REFLECTION FOR SEPTEMBER 2013 – PETER MILLAR

                                      petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

The Pope, his phone calls and atheists:

One of the social markers in modern societies is that many aspects of daily life can become impersonal. Personal lives can be very private, and although commentators may disagree about the details, millions of people may see very few other human beings in the course of a week or month or year. This is in contrast to the strong community bonds still found in poor countries and in places of suffering and violence. Yet in many ways it’s not always possible to generalise for there are still communities within affluent countries where positive human connecting is a fundamental and daily reality.

Enter our new Pope, Francis who as we all now know has chosen not to live in the papal apartments inside the Vatican but in small house close by. He also drives around Vatican City in a rather battered Fiat with 200,000 miles on the clock, given to him recently by an Italian priest who was finished with it. It has also become public knowledge that Pope Francis after his day’s work is over returns to his small home and sometimes telephones people all over the world. Not for him in these calls presidents and prime ministers, or the good and the great, but people who have sent him a letter. Like Anna who addressed her note, The Pope, Vatican, Rome. Much to her astonishment after receiving her note he rang her mobile. Of course she thought it was a wind up. In her note Anna had told the Pope that she was a single pregnant person who felt that the local church might not be willing to baptise her anticipated baby. Francis told her not to worry, and that if she could not get a local priest to baptise the child he himself would do it.  Wonderful. He has also said clearly that the church should be far more willing to accept the diversity within human sexuality, and that seeking meaningful peace in our world is a thousand times better than sending missiles. Now in the sixth month as pontiff, Francis has made this conciliatory style and pragmatic openness to dialogue with groups on the margins of the church’s traditional life one of his trademarks.

In a world of impersonal life-styles, millions are attracted by his approach in which human beings with their strengths and vulnerabilities actually matter. They matter to him and more importantly they matter to God. It’s a simple message, but incredibly affirming at a time when more or less all of us are at some point treated just as a number or a statistic or as a shape on a video camera. It was the approach Jesus had to those he met, whatever their situation. Time and again he saw in people their real self, their true self – a self which was deeply precious to God. Centuries ago, the Celtic church understood that truth profoundly – a fact which came home to me when I lived on the island of Iona which has been a place of Christian witness since the 6th century. Whether or not the churches understand it or can creatively respond to it, there is a huge search now going on for ways of living which are not so depersonalised and which interact, in a face to face way, with others.

There is another area in the global ministry of Pope Francis which is fascinating many of us, whether Christian or not. The Pope has called for a sincere and rigorous dialogue with atheists. With those who feel sincerely that there is no God. Francis said recently: “Given – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits, if He is approached with a sincere heart, the question for those who do not believe in God is to abide by their own conscience. There is sin, also for those who have no faith, in going against one’s conscience. Listening to it and abiding by it means making up one’s own mind about what is good and evil.” So here, despite the Pope’s theological conservatism in some areas, we have a meaningful openness to those on a different path. What we all share is not doctrinal certainty but our basic humanity whatever our faith tradition. If Christians cannot come to understand this, the world is truly impoverished. The task, which some find impossible, is to remain true to our faith journey while listening to the journeys of others. For religious fundamentalists in all faiths this is, tragically, a “no-go” area.  Why is it so hard for many people in our connected world to accept human difference - especially at a time in history when we have never more needed to understand those who walk on a parallel but to us, unfamiliar, road? Thankfully, the narrow view is not the only one in our world community.

A Native American prayer:

Talking God, with your feet I walk: I walk with your limbs, I carry forth your body.

For me your mind thinks, your voice speaks for me.

 Beauty is before me, and beauty is behind me,

above and below me hovers the beautiful;

I am surrounded by it, I am immersed in it,

in my youth I am aware of it,

and in my old age I shall walk quietly the beautiful trail.

And from Pippa a homemaker:

I long for compassion to be the hallmark of society – I long to see men honouring women and women honouring men – I long to see gentleness, tenderness and integrity in relationships between sexes, and between races and people of all ages.

And the coming revolution:

God invites us today to re-define prophesy: that voice of truth which often comes from surprising places. The world’s next revolution will be a religious one, but not in a sectarian way. It is a revolution just waiting to be touched and tapped.

     ( Adapted from some words of Vincent Donovan, priest and companion of the poor.)