New Wineskins Fall 2007

VOLUME II t NUMBER 2 t FALL 2007

NEW WINESKINS Joseph Carver, S.J.

By Their Fruits You Will Know Them Phil Hurley, S.J. The Music of the Wesley Brothers Jenny Patten Gargiulo Church of the Gesú: A Few of My Favorite Things Janelle Peregoy & Glen Chun, S.J. Pilgrimage to Chalma Anne Ellsworth “Friendship” and “Justice” in the Catholic Worker Movement Corinna Guerrero The Liberation from Binding Jean Ngoy Nyembo, S.J. Suffering Martin Schreiber, S.J. Marcia’s Anointing of the Sick

A Journal of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley

NEW WINESKINS New Wineskins is a collaborative effort of Jesuit and lay students at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. The ideas expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

All articles and materials contained in New Wineskins, the Journal of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, are the intellectual property of the authors and may not be reproduced or used without the written consent of the authors.

Please direct comments, letters to the editor, and student submissions to: wineskinseditor@jstb.edu

Cover Design by Oliver Putz Layout and Typesetting by Many Neighbors Gold

Š Copyright 2007 The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley

NEW WINESKINS Table of Contents

By Their Fruits You Will Know Them

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Joseph Carver, S.J. applies the lessons learned in his family’s orchard to the life of the Spirit.

The Music of the Wesley Brothers

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Phil Hurley, S.J. explores the theology and faith of the hymns written by the founders of the Methodist tradition.

Church of the Gesú: A Few of My Favorite Things

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Jenny Patten Gargiulo shares her view of our sister chapel in Rome.

Pilgrimage to Chalma

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Janelle Peregoy and Glen Chun, S.J. visit a holy site south of the border and share their insights.

“Friendship” and “Justice” in the Catholic Worker Movement

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Anne Ellsworth discusses three vital aspects of friendship as the underlying foundation of justice-seeking in Catholic Worker movement from its earliest inception to the present day.

The Liberation from Binding:

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An Interpretation of the Hagar Narrative of Gen. 16:1-15; 21:1-21 Corinna Guerrero discovers an unprecedented relationship with God in the prayer language of the story of Hagar.

Suffering

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Jean Ngoy Nyembo, S.J. finds a rich spiritual subtext about the human condition in the film and novel The Shipping News.

Marcia’s Anointing of the Sick

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Martin Schreiber, S.J. revisits the spiritual, theological and pastoral dimensions of the sacrament formerly known as extreme unction.

Editor’s Foreword Beginning with the earliest experiences of our first parents, human beings have continually found that there is more to every aspect of this world than might initially meet the eye. Apples and snakes are more than simply apples and snakes. Relationships among human beings or between humans and God have dimensions of depth yet to be explored. Sharing in a holy pilgrimage in a culture different from our own can reveal facets of our common faith, our diverse cultures, and ourselves that we never knew existed. The melody and words of a hymn of praise can affect the lives of individuals and communities decades and continents away from the place of their writing.

As we journey ever more deeply into the life of the Spirit and the heart of the beloved community, we find that something as simple and often taken for granted as friendship can be the foundation that emboldens us to question more boldly, do justice more fully, and enter more deeply into the mystery of faith. The stories of the Gospels, and those of the Hebrew Scriptures, take on deeper meaning and resonance with each new reading and prayerful meditation. A life lived accepting the challenges of service and faith continually takes us places, both physical and spiritual, that we had never dreamed of going or even knew existed, and our initial assessments of events and persons are constantly challenged by new discoveries.

In preparing this, our fourth issue of New Wineskins, we the editorial staff had continual cause to marvel at the diversity of experience and insight that has shaped our JSTB student community, from both old and young, vowed religious and lay, American and international students, as well as those in master’s degree, licentiate and doctoral programs. Like most experiences in life, there is more to the JSTB community than meets the eye; we are a rich cross-section of those across the globe who are passionately drawn to learning and ministry in the service of Jesus Christ.

Our experiences together here, as well as those in the past and those we have yet to face, also encompass the full spectrum of human experience, no matter whether our backgrounds lie in privilege, poverty, or somewhere in between. We have all suffered and journeyed with those who are suffering. We have all known sickness of body and of spirit. Our solidarity with those who are suffering, our ability to answer the call of justice, and our preparedness for pastoral ministry are all shaped by these experiences, by the extent to which we can delve beneath their surfaces and discover the richness they can teach us.

The community of the JSTB is composed of a rich tapestry of experiences, and stories about those experiences. Some of those stories are told in these pages. We welcome your voice in the chorus, whether in response, solidarity, questioning, or celebration. We urge you to dive in, confident that you will find in these stories much more than meets the eye.

Bobbi Dykema Katsanis Editor in Chief †Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Editorial Staff

Sean, Bobbi, Lee, Caroline, Jon

Jon Barber is a second year MA student, pursuing a major in Cultural and Historical Studies of Religions. His academic interests include Interreligious Dialogue, Comparative Theology, Zen Buddhism, and the writings of Thomas Merton. His Master’s Thesis compares the poetry of San Juan de la Cruz with the travel journals of Japan’s Matsuo Basho. Jon plans to graduate in May 2008.

Sean Dempsey, SJ, is a member of the California Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), and a 3rd-year Master of Divinity student at JSTB. He has previously studied English literature and philosophy, and holds a master’s degree in American Studies. His research interests include American religion, history, and urban ethnography.

Br. Lee S. Colombino, SJ, is a member of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus. He is in his second year of studies in the Master of Theological Studies program at JSTB, with a focus in Art and Religion. To complement the philosophical-theoretical aspects of this discipline, he is also taking studio art classes at the University of San Francisco and the Atelier School of Classical Realism in Oakland, CA. He is reluctant to articulate a favorite medium as he enjoys working in both 2-D and 3-D. Bobbi Dykema Katsanis is a doctoral student in Art and Religion at the GTU. Her research interests include images of the Magdalene and the visual culture of the Reformation. She has recently published an essay on Noli me tangere imagery in the biblical studies journal Interpretation.

Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals, and her chapbook The Magdalene’s Notebook appeared last year from Finishing Line Press. She shares her home with her husband, Jason.

Caroline Mbonu is a Nigerian and a member of the Congregation of the Handmaid of the Holy Child Jesus. She is a doctoral student of Interdisciplinary Studies in theology at the Graduate Theologic al Union, Berkeley. Before coming to Berkeley, Sister Caroline taught business at the University of Uyo and at St. Joseph Major Seminary Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria. She also worked as a Management Accountant at the Feder al University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. Her scholarly interests include Gender hermeneutics and theologies of African traditions and Religion.

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“By their fruits you will know them”

by Joseph Carver, S.J.

A fruit tree exists simply to bear fruit. A fruit tree left untrained will produce “suckers.”

These vertical growths, though they stand tall and proud, do not produce serviceable fruit but act mainly to sap strength from the tree. These branches grow rapidly and overwhelm the lower branches so they bear less fruit. By contrast horizontal branches are generative, fruitbearing, growing slowly and methodically.

When I was a boy, growing up on a farm in upstate New York, I could not help but notice a flower’s humble beginnings or the need for a seed to lie quietly for a time before it begins to grow. Only now do I realize now how much I was learning. My father and I spent long hours pruning the vertical growth from dozens of trees in the north pasture orchard, and painting the trunks white to prevent sunscald. Though the trees were quite old and I was quite young, I knew well that Gala apples were juicy and sweet and came only on woody branches—the branches I was taught not to prune. “Why are we cutting the suckers?” I’d ask.

“The sunlight needs to reach the lower branches and a tree full of suckers just isn’t healthy.”

Dad answered. “Well, why does a tree produce suckers then?” I asked. “Trees can spread with suckers, but only when they are bent horizontally and laid under the soil.” Dad answered. Then he’d add “if you take an apple and plant it, it won’t produce the same exact tree; apple seeds don’t breed true.” Not really sure what it all meant, I just kept cutting. I’d cut the branches I was taught to prune, and I remember that they didn’t even feel like part of the tree at all.

They were like whips that jutted out of the tree, not sturdy or solid, and they smelled funny when my clippers snapped. Hour after hour I’d work, only vaguely aware that this long process would be well worth the effort, with quality and quantity of fruit produced.

Looking back, it’s indeed clear I was learning that the natural world is our first teacher. There

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is hardly a parable told in the gospels without reference to plants, sparrows or some other phenomena of the natural world. Christ uses countless examples from nature to teach, illustrate, and comfort his followers. Karl Rahner writes, “grace flows from nature,” and Thomas Aquinas writes “grace builds on nature.” Both Rahner and Aquinas were convinced that one path to understanding God was the Book of Creation; creation speaks of God, and that same grace teaches us to live in right relationship with God. Even the psalmist echoes this theme: “Truth springs up from the Earth.” (Psalm 85) If indeed the natural world is our first teacher, then it seems prudent to turn to the natural world when we’re faced with questions and situations that cannot be addressed by reason alone.

To attempt to grasp the recently surfaced scandals in our church can overwhelm us.

The deliberate deceit and pain can paralyze us into inaction. We can be spun in frustrating circles in a seemingly endless talk-show preoccupation, when in reality today we are faced with a simple question: Why did it happen? To shine the light of truth on the deplorable evil of sexual abuse is good and necessary. But we can turn to the natural world to encounter God’s design and receive further direction, and instruction, for it was created without a will of its own, and cannot help but follow God’s will and design.

C.H. Dodd wrote “a parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life that so arrests the listener by its vividness or strangeness that it leaves the mind in sufficient doubt about its previous application so as to tease the mind into active thought.” Christ often turned to the natural world; might the world be offering itself to our creative imagination in such a way that something as humble as an apple tree could instruct us?

Priests and religious, at their best, are servant leaders inspiring lay people to be better Christians, to bear good fruit, whether as parents, students, educators or business persons.

Leadership in the Church that proceeds horizontally will produce fruit as well, for it builds on the example of Christ: it does not control hierarchically in vertical fashion in the model of laity-priest-bishop, but liberates in a horizontal direction laterally to bear fruit.

The recent cover-up of the sexual scandal, however repugnant, is symptomatic of a more enduring problem: the crisis of authority. True leadership is authoritative only when it evokes the best in those led. It frees them for the fullness of their potential as persons in a group; in contrast “authoritarianism is authority that has ceased to struggle to become leadership.” We as a Church have retrenched into a vertical self-serving structure seeking religious security and authority, while Christ summons us to servant leadership.

As the fall apple season approaches, and I anxiously await the Gala apples from upstate New York, I am reminded that Dad used to say “The trees will produce more if we prune them.” Christ trims clean every branch that does produce fruit so that it might produce

Philip Endean (1996) “Rahner, Christology and Grace,” The Heythrop Journal 37 (3), 286.

Mary T. Clark (2000) An Aquinas Reader. Fordham University Press, NY, p.i.

C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961, p. 5 Richard McCormick, America July 1996. “Authority and Leadership: the Moral Challenge” p. 14.

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more fruit� (Jn 15:2) I knew that suckers like all plant growth sought the sunlight, yet at the same time I was beginning to understand that the suckers were feeding on the rest of the tree. Christ invites us all into horizontal collaboration to be freed from those branches that do not bear fruit. Consequently, we as Church are left with a decision. Do we follow a solely vertical model of Church that is barren and unproductive or do we follow a horizontal model of Church becoming fruitful and generative? tt t

Joseph Carver, SJ is a member of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus. He is a second year student of theology pursuing both a MDiv and an STL. The focus of his STL is Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology.

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The Music of the Wesley Brothers

by Phil Hurley, S.J.

Music is a vital part of the worship of any Christian community. The role of sacred music

in the life and work of John and Charles Wesley had a profound effect upon the Methodist community they helped found, and subsequently on the music of other Christian churches.

The music of the Wesley brothers strikes a profound balance. It is aesthetically pleasing as well as theologically rich. It engages the individual believer at a personal level, while also incorporating him or her as part of the larger community. Above all, people in the early Methodist communities participated in making sacred music, which drew their hearts to more profound worship of God together. Here I will present a brief survey of the role of music in the lives and ministry of John and Charles Wesley, concluding with some thoughts on what the brothers’ experience might teach Christians about sacred music today.

Musical Influences on the Wesleys The Wesley brothers were born in the first decade of the eighteenth century to Susanna and Samuel Wesley of Epworth, Lincolnshire, England. Samuel was an Anglican priest. His sons’ first experiences with music were likely the psalms they sang with their mother in the rectory, and with the choir of St. Andrew’s parish. The songs of the parish were “English country parish music,” a new style at the time, which attempted to form a body of worship music that was musically accomplished and spiritually rich, yet easy to sing. It often consisted of a melody in the tenor range, with relatively straightforward harmonies in bass, alto and soprano, such that the songs could be well performed by a small group of singers in a rural church. The texts were largely those of the psalms, and German Baroque composers such as Bach inspired the tunes. John Wesley went on to sing worship psalms as a student at the Charterhouse School. Charles went to Westminster School near the famous Abbey of the same name, where he was influenced by the cathedral choral tradition of organist William Croft.

Here the psalms of the Book of Common Prayer became a lasting part of his memory, their verses appearing often in his later work.

Carlton R. Young, Music of the Heart: John & Charles Wesley on Music and Musicians, an Anthology (Carol Stream, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1995), 33, 115.

Stephen A. Marini, Sacred Song in America; Religion, Music and Public Culture (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 76-77.

Young, Heart, 33, 115.

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Both brothers attended Christ Church at Oxford University during their advanced studies, which led to their ordination as Anglican priests. It was also here that they formed the “Holy Club,” a group dedicated to more authentic Christian living and devotion. During this time they were influenced by the hymns in the songbooks of Thomas Walter and John Tufts, as well as the hymns of Isaac Watts. A brief look at the work of these churchmen will help underscore their formative influence on the Wesleys.

Beginning in the early 1720’s Walter and Tufts sought to raise the level of musical quality in New England Protestant church worship, which had developed odd and aesthetically poor forms of singing the psalms, as exemplified by “lining out,” in which a deacon or other leader would read each line of the psalms before the congregation sang it. Walter and Tufts developed musical schools, as well as texts directed to the people in the pews, to help them gain some proficiency in reading music and singing in choral style.

In England, Isaac Watts had already begun a revolution in hymnody that was implemented in the new Walter and Tufts texts that influenced the Wesleys at Oxford. Watts had moved away from an intoned or chanted metrical psalmody and instead wrote songs in a form that was at once poetic, but also simple and easy for a congregation quickly to learn and sing. Instead of using only the texts of the psalms, Watts added original songs that spoke of explicitly Christian experiences, and when he did use psalm texts he often modified them to include distinctively New Testament language. In this remaking of worship music, Watts brought the qualities of subjectivity, personal spirituality, and emotion together with a rich, objective, and doctrinal content. This content also reached out to the widest possible Protestant audience by focusing on commonly held beliefs. While they had the characteristics of being deeply religious and worshipful, the songs were also communal in their orientation to common sentiments of a congregation—even if expressed in “I” rather than “we” statements. Watts’ work is said to be the birth of the “English evangelical hymn.” Oxford, then, was a fertile environment for the Wesleys. They took their experience of the shift in English church music as a starting point for their own musical ministry, especially in composing their own hymns.

After completing their studies and being ordained as Anglican clergy, the brothers engaged in a missionary stint in Savannah, Georgia. On route to Georgia, the brothers encountered Moravians and their church song. John, who was quick to learn languages, conversed with these German Christians of the pietistic tradition on the ship. Their Singstunde, or “singing hour,” particularly

Young, Heart, 33, 115.

Marini, 74-76.

Marini, 75-76.

Young, Heart, 25-26.

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impressed him. Later, in Savannah, John would continue to join in the Moravians’ prayer on a regular basis. This interaction precipitated a later visit by the brothers to the Moravian Herrnhut community of Nikolaus Ludwig Count Zinzendorf in Saxony. In the course of these encounters the brothers were strongly influenced both spirituality and Both of the Wesleys had musically. John, who played the flute regularly, used this instrument deeply personal conversion or to teach others in his community some of the Moravian hymns. “rebirth” experiences.

Furthermore, both of the Wesleys had deeply personal conversion or “rebirth” experiences back in England after visiting Herrnhut. Charles sought expression for this religious experience in his first evangelical-style song, “Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin,” which we will look at more closely below. His later hymns as a whole seek to include pietistic themes.

The Wesleys’ Musical Ministry

The distinguished Methodist composer and professor of church music, Carlton R. Young, characterizes John Wesley as a “tune book editor,” and Charles Wesley as “lyrical theologian.”10 John worked at musical text editing and publishing for over fifty years. His first hymnal, A Collection of Hymns and Psalms, was published in Charleston, South Carolina in 1737, during his missionary work in Georgia.11 It is the prototype of the modern English hymnal, in that it contains a variety of texts for worship: translations of hymns, psalms set to meter, and devotional poetry. In 1780 he published his last hymnal, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists. John’s preface to this collection is a classic piece of his writing, and expresses with remarkably contemporary sensibilities the purpose of a good hymnal: It is not so large as to be either cumbersome or expensive and it is large enough to contain such a variety of hymns, as will not soon be worn threadbare. It is large enough to contain all the important truths of our most holy religion, whether speculative or practical; yea, to illustrate them all, and to prove them both by Scripture and Reason: and this is done in a regular order. The hymns are not carelessly jumbled together, but carefully ranged under proper heads, according to the experience of real Christians. So that this book is, in effect, a little body of experimental and practical divinity.12 This portion of the preface illustrates the Wesleys’ concern to have a dynamic interplay between preaching and song: preach what you sing and sing what you preach. The hymnbook for the Wesleys, as for later Methodism, functioned also as a prayer book and catechism.13

12

13

10 11

Young, Heart, 2, 34.

Russell E. Richey, Early American Methodism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991),102, note 8.

Young, Heart, 33, 115.

Young, Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 49.

Young, Hymnal, 13.

Young, Hymnal, 11-12.

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John also published so-called “tune books,” in which he compiled musical scores composed or adapted to accompany Charles’ prolific work in producing sacred texts. John’s selection of tunes sheds more light on his musical influences. They range from folk tunes or imitation of folk tunes, to melodies from Italian opera and to Handelian oratorio.14

For his part, Charles stands as the premier hymn writer of the eighteenth century. He is said to have composed from 6,500 to as many as 9,000 hymns! This is all the more remarkable given that he seems to have had little to no formal musical training beyond participating in the singing at the Wesleys’ home parish and at Oxford, and playing the flute a bit. Opinions vary as to how strong his singing voice was, with his son Samuel commenting that his father “could join in a hymn or simple melody tolerable well in tune.”15 Apparently Charles himself used to attribute his sons’ musical talent to their mother Sally. He wrote these self-reflective lines in a poem focused as a whole on extolling the musical achievements of his children: Ye powers who guide my actions, tell Why I, in whom the seeds of music dwell, Who most its power and excellence admire, Whose very breast itself a lyre Was never taught the happy art Of modulating sounds...16 Nonetheless, there is no denying his gift for composing hymns. Many of Charles’ songs are still in use today, especially in The United Methodist Hymnal, but also in the liturgical songbooks of other denominations and churches.

Songs as Theology and Songs of the Heart

As indicated in John’s Preface to his last hymnal as quoted above, Wesleyan hymns, and Charles’ texts in particular, were rich in theological content.

Wesleyan hymns, and Charles’ Indeed, Thomas A. Langford describes them as “a theology one can texts in particular, were rich in sing.”17 The 1780 final book of hymns, known as the Collection, theological content. serves as perhaps the climax of this “lyrical theology” in the work of the two brothers. Its table of contents reveals various subject areas of the Wesleyan theology 14 15 16

17

Young, Hymnal, 19.

Young, Heart, 116.

Young, Heart, 116-117.

Young, Heart, 152.

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that was conveyed through the hymns, including: “Exhorting and beseeching to return to God,” “Prayer for a Blessing,” “Interceding for the World,” and “Giving Thanks.”18

An early prototype of Charles’ later hymns is “Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin,” his first in the evangelical style, written after his conversion experience as explained above. The song’s witness to the power of the grace of God to affect personal conversion is matched by its affirmation of evangelization as a natural consequence of such an experience.

Indeed the song is itself the beginning of that evangelization:

That I, a child of wrath and hell, I shall be called a child of God! . . .

Shall I, the hallowed cross to shun, Refuse his righteousness to impart, by hiding it within my heart? ...

Outcast of men, to you I call, harlots and publicans and thieves; he spreads his arms to embrace you all, sinners alone his grace receives.19

As mentioned earlier, the Wesleys sought to sing what they preached and to preach what they sang; the same doctrine was to be found in both sermon and song, in what the people heard and in what they themselves proclaimed in word and music. Aside from the Bible itself, the texts most often cited in John’s written sermons are the hymns. The “reasoned word” ushered in by Calvin and the Reformed tradition was converted by the Wesleys into the

18 19

Young, Heart, 153.

Young, Heart, 156.

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“sung word.” In this melodic form, their theology was able to move much more readily within the hearts of believers, rather than remaining solely at the level of their intellects. Indeed, we can see a parallel between the Wesleyan dynamic of internalizing doctrine through music, and the way stained glass windows of medieval times sought to convey the history and truths of the faith visually.20

This attention to moving the heart through song is perhaps an even more striking characteristic of the Wesleyan hymns than their doctrinal content, which brings Carlton Young to call these works the “music of the heart.”21 In the tradition of Isaac Watts, the brothers sought to integrate content and aesthetics, truth and beauty, mind and heart. And in order for the songs to most deeply move people, the people had to sing them. From the earliest, Methodists sought to foster an informed and fully active participation in their services, especially through singing. The Wesley brothers were convinced that profoundly personal experiences of conversion and of God’s love, such as they had experienced, were offered to all people.

Their encouragement (even insistence!) on the full participation of the congregation in singing was meant to foster an openness of heart to such experiences. Music was prominently featured at their services and meetings, which were opened and concluded with song.

During the course of these events there were also times for singing between the lessons and preaching.22

The brothers’ care for maintaining the quality of the communal song gave rise to very specific directions. In a 1761 publication, John offered this kind of advice: have all in the congregation sing; keep up a lively tempo with the lead singer; sing neither “as if you were half dead,” nor so loud as to stand out too much; and, have “an eye to God in every word you sing.”23 It is remarkable that as Methodism developed the Wesleyan hymns were able to reach and move people from such a broad range of socio-economic groups, people of various levels of education, and people of different races.24 The Wesleys’ gift for helping others to express the language of the heart through song seems to touch upon what is at once authentically religious and most truly human.

Conclusion

John and Charles Wesley remain models for ministry in our age of Christian ecumenism and inculturated evangelization. They were open to using musical influences, both sacred and secular, to create worship songs suited for the people of their language, time and place. This is a precursor to contemporary attempts to work within these same categories in

22

23

24

20 21

Young, Heart, 32.

Young, Heart, 19ff.

Young, Heart, 27-29.

Young, Heart, 72-73.

Young, Heart, 30.

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ministry through music today. The Wesleys’ focus on active participation in congregational singing has marked many Protestant churches with a The Wesleyan songs themselves are models rich singing tradition. The active participation called of sacred music for communal worship: for at the Second Vatican Council is helping to usher in theologically rich, easy to learn and sing, this same vigor to Catholic worship, including through aesthetically pleasing, and moving to the hearts music. The Wesleyan songs themselves are models of of believers and seekers alike. sacred music for communal worship: they are at once theologically rich, easy to learn and sing, aesthetically pleasing, and moving to the hearts of believers and seekers alike.

Perhaps looking to the Wesleys today can help contemporary composers to bridge the gap between various forms of sacred song which stand in need of some “inter-genre dialogue.”

Traditional hymns, Protestant and Catholic, can be transcendent and theologically rich, but are often a bit heady and difficult to sing. Contemporary evangelical “praise and worship” songs are often intimate and heartfelt personal prayers to God, but may lack a sense of communal worship and social concern. Contemporary Catholic and mainline Protestant liturgical music, which rightfully emphasizes a newfound sense of community, can sometimes lack a clear reference point in God who is transcendent as well as immanent.

The Wesley brothers provide one lesson above all for aspiring composers: Let the music flow from your own deepest experiences of God’s saving love—in personal prayer, conversion of life, theological study, communal worship, and daily living. Let it be music of God and music of the heart.

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Phillip Hurley, SJ, a Jesuit scholastic and deacon from the Maryland Province, is in the third year Master of Divinity class at JSTB. He is a (very) amateur musician and loves music in general–sacred, secular and everything in between. Ecumenical experiences with music in youth ministry and revival movements prompted his interest in the Wesley brothers.

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Church of the Gesù Photographs: A Few of My Favorite Things

By Jenny Patten Gargiulo

Having lived in Rome for a few years at the start of my doctoral studies in Art and Religion,

I spent the summers teaching art history to American students studying abroad. I have many fond memories of taking these students into the Jesuit Church of the Gesù to gaze upon one of the most famous Baroque ceilings in the history of art. No matter how many times I had been there, I palpably relived my own first encounter as I watched my students’ faces transform through differing phases of awe, bewilderment, disbelief, appreciation, and even dizziness!

Sometimes I spent my lunch hour in the church, my head resting on the back of the pew, looking up at the ceiling and contemplating each figure’s identity, function, meaning, and creation in relationship to the entire ceiling’s composition and even the church as a whole.

As I prepare to teach The Jesuits and the Arts course next Spring as part of my TeagleWabash Fellowship, I struggle with how to bring these experiences and emotions to my students in a Berkeley classroom, roughly 6,300 miles away from the Gesù. On a recent trip to Rome I went into the church with the goal of taking some photographs of details that captured some of those powerful feelings I described earlier, from light dramatically streaming into the church through a clerestory window, to the minute details of the IHS monograms in the hands of gilt angel statuary. I have selected a few of my favorite photos to share with the New Wineskins readers.

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* Behold the Name of Jesus - This angelic bronze sculpture alights before the altar in the Saint Francis Xavier Chapel. [Above] * Cuppola and Crossing - In what might be considered the heart of the church, the St. Ignatius Chapel (left transept), high altar, cuppola (dome) and Saint Francis Xavier Chapel (right transept) all come together in this glorious crossing. [Right]

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* Golden Light of the Drum - Looking up into the dome a warm heavenly light pours into the celestial sphere. [Above] * Light Streaming Into a Clerestory Window - Visible rays of white light create a natural spotlight, lending to the dramatic flair of the famous Baroque ceiling Triumph of the Name of Jesus, by Giovanni Battista Gaulli. [Right] tt t

Jenny Patten Gargiulo is a doctoral student and Teagle Wabash Fellow at the Graduate Theological Union and an instructor in the art department at Sonoma State University. She has lived in Florence and Rome for a total of four years where she taught American students studying abroad.

International education, pedagogy, Christian iconography, and theological aesthetics are among her research interests.

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Pilgrimage to Chalma

by Janelle Peregoy & Glen Chun, SJ Insertion/Experience

Chalma is located about 70 kilometers from Mexico City, and 25 kilometers from the city

of Cuernavaca. This medium sized town, located in a valley, has a central road that snakes through it, following the contours of the sacred river that runs through it. The surrounding area is hilly and mountainous, not unlike the foothills of the Sierra Nevada of northern California in both contours and terrain, in the types of rocks and color of the soil, and in the trees and botanicals.

Chalma is a pilgrimage site that dates back to pre-Columbian times. Until the colonization and conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century, the sacred attraction was Ozteotl, the Dark Lord of the Cave. Ozteotl, represented by a black, cylindrical stone, was believed to possess magical healing powers. Other indigenous traditions also exist which connect Ozteotl with the gods of the night and with their jaguar god of war. In either case, it represents a tremendous sacred power.

In the 1530s, Franciscan Friars visited the cave where the Ozteotl image rested, and preached against it to the Indians, encouraging or demanding them to convert and turn to Christ. Three days later, upon visiting the cave again, the Friars and the Indians found that the cave had been “miraculously� transformed. The stone image of Ozteotl lay broken on the floor of the cave, and a crucifix with a black-coloured Jesus hung on the wall, and beautiful flowers grew all around the inside and entrance of the cave. The Indians in the group instantly knelt down, began to worship the new black image of Jesus, and converted to Christianity. This is the legend.

Today, Chalma is the second largest pilgrimage site in Mexico, after, of course, Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Tepayac area of Mexico City. Many of the pilgrims walk in organized groups, winding their way through the valleys up to Chalma over a number of days. When we went, the vast majority of the people drove as close to the pilgrimage site as they could. The high times of pilgrimage occur during the feast of St. Michael

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as well as during Holy Week. One can imagine many more walking pilgrimage groups during these two periods. Though the starting points vary depending on the intent of the pilgrims, it seems that everyone stops at the entrance to the town itself to put on a crown of flowers and to wash oneself—often hands, face and head, and for some, the whole body—before continuing on to the church which is now the point of completion of the pilgrimage. In Chalma, the main path is tightly surrounded by venders selling all types of goods: holy cards, crucifixes, images and statues, rosaries and scapulars, food and drinks, clothing, toys, music, etc.

The church marks the end point of the pilgrimage. It has a very long name: El Convento Real y Sanctuaria de Nuestro Señor Jesus Christo y San Miguel de los Cuevas de Chalma (the Royal Monastery and Sanctuary of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Saint Michael of the Caves of Chalma). Pilgrims stream into the church, often waiting in very long lines. They deposit their flowers at the entrance, and slowly snake their way up towards the altar and venerated crucifix of the black-Jesus. There, they receive blessings, and sometimes leave holy medals or gifts in prayer for something or in thanksgiving for prayers answered. Some might even stay for Mass. There is an adjacent area for the lighting of candles. The church stands at the foot of the hill where the original cave of Ozteotl is located, which is also visited. On the other side of the monastery runs the sacred stream, flowing out of the cave. Here, some pilgrims wash or bathe.

Eight of us went to Chalma on Sunday of the second weekend, six students and two Mexican Jesuits. It was an ordinary Sunday, but still very crowded with pilgrims up to a mile around the sanctuary. We drove until the location of the first entrance to the area, where, like the other pilgrims, we received the crowns of flowers for our heads, and washed our hands and heads in pools of water. We walked for a couple of miles and then drove the rest of the way into Chalma. We represented the small population of pilgrims who walked. In Chalma, we then joined the huge crowds of people walking through the town, tightly squeezed between the rows of venders. We visited the shrine, depositing our flowers at the entrance, and exploring Ozteotl’s cave.

It was very crowded inside the church, and there were long lines of people patiently waiting to enter; many people were carrying a range of religious paraphernalia: crucifixes and statues (some were quite large), pictures, rosaries, and bottles of holy water. Entire multigenerational families were there. The atmosphere felt reverential and peaceful, but also festive and grateful.

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Having also visited the Shrine of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we made natural comparisons. Both locations, Tepayac and Chalma, are holy sites of pilgrimage that date to pre-Columbian times, and which were the sites of miraculous events of the early colonial period, resulting in the conversion of innumerable indigenous people to Christianity.

Chalma felt more down-to-earth. The buildings were closer together and not as imposing in structure, size and quantity. Moreover, there was less complexity in the understanding of its history, partly because it was less famous, but also because there wasn’t the same type of controversy surrounding the historicity of the event and the image.

Social Analysis Pilgrimage, I think, can be described as a genre of devotion or popular religiosity.

Pilgrimages are found in most or all of the religious traditions: the Muslim Hajj to Mecca; Christians, Jews & Muslims to Jerusalem and biblical sites of One aspect of pilgrimage takes shape the Holy Land; Temple of the Tooth in Kandi, Sri Lanka; St. in a more mental or emotional journey, Peter’s Basilica; Varanasi/Benares; Santiago de Compostela; manifesting in the preparations and the and many more. There are so many aspects to pilgrimage: the hopes and dreams that go with it. geographic location; the particular physical images or relics at the site; the journey of pilgrimage; the rituals surrounding the pilgrimage; the belief as to what is sacred and why.

Pilgrimage takes on several aspects. One aspect of pilgrimage is the physical journey to some particular place. However, another takes shape in a more mental or emotional journey, manifesting in the preparations and the hopes and dreams that go with it. In some traditions, pilgrimage often assumes a more simple nature. In such pilgrimages, pilgrims bring along very little and make few particular plans, in order to allow the pilgrim to experience greater dependency on God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In modern society, pilgrimages seem very strange. To go on a tour, or a visit, is common and acceptable, but to say “I am going on pilgrimage” makes some people exclaim, “Say what?” with an odd tone to their voice and quizzical look on their face.

We in the US are trained to separate the secular from the religious, in particular, keeping “religious” activity relegated to normal liturgical services.

Pilgrimage in less industrial-ized societies represents a part of the fabric of life.

Chalma as a pilgrimage spot isn’t just about the location where miraculous images were found.

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There seemed to be much more involved. Part of Chalma’s complexity lies in its historicity.

