[This article is part of a “Fuel-Up Friday” series in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon.]
By Myron Rogal, Coordinator of Justice and Peace, Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon.
On a warm April day, I took a walk with my two youngest children through an economically challenged area of another city. As I started to point out all the beauty that God had placed in our surroundings my youngest son said “Papa, there is always beauty everywhere, because there is life everywhere, God created life and God is everywhere.” I needed to hear this message of Easter hope as my whole life I have been challenged with overcoming what has been for me the sin of comparison.
I recently took part in the first learning tour to Rwanda with Grow Hope Saskatchewan, an ecumenical project that the diocese co-founded and supports. Prior to arriving in Rwanda, “the land of 1000 hills,” I decided to lay down my sword of comparison at the foot of the cross. This intentional decision along with an abundance of grace opened my eyes to the powerful story that the people and land of Rwanda had to share. In turn, my own poverty as well as the many poverties we live with in Canada such as isolation, polarization, and despair began to be revealed to me.
On the first day, we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. From this experience emerged two inseparable stories that we as Christians understand through the Paschal Mystery.
The first story is one of hatred, torture, killing, and evil that is past anything that I can even remotely relate to or understand. The Rwandan Genocide which took place over 30 years ago was a Good Friday moment. The second story is about the strength of Rwanda, an Easter Sunday miracle of how a people could come so far in a process of reconciliation in such a short period. The forgiveness and love of the enemy that continues to happen in Rwanda is something I have much faith in but really don’t understand.
When we attended Mass the next day and heard a homily based on loving our enemies, in a church where bullet holes remained from the genocide it truly made the Word of God come to life and was a reminder of “…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding…” –Philippians 4:7.
How can it be that one of the greatest strengths that we can have as a nation or as individuals is the power of forgiveness? This is certainly the logic of the Gospel and not the allure of worldliness.
One practitioner of this reconciliation is a six-year-old girl who survived a horrific civilian attack shared: “If you know me if you really knew me, you would not want to kill me.” This reminded me of the mad and impersonal face of war that Pope Francis frequently spoke of. It also brought to light that when we are not actively attempting to love our enemy we are walking a dangerous path that leads us into the mindset of Cain. This selfish individualism is a gulf away from the delightful unity that the Holy Spirit relentlessly summons us to.
Giving in to the impulses of indifference, blame, othering, dehumanizing, out-casting, or seeking comfort by surrounding ourselves with like-minded individuals can cut us off from the Good News that Christ desires to reveal in all situations. Separating ourselves from our siblings in Christ can furthermore stall the Church’s mission to evangelize and even lead us closer to killing our neighbour.
Our call as disciples is to always to see and choose life as my wise eight-year-old son reminded me. As Catholics in this Easter season we can do this by clinging to the Risen Christ. Like Mary Magdalene we can run from the tomb leaving behind ideologies, sterile theories, presumptions unhelpful comparisons or other worldly vices that harm us. Instead we can enter into the glory of Christ’s resurrection by choosing relationships and daring to love our enemy.
On the outside of a Cathedral in Rwanda are the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta that offer a modus operandi of how to fulfill our universal calling as relational disciples: “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace.”
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Communications, Catholic Saskatoon News, and the Office of Justice and Peace in the diocese of Saskatoon is supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca/baa.
To subscribe to the diocesan “Fuel Up Friday” weekly mailout of updates and inspiration, e-mail Marilyn Jackson, Director of Ministry Services at: mjackson@rcdos.ca.