BLESSING THOSE SIX FEET

"Distancing" has become a common word in our daily speech in the past eight months or so. Medical experts seem to agree that  "social distancing," keeping six feet away from others, is a powerful tool in fighting the spread of the covid-19 virus. They present us with the principle "The farther away we stay from one another the better."

At the same time, the presidential election campaign has highlighted the huge, seemingly uncrossable distance between two factions in our country. While a few voices keep crying for unity, many others, including those in high positions of leadership, keep encouraging us to think in terms of "us" versus "them." "They" are a dangerous enemy who cannot be trusted. 

Ironically, some leaders who make fun of the pandemic protocol of social distancing, encourage us to apply that very principle on a civic level: "The farther away we stay from one another the better." To propose compromise or search for some middle ground that you and your fellow legislators can agree on is now considered political suicide. Politics was once considered to be the art of the possible. But now the legislator has to remember that many of the people who voted for him have now become fanatical believers in "political distancing:  "The farther away we stay from 'them' the better." If you compromise "our" position. then you're going over to the enemy's side, and we won't vote for you the next time.

Into this atmosphere of "distancing," both physical and political, comes the gospel reading yesterday, in which Jesus reveals a timely truth about the Kingdom of God that he has been preaching. In response to some pharisees who ask when the Kingdom is going to come, Jesus replies, "The Kingdom of God is already here," that is, "The reign of God is already in your midst" (Lk 17,21).

I like the translation of the original Greek preposition ente as "among" or even "between" you. I picture the Kingdom as existing not inside of you and me, but rather in the spaces between us. What characterizes the space between me and a certain brother? Is it charity? Respect? Jealousy? It's up to me to fill that space with either Kingdom virtues or earthly values. The notion of the Kingdom existing in the spaces between us evokes the title of John O'Donohue's book of blessings, "To Bless the Space Between Us."   Remembering that I had referred to O'Donohue's book and the spaces between us in a previous post, I just went and found that post. Guess when it was? The Saturday after the 2016 presidential election! Why not read that post from four years ago and see what, if anything, has changed over the four years?

 

Meanwhile, please excuse me, as I have to prepare for Br. Francis Woodruff's mass of Solemn Profession as a monk later this morning. Making solemn (perpetual) vows surely blesses the space between all the monks of Newark Abbey and of our larger communities. 

I invite you to pray for Br. Francis on this special day, and to pray that the Lord will indeed bless all of us and help us fill the spaces between us with charity, optimism, empathy, humility and patience!