Regardless of how much the understanding is historic, legend, or myth, the fact that it has been a sacred place of pilgrimage since pre-Columbian times testifies to its continued importance.

It is validated by its sheer historicity, through epochs that span multiple political structures, cultures, and religious traditions.

The pilgrimage does not only manifest a solitary journey with God, it also possesses a communal character. We saw families and communities traveling together to Chalma. Parts of the route were very crowded, however, people shared the space and time cooperatively. No one was too impatient or pushy. People seemed to be focused on the activity, yet did not close themselves to what went on around them. Pilgrims interacted with each other respectfully.

It seemed reverential without being stiff. We didn’t see many people It all seemed to fit together: walking around with walk-mans or I-pods, but mobile phones were the physical world of desires, visible and common. The activity seemed to be both communal and the emotional world of hopes, communally present. and the spiritual-metaphysical Yet, we did encounter commercial elements. Obviously, the world of faith. townspeople of Chalma benefited from the pilgrims, selling all kinds of stuff to bring on the journey and to take home as gifts and souvenirs. I heard from others back in Mexico City that the town of Chalma is obviously wealthier, or at least, less poor, than the other towns around the area. The church makes out well too from donations and alms. Yet it all seemed to fit together: the physical world of desires and material things; the emotional world of hopes, desires, and adventures; and the spiritual-metaphysical world of faith and prayer.

Theological Reflection For us, the journey to Chalma had the exterior aspects of a pilgrimage, but really resulted in more of a modern tourist visit to a famous and interesting place. We didn’t make a true pilgrimage— there wasn’t the preparation, the timeconsuming travel, or the devotion to that particular image of Jesus in Chalma. We went partly out of interest, partly because we had to sign up for something, partly to observe it, and partly to participate as best as we could.

The Chalma pilgrimage employs many similar rituals and symbols as other religions, and has used these from preColumbian to contemporary Christian times. In terms of faith, we found the aspect of shared

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symbols and rituals affirming. Washing with water represents purification in many religions.

There is a fount of water coming from the cave, which feeds the stream that runs past the shrine and in which pilgrims wash or bathe themselves. The use of flowers as a sign of gift and gratitude, and as an offering to God, is quite common in other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. The walking or journey from one’s former world to the pilgrimage site also seems to be a common practice in pilgrimage. Chalma includes all of these. The use of the intellect falls short when trying to fully understand this great devotion to Chalma. Indeed, millions of other pilgrims have found a form of devotion in Chalma through Even if the historical facts of Chalma the ages and even through miraculous changes in the sacred don’t “fit” our conceptual, factual, image itself. There is something more than what meets the eye, logical mindset, there is something and we found it necessary to just enter into it as an adventure and primordial and sacred there. ask as few questions of understanding as possible. One cannot conceptualize an understanding of the Chalma pilgrimage, yet there is something about it that makes it special and holy—the uncountable, continuous prayers that have been brought there through much faith and sacrifice over many centuries. Is this in itself enough historicity for us modern seekers? If it isn’t, then one may never understand it.

One thing that stood out was the original image of Ozteotl—a dark cylindrical stone.

It was not an image of a god like we saw on our other tours, unlike the dramatic imagery of Tlaloc or Quetzalcoatl. The cylindrical stone appears to have predated much of the cultures like the Mayans, Aztecs and Olmecs. The worship of the stone seems similar to the worship of a creative power like that represented by the lingam of Shiva. So even if the historical facts of Chalma don’t “fit” our conceptual, factual, logical mindset, there is something primordial and sacred there.

Although we did not properly prepare for the pilgrimage and as a result, it took on an academic edge, I personally had a unique religious experience of my own while there. I now see Chalma as somewhat of a telling point on my life map. My best friend, a non-Catholic, is frequently tickled by my “One day in divinity school…” stories. I Walking down a dusty road while feel that I hit my comedic climax the day I discussed the Chalma wearing a crown of flowers became pilgrimage with her. “So this one day in Mexico, I went on a a symbol for me. I was undoubtedly pilgrimage down a mountain. I wore crowns of flowers. Did I being present to God. mention that it was just me and seven Jesuits?” While walking down the dusty highway towards Chalma, I had a very sudden awareness of God’s wonder within my life. If someone had told me two years ago that I would one day be in this exact situation, I would have laughed heartily. Yet, God has a habit of getting what He/She wants from each of us.

“Normal” Westernized Americans don’t go on pilgrimage. Time is money and spiritual devotion doesn’t exactly pay the bills. Yet, the seeming absurdity of walking down a dusty road while wearing a crown of flowers became a symbol for me. I was undoubtedly present to God. So no matter how detached and incredulous my initial reaction to the experience,

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it later came to represent the culmination of a series of often identity-tearing decisions and choices. Another student quipped earlier that week, “If I had gone to Weston I’d be in the middle of finals right now, instead I’m watching ESPN and drinking a Corona in Mexico City!” Chalma was my equivalent of a Corona and ESPN. It was the validation of God’s comforting tug within my heart.

Although I doubt that “normal” pilgrims were thinking those exact same thoughts, personally, it echoed true discernment and devotion.

I also realize what I had in common with every pilgrim there. I, too, was seeking.

Whether one first heard about Chalma in a two-line blurb on a sheet of paper or had longed for the opportunity his/her entire life, it represents something greater than the vision of the black Christ. It demonstrates an active search for the divine. To an outsider, the crown of flowers or the blisters from walking may seem superfluous or even antiquated; however, it signifies a conscious choice to travel there (whether on foot, bike or car) and live the experience. As Christians, we all journey towards Christ.

The journey to Chalma is a living, breathing symbol of this Christian journey. It requires leaving behind our mundane, daily lives and exploring a higher purpose. It is like saying, “I do not know every twist of this road. I do not know what to expect when I arrive. I just know that God is leading the way and in that I trust.”

Pastoral Planning As Westerners, we have the tendency to categorize the sacred as something that only takes place within the confines of a church, synagogue, or mosque. From what we learned about popular religiosity, the Mexican cultural reality is very different.

Merely seeing the image of the Virgin or dramatically representing the crucifixion can be as powerful as reading the Bible or hearing a homily. The sacred and profane can collide in ways Westerners might not even conceive because of the ease of familiarity between the two. The lyrics of the song “Blind” by Jars of Clay express the potential problems regarding faith and the typical Western mindset.

“Cynical, just your way/You play the doubting Thomas/Feel the scars and wipe the stains/So you fight and retreat/And talk yourself out of believing/In any peace you don’t see/Blind words you call/Blind words you fall/You’re logical, you can’t find/Any reason to believe in love/You are blind”

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How can the average American stimulate a different kind of religious experience?

Openness to different traditions is the key to answering this question. Taking the linear, structured and rational framework for viewing the world and instead instilling a sense of wonder into the sacred remains instrumental in this process. It seems difficult to visit Chalma without being awed by the devotion. The throngs of pilgrims weave through an open market in long lines just to catch a glimpse of the Cathedral. The aromas of simmering beans, flowers and leather goods permeate the air. Pilgrims come in all ages, shapes, sizes and capacities. Little children sit on their fathers’ shoulders to get a better view of the activity. Simple awareness of these nuances frees one’s mind and heart for the reality of Jesus’ presence among these people in practically tangible way. If I were ministering in a parish community and someone asked about the possible benefits of a pilgrimage like Chalma, I would argue that, discerning whether or not to take an opportunity like this is no small matter. It requires honest inquiry about one’s motivations. Does the person seek to experience God in a new way?

Has he/she researched the traditions and history behind the pilgrimage? Why this particular devotion as opposed to another? This experience may prove to be moving and/or emotional. Where is the person in his/her spirituality? Are there pressing prayers that one will carry on the pilgrimage with him/her? That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but one has to be aware that they may be shaping their experience with those concerns. Be prepared to be humbled not only by the shrine but by the other pilgrims.

The communal dimension to the pilgrimage, as mentioned before, represents another fascinating aspect of Chalma. Westerners tend to conceive pilgrimage as a personal decision, with such thoughts as “I wish to make a pilgrimage so that I can further develop my relationship with God.” Conversely, many of the pilgrims who go to Chalma do so with their entire families, entire neighborhoods or even entire pueblos! Being able to share the experience with others is crucial to further reflection and processing. Many people go as representatives of friends and family who were unable to make the journey. This custom perpetuates the idea that each of us is part of a larger whole, a larger community of believers. Therefore, I recommend that anyone going to Chalma not go alone. It is far more meaningful to think of oneself as one among many.

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Janelle Peregoy still enjoys walking around with Jesuits and seeking the divine. She hopes that after her May 2008 graduation, God, or at least one of the Jesuits, will walk her into a job.

Glen Chun, SJ, is a Jesuit Scholastic of the Chicago Province, and in his 3rd year of JSTB’s MDiv program. He was raised in Honolulu and worked in finance and accounting management for 17 years with The Bendix Corporation prior to entering the Society of Jesus in 1998.

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“Friendship” and “Justice” in the Catholic Worker Movement

by Anne K. Ellsworth

Consistent throughout Catholic social teaching is the premise that justice is to be realized

primarily through concrete actions on behalf of the wellbeing of others. So, we are to become people who honor human dignity, who practice solidarity, and who create an option for the poor. This is a compelling “to do” list. The imperative to act in accord with these ideals is even more urgent in a global community that perpetrates and suffers human degradation, fragmentation and marginalization. But Catholic social teaching ultimately falls short by failing to address the “how” that must accommodate any “to do” list. How do we become the kind of people who honor human dignity, practice solidarity and create an option for the poor?

The following study of friendship within the Catholic Worker Movement is an exploration into the “how” of the justice work envisioned in Catholic social teaching. The Catholic Worker is a social movement, an ongoing experiment of Christian community and a bold witness to the world about the obligation of the faith community to engage not only in the struggle for justice but to live as friends in that struggle. By looking at their example, we see how friendship sustains our efforts at justice and thus, how justice demands friendship.

A look at how friendship intersects in the work of justice points to the need for personal transformation in the work of social transformation. Friendship teaches us how we are to become, one by one, the kinds of people who constitute a just and good society. The Catholic Worker is an example of a smaller community, relating to one another as friends, contributing to the good of society.

In this chapter, my goal is to examine how friendship intersects with the work of justice. To this end, I will look to demonstrations of justice and aspects of friendship found in the writings of Dorothy Day and in the tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement.

Honoring the dignity of the human person, solidarity and making an option for the poor are three essential hallmarks of the Catholic Worker Movement. In this way, the philosophy of the Catholic Worker espouses fidelity to the vision of justice illustrated in Catholic social teaching. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, friendship is a relationship based on mutuality and requires fidelity, attention, intention, and accompaniment. Finally, and perhaps most

This article is excerpted from Anne Ellsworth, Friendship: The Sustaining Power of Justice, master’s thesis, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, 2007. The arguments outlined above are to be found in pages 31-58.

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importantly, friendship requires us to love—and be loved by—another. All of our efforts at justice, according to the Church’s social teaching, are rooted in the Christian norm of agape.

And so, I imagine that friendship is particularly well-suited to school us in the practice of justice.

Using the literature of the Catholic Worker tradition, I will first present the friendship of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and look at friendship within Catholic Worker communities.

Then, I will illustrate demonstrations of dignity of the human person, option for the poor, and solidarity, and examine aspects of friendships evident in these demonstrations of justice.

The Friendship of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin Day’s life is a witness to Wadell’s statement that “the Christian moral life is what happens to us when we grant God, and others, the freedom to be our friends.” Perhaps most crucial among Day’s friendships was her relationship with Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker. She writes of Maurin, His story must play a great part in this work because he was my master and I was his disciple; he gave me a way of life and instruction . . . and to explain what has come to be known as the “Catholic Worker Movement” in the Church throughout the world, I must write of him.

Day uses the language of disciple and master, rather than that of friend, but their relationship illustrates well what we call friendship. Maurin and Day envisioned what liberation theologians would later systematize. They knew that, in the words of Ada María Isasi- Díaz, “justice is a Christian requirement: one cannot call oneself a Christian and not struggle for justice.” In their friendship with one another, they encouraged each other to imagine what would become the Catholic Worker movement and realize their deepest desires to live lives engaged in prayer, Christian community, and the struggle for justice.

The friendship of Maurin and Day is a good illustration of the value and necessity of particular, preferential friendships in the moral life, the kind of friendship held in high esteem

by Aristotle and Aelred of Rievaulx, but generally disparaged in the Christian tradition. But Day and Maurin demonstrate the power of particular friendships to engage the imagination and to enlarge the heart making us ever more capable for the arduous work of justice.

Paul J. Wadell, Friendship and the Moral Life, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989),, 167.

Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1952), 11.

Ada María Isasi-Díaz, En La Lucha/in the Struggle: A Hispanic Women’s Liberation Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1993), 57.

For a closer glimpse into Maurin and Day’s friendship, see Day, The Long Loneliness and Selected Writings, as well as Ellsworth, 61-64.

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Catholic Worker Community and Friendship The legacy of the Catholic Worker was born from and nurtured by this friendship of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Explicitly, friendship was never articulated as the paradigm through which Day and others who joined in the labor of the Catholic Worker understood their work. However, I find aspects of friendship interwoven throughout much of Catholic Worker literature and believe that these aspects of friendship sustain Catholic Worker communities in their social justice work. To be sure, friendship is the ideal, and community life often falls far from the ideal. Consider what Father Jack Keehan from a Chicago Catholic Worker says in an interview with oral historian Rosalie Riegle Troester: You know, Catholic Workers put aside their own needs and deal with a bunch of often very unpleasant people. Treat them the way we’re supposed to treat other people. We’re able to discipline ourselves into listening to some absolute lunatics and treating them with dignity and respect. Then when we’re completely exhausted, one of our co-workers does something to disappoint us, and we berate them like we probably were tempted to do to the lunatic.

I see that happen. I’ve done it myself. I’ve had it done to me. That displaced anger is one of the perennial problems of the Catholic Worker.

Fidelity, an aspect of friendship, is intricately connected to our ability to seek and offer forgiveness. When we know we are committed to another, and they to us, forgiveness becomes an essential expression of our fidelity to one another. There is freedom in this kind of fidelity, a freedom that allows us to take a significant risk and engage in the exhausting work of hospitality to strangers whom we encounter in ministry. Hospitality to the “other” is fundamental in the Catholic Worker tradition. In friendship, we can practice hospitality in our particular relationships, so that generally, we are hospitable to those we encounter in our work.

Paul Wadell writes, “to be moral is to take a chance with another, Without friendship, or at least the to abide the kind of vulnerability which not only allows us to striving for friendship, justice work be changed by another, but suffers the stranger to become our would be severely impeded. friend. It is a risky, frightening, sometimes disappointing affair, this hospitality to strangers.” When we can practice this hospitality in particular friendships, we are more likely able to receive strangers on a larger scale, such as in a Catholic Worker setting.

What I find of particular relevance in this reflection on community in the Catholic Worker is that relations between the “staff” were important to the overall health of the work.

Community activities like prayer, house meetings, a meal out for pizza, or taking in a movie are the activities of friends.

Jack Keehan, interview by Rosalie Riegle Troester, in Rosalie Riegle Troester, ed., Voices from the Catholic Worker (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993), 276.

Wadell, 147.

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These examples show that the practice of friendship in Catholic Worker communities contributes not just to the character of the community, but also to the sustainability of the work embraced by the community. It might not be an exaggeration to say that without friendship, or at least the striving for friendship, justice work would be severely impeded. Sustained engagement in a Catholic Worker is not compatible with, for example, people who do not apologize, offer or accept forgiveness, who are not faithful to the well-being of the individuals in the community, who do not view one another in terms of mutuality, or who are guarded and inhospitable to one another. But friendship matters in the long view of justice, too, which is ultimately about right relationship with one another, with creation and with the Creator.

Dorothy Day understood this well. She observes that, “it is never the brother right next to us, but brothers in the abstract that are easy to love.” The practice of friendship with a few makes possible the ideal of friendship with many.

Dignity of the Human Person and Friendship Elsewhere I have observed that to uphold the principle of the dignity of the human person is to take seriously the claim that we are made in the image of God and that in that likeness, we are to be co-creators with God, bringing order, beauty and rest to creation.

Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin shared this understanding of the dignity of the human person.

Day writes, Peter’s Christian philosophy of work was this. God is our creator. God made us in His image and likeness. Therefore we are creators. He gave us a garden to till and cultivate. We become co-creators by our responsible acts, whether in bringing forth children, or producing food, furniture or clothing. The joy of creativeness should be ours.10 Also, recall that claims for human dignity in Catholic social teaching are understood in relation to the Christian norm of agape, a love marked by mutuality. Upholding the dignity of the human person is intricately bound up with the Biblical command to “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mt. 19:19) and is manifested in concern for and action on behalf of those in need.

