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The moment during the Democratic convention was astonishing. In my imagination I fell on my knees and muttered the Bible prayer appropriate when one has witnessed a miracle: "Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace!" ("Now, O Lord, you may dismiss your servant in peace!") Simon, the holy man in the temple, had seen Mary and Joseph enter the temple with Baby Jesus in their arms and recognized in him the presence of the future kingdom of Israel. Grace had flooded in with the modest threesome. Ever since then, pious Catholics react the same way when God hits them over the head with a surprise that is like a cosmic baseball bat. Such as the decree on religious freedom at Vatican II. |
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The bat ran amok in the most improbable of places -- right in the middle of the Illinois delegation in the Pepsi Center last week. The mayor of Chicago, a man who does not usually wear his faith on his sleeve, embraced Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (a k a "Young Jess"). Then Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Blagojevich, neither of them demonstrative evangelicals, did the same thing. Pretty soon the whole delegation was engaged in an orgy of forgiveness and reconciliation. Grace had sneaked in through the back door of the convention in the reconciliation of the Clintons and the Obamas and now, Peter Pan-like, was flitting around touching the most improbable folk with its magic wand. I shall leave it to others to judge whether the atmosphere of reconciliation was authentic, though I hope it was. My point is not that I expect an atmosphere of peace and light to descend on the Statehouse in Springfield, but that even phony reconciliations (if such they were) can transform themselves into real reconciliations. Grace is a slippery, tricky and ingenious dynamism. If estranged lovers pretend reconciliation as a legal ploy, they should be very careful. Their rage (arguably justified) might transform itself by the seductive sweetness of returning love. Don't pretend to forgive because you might actually forgive and then where would you be? |
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The classic American political story of that phenomenon is the story of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were bitter enemies during much of their lives. Though Jefferson had replaced Adams when the latter ran for re-election to a second term, they later became fast friends and managed to die on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson still lives." But Jefferson had actually died a few hours earlier. Will Bill Clinton and Barack Obama become similar friends? One may hope for it. Will Speaker Mike and Gov. Rod be caught up in the tender trap of grace? Similarly, one may not expect it, but still one might hope for it. God's Holy Spirit blows wither She will. If one is to make peace, however, with an enemy, one ought not wait till one is standing at the other's bier, as we Irish tend to do, with the wives weeping in each other's arms. I do not prescribe behavior for any of those who were caught up in the orgies of reconciliation at the Pepsi Center. But I do warn all that it is not wise to mess around with the living God. Too much joy, too much love or renewed love, are dangerous baseball bats.
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 A Stupid, Unjust, And Criminal War: Iraq 2001-2007 Father Greeley calls to task those who justified, planned and executed the war and reminds us that God weeps at the destruction of war, whether lives lost are ‘ours’ or ‘theirs.’  Order
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