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Painting by Nikolay Bogdanov Belsky
…The extent to which it makes us uncomfortable to think about interpersonal relationships in such visceral terms can give us insights into how distant we are from faith, which does not involve assent to abstract principles but rather demands we enter into relationship with the divine through tangible, concrete matter…
painter: Ferdinand Hodler
All we need is the tiniest bit of compassionate imagination to be able to see the problems posed by tribalism. The fact that so many in positions of authority (along with those who put them there) seem blind to the problem is the most devastating condemnation of our educational approaches and methodologies.
We face an educational emergency (I'll add, to be clear: both INSIDE and outside the Church, since the Church in this country mimics and adapts to the pedagogical aims of the state)…
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”
– Eli Wiesel
Many times the inverse of a thing is not its opposite. Also, sound psychological principles (such as: the importance of boundaries, or the typical dynamics in an abusive relationship, or how to overcome addictions, or the stages of grief etc.) are similar to other expressions of folk wisdom (“a stitch in time saves nine” or “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” etc.) – they’re *mostly* true, but they cannot be viewed as facts. Human beings and human actions tend to fall outside of categories. People, situations, and interactions can surprise us. This is why we learn much, much more about human psychology from reading good literature than we do from reading psychology text books (or from memorizing cliches).
We find something so satisfying in thinking that we have, finally, the “answer.” But this is a trap.
Something analogous happens within Catholicism. People study doctrine or theology in an attempt to have clear answers. Then they apply what they’ve learned and feel as though they understand the ways of God.
Then I explain that Christ’s Light, the Light of the Resurrection, is not something he keeps to himself. He wants to share it with all of us!
Since 2006, some friends and I have been organizing an annual Good Friday Way of the Cross in Steubenville. Our Via Crucis follows the same readings and prayers as the Way of the Cross over the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as all the other Good Friday commemorations organized by members of Communion and Liberation, around the world.