Finally, the principle of the dignity of the human person is rooted in an anthropology that asserts the social nature of the human person making social development and participation in social structures requirements of justice. The philosophy of the Catholic Worker reflects well this comprehensive understanding of the dignity of the human person. “What we would like to do,” Day writes,

10

Day, Meditations (Springfield: Templegate Publishers, 1997), 131.

Ellsworth, 6-30.

Day, The Long Loneliness, 227.

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is change the world—make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And to a certain extent, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of workers, of the poor, of the destitute—the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor… and dear God—please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as our friend.11 In every way, the dignity of the human person served as the cornerstone on which Day, Maurin, and others would build the Catholic Worker Movement.

A concrete illustration of how the Catholic Worker strives to honor the dignity of the human person is reflected in Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality. Robert Coles, a biographer and friend of Dorothy Day, writes that Houses of Hospitality “are meant to be communities in which the so-called helpers merge with those who, in the conventional sense, would be regarded as needing help. During stays in these houses, I’ve felt that the aim is for the workers and the guests to be indistinguishable.”12 Hospitality in the Dignity of the human person served Catholic Worker tradition embodies Richard M. Gula’s assertion as the cornerstone on which Day, that, more than just welcoming the stranger, hospitality is about Maurin, and others would build the “fostering an environment, providing relationships that allow Catholic Worker Movement. another to feel at home. In a hospitable environment, one is free from the preconceptions that distort one’s perception of what is going on or of who one really is. As a result of hospitality, community is possible.”13 The desire for community remains the common thread that binds all Houses of Hospitality to the tradition of the Catholic Worker.

Today, there are over one hundred eighty-five Catholic Worker communities worldwide, with one hundred sixty-eight in thirty-seven U.S. states, six in three Canadian provinces, and fifteen in ten other nations.14 Most Catholic Worker communities function as houses of hospitality, although all of them differ from one another in their activities and how they interpret the tradition of the Catholic Worker. For example, Andre House of Hospitality, in Phoenix, AZ, where I volunteered, serves as a nightly soup line for several hundred people and transitional shelter for a dozen homeless men and women; Alderson House of Hospitality in Alderson, WV, which I visited in 2004, offers hospitality much like that of a bed and breakfast for families who come to visit loved ones at the fairly remote Alderson Federal Prison. Those who visit Samaritan House in Vancouver, British Columbia, are “offered a bed, meals, and whatever other support that we have the resources for…and are invited but not required to join us in our Thursday night (7pm) gatherings for mass or discussions of faith and social 11

Day, Selected Writings, 98.

Robert Coles, Dorothy Day: A Radical Devotion, ed. Merloyd Lawrence, Radcliffe Biography Series, vol. 1 (Da Capo Press, 1987), 111.

13

Richard M. Gula, S.S., The Good Life: Where Morality and Spirituality Converge (New York: Paulist Press, 1999), 113.

14

Jim Allaire, The Catholic Worker Movement [website on-line]; available from http://www.catholicworker. org/index.cfm; Internet; accessed 12 February 2007.

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justice.”15 Fundamental to the Catholic Worker philosophy is the aim to treat as equal all who walk through the doors of a house of hospitality. The poor are not ministered to, but rather the presence of the poor completes the community.

Community in the Catholic Worker tradition aims for the ideal of friendship, in that mutuality, attention, intention, love and fidelity are integral aspects of community in the Catholic Worker tradition. Specifically, attention is the attribute of Day recognized mutuality as friendship that makes hospitality in Catholic Workers possible. “When a moral imperative. we pay attention,” Gula writes, “we make a deliberate, conscious effort to resist imposing our ideas about how things should be and, instead, let what is before us make its impact on us.”16 The first experience Robert Coles had in a house of hospitality reveals how attentiveness contributes to hospitality and serves the dignity of persons who come to the Catholic Worker. Coles writes: I found myself increasingly confused by what seemed to be an interminable, essentially absurd exchange taking place between the two middle-aged women. When would it end—the alcoholic ranting and the silent nodding…

Finally, silence fell upon the room. Dorothy Day asked the woman if she would mind an interruption. She got up and came over to me. She said, ‘Are you waiting to talk with one of us?’…One of us: with those three words she had cut through layers of self-importance…she had indirectly told me what the Catholic Worker Movement is all about and what she herself was like.17 Day’s attentiveness to the woman and eventually to Coles also indicates a stance of mutuality between the so-called helper and helped. More than a “nice” way to think about helping the poor, Day recognized mutuality as a moral imperative.

Hospitality in the tradition of the Catholic Worker demonstrates well that when the poor are attended to with mutuality by the materially privileged, and when communion with the “other” is stressed over charity for the “other,” friendship meets justice and serves the dignity of the human person.

Solidarity and Friendship As Charles Curran notes, “solidarity from the Christian perspective involves solidarity with poor people.”18 Solidarity is expressed through concrete actions that promote the dignity of the human person and that protect the common good, in particular the most vulnerable

Sarah Bjorknas, Vancouver Catholic Worker [website on-line]; available from http://ca.geocities.com/ vancouvercatholicworker; Internet; accessed 12 February 2007.

16

Gula, 114.

17

Coles, xviii.

18

Charles E. Curran, Catholic Social Teaching 1891-Present: A Historical, Theological, and Ethical Analysis ed. S.J. James F. Keenan, Moral Traditions Series (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2002).; O’Brien and Shannon, eds., 183.

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in our world. For liberation theologians, solidarity requires that we enter into the context of the poor and requires analysis of the social structures that cause injustice. More than just an attitude or a principle, solidarity can serve as a virtue that, when practiced, “transforms persons and the social structures which influence so much of the global society.”19 One of the first fruits of Day and Maurin’s friendship was the publication of the Catholic Worker newspaper. The paper, still published today by the flagship Catholic Worker house in New York City, and serving as a model for newsletters and newspapers published by houses of hospitality throughout the world, is a good illustration of solidarity. The purpose of the first Catholic Worker newspaper, published by Maurin and Day, was to unite in solidarity Catholics and all people of good will with the causes and lives of the poor and to announce the social program of the Catholic Church. One objective in publishing such a paper was to hold all Catholics, lay and ordained, accountable to the vision of justice presented in the Church’s social teaching. A statement of purpose from the first issue of the Catholic Worker, published in 1933, reads: For those who are sitting on park benches in the warm spring sunlight. For those who are huddling in shelters trying to escape the rain. For those who are walking the streets in the all but futile search for work. For those who think that there is no hope for the future, no recognition of their plight—this little paper is addressed. It is printed to call their attention to the fact that the Catholic Church has a social program—to let them know that there are men of God who are working not only for their spiritual but for their material welfare.20 Also included in this first issue of the Catholic Worker is the article “For Gentle Sabotage, Style, and Economy, Dine by Candlelight,” a call for solidarity with the recently unemployed of Brooklyn Edison Electric Company: If you dine by candlelight (or by kerosene) one night a week, and if a few million follow your example, the Electric Light Company suffers severely. Of course, it is a shame to inflict suffering, but then the poor consumer does a lot of suffering too when it comes to paying the bills.21 19

Marie Vianney Bilgrien, Solidarity: A Principle, an Attitude, a Duty? Or the Virtue for and Interdependent World?, American University Studies, Series Vii, Theology and Religion, vol. 204 (New York: Peter Lang, 1999), 229.

20

Day, Selected Writings, 51.

21

Day, Selected Writings, 54.

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Day’s dry wit is a call to action, a call to practice the virtue of solidarity. This is an illustration of how the paper served as a tool to educate and urge readers to take practical actions in the name of solidarity with the poor. The poor in 1933 Manhattan was comprised mostly of those suffering unemployment because of the Depression, as well as immigrants who endured persistent poverty.

Today, Catholic Worker newspapers remain an emblem of solidarity and continue to call attention to the plight of the poor, to analyze structural injustice, to call for action on behalf of injustice, to teach the tradition of the Catholic Worker, and to promote the Christian ideals of community and love of neighbor.

Casa Juan Diego, a Catholic Worker house of hospitality in Houston, TX, publishes a monthly paper and distributes it nationally, including to many Catholic universities, seminaries, and high schools. Casa Juan Diego primarily serves Spanish-speaking immigrants who have recently arrived in the United States. It is the custom of this Catholic Worker to invite recent immigrants to share the story of their journey to the U.S. with the community gathered for weekly mass. The stories are then printed in the paper. “Angel” was beaten, robbed and left naked in the desert before almost suffocating in an overcrowded trailer with others seeking entry to the U.S. Part of his story reads, I was working in a maquiladora in El Salvador which is called Consul Tex. In this maquila we made the shirts for the football and basketball teams of the NFL and NBA. They didn’t pay us enough to live on…I couldn’t provide for my family on the salary they paid me… We now have to pay for school, not only for registering a child, but also for electricity and water for the school, in addition to school supplies, uniforms and all…The company paid us $35 or $40 a week-and we knew that they sold the shirts for $200 to $500 each.

If they had paid us $60 a week, we would have been able to live and send my daughters to school…we spent two days at Casa Juan Diego …This was the fifth house of hospitality run by Catholics that we had stayed at on our journey through Guatemala and Mexico to the U.S. I can hardly believe I am alive.22 Angel’s narrative prompts the kind of reflection and social analysis required by solidarity. One can hardly read this story and not ask questions. For example, why are U.S. companies allowed to pay their workers so little in El Salvador if it Day also understood voluntary is illegal to do so in our own country? In addition, storytelling and poverty to be a practice of story-listening are acts of solidarity because they are an invitation to solidarity with the poor. share the context of the “other,” in this case the economically poor of El Salvador generally, and “Angel” specifically. An invitation like this story requires a response.

[Angel], “We Almost Suffocated in the Trailer with the Others in Victoria, Texas, after a Terrible Journey from El Salvador,” The Houston Catholic Worker Volume 23, No 4, July-August 2003 [newspaper on-line]; available from http://www.cjd.org/stories/trailer.html; Internet; accessed 15 February 2007.

22

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Historically, in the Catholic Worker tradition the response to this invitation includes actions like civil disobedience, boycotting and public protests. But Day also understood voluntary poverty to be a practice of solidarity with the poor. This tradition of voluntary poverty remains essential to the Catholic Worker movement.

Day understood voluntary poverty as a way to enter authentically into the context of the poor. Day writes about the patience of the poor, I certainly don’t think the poor ever get used to cockroaches, bedbugs, body lice, fleas, rats and such like vermin that go with poverty. They merely endure them, sometimes with patience, sometimes with a corroding bitterness that the comfortable and the pious stigmatize as envy.23 Fully aware of her voluntary acceptance of poverty, and her freedom to walk away from it all at any moment, Day does not include herself in this description of the poor. In this way, she and Maurin differentiated between voluntary poverty and unwelcome destitution; Day and others intentionally shared a life of poverty with those they welcomed as guests into their houses of hospitality. I doubt Day ever got used to cockroaches and bedbugs, either. Day chose her poverty intentionally so as not to separate the poor from their context. In this way, she predates the theology of Guiterrez who insists that to be in solidarity with the poor is to love the poor in their context.24 Day’s voluntary poverty is the embodiment of Gutierrez’s insight into the challenge of living in solidarity with the poor.

Option for the Poor and Friendship Derived from the principle of solidarity,25 preferential option for the poor requires that we perceive “problems of the social order and their solutions primarily from the viewpoint of people who are poor and powerless.”26 Option for the poor has strong Scriptural, Christological and epistemological roots, recognizing that God favors the poor, that Christ experienced marginalization and poverty, and that the poor are the best “knowers” of how to lift themselves out of poverty.27 Option for the poor values the voice and wisdom of the poor and recognizes that structural change will come from the poor themselves—from the bottom up and not from the top down. Option for the poor values solidarity with the poor rather than mere charity—or what is also called direct services—to the poor. Of paramount importance to an option for the poor is that social and economic policies be structured in a way that give primacy to the needs of the poor.

23

Day, Meditations, 85.

Gustavo Gutierrez, We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2003), 101.

25

Allan Figueroa Deck, “Commentary on Populorum Progressio (on the Development of Peoples),” in Himes, ed., 298.

26

Curran, 185.

27

Curran, 184.

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Throughout her life, Day seemed to sense the duty of the Church and of all Christians to make a preferential option for the poor. Day understood the Church as the primary community of the poor and she did not shy away from calling the leaders of the Church to task when they failed to meet the needs of the non-elite. She writes, I loved the church for Christ made visible. Not for itself, because it was so often a scandal to me…The scandal of businesslike priests, of collective wealth, the lack of a sense of responsibility for the poor, the worker, the Negro, the Mexican, the Filipino, and even the oppression of these and the consenting to the oppression of them by our industrialist-capitalist order—these made me feel often that priests were more like Cain than Abel. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ they seem to say in respect of to the social order. There was plenty of charity but too little justice.28 For Day, the Church’s frequent inability to live its own Gospel values and social teachings with regard to the poor would remain a constant source of dissatisfaction for her as a Catholic. She loved the poor deeply, and well before liberation theologians and Popes began squabbling about a preferential option for the poor, she articulated quite well the need for such an ecclesial stance. She writes, I felt that the church was the Church of the poor... but at the same time, I felt that it did not set its face against a social order which made so much charity in the present sense of the word necessary. I felt that charity was a word to choke over.29 The Catholic Worker movement has been, at times, perceived to fall short of embodying a preferential option for the poor because of the misperception that the Catholic Worker emphasizes direct service to the exclusion of a commitment to organizing the poor to work for social change. Historically, the Catholic Worker tradition has looked to Scripture, particularly Matthew 25, to direct the work of houses of hospitality, where the hungry, poorlyclad, sick, destitute, and so on are cared for to the best of the community’s ability. Houses of hospitality are perhaps the most visible and well-known aspect of the Catholic Worker tradition. Consequently, there is a temptation to reduce the Catholic Worker to an organization that provides charity without sufficient regard for social change. Even worse is the expectation of some that the Catholic Worker should only be about the business of distributing bread and not social justice “propaganda.”30 However, this is a misreading of the tradition. Consider Day’s response to readers of the Catholic Worker paper who articulated this perception:

30

28 29

Day, The Long Loneliness, 150.

Day, The Long Loneliness, 150.

Day, Selected Writings, 252.

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I repeat: Breadlines are not enough, hospices are not enough. I know we will always have men on the road. But we need communities of work, land for the landless, true farming communes, cooperatives and credit unions. There is much that is wild, prophetic, and holy about our work—it is that which attracts the young who come to help us. But the heart hungers for that new social order wherein justice dwelleth.31 Another example of an option for the poor within the Catholic Worker tradition is Day’s friendship with Cesar Chavez, and her fifteen years of involvement with the United Farm Workers movement.

In 1973, in Delano, CA, Day’s participation in the picketing landed her in jail. She believed the U.F.W. to be “a social and religious movement, building community, fighting for justice and the dignity of the most victimized of all workers, while educating the public as to the power and meaning of nonviolent action.”32 Two aspects of friendship, mutuality and love, intersect with how Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker remained faithful to the demands of creating a preferential option for the poor. Day hoped that living, working and praying in community with the poor would help establish a new social order and make possible greater love for one another and for God. Day desired to be among the poor, whom she considered privileged in the eyes of God, remarking that they, the poor, were God’s friends.33 Day’s voluntary poverty is an expression of her love for the poor as well as her own longing for friendship with God. An important observation about love for the poor in the Catholic Worker tradition is that Day differentiated between loving God in the other and loving the other. This is a small but important distinction and is

33

31 32

Day, Selected Writings, 252.

Day, Selected Writings, 253.

Day, The Long Loneliness, 165.

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an example of the mutuality Day practiced. Day did not love the poor because she thought she might find God in them. Day loved the poor. She refused to use the poor as a means to an end, namely union with God. This is a demonstration of how mutuality in the tradition of the Catholic Worker contributed to the sustained efforts of making an option for the poor. She desired to live in their context with the hope that this mutual loving would engender the kind of solidarity necessary for real social change.

Day writes about the necessity of love: “We cannot love God unless we love each other. We know Him in the breaking of bread.”34 Love in the tradition of the Catholic Worker works through mutuality. And this loving through mutuality attests to the stance of friendship Day took with the poor she lived, prayed and worked alongside.

