Reflection

	Lenten Reflection

	Lent-Easter 2008 Dear Sisters, In an Irish courtroom, the young drunken driver responsible for the tragic deaths of two teenage grandnieces of Josephine Murray, our affiliate, sat meekly with head bowed, clasping his two hands between his knees throughout the five hour trial. His three year prison verdict and disqualification from driving for twenty-five years drew sympathetic responses from the victims’ family. Would Patrick, disowned by his mother since the accident, be destroyed by his close association with hardened criminals in jail? Moved by compassion, Josephine sent him a Christmas package to encourage him to believe in his personal worth. The initial reaction of the prison warden was sarcastic and disbelieving. Why would she reach out to someone who had brought such sorrow to her family? Her reply stunned him: “The alternative is to live in fear and hatred and we do not want that.” With this prophetic response, the warden’s attitude mellowed. In moving beyond her own pain and that of her family to identify with Patrick’s pain and the wider pain of society, Josephine sowed seeds of compassion and nonviolence in Limerick prison. How might those seeds bear fruit and bring healing to society if the warden begins to view Patrick and the other prisoners differently and treats them accordingly? What difference will it make to Patrick’s life that someone shows him mercy, believes in him? We are invited during this season of Lent to journey with Jesus into the mystery of his passion which opened the door to life for humanity. Our journey is one of compassion as we share the pain and grief of Jesus who suffers today in countless situations of poverty, destitution, violence, exploitation, abuse, oppression, exclusion and intolerance. In solidarity with the suffering Body of Christ, we give birth to courage, to heartfelt hope in one another and in a world where the pain of crucifixion is eased by connections, communion and consolation. Our call in Christ to compassion, to solidarity in suffering which leads to life, is well expressed in the following Native American story (abridged version) entitled “The Song of the Mountain”. The villages of the people of the Mountain Spirit were attacked by a terrible pestilence which came first for their children, then for the old, and then for the strong. Realizing that unless something was done the disease would destroy all the people, the elders called upon their ancient wisdom. They chose a young man to go to the mountain and beg the Mountain Spirit to save them. In order to receive the Spirit’s blessing, the chosen one should carry only what was essential to survive the journey and he should give what was left as gift to the Mountain Spirit in exchange for the song that he was to bring back from the mountain and sing to his people. Realizing that water was necessary to survive the journey across the great desert, he chose this as the gift he would offer the Mountain Spirit. In exchange he would ask for the song of healing and protection. Before dawn, the young man began his run across the desert, full of expectation and hope that he would save his people. As the day wore on, the desert sun grew hot and harsh and he grew tired and thirsty. So that the water would last, he took only small sips to keep him running. Towards noon, he met a woman and her child coming toward him dragging sacks of cactus fruit they had harvested from the desert. They were weary and tired. The woman pleaded for some water for her child. Recognizing their need as greater than his own, he shared his water with them. Later he stopped to greet an old man laying in the shade of a lone desert tree, patiently waiting to sing his song and welcome death. The old man asked for water so the young man knelt before him and gave him water, so that he could sing and greet the Great Spirit with fresh voice and soul. Then he ran on with the rest of his precious water. As the shadows lengthened, he came to the mountain base and was ready to climb. Suddenly, he heard the sound of moaning, of pain. Seeing a prairie wolf caught in a trap, he went over to set the creature free, washed his wound with water and wet his tongue before the animal limped off. Darkness fell as he finally arrived. Bringing out his water container to offer his gift to the Mountain Spirit, he found to his dismay that the last little bit of water had evaporated in the heat. He was broken-hearted. He had failed his people and the elders who had entrusted him with this mission of mercy. Without a gift the Mountain Spirit would give no song and the people would continue to die. As he lamented his failure, strong winds arose forcing him to shelter in nearby rocks from the coming storm. He began to weep and howl in grief as he thought of the deaths of his people. The rain came, hard and driving. The tears ran down his face and mixed with the rains from the sky, so that his pain and the mountain’s fury became one. Finally, the storm abated. He too was peaceful, yet sad because he had to go back to his people without the song. At dawn he arrived back at the edge of his village where the elders and all who could walk or drag themselves out were waiting for him. The young man fell on his knees before them and confessed that he had failed them, that he had run out of water by the time he got to the mountain. The elders looked at one another and knew that he had been their last hope. The people would die. Prostrate, he wept again for his failure and for the death and suffering of his people. He rocked back and forth and lifted his arms to the skies, mourning with cries and groans that all the people recognized as their own death cry. Now the storm came again and once more the sky’s tears mixed with the man’s tears. When all was quiet again, they came from the village – the old and weak, the children, the sick – and they were healed and whole again. There was feasting that day. The young man was perplexed. ‘I had no gift to give the Mountain Spirit, and so I did not receive the song. Still, the people are healed. Why are we saved?’ An old grandmother spoke after long silence: ‘You were to bring with you only what you needed for your journey and to give that to the Mountain Spirit as gift. The only thing you needed in order to survive you gave. It wasn’t the water. It was compassion for your people. The Mountain Spirit took your gift and gave you the song, the song of suffering and of sorrow shared. And so the people will live.’ Lent invites us to deepen our choice for life through a readiness to sacrifice, to go beyond our own concerns for the sake of solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters. In so doing, we bring life not only to our world but also to our Institute. Our life as an Institute depends on the quality of our compassionate solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters in today’s world. Let us reaffirm our commitment to the mission of Jesus who came to bring fullness of life to all. The 2001 General Chapter chose life, a choice often since re-iterated throughout the Institute. I pray that as we journey into the Lenten desert of compassion where the song of new life is given, we may experience the release of new energies for life. Happy Easter! Elaine Morzone General Minister