REFLECTIONS AND NOTES SPRING 2005

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Why do people suffer?
Relationships
Parent strength

Teacher notes page 2-3

THE GENERATIONS
Pets and other animals
What is love?
Forgiveness and reconciliation
Crime and punishment
The gift of forgiveness

Principal reflections
Prepared by Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ

For the school assembly
For the newsletter
A Prayer

Why do people suffer?

In times of great disaster such as we have experienced recently, the tsunami and the bombing of the tube trains in London, many people feel compelled to ask: Where was God when it happened? The article by Fr Andrew Hamilton and Jenny Myers (pp. 17–26) gives helpful consideration to this topic and students are recommended to read the essay carefully and to answer the questions thoughtfully. The matters raised in this piece of writing are relevant to our times and worthy of attention.

Relationships

In this edition of Australian Catholics there are several articles which demonstrate the life-enhancing qualities of relationships in our lives: the father/son relationship of Lindsay and Andrew Gaze (p. 8); Marcelle Mogg's uncle and his importance to his family and the needy people he encountered in his daily life (p. 16); Sr Helen Prejean's friendships with the condemned men in her care (p. 14); the tenderness of Terry Monagle's relationship with his wife (p. 28); and, finally, the companionship people have from their pets (pp. 22, 23).

Parent strength

Students are well acquainted with the help that parents can give them as they pursue their chosen paths in life and the studies that they must undergo in order to be attain their goals They might begin by reading 'Gazing ahead' (p. 8) and then consider some aspects of the part their own parents play in their lives.

1. Have you decided what you want to do with your life?

2. Are you really committed to this ambition or is it a compromise you have agreed on both with yourself and others?

3. When you feel discouraged, whom do you look to for help?

4. Do you ever feel that others, including teachers and parents, are more committed to your goals than you are?

5. What does the article about the Lindsay and Andrew Gaze say about the contribution parents can make to their children's success?

Students could make a journal entry in which they recall their greatest moment of achievement and how they felt when they had reached their goal. In small groups they could then compare notes and share these experiences, focusing on the reactions of other people in their lives and how the appreciation of other people enhanced the elation they felt.

Teacher notes page 2-3

THE GENERATIONS

Marcelle Mogg's article 'Travels near and far' (p. 16) gives us a rich insight into family relationships between generations, as does Lee Beasley's 'In sight, out of mind' (p. 26). Students might like to read these two articles and then share their ideas about the contributions made by older people to family life.

In small groups students might consider the following questions:

1. Uncle Ossie, a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society, spent his retirement years wandering through the streets of Melbourne dispensing cigarettes and sandwiches to those who needed them: what was special about his way of helping the poor?

2. Do you admire someone who seems to have little attachment to worldly goods?

3. Try to imagine how different the world would be if people stopped wanting more and more things and began to live simply. Would you like to live in such a world?

4. Some of you are members of the St Vincent de Paul Society. What are some of the activities you are engaged in for the Society and why did you decide to become part of this organisation?

A class discussion might follow in which students could list ways in which they might make a more personal contribution to the charities they support.

Pets and other animals

There are two articles looking at the connection between pets and animals: 'Wild beasts and tame' (p. 22) and 'Cocoa goes to uni' (p. 23). Students might like to read both stories and then engage in a class discussion in which they share stories of pets and animals.

The next step might be to allot one of the following topics to each small group of students for research with the aim of a class presentation at a later date.

1. The seeing-eye-dog foundation in your city.

2. A blind or disabled owner of a working dog tells his/her story.

3. The use of dogs in police work, including tracking.

4. St Francis of Assisi legend and the Gubbio wolf.

5. Explore the legends of St Francis and his connection with the animal world.

6. What can you find out about communication between pets and their owners.

What is love?

Terry Monagle's article, 'Brought face to face' (p. 28), speaks of the occasion when a husband of many years prepares to tell his wife that he is suffering from a mortal illness. He reflects on the nature of their relationship and the implications his early death and the nature of his illness will have on his spouse. Early in the marriage he thought that he wanted to tell her everything, but later he came to a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of being together. He quotes from two poems of James McAulay, which to him outlines the progress of their relationship and as he prepares to break the news of his illness he takes the second as his guide. Here are the two McAulay quotations and some other images and descriptions he used to describe their developing understanding of love:

'We were in love's first primer, learning the rudiments and guessing the things we would need to know.' (McAulay)

Love 'is not the touching seeing, it's how to feel the other's being.' (McAulay)

'I thought that marriage should be like two overlapping circles.'

'She believed that marriage should be like two people rowing a boat together.'

'We were both incomplete people, alone and forlorn like jigsaw pieces on the table we made complete, powerful person.'

Students might like to read the article and then choose one of the above quotations to illustrate it, either by a drawing, a story, a poem, or an essay in response. It might help some students to work in pairs.

The contributions could then be put into a booklet entitled: 'Images of Love'.