Conclusions: Why The Catholic Worker Works The Catholic Worker movement presents us with a vision of justice worth striving for because it reinforces what justice demands, namely to promote human dignity, practice solidarity and live in a way that creates a preferential option for the world’s poor. This is a prophetic call that can only be responded to from a stance of friendship. Friendship incarnates justice, teaching us what justice demands: mutuality, agape, fidelity, attention, intention, accompaniment, and hospitality. Without friendship, we are left impotent in our efforts because we are acting alone. Still worse, if we find ourselves in a communal setting that does not operate from a stance of friendship, but of power and hierarchy, we find ourselves disempowered as agents of social change. The friendship between Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and the example of The Catholic Worker demonstrate that when we understand each other in terms of friendship, we are more effective at our work for justice because friendship sustains and friendship empowers. As a community of Christian believers, we are called to friendship as much as we are called to justice because it is what justice requires. tt t

Anne Ellsworth graduated with a MA in Theology, with Honors, from the Graduate Theological Union in May 2007. She currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona, where she is the Director of Catholic Studies for the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University. Anne met her husband while they were working at Andre House, a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality in Phoenix, AZ, and has an almost two-year-old daughter, Cordelia Day.

34

Day, The Long Loneliness, 285.

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The Liberation from Binding: An Interpretation of the Hagar Narrative of Gen. 16:1-15; 21:1-21

by Corinna Guerrero

The biblical character Hagar, known mostly through her antagonist role concerning the

narrative surrounding the patriarch Abraham, has a narrative all her own (i.e. Gen. 16 and 21).

A compliant reading of the Hagar narrative can focus on one or more of three points: (1) Hagar in relationship to Sarah; (2) Hagar in relationship to Abraham; and/or (3) Hagar in relationship to Ishmael. However, there is one more relationship that receives much less attention, that is, Hagar in relationship to God. There are two lenses that depict God-Hagar communication: (1) birth narrative and (2) prayer. Hagar is the protagonist, although that role is not easily identifiable in the early verses of each half of the narrative, who mutually dialogues with God. To really examine the Hagar narrative it must be looked at in its entirety, which is specifically Gen. 16:1-15 and 21:1-21. Each of these two sections, Gen. 16:1-15 and 21:1-21, functions in conjunction with the other to highlight the uniqueness of the God-Hagar relationship (e.g. a contractual relationship, a prayer, naming, obedience, etc.).

For the purposes of this paper I will examine the Hagar narrative from its final textual form in halves so as to pay special attention to Hagar’s communication with God, thus, reading the two narrative pieces as one narrative of communication. Part one pertains to the establishment of Hagar as the one with whom the God character contractually ‘binds’ via the literary form of birth narrative (i.e. Gen.16:1-15). Part two pertains to the Hagar character calling out to God in distress and reminding God of their contract (Genesis 21).

Under special consideration is Hagar’s Prayer (Gen. 21:15-20). Hagar’s Prayer brings a unique dimension to the Hagar narrative because the prayer functions to call God’s attention to their previously established relationship and to put God in a position where God keeps God’s word and saves her lineage via Ishmael. I assert that the result of the prayer, and therefore the conclusion to the Hagar narrative, is that the Hagar character has her own personhood or individual identity (i.e. she is free from the titles that ‘bind’ her) because she is in contract with God.

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The Common Look at Hagar The scope of this paper isolates Hagar as the protagonist in regard to the entire narrative when examined from the angle of her relationship to God. In cinematic terms Hagar would be considered the leading lady, and therefore, the Sarai, Abram, and Ishmael characters would be the supporting cast. Scholars, such as Phyllis Trible, have done literary analyses of these Genesis texts with special attention paid to the relationship between Sarai and Hagar. Renita Weems has also worked with these Genesis texts highlighting the Hagar narrative sowing how they address economic and sexual exploitation, as well as social rivalry. For Weems, the inter-human relational emphasis was placed upon Sarai and Hagar. However, Savina Teubal addressed the ideological construction of the narrative as matriarchal based “. . . [from] an earlier tradition in which the matriarchs struggle to preserve a non-patriarchal social system, diametrically opposed to the patriarchal system they encounter in Canaan.”

Therefore, the narratives surrounding the matriarchs (i.e. Sarai, Rebekah, and Rachel), which included the Hagar narrative, were evaluated by Teubal with respect to the patriarchal lineages (i.e. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) emphasized through the male progeny (i.e.

Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, etc.).

The above review of scholarship acknowledges the validity of examining the relationship between Hagar with respect to Sarai and Abram and serves to answer questions of ideological, socio-cultural, and ethnic concern. The Hagar character, from different methodological perspectives, can fill out the roll of the antagonist to Sarah, the disregarded one to Abraham, and/or the mother of Ishmael. However, as the protagonist or leading lady of the “Hagar narrative,” it is only fitting to address her main counterpart in the narrative, that is, God. The relationship between Hagar and God is of the highest importance for bringing Gen. 16:1-15; 21:1-21 together as one narrative and, specifically, when examining Gen. 21:15-20 as Hagar’s Prayer.

George Segal’s sculpture, Abraham’s Farewell to Ishmael, is depicted with two photographs from different points of view and online sources. The characters Abraham and Ishmael are embracing. The character Hagar stands at what, from the angle of the photos,

For further study see Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-Femenist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Philedelphia: Fortress Press, 1984).

Renita Weems, Just A Sister Away: Understanding the Timeless Connection between Women of Today and Women in the Bible (New York: Warner Books, 1988), 2.

Weems, pg. 2

Savina Teubal, “Sarah and Hagar: Matriarchs and Visionsaries,” in The Feminist Companion to Genesis, Athalya Brenner, ed. (Sheffield, England : Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 235.

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is down stage center with her arms embracing her torso as once Abraham embraced her. The Sarah character stands upstage partially covered by a wall and cloaked in a hooded robe. What can be gathered from these two photos is that the emotional content for the viewer of the sculpture changes from different angles (i.e. points of view).

Similarly, reading Gen. 16:1-15 and 21:1-21 from different points of character relationships have the potential to change the emotional content for the reader. The highlighted relationship in this paper is between Hagar and God. A Brief Look at Birth Narratives and Prose Prayer Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible identifies that women in the biblical texts (e.g. Sarai, Rachel, Hannah) demonstrate a desire for motherhood and that motherhood as a social role brings honor (i.e. as depicted via male narrators). Women, as the bearers of the male children that establish the lineages of blessing and covenant, have a crucial role in salvation history. Ester Fuchs would argue that, Although motherhood is the most exalted female role in the biblical narrative, the biblical mother-figures attain neither the human nor the literary complexity of their male counterparts. The patriarchal framework of the biblical story prevents the mother figure from becoming a full-fledged human role model, while its androcentric perspective confines her to a limited literary role, largely subordinated to the biblical male protagonists.

Therefore, the Hagar character occupies a unique literary role; although she functions within the paradigm of a mother-figure she is the protagonist of her narrative when examined from the perspective of divine-human dialogue. The divine-human dialogue can be looked at from various perspectives, of which birth narrative and prayer are emphasized in this paper.

When addressing the subject of birth narratives, R.H. Jarrell proposed that there is a distinction between the establishment of covenantal relationships and contractual relationships.

Segal, http://www.psr.edu/page.cfm?l=62&id=81.

Eerdmann’s Dictionary of the Bible, “Mother,” 923.

“The importance of motherhood is a theme that runs through the stories of these women as well as of the women of the Hebrew bible in general.” Alice Ogden Bellis, Helpmates, Harlots, Heroes: Women’s Stories in the Hebrew Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 69. “Because females are essential to the production of sons, and thus to the continuation of the covenant, it would seem crucial that Yahweh develop some association with females or establish a contractual relationship with the women of the Genesis narrative in order to guarantee the patriarchs’ progeny.” R.H. Jarrell, ““The Birth Narrative as Female Counterpart to Covenant.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 97 (2002), 3.

Ester Fuchs, “The Literary Characterization of Mothers and the Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible,” in Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader, Alice Bach, ed. (New York: Routledge, 1999), 136.

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[T]he establishment of Yahweh’s relationship to Hagar in Genesis 16 is integral to women in later Genesis narratives and throughout the Hebrew Bible. Yahweh does not make covenants with women; Yahweh instead makes contractual relationships that are expressed in the literary form known as birth narrative. It is Yahweh’s contractual connection with Hagar, formulated and established in Gen. 16.7-15, that serves as the foundation and prototype for all future associations between Yahweh and potential child-bearing women—which eventually culminates in the New Testament pericope of the impregnation of Mary.

It is the concept of covenant that “ultimately fails to include God’s association with women.”10 Therefore, the literary form of birth narratives is the avenue for expression for contractual relationships and can be used to examine all subsequent women/birth narratives of Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Women have a distinct role in divine-human interaction via birth narratives as the one with whom contracts are established, because through women (i.e. mothers) the sons that further the patriarchal narratives are born.

Human experience, both praise of God and the occurrence of injustice, can be expressed both formally and informally through the mode of prayer. Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible defines prayer as, A primary means of communication that binds together God and humankind in intimate and reciprocal relationship. Its foundational assumption is the belief that the Creator of the world is both available for human address and committed to a divine-human partnership that sustains . . . .11 There are several terms in the Hebrew Bible that function designating the text as a prayer text to the reader: (1) hitpallēl (pray); (3) ‘ātar (entreat); and (2) tĕpillâ (pray).12 In the case of Gen. 21:15-20, it contains none of the aforementioned Hebrew terms signifying a prayer text. It does, however, transmit the urgency Human experience, both praise of and immanence of Hagar’s situation via the lifting up of her God and the occurrence of injustice, voice and weeping (Gen. 21:16) regarding the hopeful survival can be expressed both formally and of her son. Therefore, Gen. 21:15-20 exists as an example of informally through the mode of prayer. two prayer types, prose prayer and prayer by women. Prose prayer identifies that “Such praying is spontaneous in that it springs from an occasion and its content is freely tailored to circumstances.”13 Hagar’s Prayer is not formal but spontaneous, deriving from the dire circumstances facing a mother about to witness the death of her child.

11

12

13

10

Jarrell, pg.4.

Jarrell, pg.4.

Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible, “Prayer,” p1077.

Miller, 41.

Miller, 41.

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Hagar’s Prayer also exists as a representation of prayers by women.14 Unlike biblical women such as Rachel and Hannah, Hagar is not praying for the arrival of a child (i.e. the opening of her womb) because she is barren. Hagar has been selected for breeding and became pregnant (Gen. 16:4), encountered God in her flight from her mistress (Gen. 16:6) and obeyed God’s command to return to her domestic circumstance because God had a plan for the male child (Gen. 16:9-12). Hagar prays to God after the birth of her son, for the survival of her only son (Gen. 21:16). God is the character previously encountered in the wilderness with whom a unique relationship has already been formed.

Part One: Genesis 16:1-15 Gen. 16:1-3: The Introduction

v.1 Now Sarai, wife of Abram, bore no children to him; but she had an Egyptian female slave, and her name was Hagar;15 v.2 Then Sarai said to Abram, Pay Attention! YHWH (has) restrained me from bearing (children); I pray thee, Enter into my female slave! Perhaps, I will be built (up) from her; So Abram listened to the voice of Sarai; v.3 So, at (the) end of ten years Abram was dwelling in the land of Canaan, Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her female slave, and she gave her to Abram, her husband, to him as a wife; Genesis 16:1-3 identifies the conditions under which the rest of the Hagar narrative will unfold. Verse 1 identifies Sarai in the primary position of the sentence as the subject and the character for whom the primary predicament would seem to be related, that is, she is unable to produce progeny. The role of epithets also plays an important role in verse one because two of the three characters mentioned in v.1 are identified with them. The Sarai character is identified as ‘the wife of Abram’ and the Egyptian slave character is identified as having the name Hagar. Each epithet tells the reader additional information regarding the character. For Sarai, the additional information was the identity of marital status and the name of her husband (i.e. Abram). For the Egyptian female slave, the additional information was the name (i.e. Hagar).

The agenda of the Sarai character appears to be directed at cultivating progeny for herself via her female slave, Hagar, as a surrogate.16 The production of progeny will redefine

Patrick D. Miller has a section in They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer that addresses specifically prayers by women, and within this section there is a sub-section regarding Hagar’s Prayer.

15

All translations of the Masoretic text are my own.

16

Sarai attempts to remedy her barrenness by offering her female slave as her surrogate, which is culturally 14

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the Sarai character from the status of barren wife to mother. At this point in the narrative there is no mention of God so there is not reason to presume yet that the protagonist of the narrative is Hagar rather than Sarai. Hagar is introduced into the narrative in such a way that her name is less relevant than her status and, therefore, her function defines her identity with respect to Sarai.

Gen. 16:4-6: The Communication

v.4 So he entered into Hagar, and she conceived and saw that she (had) conceived, and she slighted her mistress in her eyes; v.5 Then, Sarai said to Abram, “My violence is upon you. I gave my female slave (to) your bosom, so she saw that she conceived and I (was) slighted in her eyes. Let YHWH judge between me and you.” v.6 Then Abram said to Sarai, “Hey! Your female slave is in your hand, do to her (what is) good in your eyes.” So Sarai afflicted her and she fled from her presence; Verses 4-6 witness to the environment of Hagar, her subjugation, and the personperson affliction that befell her. Verses 5-6 are the first occurrences of dialogue (i.e. from Sarai to Abram and from Abram to Sarai) in the Hagar narrative and in both instances they are regarding the female slave. Hagar’s name is not used in the personal communication between the characters Sarai and Abram. Hagar is not yet depicted as a full character with identity and personhood, as well as purpose. At this point in the narrative she has no dialogue and is not referred to by name; therefore, there is still no reason for the reader to presume that Hagar is the protagonist. In addition to the interplay of action between the three known characters, a fourth character is brought to light in vv. 4-6—YHWH, the one who can judge the (in)justice of the actions of both Sarai and Abram.

The personal welfare of the Hagar character was of little concern for the Sarai and Abram characters. In fact, the pregnancy of Hagar was also of little concern to Sarai and Abram demonstrated by Abram’s disregard for Sarai’s actions of affliction toward Hagar. This is surprising considering that the agenda of the Sarai character was to build herself up through the progeny that Hagar would produce with Abram. It seems to make little sense to afflict the woman surrogately carrying your child because, regardless of the barren mother’s disposition toward the surrogate, it would seem that the child is coveted and her desire for the child’s survival would be preferred to anything else.

appropriate and a viable option.

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Gen. 16:7-15: The Birth Narrative

v.7 Then a messenger of YHWH found her against a spring of water in the wilderness, against the spring on the way (to) Shur; v.8 So it said, “Hagar, the female slave of Sarai, Where did you come from? Where will you go?” Then she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of Sarai, my mistress.” v.9 And the messenger of YHWH said to her, “Return to your mistress and lower yourself under her hand.” v.10 Then the messenger of YHWH said to her, “I will greatly increase your seed, and (your seed) will be too many (to) count.” v.11 And the messenger of YHWH said to her, “Hey! (You are) pregnant, so then you will bare a son, and you (will) call his name Ishmael for YHWH heard your affliction; v.12 And he will be a wild ass of man, and his (against) all (people) and the hand of all (people against) him, and he will dwell among the faces of all his brothers.” v.13 So she called the name of YHWH, the one who speaks to her, “You are El-Roi, for she said, “Moreover, here, have I seen after (you were/he was) seeing me?” v.14 Therefore, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi, (it was) between Kadesh and Bered; v.15 And Hagar bore to Abram a son, and Abram called him the name of his son, that Hagar bore, Ishmael.

If the Hagar narrative is considered as a single narrative in two sections, then it is Hagar’s contractual relationship with God as a birth narrative (i.e. Gen. 16:7-15) that is most integral to Hagar’s prayer (i.e. Gen: 21:14-21). Therefore, the two sections are integral to the interpretation of Gen. 21:14-21 as Hagar’s prayer. This contractual relationship also functions to parallel the covenantal relationship established via the patriarch Abraham in the proceeding chapter (e.g. Gen. 17:2; 17:7-9) in that it is a ‘binding’ relationship between God and humanity, specifically women (i.e. Hagar).17 17

Pun intended to refer to the Binding of Isaac.

