Message to Soften Hearts

News of death and illness filled my day. Early this morning news came from India that the mother of Prasad, our guide on the Pilgrimage of Peace, had died. I had just heard a few days ago from Prasad’s wife that his mother was very sick but now was fine. Now she rests in peace.

My family has been affected by many illnesses. One of the worst is mental illness. Although mental illnesses run in every family they are often not understood as illnesses and have all kinds of stigma attached to them. So it was sad to hear today that a family member is seriously sick with a mental illness.

Another friend, a regular member of our hour of prayer to stop the teaching of war at Marquette University wrote me today that her mother was seriously ill and in intensive care in the hospital.

Finally tonight I talked with a member of Faith In Recovery, mental health ministry, at Church whose mother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, a tragic illness, and is no longer able to attend Church and our faith-sharing group. This person also suffers from a mental illness so the gradual loss of his mother to this disease is extremely hard to bear.

I have faced death and mental illness in my family and friends. Death and Illness seem built into human nature. They are tragic and make me sad but not angry. They seem to be a natural part of the ebb and flow of life.

But as I mentioned last night in this posting, “hardness of heart” is something I have great difficulty with. Today we stood on the street corner at Marquette University for our silent time of prayer to stop the teaching of war at Marquette. It was very cold outside and we were few in number. But there we stood silently with our sign, trying to soften hearts that can take training of war as ‘normal’ in a Catholic University. A few women came by and stood a while with us to show support. A view others gave us a sign that they were in support. Most, like the Catholic administrators of Marquette, just ignored us and went on their way.

Death and illnesses are somethings we cannot ignore. Teaching war in a Catholic University seems to be something some can ignore. But they cannot. As Gandhi, St. Ignatius, and many others have taught us, actions speak louder than words. Marquette, with its silence on this moral issue of teaching war on campus, is saying loud and clear to everyone who can hear that we support war as a means to achieve peace.

Of these three, death, illnesses and hardening of heart, death is the final act, illnesses can slow one down but a hard heart denies reality and leaves one walking in a dream world. Death we cannot avoid; Illnesses we can have something to say about but not control; Hard hearts we can try to wake up.

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