Culture

Father Arrupe's remarks from over 50 years ago have never been more important. It is time to respond with love, not contempt.

Michael
Reardon

I am not a biblical scholar, unless Scripture class in my Junior year at Boston College High School counts, which I am fairly sure it does not. However, I do have an appreciation for Scripture and there are a few passages that I reflect on regularly. One is from St. Paul's letter to the Philippians: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest but each of you to the interests of others."
Reflecting on these words recently, I was drawn to the remarks of the late Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father Pedro Arrupe, SJ, who captured the essence of this passage when he spoke on the feast of St. Ignatius at the 10th International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe in 1973. It was in these remarks that the idea of being a "man for others" was laid out. If anyone has attended a Jesuit institution, the concept has appropriately broadened to become women and men for and with others. However, the language appropriate for those times carries a message worthy of reflection during these days of unending political rhetoric and grandstanding, with each side claiming a moral high ground and vilification of those with different views seemingly the order of the day.

Father Arrupe challenged those assembled to respond to differences and conflict not with ego, but with love. "St. Paul put it in a single sentence: 'Do not allow yourself to be overcome by evil, but rather, overcome evil with good.' This teaching, which is identical with the teaching of Christ about love for the enemy, is the touchstone of Christianity. All of us would like to be good to others, and most of us would be relatively good in a good world. What is difficult is to be good in an evil world, where the egoism of others and the egoism built into the institutions of society attack us and threaten to annihilate us.
"Under such conditions, the only possible reaction would seem to be to oppose evil with evil, egoism with egoism, hate with hate; in short, to annihilate the aggressor with his own weapons. But is it not precisely thus that evil conquers us most thoroughly? For then, not only does it damage us exteriorly, it perverts our very heart. We allow ourselves, in the words of St. Paul, to be overcome by evil."
There is a lot to be angered about in our country and our world today and there is seemingly a never-ending supply of pain and suffering within it. It is hard to watch people on both sides yelling into the ether and having carefully scripted algorithms delivering messages to target audiences to help reinforce the strength of the echo chamber. Each side is responding with contempt for the other and driving a wedge in families, friends, and our country. Father Arrupe's remarks from over 50 years ago have never been more important. It is time to respond with love, not contempt.
With few exceptions, I passionately believe people are good. There is much more that we have in common than that which separates us. It is time to challenge ourselves, just as we challenge students in Catholic school, to try and understand the other person. It is time to look to facts, respond with love and remember that whatever our views, we are all made in the image and likeness of God and God does not make mistakes.

- Michael B. Reardon is executive director of the Catholic Schools Foundation, www.CSFBoston.org.

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