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'hope' defined at diocesan day of reflection

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

“A time for every season under heaven,” says Ecclesiastes, and this was a time to plant seeds of hope in the Diocese of Belleville through a day of reflection, music and prayer May 31 at the Newman Catholic Student Center in Carbondale.

Bishop Edward K. Braxton spoke of tilling the soil to plant seeds of hope, and Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI, spoke of sowing the seeds and reaping a harvest of hope.
The bishop told participants that many people had been tilling the soil of hope in the diocese for more than 120 years.

Today, many people till the soil of hope through their parishes, their commitments to volunteerism and ministry, to the study of Scripture and a host of other endeavors.

“The most fundamental way of tilling the soil (of hope) is to till the soil in our own hearts before setting out to till the soil in other places,” the bishop said.

When people are nourished through the Eucharist, they “become” the Body and Blood of Christ, “the true seed of hope.”

The musical group, “Good Ground Ministry” taught participants music that set the tone for the day, and Father Rolheiser presented two sessions on hope: first — sowing the seeds.

He set historical parameters, explaining that people do not have a real sense of the past and no clear vision of the future. Culture forces an immediacy, a present reality on people that precludes a connectedness to the social milieu from which people have come and where they will go.

Father Rolheiser agreed with the bishop’s description of hope and added: “Hope is keeping our eyes on the Gospel and watching the facts change; hope is relying on God’s promise and God’s power.”

God’s promise has been fulfilled. “We don’t have to save the world, Jesus Christ did that. The end of the story has already been written; we just have to believe that,” Father Rolheiser said.

Being “in good hands” has nothing to do with insurance but our insurance relies on our ability to grasp that “the seeds of hope are grounded in God,” he said.

Explaining hope through references to the Gospel, Father Rolheiser described God’s power as “underwhelming.”
When the people looked for a savior, they saw an action hero coming in with guns blazing to “clean up the mess” people had created. Instead, God sent a baby, underwhelming everyone. Jesus would save everyone through suffering, humiliation and death. This was not the way the men who had gathered around Jesus expected or wanted salvation to be won.

The disciples then, and all of us now, would be redeemed but not rescued from people or situations that proved difficult or demeaning.

Suffering, as most who taste it know, forces a depth and breadth of being that no one would request but many discover throughout life.

Many people describe life as a “journey of faith,” a “becoming” more like Christ.
For the disciples, the journeys were described as a movement to and from Galilee and Jerusalem. The two cities were used as metaphors: Galilee was the place where things went right — walking on water, catching large numbers of fish, seeing miracles performed for instance.

Jerusalem stands out starkly as a place of suffering and death where things went wrong. Jesus is denounced, whipped and killed among other humiliating acts.

The disciples, just as all of us, spend much time traveling between Galilee and Jerusalem.

During their “lessons,” the disciples learned Jesus’ idea of glory did not replicate theirs. While they understood that reaching glory required suffering, they, like we, were unprepared to accept glory defined as a way to bring people to compassion and forgiveness.

To reach that kind of glory requires us to “wash the feet of your enemy,” Father Rolheiser said. Who are our enemies? For each person enemies may vary, but on the world stage of issues it might mean Americans washing the feet of Al Qaeda; pro-life supporters washing the feet of pro-choice; bishops washing the feet of victims of sexual abuse for example.

While the “end of the story has already been written,” Father Rolheiser said, “we may encounter some rocky chapters to get there.”

Several people expressed opinions about the day of reflection: The day “was like a mini retreat,” Jed Delahoussaye of Murphysboro said. “It was very enlightening.”

Toni Intravaia of Carbondale summed up the day for many of the participants: “Wow,” she said.