The Fullness of Life
Secret agents of renewal
In his book, Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton made this startling statement: 'I wonder if there are twenty men alive in the world now, who see things as they really are. That would mean that there were twenty men who were free, who were not dominated or even influenced by any attachment to any created thing or to their own selves or to any gift of God, even to the highest, the most supernaturally pure of His graces. I don't believe that there are twenty such men alive in the world. But there must be one or two. They are the ones who are holding everything together and keeping the universe from falling apart.'
This reminds me of the conversation between God and Abraham prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Gen. 18:20-33).
Abraham was trying to strike a bargain with God. He began by saying, 'Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it?' And the Lord said, 'If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.' Not contented with that, Abraham reduced the figure: 'Suppose there were fifty less five?” And the Lord answered, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.' And Abraham boldly continued to bargain, 'Suppose there were forty?...thirty? twenty?', until he came down to ten, and the Lord answered, 'For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.'
Each year as we celebrate All Saints Day, it is ironic that the commercialism is focusing too much on Halloween. Instead of extolling what is good and holy, what is ugly, weird and demonic are being conjured and celebrated. After all, Halloween originally means 'All Hallows Eve', or 'Eve of All Saints.' Our focus should be on the Saints.
Little do we understand the damage it is doing to our collective subconscious in feeding our senses and our minds with unwholesome images. The ancient principle that what we think, we become, continues to be operative. Think good and good will emerge; think evil and evil will multiply. Imagine what a weird and monstrous generation the future shall bring if we continue to expose our young with images of witches and demons!
With the mounting national and global crises which provoked agitations and conflicts in various sectors, we cannot help but look back to the lives of men and women who perhaps had faced even greater difficulties than what we are facing now and yet not only did they rise to the situation but even contributed to the common good. Should we not focus on the lives and deeds of these secret agents of renewal in our world.
Certainly, without such people like Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Sienna, Ignatius of Loyola, James Alberione or closer to our day, Mother Theresa of Calcutta or Pope John Paul II, etc.--our world today will be greatly impoverished and will be more chaotic. With more of such men and women during Abraham's generation, he would not need to bargain with the Lord on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah.
St. Paul presented to the Christian community of Philippi a formula for peace when he wrote: 'Finally brothers, fill our minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise... Then God of peace will be with you.' (Phil. 4:8-9)
It is for this reason that we should celebrate the lives of men and women who were real agents of renewal and transformation in the world.