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Within Gen. 16:7-15 is the content R.H. Jarrell identifies as the substance of the contractual language between God and Hagar: (1) mother status; (2) protest; (3) offer (of the contract); (4) son’s future forecast; (5) YHWH/God naming; and (6) acceptance (of the contract).18 In the ‘introduction’ verses of this paper, Hagar is identified It is Hagar’s contractual relationship as the one whom Sarai was attempting to lift up herself by with God as a birth narrative that is most the production of progeny via Hagar. Therefore, Hagar’s integral to Hagar’s prayer. ‘mother status’ is identified as unbarren, that is, she is able to bare children. Her womb is open. Element two of Jarrell’s list, protest, occurs when “the protest is given by the women (or a woman’s husband who acts as her contractual surrogate) against what Yahweh has offered: the issue of a son.”19 Hagar’s response to the proposal has been recognized by Jarrell as defiance. Ironically, the protest of Hagar occurs before the actual offer of a son (i.e. element three) is made by YHWH’s representative (i.e. hw”hy> %a;l. m;). Jarrell points out that “Often the offer is expressed as some instruction to be followed by the woman or her contractual surrogate (Gen. 16.9; Judg. 13.4; Mt. 1.20).”20 Immediately following v9 and the offer is the son’s future forecast, element 4, in vv. 10;12. This element demonstrates the “. . . future role of the son in the history of Israel. . . The son is the fulfillment of the contract, the promise from Yahweh to a woman.”21 In communication to Hagar, it was expressed that her seed would be greatly multiplied. Therefore, the expression of her son’s future was placed in terms similar to the covenant language used with the patriarchs, specifically Abraham, which promises heirs in great quantity and sub-textually implies that the heirs would exist over time.

In the genre of birth narratives, the women, usually respond to the previous elements by invoking the name of God; Hagar does not. Rather, Hagar names God yair\ lae in v13.

This is significant because naming in the ancient world Power enters into the equation because expresses identity and power. Eerdman’s Dictionary of the in the act of naming the name-giver Bible identifies that “In the ancient world, generally, a name demonstrates that he or she has authority expressed something of the very essence of that which over that which is being named. was being named. Hence to know the name was to know something of the fundamental traits, nature, or destiny of that to which the name belonged.”22 Power enters into the equation because in the act of naming the name-giver demonstrates that he or she has authority over that which is being named.23 In this case, Hagar does not invoke the name of God, but rather names God herself and demonstrates a unique power dynamic.

Jarrell highlights nine instances of birth narratives from both the First and Second Testaments that have all six elements within the narrative, of which the Hagar birth narrative regarding Ishmael is the only one delineated.

Jarrell, pp. 3-6.

19

Jarrell, pg. 6.

20

Jarrell, pg. 6.

18

23

21 22

Jarrell, pg. 7.

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, “Names and Naming,” 944.

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, “Names and Naming,” 945-946.

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It is worth noting at this point that at the beginning of the birth narrative Hagar’s name was secondary to her role or function. Verse 7 continues the usage of epithets, but identifies Hagar first by name and then as the female slave of Sarai. In verse 15, the last verse in this grouping of verses, Hagar’s name is used twice (i.e. at the beginning and at the end of the verse) and in both instances her name stands alone. She has no epithets to denote her function with respect to another human. At the end of the first section Hagar has her own identity recognizable through the use of her name without any epithets. Therefore, the naming act by Hagar functions in collaboration with the final element, acceptance of the contract, because Jarrell identifies it as the ‘binding’ of Hagar to the contract that has been laid out for her.24 The literary form of birth narrative highlights the uniqueness of the Hagar character via the contractual relationship in the God-Hagar dialogue; Jarrell mapped out in his article that the next time that a female figure exhibits all these characteristics (as the Hagar character does) is Mary the mother of Jesus in the New Testament.25 Therefore, no other character exists in the Hebrew Bible like Hagar. The outcome of such a contractual relationship is the designation of Ishmael as social security and welfare for Hagar because he is the promised seed from which God will allow a ‘great many people’ to grow. This contractual relationship also hints at the intimacy of the relationship between God and Hagar. The Hagar character is unique to the God character because she is separated out for a specific purpose. From this point, from a God-Hagar perspective, we can begin to recognize that the Hagar character is the protagonist of this narrative.

Part Two: Genesis 21:1-21 Gen. 21:1-8: The Introduction of Isaac

v.1 And the LORD visited Sarah, like he said; and YHWH did for Sarah, like he said; v.2 And Sarah conceived and bore to Abraham a son (in) his old age, at the time that Elohim said to him; v.3 And Abraham called out the name of his son that Sarah bore to him Isaac; v.4 And Abraham circumcised Isaac, his son, (on) the eighth day, as Elohim commanded to him; v.5 And Abraham was one hundred years old when a son was born to him; Isaac was his son. v.6 And Sarah said, “Elohim made me laugh, (and) everyone who is hearing will laugh with me.”

24 25

Jarrell, pg. 7.

See page five of this paper for actual quote. (p. 48)

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v.7 Then she said, “Who said to Abraham, ‘Sarah (would) nurse his sons, for I have borne a son in his old age.’” v.8 And the boy grew up and (was) weaned, Abraham made a great feast that day, Isaac was weaned.

The introduction and therefore the predicament of the Isaac character in the Hagar narrative via chapter 21 parallels chapter 16 since it presents the conflict for the second section of the Hagar narrative. Along the lines of naming, the Sarai character is no longer Sarai, she is the Sarah character and she is no longer barren per the will of God, reason for which there is no explanation given within the Hagar narrative. Along with the Sarah character, the Abram character has undergone a name change and has become Abraham due to the covenant that God made with him regarding Isaac’s birth. This name change demonstrates a power dynamic, therefore, identifying that God has the power to change names which result in changing Sarai and Abram’s circumstances.

The introduction of new information parallels the introduction of information at the beginning chapter 16 because the reader now knows Sarai/Sarah will no longer be a barren character. The fact that Sarah will no longer be barren (i.e. God opened her womb) means that the need for an heir via a surrogate retroactively comes under scrutiny. Hagar and Ishmael are no longer necessary components for Sarah to become a mother!

Gen. 21:9-13: The Expulsion

v.9 So then, Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, that she bore to Abraham, laughing; v.10 And she said to Abraham, “Drive out that female slave and her son, for the son of that female slave will not inherit (along) with my son, with Isaac.” v.11 And the matter was very distressing in the eyes of Abraham in the case of his son; v.12 And Elohim said to Abraham, “Let your eyes not fear (regarding) the boy or your female slave, all that Sarah said to you. Listen (to) her voice because with Isaac, your seed will be named; v.13 And, also, the son of the female slave, I will establish him a nation for he is your seed;

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In the verses 21: 9-13 much is happening regarding identity via names, epithets, and their usages. The Sarah character underwent a name change which persists through the rest of the Hagar narrative, yet, in v.9 an epithet is still used with the Hagar character by the narrator.

This time, however, the epithet follows her name thus adding detail to her identity rather than have her name follow her projected function in the narrative by another character. When the Sarah character addresses the Abraham character, she identifies the Hagar character twice by her previous status as a female slave. Curiously, the God character continues the identification of Hagar as female slave and does not refer to her by name at this time. This does not signify that the God character is less concerned with Hagar; in fact, God is the only character concerned about Hagar.

In vv.11-12 Abraham and God are both portrayed as having concerns regarding Sarah’s command to expel Hagar in v10. Abraham’s concern in the situation is for his son and the subtext suggests the life threatening consequences of his son being expelled into the wilderness (i.e. v11). Whereas, God’s concern in the situation is for both Abraham’s son and the female slave (i.e. v12). Although she remains unnamed in vv. 10-13 and is rather identified by her status, it is indirectly implied that her welfare will be sustained, since Ishmael is again described in the context of perpetual seed language (c.f. Gen. 16:10; 21:12). He is the seed of both Hagar and Abraham. Hagar, although not explicitly stated, is placed on a comparable level to that of Abraham, and in this instance outside of the contractual verses of the birth narrative that Jarrell elucidated. So, although in these five verses, Hagar’s name is only mentioned in v.9, she is the context for discourse. She is being further unveiled to the reader as the protagonist of this narrative.

Gen. 21:14-21; Hagar’s Prayer Gen. 21:15-20

v.14 So, Abraham rose early in the morning and took food and a skin of water and he gave (them) to Hagar and the boy to set on her shoulder, and he sent her out, and she went, and she wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba;

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v.15 When the water from the skin was finished, then she cast the boy under one of the bushes; v.16 And she went and dwelt opposite to it, at a distance, like shooting a bow; for she said, “Let me look not (upon) the death of the boy,” so she sat opposite and lifted up her voice and wept; v.17 And Elohim heard the voice of the boy and the messenger of Elohim called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, “What is (bothering) you Hagar? Fear not, for Elohim heard the voice of the boy ‘where he was at.’ v.18 Stand! Lift up the boy! Seize him with your hand, I will establish him as a great nation. v.19 And Elohim opened her eyes and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the water skin, and she gave drink to the boy; v.20 And Elohim was with the boy, and he grew up and dwelt in the wilderness, and he became a bowman; v.21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt.

Six of the last eight verses (i.e. vv. 15-20) of the Hagar narrative constitute a prose prayer between Hagar and God. There are no words indicating prayer in these verses, nevertheless this is a prayer.26 How then does it constitute a prayer and not some other form of communication?

Simply put, the Hagar character called out and the God character responded! Patrick Miller emphasizes specifically that “prayer is understood as appealing to God as the deliverer and helper, whose inclination is to show mercy and favor, to be gracious, even when the petitioner has sinned and done wrong.”27 In the case of Hagar, no sin had been committed and, in fact, she obeyed the messenger of YHWH in the Gen. 16:9 and returned to a situation that she had initially fled for good reason (i.e. affliction).

What then was God responding to? Hagar lifted up her voice and wept (Gen. 21:16).

The voice of Ishmael, unnamed in these verses, was heard by God and it is plausible that sub-textually it is implied that the boy’s voice expressed his need for sustenance (Gen. 21:17).

Miller claimed that “Hagar’s [prayer] is in every way a typical prayer of lament and petition of

26 27

See page six of this paper for words indicating prayer. (p. 50) Miller, pg. 43.

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those who suffer and whose cries are heard and dealt with by a compassionate God.”28 Miller identified a tension between a plea for help and thanksgiving to God in prayers for help.29 In the case of Hagar’s prayer, there is no clear structure that parallels any Hagar’s prayer should be other prayers of women due to content (i.e. desire for an open womb) examined as a unique prayer and due to the nature of prose prayer as non-liturgical un-ritualized between a matriarch and God. prayer. Hagar’s prayer, much like the contractual uniqueness of the birth narrative in her narrative, should be examined as a unique prayer between a matriarch and God. Hagar’s prayer is focused around one cohortative petition by Hagar that lifts up her concern—what she does not want to happen to Ishmael. Miller claimed that it is the combination of the voices of Hagar and her son as well as her prayer and his need that entice God’s response.30 The prayer maybe defined by a single petition, but the intent of the prayer cannot be denied—God must oblige. God must oblige Hagar’s prayer because God and Hagar have a contract! The birth narrative from the chapter 16 has already promised that Hagar’s seed will become many, which was why she needed to return to the house of her mistress, that is, for the birth of her son. The contractual relationship from the birth narrative obligates God to respond to Hagar’s prayer because his survival is in jeopardy.

As the prose of the prayer unfolds, Hagar is identified twice (i.e. Gen. 21:14;17). The first time Hagar is identified, she is identified by the narrator and the second time she is identified by the messenger of Elohim. In prayer Hagar has no epithets. She is identified by name alone (Gen. 21:17). She is a full character. She is also free from designations of status or purpose in the narratives of secondary characters in this narrative (i.e. Sarai/Sarah and Abram/Abraham). In prayer the character Hagar exists only as Hagar. The only other occurrence of the name Hagar without any epithets, or character identification by a title like female slave, is in Gen. 16:15 the final verse of the first section where she fulfills her part of the contractual relationship with God in that she bore Ishmael.

Once again Hagar has personhood signified by the solitary usage of her name. The Egyptianslave character is gone and the woman Hagar stands in her place.

Miller, pg. 236.

Miller, pg. 55.

30

“It is the weeping of the mother and the crying of the child, the prayer of the mother and the need of the child, all wrapped up together, that elicit a divine response.” Miller, 236.

28 29

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Conclusion Teubal interprets the whole of the Hagar narrative as a “re-evalutation of social values, a re-ordering of a philosophy of life.”31 This is a valid interpretation, but it is more helpful to highlight Teubal’s position that “The significance of her life is that Hagar was able to attain both social and spiritual freedom” (249). From the lens of prayer, Gen. 21:14-21 cast a whole new light on the larger Hagar narrative. The contractual relationship and the prayer both function together to highlight the unique relationship between God and Hagar, neither element being more significant than the other. Although, Hagar was Egyptian, her son was circumcised second only to Abram. His being blessed as part of God’s larger covenant re-establishes Hagar in a position unlike what she had before; Hagar is socio-economically secure due to her obedience to God’s will as demonstrated in her return to her mistress Sarai. Therefore, as a faithful person to God, Hagar utilized the tool of the faithful—prayer. What the God character established with the Hagar character and what Sarai attempted to establish with Hagar were very different. God established a ‘binding’ contract with the matriarchal figure Hagar and her seed; whereas, Sarai attempted to establish her socio-economic security via Hagar’s progeny. There is no mention in the identified narrative text of God addressing Abram and telling him to ‘jump on the good foot’ in order to generate heirs. The anxiety regarding the situation, in fact, stemmed with Sarai.

In God’s time, the God character established God’s covenant with the characters Abraham and Sarah via the character Isaac. Just as in God’s time, the God character established a contractual relationship with the Hagar character which brought about an heir for her and her own unique identity and personhood.

Teubal claims that “The traditionally understood theme of Hagar’s life has resonated deeply over the centuries, serving as a sanction to the enslavement of human beings in the Western world.”32 Teubal is correct; therefore, I prefer to read Gen. 16:1-15, 21:1-21 examining the Hagar narrative in light of her unique relationship to God. Now the text reads as a liberating narrative, one where the personhood of Hagar is established. Hagar’s security in life came from her obedience to God who she unorthodoxly named and engaged through prayer. Therefore, at the end of Gen. 16:1-15, 21:1-21 it was Hagar’s unwillingness to be silent and her courage to pray that led her to become a full and dynamic character! tt t

Corinna Guerrero is a first-year PhD student in Biblical Studies and former associate editor of New Wineskins. Her current areas of interest include the Book of Ecclesiastes, protest literature of the Hebrew Bible, narratives of biblical women, and the biblical genre of prose prayer.

31 32

A Feminist Companion, 249.

A Feminist Companion, 244.

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Suffering

by Jean Ngoy Nyembo, SJ Introduction

Many people view suffering as a curse that must not be accepted. They believe that human

beings were not created to suffer. Rather, they are to enjoy idyllically the goods of creation without being bothered by any kind of physical or spiritual forces that make them suffer.

When suffering occurs, people often attribute it to evil principalities that are considered to be the enemies of humankind.

However, approaching suffering this way distorts the reality of human responsibility.

It also lessens the value that lies in a positive encounter with suffering and a more positive understanding of it.

This paper is an attempt to approach suffering in a different way. Throughout our reflection, we will try to recognize the positive side of suffering by reading the message it brings to human beings. The biblical tradition tells us that God can speak through suffering too. A realistic acceptance of suffering can become then a way towards the transformation of humanity. Such a positive approach to suffering opens up new directions of relating to life experiences. Experiences of suffering cease to be fatalistic and instead become ways of hope and growth toward the future.

In this article, we will tackle the question of human suffering with a special focus on the life-story of Quoyle, the hero of the movie The Shipping News, arguing that Quoyle’s life experience be considered a journey that took him from ashes to a blossoming life. In this way, our aim is not to defend suffering or to lift it up to the level of an absolute value. Such an approach will not be appropriate here and will not help us to reach our goal.

The whole effort here is to show that suffering can be accepted realistically and that people can find a value in it. Our main focus is on “how” human beings can relate positively to suffering rather than on the “why,” or the origin of suffering. The main question will be how to turn suffering into a path of hope toward a brighter future.

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Why Should Human Beings Suffer?

The author of the first book of the bible, Genesis, introduces the reader to the dramatic beginnings of the world with a bipolar picture. On one hand, the author presents a beautiful world created by God and placed entirely in the hands of human beings who are the crown of the whole creation. On the other hand, the author allows a breakdown into that beautiful picture with the act of rebellion of human beings who reject God’s offer of happiness.

The first two chapters of Genesis give to the reader-believer a powerful picture of the marvelous deeds of the Creator God. After completing the work of creation, God found it was perfect. The newly created human beings enjoy what the Creator has placed before them without anxiety. They receive an order, a command to make use of what is available to them for their happiness. However, the situation changes quickly.

