God is calling – listen, trust, follow
May 18, 2022
View vocation differently – Archbishop at Seminary graduation
May 18, 2022

Restoring peaceful connections

The pathos and possibilities of the ‘Judas’ characters in the liturgical readings over recent weeks reveal a transition from a deceitful ‘love’ and distressing circumstances to the restoration of hope and healing in the Word of Truth and authentic Love.

Disappointment, duress, and untrustworthiness are restored in the person of a fleeting, yet fiercely committed Judas Barsabbas in this Sunday’s first reading. Barsabbas the prophet, encourages. He is found trustworthy to carry the message of truth and defend the Word, enlightened by the Advocate, sent by the Creator.

The decision of the evangelists to focus on the ‘essentials’ for the early Christian communities to thrive in harmony, even when opinions differed, is a good lesson for us in this techno world of fast, smart and often deceitful information which distracts us from being authentic humans.

Right here in ‘sweet T &T’, every day, we are discouraged and distressed in the nanospeed dissemination of news of shootings with war weapons, stabbings, murders, domestic abuse, pornographic obsessions.

In particular, the revelations of horrific child abuse in private homes and residential institutions give the lie to the meaning of ‘care’.

We are further stunned in shame and disbelief over the sordid facts of perverse activity in our ‘Christian’ institutional homes where the children were supposed to be in ‘safe spaces’, protected from the sins of omission and cancellation by wounded parents, only to be cast into hell-homes, in which the promise of wholesome self-realisation has been aborted by persons who have been unmasked for their hideous behaviours.

As it turns out, the evidence and reporting on the infractions against the innocents were openly shared by investigators decades ago. Cover-ups and sanitisation of the sedition of ‘authority’ in beatings, sexual molestation, emotional and psychological fracturing have been uncovered, the veil removed on the unfit processes and protocols for engaging persons assigned as caregivers.

Eyes wide shut, the rot was allowed to fester and infect the essential premise of the faith we profess – love, truth, integrity, responsibility for actions. The Judas effect permeated and undermined visible and invisible signs of what should be witnesses to love.

Sadly, those charged with the responsibility to preserve order and peace have failed us. How has this state of affairs been allowed to continue for so long? The values we tout in theology and sociology have been hijacked: custom, culture, convention and constitutional restrictions are being blamed.

But the sins of the elders are bleeding on the children, as well as all the women, girls, boys and men who have lost their sense of self, their lives, their sanity and essential balance to live in peace and loving homes and societies.

The external and self-flagellation of history, theological and sociological as a means of purification is suspect. We fool ourselves, as scientific studies have shown, into believing that greater pain cleanses or atones for sin and disrespectful, anti-social behaviour.

What’s needed is that love relationships must be restored for peace to reign. Let’s start afresh in our homes and schools. The State can partner, too. Speak about and act on promoting loyalty and attention to marital responsibilities. Let’s promote games and visual media to right align wholesome psychological, sociological, political, economic morality which will result in improved quality, never perfect, but continuously restorative individual and corporate life. Consistently choosing to love for the other promotes growth and frees us to respond to God’s call to remain in His love.

Choosing self-centredness is counter-productive and denies the truth of who we are as the children of love personified. If we continually reject the invitation to love, to restore peaceful connections, it is at our peril.