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Kosovar and Columbine The Kosovar ethnic cleansing has been putting a damper on my spirit for weeks. The relentless bombing of Serbia further darkens my outlook. And then the Columbine high school killings really dragged down my soul. Of course, evil runs through all these tragedies but I think Christians are well advised to resist objectification of evil exclusively in the form of errant youths, political thugs, and governments exercising a power beyond their wisdom. Such projection of evil upon others allows us Christians to deny the thug, the terrorist, the egomaniac lurking inside us. In a recent Sunday morning discussion about the Littleton, Colorado, tragedy, most of the participants believed something like that could never happen in Hong Kong. The assumption is that we are protected in some way that affluent and suburban America is not. One local resident then pointed out the high rate of suicide among Hong Kong youths. Do are kids, when the pressure is too great, just kill themselves rather than others? The meaning of the doctrine of Original Sin is that each of us has a shadow side where we hide our anger, selfishness, jealousy, pride, insecurity, wildness or destructiveness. We deal most responsibly and spiritually by recognising these dark qualities do not spare the Christian heart. When we deny them to ourselves we risk projecting those shadowy traits upon others, inflicting our family, friends, co-workers with our errant side, or worse, projecting upon stereotypical groups, as apparently the boys did in Colorado, the blame for our condition. Our faith teaches us to accept the devils running about in our hearts and by inviting God to help us to tame them and see them converted into little Christs. Richard Rohr, a Catholic priest, says, "God calls us to take the path of the inner truth…and that means taking responsibility for 'everything' that's in you: For what pleases you and for what you're ashamed of…In the spiritual life, nothing goes away. There is no heavenly garbage dump. Everything belongs." Remember, too, that the Eternal Light is often discovered during a dark night of the soul. Others have experienced dark nights. Even Jesus. Check out the psalms. And remember that Jesus said: "I stand at the door and knock and if anyone gives me entry, I will come in and stay with him." Pastor Gene Preston
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The Rev. Gene R.Preston14th Floor, Blk 36, Lower Baguio Villa Tel : 25516161 Fax: 25512114E-mail : gpreston@netvigator.com |
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