A new turn of the magnificent story of creation is brought about by the appearance of the “Serpent.” Chapter three of Genesis confronts the reader with a different scene. Adam and Eve fall into temptation and make the choice not to obey God’s We learn more in accepting prohibition to eat from the tree of knowledge. They decide to go their suffering than in rejecting it. own way, forgetting God’s will. According to Genesis, it is after the act of disobedience that human beings were punished. Consequently, suffering entered into their life experiences, including the pain of childbirth, and the intense labor of farming.

The experience of suffering is as old as life itself. Subsequently, rejecting suffering leads to an attitude of hopelessness which does not benefit the human person. We learn more in accepting suffering than in rejecting it.

In his important volume, Catholicism, Richard P. McBrien distinguishes three different attitudes that we might employ when confronting suffering: rebellion, stoic acceptance, or “complete trust in God in the face of the incomprehensible.” Moreover, these conflicting attitudes can vary greatly, depending on cultural context.

Human Suffering Different peoples and cultures express in various ways how they accept or reject suffering. In the most developed and industrialized countries, for instance, people create new techniques capable of alleviating or even suppressing suffering in their lives. Despite the good intentions of freeing the human person from suffering, we continue to experience multiple forms of suffering every day.

Suffering is not the same for everybody. A young adult I met recently argued that suffering arises from our physical and observable experience. She limited the whole reality of suffering to a lack of food, shelter, clothing and other basic needs. Moreover, because she does not recall having experienced starvation, severe thirst or homelessness, she thinks that she does not suffer as such. What led to our conversation was my African origin.

Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism (San Francisco: Harper, 1994), 345.

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For many people, Africa calls to mind the obscure. In fact, it is called by some “the Dark Continent”. Africa is often depicted as a continent of suffering and death with wars, pandemic diseases, malnutrition and natural catastrophes associated with it. International media coverage continually “sells”Africa as a dying continent in urgent need of rescue.

However, the point my friend was missing to make is that human suffering is not limited to the physical as it touches the whole of human life. It can also be psychological, or affective.

Indeed, “inner” suffering can be even more damaging than physical suffering because it can lead to a state of hopelessness and, in some extreme cases, to suicide.

Some studies demonstrate that the suicide rate is higher in industrialized and developing countries than in poor countries. This paradox seems difficult to understand if one only considers material wellbeing as a guarantee for happiness. The paradox suggests that a richer consideration of suffering must be done. How, for instance, can we account for the hopelessness and even the suicide of a wealthy man or woman? Does the value of our life lie in material security?

The answer to this question depends on people’s beliefs, value system and worldview.

In the modern world, many of our contemporaries find more comfort in the security they create for themselves. Life then becomes self-centered and the risk of relativism higher. In such an individualistic world, suffering can easily be looked at as an absurdity. However, this is a trap we must avoid.

McBrien sees suffering in the context of the Paschal Mystery. For him, the death and the resurrection of Jesus help us to enter a different, richer meaning of suffering. Approaching it with the eyes of the Risen Lord, suffering can transform human life. In a Christian perspective, without faith in the Risen Lord, suffering becomes absurd. It is therefore the Paschal Mystery that enriches our perception of suffering.

In his book Why Suffering? Antonio Magnante, an Italian Consolata missionary priest, associates the problem of suffering with human free choice. “Human destiny,” he writes, “follows upon human disobedience and rebellion, while human happiness follows upon

Siddhartha Mitra & Sangeeta Shroff, Determinants of Suicide rates in Developing Countries – An Econometric Investigation of the Indian Case, available from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers. cfm?abstract_id=912386; Internet; accessed 11.16.2006.

See McBrien, 345.

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faithfulness to the covenant ratified with God.” Genesis reports that life in the Garden of Eden was very good until the moment when human beings, the “choirmasters” of creation, decided to discover the hidden side of it. The resignation of Adam and The death and the resurrection of Eve to fulfill their mission as masters of the whole created world Jesus help us to enter a different, opened for humanity the possibility of suffering. richer meaning of suffering.

However, the reality of human suffering in general challenges this understanding. How can one account for the suffering of the just and the happiness of the unjust? The world today is full of such paradoxes. Some who seem to enjoy creation and greatly benefit from its resources appear not to be always upright, just and merciful.

Alongside these apparently happy people, we have those who seem to suffer innocently, who do not understand why they suffer, those for whom the first question is “why?”

Suffering of the Innocent The evangelist Matthew recalls the slaughter of innocent infants by Herod, as he tried to kill the “new born King.” Using the words of Jeremiah, Matthew says: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more” (Mt 2: 18). This passage speaks directly to the problem of the suffering of the innocent.

It has always been difficult for me to console somebody who mourns, like Rachel.

Experiencing the loss of a friend or a family member causes people to feel a vacuum inside, and to ask deep metaphysical questions: “Why me? Why Experiencing the loss of a friend or death? Why does God allow it into the world? Why does it a family member causes people to happen when we least expect it?” Such a person with such deep feel a vacuum inside, and to ask deep questions is not always well-equipped to reflect on the mystery metaphysical questions. of death. These questions are very important, but ultimately can be difficult to answer. They have the merit of awakening human beings to the profound, deep realities of their existence. Beyond that, we must try to answer these questions with peace and distance in order to reflect fully on the mystery of suffering.

One of my brothers-in-law, a good Roman Catholic with high moral standards, told me after the death of his beloved wife that he was going through a serious crisis and did not want any one to tell him things such as: “God loves you,” “It will be ok,” or “Be strong.” Such words forced him to the edge of rebellion: rebellion against God, rebellion against his faith, rebellion against himself and the love he had for his wife. He simply felt that it was absurd that he could experience all these emotions.

Antonio Magnante, Why Suffering: The Mystery of Suffering in the Bible (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa), 1997, 54.

Magnante, 35. The author considers human beings to be “the representatives of God in the world, the appointed lords and the choirmasters of the cosmic symphony which must be oriented towards the Creator.”

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If we can affirm that suffering is absurd, then the suffering of the innocent is even more absurd. How can one console an innocent man or woman who feels he or she is unjustly beaten?

Quoyle’s Journey: Lessons from The Shipping News The Shipping News, based on the novel of the same name, is one of the most touching movies I have ever watched. The reason is simple: it narrates the story of a changing life. It is about a man, Quoyle (Kevin Spacey), a family, and a clan. It is also about relationships, about love. The movie depicts a “broken” man who experiences what will bring him to new life. It teaches us about patience and the possibility of transcending one’s conditions.

In an interview, E. Annie Proulx, the author, introduces the different personages of the novel: The main personage is Quoyle. - A thirty-six year old pathetic newspaper reporter and the protagonist for the novel. Quoyle is a failure at life, and, the narrator tells, a failure of physical appearance. He is extremely large and clumsy, with a most prominent shelf under his chin. Quoyle is lonely and consigned to seeing himself as a failure, and is therefore vulnerable to the hurt of a cruel lover. His submissive kindness does help him make friends and he is a loving father. He is deathly afraid of water and car wrecks. The prodigy of a long line of wild, dimwitted murderers, Quoyle struggles with segregating himself from the pain of his familial and personal past.

Quoyle is like many other people who, because of their troubled background, go through difficult situations as if they were ‘destined’ to endure suffering. He is like Rachel in the second chapter of Matthew. He is like my brother-in-law. He is like millions of other people suffering “innocently.” Significantly, Quoyle traces his multidimensional suffering to his childhood and his relationship with his family, especially his father.

Quoyle and his father The movie starts with a scene of Quoyle, who is forced to learn to swim by his father.

Quoyle knows that he is not able to swim, but his father insists he learn, throwing him into the water repeatedly. This seems to have been a difficult and painful experience for Quoyle. He has many other shocking experiences with his father which make him believe that he was born into the wrong family. This is how he describes his “failures” at the beginning of the movie:

The Shipping News (2001) is a movie directed by Lasse Hallström, from E. Annie Proulx’s novel.

A review of Proulx’s novel can be found on Internet, from http://www.curledup.com/shipping.htm.

E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News, available from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/shipping/ characters.html; Internet; accessed 11.06.2006.

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I used to imagine that I’d been given to the wrong family at birth and that somewhere in the world my real people longed for me. From where my father stood, my failure to dog-paddle was only the first of many failures. Failure to speak clearly. Failure to sit up straight. Failure to make friends every time we moved to another dreary upstate town. In me, my father recognized a failed life-- his own. When I got admitted to the junior college my father figured it was a clerical error. When I dropped out a year later, he wasn’t surprised.

This short narration of Quoyle helps us understand his behavior throughout the story.

Watching the movie, one notices quickly the different “failures” he talks about. In the first part of his life, before he starts to meet the people who will change his life, Quoyle’s general expression is very hesitant. He appears like a man who is constantly asleep. This is most likely why he is not able to maintain steady employment. “Petal says Dad never gets anything right,” exclaims Bunny, Quoyle’s daughter. That is an exaggeration, but it tells what Quoyle’s life experience was like: a man of failures.

Going back to his childhood, Quoyle notices that his father lacked the tenderness needed to deal with a small kid who was discovering the world. The way Quoyle’s father dealt with him was very harsh for a child of his age. For instance, throwing a child into the water who has never swum before can result in a paralyzing fear of water. Quoyle remains traumatized even in his mature years.

Whenever something goes wrong in his life, he feels like he is drowning. Moreover, we hear him repeating throughout the movie until he is liberated: “I’m not a water person!”

“I don’t believe in dwelling in the past.”

The best description for Quoyle’s experience is “life as a journey full of grace.”

Many people can recognize themselves in Quoyle. What he undergoes is purely human. His experience is a message addressed to every human being who struggles to free himself or herself from a stifling past. Quoyle’s experience teaches us about perseverance in life and about the transcendence of one’s actual situation for the sake of liberation. We do not have control over our past. We do not have the means to modify or change what is part of our heritage. However, we can give new orientations to both past and present situations.

This is the whole meaning of Quoyle’s aunt’s statement: “I don’t believe in dwelling in the

Note: All quotes in this section are taken from the DVD subtitle version of The Shipping News.

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past.” The past can enslave us. Our history is very important because it tells us where we come from. In light of that, it can give us new insights to create new ways of living.

Quoyle wants his aunt to explain what she means by: “I don’t believe in dwelling in the past,” especially when he suspects that his aunt has decided to live in the past. Invited by his aunt to go back to the old family house, Quoyle asks: “Why are we here?” “Making a future,” she exclaims. This connection with the past is important because it enlightens us as we reflect on new ways to orientate ourselves toward future. That is why Quoyle has to transcend himself. He has to start freeing himself from the chains of the past. But this is not just an individual project. Like any salvation history, it calls for the assistance of the community and the help of God. The Story of Salvation The covenant between God and the people of Israel is one that invites a clear choice.

Those who have been elected by God are invited to confirm this choice, the choice for life. God has been faithful to the people and to their guide, Moses. God liberated Israel from slavery in Egypt and led the people through the wilderness. He provided for all their needs. Now comes the moment of entering the Promised Land. Israel is called by God to make a choice.

Deuteronomy reports the words of God as follow: See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Dt 30: 15-20)

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The story of the salvation of humanity as portrayed in the experience of Israel depicts two protagonists: God and the people. The story is dramatic, as everyone has a role to play and each role is very important for the denouement of the drama. The history of salvation is a history of cooperation. It is a history of partnership.

This is how Rosemary Haughton, in her book The Drama of Salvation, approaches the human situation on earth. It is a drama of people caught between salvation and damnation.

Human beings live a polarized life, pressured by different choices. Everyone has to make a choice. That is the drama. Everyone has to determine the way he or she wants to walk. “Nature abhors a vacuum”, says the Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Either life or death, we hear in Deuteronomy. This suggests that whatever the choice is, one has to make it.

Haughton reads the history of salvation as a real drama. In this drama, God is “the director of the drama of salvation, but also the author of the play.” Human beings are the actors.10 They are in the play and are expected to make a choice. The role of God can be considered much more than just a Creator who puts creatures in difficult situations, where they have to make wise choices in order to live. Salvation history then, for Haughton, is “the visible action of God demonstrating dramatically his care of mankind and The fact of the Incarnation his desire for its love and devotion solely in order to bring it to the fullness makes God closer to human of perfection and joy.”11 beings and allows a salvific The role of human beings in the play, like the role of the Son of “imitation” to take place.

God, the Savior, is not just that of “playing the part.” Even though we can say that “the Son plays the part of God…and does it as a human, since that is the only way it can be done,” the Son accepted in loving submission the mission he was given by the Father.

Likewise, humans have to take part responsibly in the play. For them, Jesus is the icon. The fact of the Incarnation makes God closer to human beings and allows a salvific “imitation” to take place.

The “emptying and humbling” of Jesus that Paul refers to in his letter to the Philippians (Phil 2: 7-8) is Jesus’ way of taking his mission seriously. By playing his role, Jesus communicates salvation to human beings. This is done, according to Haughton, by way of imitation. Salvation then means “to be rescued from a sort of spiritual dormancy which might otherwise be permanent, and this by identification with the perfect performance of Jesus as Son, glory, copy of the Father.”12 Conclusion: Rising from Ashes Reading Quoyle’s life backward, we cannot say that what happened to him was a matter of chance. His life-story was a history of grace. A renewed view like Quoyle’s after he was

11

12

10

Rosemary Haughton, The Drama of Salvation (New York: The Seabury Press, 1975), 32.

Haughton, 53.

Haughton, 32.

Haughton, 56.

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liberated sees everything in a new way. Even what appears to be a failure becomes something positive and uplifting. Quoyle’s story cannot be equated to the word of God. However, the experience of suffering can transform the person who enters it and lives it patiently. Suffering is made livable by an encounter with God’s grace, the grace that helps us transcend what seems negative and hopeless.

Across twists and turns, our attempt in this paper was to evaluate human suffering, putting it at the level of unavoidable human experience. We have come to realize that the question should not be “why suffering?” – an answer to such a question is not insured – but rather, “how can we learn and what can we learn from suffering?” Our approach to suffering neither praises nor condemns it. Rather, it is a realistic approach aimed simply to invite an attitude of accepting suffering positively without rebelling against it. In this way, it is truly possible to rise from the ashes.

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Jean Ngoy Nyembo, SJ, is a Jesuit priest from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is currently an STL student at JSTB focusing on Ethics and Social Theory. His particular area of interest is the ethics of social reconciliation.

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Marcia’s Anointing of the Sick

by Martin Schreiber, SJ

My Aunt Marcia never let anything stop her from fully living. That changed when seven

tumors in her brain squarely blocked the push for life. The medical diagnosis bleakly offered her five months to live. In the hospital room, with a shocked family outside waiting to hear positive news, she asked my sister and me to look out for her youngest daughter, Annie, after she died. Her husband had died of cancer five years before, and the four children—all under the age of 16—had watched their father slowly deteriorate. Annie, the youngest daughter, held a The Anointing of the Sick repeatedly functioned special place in my Aunt’s heart. Now our Aunt offered as a life vest to my Aunt and family in a time a plea for Annie’s care. Even though the tumors swam when the stormy waters threatened our ability to like crocodiles in her brain, the entire family for the navigate the sickening seas. next six months charted the unsafe waters of death and dying together. The Anointing of the Sick repeatedly functioned as a life vest to my Aunt and family in a time when the stormy waters threatened our ability to navigate the sickening seas.

My experiences at the bedside (experiences of people crossing the threshold from this life to the next) move me towards a deeper understanding of the human need for comfort, hope, and prayer in times of illness. The Church does not wait silently for the funeral but consoles with a sacrament: The Anointing of the Sick. Exploring one part of the form in this sacramental moment provides a fluorescent flare for the dying patient and for the family as they manage the topsy–turvy family boat on the sea of sickness. The form of laying on of hands in the Sacrament, Anointing of the Sick finds a richer expression from John 12: 1-8 (Mary Anointing at Bethany) and in the screen play Wit by Margaret Edson, by highlighting the intimate and personal nature of the ritual that fully supports the sacrament as a crossing of the threshold. Families and those in the sickbed hold tightly to a ritual that might offer the touchstone towards crossing the threshold with hope.

The Happening of the Sacrament

Sacraments represent a hidden reality. Most Catholics in the second grade memorize the classic definition of sacraments as, “an outward sign of God’s grace.” Sacraments in

Herbert Vorgrimler, Sacramental Theology (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 45.

