent times.  At the grassroots, people worldwide are showing care and concern for their neighbor, taking time to get to know each other and helping strangers in need.  

Within our mixed reality, a disconnect exists with certain leading elites choosing not to share in a way forward based on a preferred philosophy of human solidarity.  Rather they choose division for the sake of achieving their own meager ends.   Their choice does not diminish the better choice taken by so many, for the real power, the future belong to those who choose otherwise.