Love in the Underground
Mother St. John’s Anniversary of Death, November 22
Most of us are stunned with the recent results of the U.S. election. For us Canadians, it is almost unbelievable that such a majority of Americans, our friends and allies, could choose Donald Trump over an excellent, integrous and forward-looking candidate like Kamala Harris. How could this happen?
I won’t join the hordes of pundits who are trying to analyze what the Democrats did wrong, or what the Republicans did right. What interests me, is just what is going on world-wide that makes this happening understandable?
The world’s pulse shows us a global shift to the far right, politically. Many countries have had elections in the recent months and nearly all have opted to oust the incumbent, and choose someone farther to the right, more conservative, a party or an individual who promises to “make America great again”, “fix what is broken”, or “restore common sense” and make things stable the way they used to be.
People everywhere are experiencing chaos on many levels: floods, hurricanes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, wildfires; housing crises, rising interest rates, economic instability, political polarization and upheaval of many kinds. Even the Catholic Church is experiencing the revolt of some Bishops and rebellion against Pope Francis’ leadership. Chaos seems to reign.
This is a scary moment to be alive. Folks are looking for something, someone, who can restore some order and stability. And so, they reach for someone who looks like a strong leader, who seems very sure of him/herself, confident and unafraid. So they vote for an apparently strong leader, one whom they think will take charge, get a grip on things and bring them back to “normal”, i.e. the known, the secure, the stable. Of course, we all want stability and predictability.
However, that impulse will not give us what we are looking for if that leader takes us in the wrong direction. Going back is not the way forward. Helping us to ruin the environment even faster than at our current rate, will not bring us more stable global temperatures. Deporting our countrymates, bullying other nations, reacting with force will not bring about peace. Manipulating the markets for our own profit, will not produce economic stability. These actions proceed from fear and end up producing more fear. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”
Species that survive as the world evolves are not those that cling to their old ways of behaving, but those that adapt, change, and find new ways of doing things. These species are not acting out of fear, but out of an urgency to survive. Those that survive are not the majority, but they are the ones that make it to the next stage in the evolutionary process.
The earth and the universe proceed from Love and thrive on love. When fear is the major dynamic at work, we need to counter that fear with creativity, bonding, mutual assistance, i.e. love, hope, trust, and gentle confidence. In this war of world-views, “moving with love” is our way forward. During the Second World War, thousands of people refused to cooperate with the Reich, by quietly working underground, harboring Jews, forging false documents to create new identities for them, carrying messages to the allied forces, and generally reaching across the divide, to do good, to be who they believed they were and wanted to be into the future. In time, that underground swell helped to carry the day. Today we are called to be the underground, cooperating with the universe in its evolution into Love: under the lies, to speak truth; under the hatred, to spread love, under the bullying to stand up for the undocumented, or the minorities, under the vociferous far-right of some versions of Christianity, to live the Gospel truth of love, compassion, inclusion and sharing. It’s not glamorous. It’s not big screen, but it is effective. And it is Gospel.
Mother St.John Fontbonne
Mother St. John and her Sisters lived through the reign of terror of the French Revolution. Their moment in history took them there. Our moment in history takes us here, now. Will we react with fear, or keep on “moving with love”?
-Sister Mary Diesbourg, csj