I was born prematurely and I was born a twin. Unfortunately, my twin did not survive. I have contemplated the possible circumstances of my survival and two scenarios are prominent in my considerations.
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| Source: http://harvardpolitics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2048px-I_stand_with_Planned_Parenthood_2-300x169.jpg |
Scenario one is based on the survival of the fittest of the two twins in the womb. In this scenario, I can imagine that the life of my twin was “taken” as a consequence of my stronger situation. Scenario two is based on considering that my twin gave me my life. The second option resonates with my experience with Richard Rohr and the Center for Action and Contemplation where faculty member Cynthia Bourgeault writes about the power and depth of Jesus as a wisdom teacher, a person who . . . clearly emerges out of and works within an ancient tradition called “wisdom,” sometimes known as sophia perennis, which is in fact at the headwaters of all the great religious traditions of the world today.
It’s concerned with the transformation of the whole human being. Transformation from what to what? Well, for a starter, from our animal instincts and egocentricity into love and compassion; from a judgmental and dualistic worldview into a nondual acceptingness. This was the message that Jesus, apparently out of nowhere, came preaching and teaching, a message that was radical in its own time and remains equally radical today.1
Transformation from a judgmental and dualistic worldview into a nondual acceptingness is a path that offers hope for reconciliation between people who view life issues from different perspectives.
Pope Francis exhortations to experience God as mercy were brought to public attention with his now famous remarks in a press conference in 2013, when he asked: "Who am I to judge?"
The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis' exploration on the universal theme of mercy, is a spiritual inspiration to both followers of Christianity and non-Christians.
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| Source: https://www.thinkingfaith.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_full_687/public/field/image/20160408_1amorislaetitia.jpg?itok=kooDD6ih |
Nicholas Austin SJ writes on 'Discernment charged with merciful love': as Pope Francis’ kind of triptych (a ‘triptych’: a central painting complemented by two ‘wings’) of discernment, gradualness and mercy. That is, he offers a practice, a principle and a virtue.
To complement the practice of discernment, Francis proposes the principle of gradualness, the second panel of his pastoral triptych.
This principle has a long history in Catholic moral theology, was affirmed by John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio[19] and applied by Pope Benedict XVI in his comments on HIV/AIDs prevention.[20] It is based on the insight that moral development is a step-by-step process that may not happen all at once. Moral education therefore requires a ‘patient realism’[21] in educators and pastors. Pastoral practice informed by this principle does not merely proclaim eternal truths, but accompanies a person, meeting each where she or he is now, and encourages them to take a small step, the next step. It’s a delicate balance: going to where a person actually is, and at the same time hanging on to the moral ideal.2
Discernment of the work of Pope Francis in the encyclical “Laudato Si, Care of our Common Home” brings the theme of a Consistent Ethic of Life (CEL) to the forefront. Charles C. Camosy, a CRUX contributor, reminds us that secular conservatives and progressives have alternatively praised or decried Pope Francis as a liberal. But his positions on hot-button moral issues closely follow the Consistent Ethic of Life (CEL) of his predecessors.
The ‘throw-away culture’ is a primary metaphor in the Pope Francis CEL. He describes it as “a mentality in which everything has a price, everything can be bought, everything is negotiable. This way of thinking has room only for a select few, while it discards all those who are unproductive.”
It reduces everything-including people-to mere things whose value consists in being bought, sold, used, and discarded when their market value has been exhausted.
The inherent, irreducible value of ‘inefficient’ and ‘burdensome’ human beings is simply ignored by a throw-away culture which finds such value inconvenient. In reducing the human person to a mere product in a marketplace-one which can be used and then thrown away-our culture makes a categorical mistake. Persons are ends in themselves, with inherent and irreducible value, and must never be discarded as so much trash.
The explicit, deadly violence of the throw-away culture as resisted by Pope Francis involves classically violent practices such as war, genocide, terrorism, and the death penalty. But he also thinks of practices like abortion (which discard a child as inconvenient) and euthanasia (which treat the elderly as so much “baggage” to be discarded) as also part of this same culture of deadly violence.3
To complement the practice of discernment, Francis proposes the principle of gradualness, the second panel of his pastoral triptych. The comparison of Pope Francis teaching to liberal philosophy is only a partial match.
CBC the Current interviewed Adam Gopnik a small L liberal, former Montrealer and current staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, who has a new book out that he's describing as a defence of quote "the moral adventure of liberalism". It's entitled A Thousand Small Sanities.
"Historically, at any moment of crisis or high pressure, liberalism and liberal institutions have always looked incredibly weak," the New Yorker staff writer told Anna Maria Tremonti on The Current.
In the 1930s, for instance, when fascism was gaining traction in Europe, many British and French intellectuals theorized that liberal institutions would be "too weak to meet those challenges."
"At the end of the day those liberal institutions, those weak, compromised, uncertain, wishy-washy, 'love me, love me' institutions turned out to be remarkably strong and they defeated the totalitarian alternatives and built a better world. At any moment liberalism will look weak and ultimately, historically, it's proven to be strong.".. 4
A table compares Pope Francis and Adam Gopnik's idea of liberalism.
