I have just watched the movie "Philomena." The movie portrays the true story of an aging mother, whose child was taken from her in the convent where she had given birth as an unwed teenager when the child was a toddler. Having ached her whole life to know something of her stolen son, she embarks on a transcontinental journey to find him 50 years after the birth.
As she has longed to know what has become of her son, the son has also been hunting for her. Although the nuns in the convent know of both searches, they intentionally impede the connection until Philomena discovers the deception after learning of her son's death. The journalist who is helping Philomena in her search confronts the nun, who has held the secrets for decades, with the accusation that "it wasn't very Christian of her." In a far more Christian act, the bereaved mother forgave the nun.
A few years ago, a wave of sex abuse revelations within clergy in the Catholic Church rocked congregations across the US, only to expand across the world. The violations of youngsters wasn't limited to Catholicism, as a second wave of revelations rippled from almost every protestant denomination. None very Christian acts either.
In Iraq, different sects of Islam kill each other in the name of God. In Israel, Jews and Palestinians fight each other in the name of the God of their common ancestor Abraham. In Africa, members of different tribes kill each other. All over the world today people will be killed in the name of one religion or another.
Yesterday, I shared Karen Armstrong's comparative religions' research, revealing that the heart of all religious, ethical, and spiritual traditions is "compassion." She describes the manifestation of "compassion" as being the Golden Rule--do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
How do we get from an almost universal drive for compassion and living by the Golden Rule to separating mothers and children, sexually abusing children, and killing other sects--all in the name of God? I am not sure how this happened, but there is one thing that I am very sure about: we can do better...we must do better...in the name of God.
Numerology is the part of the Jewish mystical tradition, which is devoted to ancient study of numbers and the spiritual lessons which come with them. We are on the doorstep of a new year and all the new possibilities which come with it. The spiritual lessons of 2014 are love, relationship, responsibility and healing. Those are the lessons that each of us is to learn during the coming year. I can't help but believe that if we learn the lessons of love, relationship, responsibility, and healing in the year ahead that we would live by the Golden Rule, and then we will do better...in the name of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment