4 minute read
Questions of Faith
Comment
Father Wilmer Todd
Being on the right side of history
Our society is still very divided on racial issues. I grew up in a white culture where all the pictures of Jesus, Mary and the saints were white. These images have formed my religious and social outlook. How can I be part of the healing process that our country so badly needs?
Recently, I was preaching at Our Lady of the Isle Church in Grand Isle about the gift of peace that Jesus wants to give each of us. When Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” it was not just a casual greeting like, “How are you doing?” He was bestowing his gift of peace on his followers.
Jesus offers us the same gift of peace. However, we will never receive this great gift if we have hate in our hearts. Recently, I heard someone say on television, “When you hate someone, the only person affected is the hater.” A group of people on retreat joined us for Mass; they were all wearing yellow shirts. To make a point I said, “If I hate all people who wear yellow shirts, the hate is not in the yellow shirt people, the hate is in my heart, eating away at me.”
Later it made me think – this silly example is how prejudice works. Someone thinks with a negative bias: “I hate all people whose skin is darker than mine . . . who belong to another religious group . . . who belong to another political party . . . whose eyes are more slanted than mine . . . who have a different sexual orientation . . . who belong to a different social class, etc.
Again, “Hate is in the hater,” but too often we see the hater carrying out their hatred by acts of violence against innocent persons. If we want to experience the peace that Jesus wants to give to each of his followers, then we must rid ourselves of all hate and prejudices toward anyone.
Did you ever hear the phrase, “If English were good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us?” We are not sure who said this but this quote is often used to put down politicians for being ignorant of history and religion. However, knowing some religious history is important for us.
First, Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the apostles were Jewish. They all belonged to a mid-Eastern group known as Semitic people. Their skins were darker than the average EuroAmerican. Jewish author Micha Danzig wrote in his Forward: “Jews are not ‘white.’ We are a tribal people from the Levant. Many of our people were forcibly exiled out of and into other nations, including in Europe, where we were taken in chains and often subjected to brutal and oppressive institutional racism based on our ethnicity, tribal affiliation, culture and faith.”
Practically all the pictures we see of Jesus and his contemporaries look like us with beards and long apparel. Most medieval religious paintings we have were painted by artists who never visited the Holy Land. We have come to identify with Jesus as being Caucasian. He was not!
In the Acts of the Apostles, the Lord instructs Philip to go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. He went and found “an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it’” (Acts 8:26-29).
Philip explains the Scripture and later baptizes him. Now this man is an African, black. Our church was founded on “People of Color.” It was only later on that Cornelius, a centurion with the Italian Cohort, was brought into the church by Peter after some hesitation. Peter had a special vision where God was showing him that non-Jewish people should become part of the church.
When our Lord or our Lady appears to people, their appearances are identified with that particular nationality or race. Look at Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego as native Mexican with all the local dress and features. When the heavenly visitors appear to Caucasians, they look like white people. God is God for all people no matter who we are.
When Americans are examining our racial understandings and prejudices, it is good to know our history, but being on the right side of history is even better. We cannot receive Jesus’ gift of peace if we are still holding on to racial hatred. Together let us work on our biases. BC