COMPARE
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Nicholas Austin SJ on 'Discernment charged with merciful love': Pope Francis’
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Adam Gopnik about his new book A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism,1
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practice
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discernment
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Oppose social cruelty; Advocate freedom to speak
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principle
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gradualness
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liberalism
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virtue
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mercy
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“reform through reason”
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“As I love you” ( http://tinyurl.com/y2fsaumu) is a curation of reflections inspired by having love that gives up life for the other. If truly there is no love greater than giving of life for the other, this love cannot be coerced. True love requires freedom to choose love. The greatest gift from God is freedom to choose love. In Catholic Social Teaching, life is a sacred gift that may be freely given in love, for the good of the other. The egotism and selfishness that supports the deadly violence of the throw-away culture, in the worst case, becomes evident in war, genocide, terrorism, the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia. The freedom to choose love for the other and give life for the benefit of the other may be the active motivation in experiencing war and terror attacks, accepting the death penalty, struggling with abortion, and yielding our final time near death for the benefit of others.
Lainey Newman comments on the Bill Clinton position on abortion Safe, Legal, and Rare in an examination of the Democrats’ Evolving Stance on Abortion. Many abortion-rights activists have argued for increased publicity surrounding the abortion issue because of its prevalence in women’s lives. This is a merited argument. In the US, almost 20 percent of pregnancies end in abortion, meaning that about 1 in every 4 women will receive an abortion by the time she’s 45. These experiences should not be ignored, and women are right to call attention to them in hopes of helping other women.
The issue of abortion is a lot less black and white than the media may portray it to be. Many Americans support the legality of abortion and believe in women’s ability to make decisions regarding their health care, despite having moral qualms about the procedure. Abortion is a critical and relevant policy issue, and it’s essential that the Democrats continue to fight for women’s reproductive rights. However, it’s also important that the party doesn’t shun and shame those who have a more moderate perspective on abortion. Retaking the “safe, legal, and rare” narrative, while still fighting for and protecting reproductive rights through policy, would allow Democrats to still be the pro-choice party but access a larger portion of the electorate.5
John Gehring admits to long suffering from what might be called abortion-politics fatigue, an ailment that flairs to acute levels as elections draw near and single-issue activists get louder, depicting their opponents as dangerous extremists. His condition, characterized by discouragement and bouts of cynicism, likely affects millions of voters given how out-of-sync abortion debates are with how most Americans approach the issue.
USA Today columnist and CNN commentator Kirsten Powers, who in the past has challenged pro-choice organizations and argued for the Democratic Party to be more welcoming to prolife politicians, wrote last week:
Am I still a “pro-life” Christian? My faith is as strong as ever, but today I’d say I’m like many Americans who see themselves both as pro-choice and pro-life. What I do know for sure is that I care about all lives, and that includes the lives of women contemplating abortion. The anti-abortion movement pays lip service to caring for women, but what the recent spate of laws shows us is that in the end there is only one thing they care about: the embryo or fetus. The lives of young rape or incest victims are accepted as collateral damage, and women who want to protect their health are cast as sinister actors incapable of searching their own consciences for a way forward when a wanted pregnancy goes awry.
[Gehring continues] The Democratic Party and some progressive activists have responded to growing extremism on the right with their own orthodoxy, imposing purity tests on party members that are miles from the “safe, legal, and rare” framework coined by Bill Clinton in 1996, or even President Obama’s 2009 call for civility and common ground on abortion. “So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let’s reduce unintended pregnancies,” Obama said during his commencement address at the University of Notre Dame a decade ago. “Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health-care policies are grounded in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.” This kind of sensible appeal is rare these days.6
A response to the cognitive dissonance that plagues good people who are besieged by dualistic, “them” and “us” discord in the culture wars around doing the best for fullness of life may be to discern the benefits of our choices in the love we give to others as we continue to gradually grow reducing ego and increasing selflessness as we are transformed to be the virtues we embrace.
References
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(n.d.). The Wisdom Tradition — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://cac.org/the-wisdom-tradition-2018-01-28/
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2
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(2016, April 8). 'Discernment charged with merciful love': Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia .... Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/discernment-charged-merciful-love-pope-francis%E2%80%99-amoris-laetitia-love-family-0
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3
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(2016, October 4). The consistent ethic of life under Pope Francis - Crux Now. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/10/04/consistent-ethic-life-pope-francis/
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4
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(2019, May 15). Liberalism is constantly under siege but always comes out ... - CBC.ca. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-16-2019-1.5137392/liberalism-is-constantly-under-siege-but-always-comes-out-on-top-says-author-1.5137434
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5
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(2018, January 11). Safe, Legal, and Rare: The Democrats' Evolving Stance on Abortion .... Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/safe-legal-and-rare-the-democrats-evolving-stance-on-abortion/
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6
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(2019, May 23). Farther than Ever from Common Ground? | Commonweal Magazine. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/farther-ever-common-ground
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(2019, May 24). Where do abortion rights in Canada stand today? | CBC Radio - CBC.ca. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/where-do-abortion-rights-in-canada-stand-today-1.5147690
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