I write this reflection on January 17, the day set aside to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King. Many of us are reflecting on what his life and death mean for us in 2005. Dr. King spent his life trying to bring people together in peace and in the common ground of understanding. This quest of Dr. King's became a lens for me as I reflected on recent events in our world.

Since Dec. 26, when the tsunami struck Southeast Asia, our thoughts have reached out across the great seas and we have opened our hearts to take in the tragic events of history. We have seen the anguished faces of parents looking for their children, wives looking for their husbands who were lost at sea, and children wandering alone without family to care for them. We are stretched beyond what we thought was possible and the cries of those who are suffering have reached our ears and our hearts.

Our Superior General, Clare Pratt and our Provincial, Kathleen Hughes have issued an invitation to RSCJ and friends to respond by mobilizing common efforts, and if possible, by sending resources to the places most in need. (See www.rscj.org or www.rscjinternational.org for more information and for reflections on this topic)

During these days I have been recalling the phrase of the Old Testament “I have heard the cry of my people” and I was led to the recently published book of Barbara Bowe, RSCJ entitled Biblical Foundations of Spirituality. In the chapter “I Have Heard Their Cry,” she refers to Exodus 3:8a:

Then the Lord said, “I have seen the misery of my people…, I have heard their cry. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them.”

Barbara points out that in response to the cry of the people, God sent Moses as an agent of liberation. As she says:

…God collaborates with and utilizes human creatures in the work of salvation. This divine-human “cooperation” will remain a constant theme throughout the Bible, with various individuals at different times enlisted to do the work of God on earth…God takes human beings seriously and …has indeed entrusted them with the care of creation and of God's people. (Biblical Foundations of Spirituality, By Barbara Bowe, RSCJ, p. 59)

All of us are called to participate in responding to the suffering of God's people. We are called beyond the scope of our own nation and our own limited world view. As such, we become global citizens and find that our identity and our very being are intimately connected with the lives of others.

In his address on January 1, World Day of Peace, John Paul II reminds us how important it is to identify ourselves as citizens of the world. He says: “fostering peace…requires careful reflection on the common good and on its social and political implications. When the common good is promoted at every level, peace is promoted…As a member of the human family, each person becomes as it were a citizen of the world…”

Moving from the Christian view point, I turn to another tradition and another teacher. Pema Chödrön, a Buddhist nun, has articulated a spiritual practice that reinforces this notion of our oneness with all persons. She speaks of taking into our selves the sufferings of others and then breathing out into the world and into the lives of others the breath of healing, of love, of restoration. I have been pondering her teaching ever since the tragedy of Dec. 26 when I have been experiencing some of my own helplessness in the face of such suffering. In describing the practice of tonglen (taking in and sending out) she says:

This meditation practice is designed to help ordinary people like ourselves connect with the openness and softness of our hearts. Instead of shielding and protecting [ourselves] … we let ourselves feel what it is to be human. By so doing, we widen our circle of compassion. (Start Where you Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living, by Pema Chödrön)

She suggests that when we take in the pain of others, we begin to open our own hearts and feel the wide space of openness that is compassion. In like manner, we do not cling to good for ourselves alone, that too, we radiate out so that all creatures are able to benefit from its blessing.

During this time when all of us are reflecting on the sorrow and suffering in Southeast Asia and in other parts of the world that are experiencing war and division, let us move out beyond our own borders (of self and of nation). Let us be motivated to action by the realities that unite us as one human family.

Concluding with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, I pray that all of our efforts will be joined together for good, for justice, for healing, and for peace:

And with this faith I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through the
mountain of despair. With this faith, I will go out with you and transform
dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Speech at the Great March on Detroit, June 23, 1963)

May this New Year be a time of unity and above all, let us pray and work for peace.