It is Holy Week and the Pope makes a stern and fairly angry public address chastizing priests who are challenging decisions by the Vatican that they feel jeopardize the Church and the people of God. The Pope urges them to "Radical Obedience". I find myself grateful that Jesus did not heed what must have been many calls for him to "Radical Obedience" - by the Roman occupiers and by some of the religious leadership that found obedience to the religious laws the most important thing.
In fact the witness of the life of Jesus of Nazareth was one of radical disobedience to man-made laws that create suffering and injustice. It is a witness to the power of radical love and radical communion, placing God - the father, abba - at the very center of all life. He taught us that love, peace, friendship, abundance and non-violence are what God wills for his creation.
In my mid-twenties I found myself in the midst of a deep reflective time - very similar to the one I find myself in now. I spent many hours in prayer and meditation in the chapel at the College of New Rochelle. In one of those times, gazing up at a familiar image, I had a radical new understanding of a familiar line of scripture. Here is what I saw looking up above the altar
I don't know if you can read the words along the horizontal cross bar - they say "Greater Love Than This No Man Hath". I was reminded often by some of the nuns at CNR that the line finishes "than to lay down his life for his friends". But the radical new understanding that flooded my heart and mind that day was not Jesus crucified on the cross. It was the love and radical friendship of those women who stood with him even unto death and continued to stand with him after his death and who were the first to witness his resurrection. It was the radical love in which Jesus trusted so that even when threatened with death for his ministry to the people he was able to lay down his life rather than retreat into violence, or compromise his conscience and engage Radical Obedience to save his life. He was able to trust God and eternal life and to continue to love unconditionally and to forgive, even his most fearful enemies.
In this most holy time in the Catholic liturgical year - when we recognize and celebrate the great love of God and Jesus - when we are called to be faithful to God first and foremost - our Pope preaches Radical Obedience to the "Law". It is a powerful and painful contradiction.
So over the past days as I have reflected on this contradiction an amazing thing has happened to me, or maybe for me. I have found compassion for Pope Benedict - for this man for whom I have had nothing but contempt for over 40 years. I cannot imagine the fear of change, the radical change that the Holy Spirit continually brings to us, that must be motivating is actions to turn back the spirit of Vatican II, and that must be motivating him to preach Radical Obedience at the very time we engage the gifts we are given by the Radical Disobedience of Jesus in his own time.
I can tell you this morning that it is so much better to feel compassion than contempt. Something has loosened in my own heart and mind and I feel more free than I can ever remember. Maybe I am beginning to understand the life and witness of Jesus in a more concrete way than ever before.
Easter Blessings
Donna
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