Forgiveness and reconciliation

Four articles give us an insight into a very difficult subject — forgiveness. This is difficult not because of its obvious necessity in the conduct of everyday life but because some of us find it almost impossible to do. The articles in question give us examples of forgiveness almost on a heroic scale. In 'In the Shadow of Death' (p. 14) Sr Helen Prejean tells us the story of the father of a murdered child who learns to forgive the killer and pray for him.

In 'Deep reconciliation' (p. 10), Jan Ruff-O'Herne tells of how she publicly forgave the Japanese soldiers who raped and exploited her in a wartime brothel. In 'Breaking out by taxi' (p. 24), Kate Canty gives us an account of how her hatred of the German nation, carefully fostered by members of her family who carried bitter scars from the shooting down of her airman grandfather's plane in World War II, was changed to forgiveness and a reconciling friendship with one of the new generation of German people.

Both these articles will be useful in this the 50th anniversary year of VE Day (7 May 1945) and VP Day (15 August 1945).

'Not a cop out (p. 21) by Terry O'Connell deals with a very practical style of forgiveness, restorative justice. It has been used initially in the prison context but is becoming more and more used in schools.

Crime and punishment

'In the shadow of death' (p. 14) tells of Sr Helen Prejean's work with men on death row in the United States, and her campaign against the death penalty. A discussion might follow in which the issues raised by the idea of a society choosing such a terrible revenge on criminals.

As someone who has seen many executions, Sr Helen is totally against capital punishment and was instrumental in changing a Vatican document that had previously sanctioned it in certain cases. Surely, in a country that claims to be following Jesus who forgave his enemies, a policy of forgiveness and rehabilitation would be more appropriate.

1. If someone hurts you, do you want to 'get your own back' and, if so, does it make you feel better? What are your thoughts on revenge in general?

2. The United States government argues that execution 'gives a sense of closure' to the relatives of the victims of a crime. What do you think?

3. Sr Helen is concerned not only with those facing capital punishment, but also with the families of the victims of crime. In what ways are these people affected by the loss of a loved one?

4. How does Lloyd LeBlanc describe the effects of his decision to forgive the killer of his son?

The gift of forgiveness

In 'Deep reconciliation' (p. 10), Jan Ruff-O'Herne tells us about the power of prayer during her wartime ordeal as a worker in a brothel for Japanese soldiers. Praying helped her to survive the horror and gave support to her fellow sufferers. Prayer has remained part of her life ever since and she has passed on her belief about the efficacy of praying to her two daughters. However, what has filled her heart with joy and lightness has been the decision to reveal the story of her tragic past to he daughters and, more recently, visiting Japan and at a public meeting forgiving her tormentors.

Students may like to read the article and discuss in small groups the process Jan went through in order to come to reconciliation:
breaking the silence about her past to her daughters; deciding to go to Japan and forgive her enemies in public; being able to embrace one of the soldiers who had frequented the brothel during the war.

The class might divide into groups of five and work together to produce a poster on the themes of Forgiveness and Reconciliation for later display in the classroom.

Jan's story is told in the film 50 Years of silence, made by her daughter and son-in-law, and winner of numerous awards.

• ask for it at your State Film Centre
• and in the ABC TV program Australian Story (13 August 2001)
• look for the transcript in ABC website's archives.

Principal reflections
Prepared by Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ

FOR THE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY

Go forward into life

The true story is told of Martin Gray, a survivor of the horrors of a concentration camp during the Second World War. After rebuilding his life and setting up a successful business, Gray married and raised a family. One day his wife and children were all killed when a forest fire destroyed their house in the south of France.

His whole reason for living had been taken from him. Friends exhorted him to demand an inquiry into the causes of the fire, but Gray refused. Instead, he decided to place all his money into a new movement to protect nature from forest fires.

Why did he do this? Gray explained that holding an inquiry was to wallow in the past and focus on issues of pain and blame. He preferred giving energies to the future, to issues of life and growth.

After all, life must be lived for, not against, someone or something. How often it happens that stories of light and hope emerge from situations of darkness and despair! The stars shine most brightly when the night is blackest!

From Christopher Gleeson SJ,
A Canopy of Stars: Some Reflections for the Journey,
David Lovell Publishing, 2003, p. 51.

FOR THE NEWSLETTER

Feed the wolf

Love and pain are inseparable companions. There is no more fitting symbol of this than the rose. In the Irish Sacred Heart Messenger for July last year, Sister Maureen MacMahon wrote that

'while love is the most beautiful and sought after thing in life, it has its hard edges … and painful thorns.

To know the love of another is a life-giving experience. To give love is self-enriching.

True love makes us free,
but it also binds. It commits us to another, even when the petals begin to fade.

It is an echo of God's love for us, which is the only perfect love, totally selfless and self-giving.'

One evening around the campfire an old Cherokee warrior was telling his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people.

He said, 'My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

His grandson thought about this story for a minute and then asked his grandfather, 'Which wolf wins?' The old Cherokee warrior simply replied: 'The one you feed'.

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