I cannot say that I am too surprised about the Senate report on CIA torture engaged in by the United States. This country long ago decided to go down a path that would lead to where we are today: police brutality of African-Americans and saying that effectively drowning a person is not some sort of physical violence (torture) to them. What sort of Orwellian Newspeak is this, where the police, sworn to protect, brutalize, and torture is not called torture, but "enhanced interrogation techniques"?
When a society decides to not protect those persons who are embodiments of the most fragile among us--namely pre-born human beings--it's not going to be too long until all classes of persons who represent the "other" are then objectified and their inherent personhood is thus removed.
It is hard to preach, point to and proclaim magnanimity in the midst of such pusillanimity.
Sometimes, I become very discouraged, approaching the depths of despair. It is the "voice of one crying out in the wilderness," but without hope that I am preparing the way of the Lord. But, I must steel my spine for what lies ahead.
The reason Pope Francis speaks to me on a deep level is that he has said the church must be a "field hospital in the midst of battle." Being in the midst of battle is ugly. One will not always see the nobility of human beings, but often their depravity. So I preach magnanimity, hoping against hope that perhaps some semblance of metanoia will enter into a few people's lives. Maybe I am naively optimistic, but it is more that I prefer to live in hope.
Pope Francis, in one of the greatest lines a pope has written, wrote in "The Joy of the Gospel": "The Son of God by becoming flesh summoned us to the revolution of tenderness" (Evangelii Gaudium, 88). It would take a lifetime to unpack this sentence and to live it out. But, one must, because God in Jesus initiated a revolution by taking on human flesh, not to abort it, not to brutalize it, not to torture it, but to tenderly love it...love us and every human being.
I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, God in human flesh, and as such I am summoned to be catholic and magnanimous in my love of human beings, all human beings...from the most fragile, pre-born child in the womb to the most depraved and ignoble criminal or terrorist. When I can love with a love like that, maybe I'll be ready for the kingdom of heaven. Until then, I'll be preaching metanoia, mine and everyone else's.
Yes it does get ugly in the midst of the daily battle and the depravity and evil often seem all encompassing. Whenever I am tempted to give in to despair and hopelessness, I am reminded that "the battle is the Lord's" and "the gates of Hell will not prevail". Jesus is the victor! Hallelujah!
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