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Kenan Osborne’s understanding and in Gaudium et Spes are to be understood as an activity or “happening”—not a thing. This notion of a sacrament demands an encounter that implies a relationship. God takes the initiative in the sacrament by calling the people of God to a real response, which prevents the faithful from pulling their spiritual car into a mechanical or magical gas station to fill up on grace. Our encounter with a fully alive God in the “happening” of the sacrament enlivens the Church and provides the yeast for raising the communio to new life.

Anointing of the Sick, as with rites of passages, represents a liminality. This depicts a sacrament in an image as if a person walks through a doorway into a new reality from a previous existence. The believer stands in one room waiting to cross into another, the person’s step across the threshold represents the “happening” of the sacrament. This sacrament’s incredible witness to the essence of liminality provides this researcher with an opportunity to explore the personal and intimate nature that a moment of crossing the threshold enjoys.

A community of faith points to common experiences and common convictions to ground its understanding. A believer’s intimate encounter with God might not be a direct communication, but rather the initial experience allowing an often-incomprehensible history to entice a response or garner a conviction. After the encounter, God’s desire to be intimate with the human person offers an invitation to the Church. Information does not seem to be God’s way of revealing; God reveals God—self. Looking at the form of Anointing of the Sick as a revealing of God—self, along with the revelatory nature of the resurrection, encourages us to look at Jesus’ life as sacramental. The principal actor in one’s experience is Christ. Accepting the invitation by Christ to participate in the story makes more sense through the recognition of a sacrament’s “happening” on the life stage.

Brief Description of the Rite

The Rite for Anointing of the Sick seeks to support the believer in the final stage of life.

“Suffering and illness have always been among the greatest problems that trouble the human Spirit.” The nature of the sacraments provides a means for sanctification and salvation. The purpose is three fold: (1) to make people holy. (2) To build up the body of Christ. (3) To give worship to God. The sacrament consists of three elements: (1) The laying on of hands by the Presbyter, (2) the prayer of the faithful, (3) the anointing with blessed oil. In this study, the

Kenan B. Osborne, Christian Sacraments in a Postmodern World (New York: Paulist Press, 1999), 136.

Vorgrimler, 22.

International Commission on English in the Liturgy, (ICEL), The Rites of the Catholic Church Vol. 1, (Collegeville: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1990), 778.

Canon Law Society of America. Code of Canon Law: Latin English Edition. (Washington D.C.: Canon Law Society of America, 1999) Canon 840.

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form matters, specifically the form of Laying on of Hands.

This form invites those surrounding the sickbed to experience an encounter with God when the minister treats the opportunity as a “happening,” rather The intimate and personal nature in than a single prayer for the sick. The intimate and personal the laying on of hands opens the door nature in the laying on of hands opens the door to crossing the to crossing the threshold with people threshold with people instead of strolling alone. Walking into instead of strolling alone. a dark room with no light scares even the courageous explorer.

With a discussion of the opportunities to appropriately use the form, a priest or layperson does not let an important moment pass by.

Within the new Rite for Anointing of the Sick, a significant move away from the previous intention of exorcism takes place. Previously, a common component of this part of the form in the rite concentrated on the removal of demons from the person before death.

However, in the new rite specific mention of imploring the minister to touch the sick person moves away from exorcism to wholeness in spiritual as well as physical healing. “In this century, the laying on of hands was first restored to the Anointing of the Sick, then called “extreme unction,” in the 1952 edition of the Roman Ritual, where it replaced the prayer for exorcism.” This accommodation invites others to participate in the ritual by encouraging all to take part in the healing nature of the rite. The laying on of hands is no longer an after thought to the prayer of exorcism.

Historical background—“Laying on of Hands”

The first ecclesiastical rite for anointing sick Christians dates from the ninth century.

In the Middle Ages the administration of oil was reserved to priests, and the rite eventually became the sacrament of the dying. The scriptural connection As in Mark 6:13, the action of laying on to James historically begins with the writings of Origen. hands symbolizes the healing presence

The scripture passage James 5:14 often marks the and power of Jesus Christ. connection biblically to the sacrament. Origen, in the Third Century, took the passage as a reference not to the physically sick, but to spiritual sickness.10 James envisions the presbyters’ gathering around the sick person, who most likely lies prostrate before him. Specifically in 254, Origen interpolates the words of James to mean, “lay hands” on him.11 Origen’s text criticism begins the Church’s interpretation of the scriptural text in connection with the sacrament by incorporating the form laying on of hands. As in Mark 6:13,

Rites of the Catholic Church, 823, #122. “In silence, the priest lays his hands on the head of the sick person.”

Charles Gusmer. And You Visited Me: Sacramental Ministry to the Sick and the Dying (New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1984), 164.

Gusmer, 73.

Joseph Martos, Doors to the Sacred, Revised and Updated Edition (Missouri: Liguori Publications, 2001), 131.

10

Martos, 330.

11

Gusmer, 9.

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the action of laying on hands symbolizes the healing presence and power of Jesus Christ. The early Church places great weight on the text of James to explain the actions of the minister during the sacrament. The context of the biblical passage, along with the intention of Origen needs greater exploration in terms of the intimacy and personal aspects of the rite.

Mary Anointing Jesus at Bethany (John 12: 1-8)

As the passage of James continues to present the Church with a biblical explanation for the sacrament, the exegesis surrounding John’s passage of the anointing at Bethany tenders a hermeneutic on how to approach the sacrament.

Throughout the scriptures, Jesus as teacher intimately approaches his disciples. The accounts of Jesus physically touching or being touched by people astounded the hands-off hierarchy of the Church. In Mark’s Gospel the instances of touch number twelve including six instances of laying on of hands. In Matthew, nine accounts of touch accompany three of laying on of hands. In Luke, Jesus had eight encounters with two moments of laying on of hands.12 John’s account follows in this pattern with many encounters of individual attention from Jesus for the believer, most notably the incident at the Passover meal with Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with oil. In the tradition of the Church, laying on of hands has often been associated with the application of blessed oil. In the Ambrosian liturgy of Milan in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries the presbyters anoint the chest, the hands and the feet.13

In order to highlight the “happening” of a sacrament, a parallel with Anointing of the Sick and Mary’s anointing of Jesus invites the encounter with a healing and personal God. The setting of the passage grants the reader a stronger sense of the imminent passion and death of Jesus by inserting overtones of sacrifice and service. Some scripture scholars note the reference to Jesus’ burial as a secondary addition to the text.14 A move beyond the setting to Mary’s action affords a luminous connection between a personal and intimate happening in a sacrament to the encouraging healing-action of Mary and Jesus in the scripture.

Martha serves the meal as the men recline at the table. The work of Martha removes her from the immediate act of love and attention shown by Mary. A minister running into a stale hospital room fitting one more visit into his or her schedule may fail to connect with the human person in the bed looking to be seen; here marks the “happening.” Mary finds little time for chores of servitude to the powers of the meal but offers herself to the most notable guest. “Her act was an extravagant gesture of love which when criticized, Jesus reinterpreted in terms of his impending death.”15 This action by Mary fits closely with the action at the last supper with the Johannine picture of Jesus’ last days filled with encounters of the role reversal Gusmer, 163.

Gusmer, 163.

14

J.F. Coakley, “The Anointing at Bethany and the Priority of John,” in Journal of Biblical Literature 107, no. 2 (1988): 254.

15

Coakley, 254.

12 13

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between teacher and servant. The actions of Mary are echoed in the last supper account of the washing of feet.

A strong attention to the reversal of washing allows the appropriateness of inviting many to take part in the Anointing of the Sick. The rite calls for an anointing with the sign of the cross on the forehead. This might draw a parallel to the anointing of the head at ordination. Yet, the head seems inappropriate for the journey to cross the threshold. Mary knows this reality and places the oil on Jesus’ feet that walk over the threshold. The gesture from the anointing of the head in Mark to the anointing of the feet in Johns puts a more reverential gesture in place of one that savored of high living and decadence.16

Many historical accounts discuss anointing of the feet rather than the proper and stale anointing of the head. Homer in the Odyssey to Pliny in Natural History depicts characters’ feet being washed with oil.17 Mary’s reported act may be strictly “unparalleled,” but it was not unthinkable for the people of the time. The situation in the sick room calls for more than a common gesture of the head but one of the hearts that brings risk and mystery to accompany the liminality at work in the sacrament. In Mark the anointing on the head was as an ordinary courtesy. In John, the act was extraordinary. Crossing the threshold from one life to another appropriately demands extraordinary actions.

Role-reversal offers an opportunity in times of sickness. Many patients feel unfit and marginalized by the illness that creates a chasm between those before whom they at one time stood healthy, but now lie in a bed helpless. Mary performs a service as the student to the teacher. Jesus constantly reverses the teacher role. Do priests willingly reverse the role to constantly choose suffering over authority and power? If so, how?

Each Gospel portrays disciples objecting to Mary’s action.18 Often we object to what makes us uncomfortable, just as Peter refuses Jesus’ foot-washing action. Peter’s refusal dealt with an aversion to Jesus taking away the power in office. Does the sacrament allow for the power of the office to wash the feet, head and body of the sick in a radical act of reversal or do the loud objections cloud the spirit of healing and offering of dignity to the patient in the bed? Jesus’ objection to the male disciples’ constant demand for power provides a current-day reflection. Sandra Schneiders notes, “Jesus opinion of male attempts to control the relationship between his women disciples and himself is so clear in the New Testament that one can only wonder of the institutional Church’s failure to comprehend it.”19

Coakley, 255. Sandra Schneiders, Written That You May Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel (New York: The Cross Road Publishing Company, 2003), 24.

17

Coakley, 225.

18

Matt. 26:8-10, Mark 14:4-6, Luke 7:39. NRSV, Catholic edition, 1993.

19

Schneiders, 110.

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Wit – W;t

In addition to the Biblical passage of Mary’s anointing at Bethany, a current play offers similar parallels to the importance of relationship to the dying, as well as removing the uncomfortable atmosphere that often accompanies caring for the sick. In 1999 Margaret Edson won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished drama by an American author from her play, Wit.20 This absorbing drama tells the story of Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English and scholar of the Holy Sonnets of John Donne. This rational woman develops stage IV ovarian cancer and must bow to the hygienic environment of the medical world, observing the healthcare professionals’ chilling response to her as they treat the disease and not the patient.

Two aspects of this work draw a deeper meaning for the study of Anointing of the Sick. The first deals with the treatment of the semicolon. Much of Vivian’s life work argues against the use of the semicolon and the comma in the writings of John Donne. Her nemesis and mentor, E.M. Ashford, argues at length about the appropriateness of a comma versus a semicolon in a Donne poem. The metaphor points to how we view this life in relationship to the next.21 Are we simply pausing with a comma or appropriately acknowledging the passing of a threshold with a semicolon? The crossing of the threshold becomes the image Vivian clutches to in her final days of the hospital; this is no comma experience. Anointing of the Sick looks more like a semicolon than a comma.

Secondly, the final scene provides the pastoral implications for what the sacrament calls the minister to in times of illness and despair. E.M. (the nemesis mentor) visits Vivian at the hospital in her final days. The patient no longer carries the air of intellectual vigor or competence. Her shaved head and pale skin strikingly contrast with what she once was. E.M., instead of standing at the foot of Vivian’s bed to declare the victory of her healthy life, pulls back the covers and lies down next to her sick protégé. She begins to read a children’s story to Vivian, as the tears stream down Vivian’s face the comfort she seeks manifests itself in an extraordinary gesture of love not far from Mary’s anointing of Jesus feet.

The play critiques both medicine and academia by bringing to the fore the absence of appropriate ritual in the stages of human life. The ability to recognize the human need for companionship and intimacy at the time leading to the crossing the threshold might be missed 20 21

Margaret Edson. W;t (New York: Faber and Faber, inc., 1993) I am indebted to conversations with Tom Scirghi, S.J. surrounding the play Wit.

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by some caregivers’ or ministers’ uncomfortable balk that fails to realize the “happening” at the bedside.

The Ritual and a Richer Fare for Laying on of Hands

What do the scenes with Mary at Bethany and Vivian in the play Wit teach the minister about the form of laying on of hands as the minister meanders towards the bedside of the believer? Three significant recommendations for this form come to light from these two scenes. First, the form calls for the minister not to treat the sick as another appointment.

The “happening” calls for sitting down. Pull up a chair, take hold of the person’s hand and look into their eyes with love, as an equal. Not as a healthy intellectual doing their job, but, as a companion willing to accompany the traveler up to the semicolon of the threshold into the next life they are about to cross into. Sitting down represents the first step in fully expressing the form of laying on of hands.

Secondly, those not dying will for the most part need to deal with the loss of the loved one in the sickbed. As Aunt Marcia slowly deteriorated each of us acknowledged our own need for healing and comfort. The minister must bring these people into the sacrament by way of healing and strengthening them at this moment, which the Rite promotes through the full participation of those present by every means.22 Attention to the people in the room allows for the richer fare of the anointing.

Finally, after the priest anoints the sick an opportunity to include ecumenically all in the room ensues. The minister after anointing the head, hands and feet may turn to those in the room and offer the oil for them now to show a gesture of love. Incorporating those staying on the other side of the semicolon promotes them to offer an ordinary gesture that illustrates the meaning this person has in their life. The gesture returns human dignity to the sick and allows the family to respond to the invitation God gives in the “happening” of the sacrament.

The decree on Ecumenism in Vatican II Documents highlights the sacred sharing in the things of this life.23 By inviting the participation of all those in the room, ecumenism comes alive and the sharing act unites rather than divides the community. This invitation to personally encounter God with all those of different faiths symbolizes and signifies the effect of the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. Many faiths gather around the sick bed. Some ministers might decide to introduce a different name and allow someone besides the cleric to lead the ritual.24 The challenge of seeing the sacrament only in terms of penance and absolution needs further clarification and seems to be the main obstacle for Catholics to share in the priestly role of the anointing. In a welcome way the Rite encourages the priest to invite the sick person and all present to join in this encounter. This challenging aspect requires more writing

Rite of the Catholic Church, 818, #108.

Austin Flannery, ed. Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New Revised Edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1992), 452.

24

Sacraments Class. Kenan Osborne, guest lecture, March 27, 2004.

22 23

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and research that looks towards enabling many to experience the intimate and personal nature of anointing.

Pentecostals place substantial weight on the action of laying on of hands. A distinctive feature for the Pentecostals lies in faith healing practice of laying on of hands. (The ecumenical learning from this group might aid any minister’s attempt at incorporating more personal components to the rite of the Anointing of the Sick.) Pope Benedict XVI understands the opportunities and consequences associated with not fairly evaluating these other faiths. On his way to Brazil in May, 2007, the Pope’s main concern stemmed from these Churches providing something the faithful find lacking in Catholic worship. The theological root of Pentecostalism comes from Christ the Healer and adds to the ritual act of laying on of hands.

Conclusion

My Aunt Marcia never lost her dignity during those final months. Her push for life and constant faith navigated the family boat in the tumultuous sea of sickness. The priest came to the house for an Anointing more than once during those weeks. He sat in a chair and looked into her eyes, conscious of the admirable woman in the bed. The day she passed through the doorway of life to resurrection, her children stood around her holding their mother’s hand as she went on.

The glorious part in my Aunt’s crossing the threshold, moving past the semicolon, was her encountering her beloved on the other side. What an embrace my Uncle and his bride must have shared. Our gestures of love during those months could not have been as awesome as that welcome. The “happening” of the anointing of the sick during the form of laying on of hands sets out to illuminate the action of Mary and Jesus, of James and the early Church, and of Vivian in Wit, by inviting the healthy and the sick before saying goodbye, to anoint with a gesture of love in an extraordinary way. tt t

Martin J. Schreiber, SJ, is a member of the Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus, currently completing his second year in the Masters of Divinity program. Presently teaching a class at San Quentin State prison on the Bible and Literature, he has also worked at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, and has done international service work in Kenya, Haiti and Honduras.

Illustration Credits Pages 19-28 All photographs by Glen Chun, SJ. Page 21

Fritz Eichenberg, Dorothy Day. Wood engraving.

Page 32

Fritz Eichenberg, Jesus of the Breadlines. Wood engraving.

Pages 37-38 George Segal, Abraham’s Farewell to Ishmael, 1987. Painted

plaster. Miami Art Museum.

Page 48

Marc Chagall, Hagar in the Desert, 1960. Lithograph.

Page 50

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. The Angel Showing Hagar the Well in the Desert, 1638. Pen and wash. Hamburg, Kunsthalle.

Pages 53-64 All photographs by Jean Ngoy Nyembo, SJ. tt t

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JESUIT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT BERKELEY 1735 Le Roy Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709