Our time is uncertain, but it can make hope possible
1.15 | June 28, 2020 | Faith, Hope and Love in the Time of Corona
IMAGE: Erik Witsoe
This week it will be four months of what was meant to be a two-month research fieldwork in India; and I have hardly realised even half of what I had intended to accomplish. Yes, lockdown struck us and I imagine that you too would have experienced similar limitations in your own regions or countries. Most of us have been fortunate to shield ourselves within our houses; however, the homeless have been left to the vagaries of the coronavirus either on the road or in state-controlled shelter homes. And while the security of our own homes has been much more comforting, the boundedness of space that this virus imposes on us has been telling on our lives. Social distancing has been the norm, and we have realised how our once-upon-a-time so familiar spaces have now exerted some form of control, even power, over us. You want to move around, but you are limited by how your space confines you.
Over the past few weeks, while our movements have eased a bit in our bid to “unlock” gradually — even as cases continue to spike across India — we still remain constricted by our spaces. Along with space, there has also been a creeping sense of frustration with regard to time. How long will this go on? Is this going to be our new sense of normal? What will the future look like? When will I be able to resume my earlier mode of work and life? Yet, what’s even more difficult for most of us is probably our inability to make sense of time in the present. What troubles us the most is the uncertainty of time that gives rise to such existential questioning. How do I make sense of all this?
In these moments, I have fallen back on one of the most significant insights of Pope Francis — “time is greater than space” — that he first expounded in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (no. 222-225).
This principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us patiently to endure difficult and adverse situations, or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between fullness and limitation, and to give a priority to time. One of the faults which we occasionally observe in sociopolitical activity is that spaces and power are preferred to time and processes. Giving priority to space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the present, trying to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion; it is to crystallize processes and presume to hold them back. Giving priority to time means being concerned about initiating processes rather than possessing spaces. Time governs spaces, illumines them and makes them links in a constantly expanding chain, with no possibility of return. What we need, then, is to give priority to actions which generate new processes in society and engage other persons and groups who can develop them to the point where they bear fruit in significant historical events. Without anxiety, but with clear convictions and tenacity.
Evangelii Gaudium, 223
This has been one of the fundamental guiding principles for Pope Francis’ papacy and finds repeated mentions in his encyclicals, Lumen Fidei (57) and Laudato Si’ (178) as well as in his apostolic exhortations, Querida Amazonia (66) and Amoris Laetitia (3, 261).
What then is the relation of time to space? Pope Francis reckons time with processes linked to human progress that harken us to fullness of life. Spaces, on the other hand, resort to practices of self-assertion and power that limit us and bind us down. A key question that he asks is how can we engage with time in order to generate creative processes that could have a bearing on our spaces. It is important to note that he does not do away with space, but rather prioritises time over space. We could probably ask: how could we be alive to God’s own time in order to humanise our spaces?
We presently live through a pandemic where the constraints of space are made even more acute through power networks administered by the government as well as a profit-driven capitalist economy that values profits more than people. Could a humane economy be possible?
Yet, the very uncertainty of time — that in its extreme form portends death — can be a harbinger of life and even give meaning to it. The contemplation of our own mortality — when time will end for us — can be source of reimagining a meaningful life. The commentary by Tyner and Rice, “Meaningful life in the time of Corona-economics,” leads us through a reflective process where we meaningfully engage with our present time and rethink the oppressive spaces of capitalism. What does a society that prioritizes meaningful life look like?
A meaningful life is only possible within a form of social organization that provides opportunities for the flourishing of all people, not some at the cost of others—that is, one that fosters meaningful life by making empathy its top priority.
For all the uncertainty that we might experience in this present moment, Ephraim Radner reminds us that “uncertainty is at the center of the Christian vocation.” The uncertainties of the present are the building blocks of hope. Can our uncertainties lead to something more meaningful? Something ever more beautiful? How can we come to terms with our uncertainties?
One of the most beautiful stories I have read this past week is a testimony by Jake Braithwaite SJ where we are invited to love anyway — without any preconceived notions or expectations — and experience the hope of resurrection. Love might seem uncertain, but with time, hope seems possible.
This hope is not the prerogative of Christians alone! It is a hope we need to reimagine for — and with — every single human being.
Wishing you faith, hope and love,
Rinald D’Souza SJ
HISTORIA DOMUS
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Thank you for your feedback and the love you send me. You have been very kind towards me. In your feedback, a number of you have requested to receive this newsletter before the weekend kicks in. I believe rescheduling this newsletter would profit our weekend reflection. From July onward, I hope to write to you on a Saturday. God bless you.
Readings
FAITH
Uncertainty and the Christian
Ephraim Radner | First Things | 4 June 2020
Uncertainty is at the center of the Christian vocation. Uncertainty may not comprehensively describe that vocation, but it defines it in an essential way.
The uncertainties of the present, however, are the building blocks of hope, not its detritus. The future may or may not be pleasant. Who knows? “Repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:14). The Time of the Virus is giving us back today. Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24).
HOPE
Meaningful life in the time of Corona-economics
James Tyner and Stian Rice | Dialogues in Human Geography | 9 June 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to think more deeply about who and what we value in society, with value determined not on conditions set by capital but instead on achieving meaning in life. In this commentary, we pose a series of interconnected questions to geography: What does it mean to live a meaningful life? Furthermore, is such a life possible under capitalism? And what does a society that prioritizes meaningful life look like?
LOVE
What God Promises During a Pandemic: My Month at The Pope Francis Center
Jake Braithwaite SJ | The Jesuit Post | 24 June 2020
For the disciples, resurrection meant watching their friend being killed by corrupt authorities and, instead of cowering in fear, feeling emboldened to proclaim his name across the land. For me, resurrection has meant experiencing the anger and confusion and rejection brought about by my brother’s addiction, and finding in it God’s invitation to love with even more depth. What resurrection is God inviting for me as I mourn for a world torn apart by deadly racism and a persistent pandemic?
In this woman, God invited me to look in the face of mental illness and outright rejection and see the face of my brother. God called me to love them both anyway. So must we all.
Postscript
Postscript
One Moment for One Thing: Make Room For Hope
Patrick Saint-Jean SJ | The Jesuit Post | 17 June 2020
What and where is my hope today?
What is it that I want to be reborn in my life?
How can I let God be the one who resurrects me?
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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Hope, hope alone is our strength....not the shallow type, the deep one, where suffering in the model of Jesus is accepted....and overcome....Hope of renewal, rebirth, resurrection...