For all that has been, thanks
1.18 | December 31, 2020 | Faith, Hope and Love in the Time of Corona
It’s been quite a while. And yes, it’s been quite a year too.
Just this week I had been walking the streets of Leuven with my friend and colleague Benjamin, catching up on the last ten months since we had met each other in person. These have been strange and desperate times, we agreed, but to borrow Benjamin’s phrase, they have been “not too shabby” after all.
And just as we walked into another lane, look what we saw:
Since the last time I had written to you, there had personally been several struggles and this newsletter had to temporarily stop. Yet, when I look at how things have unfolded around the world, my troubles do seem infinitesimally small. So here we are.
The year 2020 will forever be inscribed with the memory of the coronavirus that has until now infected over 80 million people and caused 1.8 million deaths globally. Many of us have been numbed by death and grief. Very often, what exacerbated our everyday situation was government indifference; in some cases, governments saw it as an opportunity to vilify its own peoples and supress dissent. My own Jesuit companions in India, Stan Swamy SJ and Alphonse Aind SJ continue to languish in prison, along with a host of public intellectuals and human rights activists that have been silenced into imprisonment even without a fair trial. If the coronavirus appears to be the master narrative that enabled other fallouts from rising xenophobia to faltering economies and widening inequalities, there have been other tragedies: bushfires in Australia, refugees that keep drowning off the shores of Europe, political and ethnic violence in South Sudan and Ethiopia… this list can go on. And if we ever needed an analogy for our times, the UN now tells us that 2020 has been among the three hottest years ever recorded in human history.
At the end of this year, 2020 seems like a bad dream we are trying to forget.
Over the Christmas octave, I have come to love the quiet solitude that the past few days have afforded me. I am not sure if these grey skies suddenly sound appealing to me (imagine that!), but I have been trying to escape (quite unsuccessfully, I must confess) to a fictional world like García Márquez’s Macondo. Even this magical world that I try to take refuge in brings alive the deep pathos of our times. Nevertheless, you realise that within our bleak moments too, there is always something left to love.
One of the most significant insights of this year was the power of ordinary people to do ordinary acts of kindness in extraordinarily meaningful ways. When everything seemed falling apart, we did our best to hold it together. Nurses worked overtime to pump life into breathless lungs, researchers beat odds to fast-track vaccines, truckers kept supplies moving, teachers taught themselves new ways of teaching their students, friends comforted each other and many found innovative ways of reaching out and feeding the hungry. A few leaders did show exceptional courage and leadership in getting us through. On the other hand, many found courage to resist government oppression and stand for the rights of fellow human beings. Personally, I have encountered people who have been willing to pick up their shattered lives and walk again. If this doesn’t give us hope, what will?
I am here reminded of my mentor Pat de Melo (he sadly passed away this year) who bequeathed us these famous lines of Dag Hammarskjöld:
For all that has been, Thanks.
To all that shall be, Yes.
If there’s one way to come to terms with 2020, it can still be gratitude and hope.
Here’s wishing you the very best as we stand on the cusp of a new year. I wish you a year of faith, hope and love. God bless you.
I look forward to meeting you again in the new year as I plan to devote a major part of the coming year to writing. And I do hope to hear from you too. Cheers!
Rinald D’Souza SJ
HISTORIA DOMUS
Postscript
Postscript
Auld Lang Syne
Happy New Year 2021
REFLECT
For it is not so much knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul,
but the intimate understanding and relish of the truth.
The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, #2
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Faith, Hope and Love in the Time of Corona
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And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love. | 1 Cor 13:13
A Very Happy New Year 2021, Ronald! Thank you for your hope generating reflection!