Writing this on All Souls Day, I was struck by this morning’s Mass readings. On a day when you might expect their tenor to be sorrowful, they are full of hope. St Paul waxes lyrically: “Death”, he asks, “where is your sting? Death, where is your victory?” (1 Cor. 15,54-58).
In the Letter to the Romans, full of pretty serious stuff on sin – enough to give Luther a monumental attack of scruples, you will find another of Paul’s hopeful
passages: it too concludes in a song of joy: “Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked” (Romans 8, 31-39). Paul wrote this while he himself was constantly at risk of physical assault and death.
The Gospel, which Paul preached and we try to live by, is unfailingly good news. Indeed if enough of us really did live by it, it would absolutely change our world for the better. Wasn’t it Gandhi who said that Christians have got the best formula in the world – if only we would truly live up to it? That’s the good news, the Gospel of Jesus, which hopefully is our daily diet. Now take up your daily newspaper and see if you can find any there. What we are fed by the media, day in and day out, is thoroughly bad news. The sports pages can be the exception – especially when we win the World Cup. But the political and social news is almost invariably depressing and negative, as is much editorial comment.

“Death, where is your sting? Death, where is your victory?”
(1 Cor. 15:54-58)

“Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ..."
(Romans 8: 31)

When I worked as a Catholic editor, it was our policy to seek and find what we called ‘good news’ stories to put in each issue. That didn’t mean burying one’s head in the sand and ignoring the serious and even quite nasty issues which the Church faces. It meant providing balance. The good must outweigh the bad – because in real life it actually does, most of the time.
A couple of weeks ago, in a leading Italian paper La Stampa, I came across a refreshing example of good ‘spin’. The news columns were full up with the deepening European economic crisis and the latest scandals surrounding Prime Minister Berlusconi. Yet in the midst of all the gloom was a thoughtful piece critical of Europe’s lack of involvement in the Middle East peace process.
What nonsense, said the article, to plead that the current economic woes absolve Europeans from providing aid. On world standards Europe is rolling in wealth. It also bears much responsibility for causing the seemingly insoluble woes of Palestine. To simply leave everything to the United States is irresponsible. It was good to read such common sense, challenging a hopeful response.
We do live in a fragile world – but that is largely due to the greed of its human inhabitants. Food shortages, AIDS, pollution, terrorism, grinding poverty: every one of these could be alleviated, if not cured, if the resources of the world were properly channelled. If the sort of total concentration of resources normally dedicated to waging wars were spent instead on promoting peace and justice, then we would surely build a better world – and quickly.

What is lacking is the political will and hope. And that is where Christianity comes in. Our faith provides an abundant resource of spiritual riches to apply both to ourselves and share with others. Once in a while it is good to prayerfully read someone like Julian of Norwich. All will be well and all manner of things will be well, she said. She seems the incorrigible optimist. Who would think that while she wrote, the Black Death was killing off half the population of Europe and her own bishop was one of its biggest blackguards? Not a whisper of that appears in her writings. I hope that the ‘stars of hope’ recruited by the Mercy
Spirituality Centre this year will be like Mother Julian and rekindle Christian hope in the hearts of people, spurring them to action for the good of the world. In our own time we only need to think of Thomas Merton, or Mother Aubert or Jean Vanier, and countless others. To change the culture of an age is not beyond our powers when the Holy Spirit is empowering us to act.

Rev. Michael Hill IC
Guest Editor