How dumb is our species?  After millennia of evolution, we still take the bait?  We still play the game?  “Might makes right!”  “Nobody gets the best of me!”  “I’m gonna beat you up!”  Even if one person makes the decision to declare war on another, it is our shared humanity that is acting and we are all responsible.  That one solitary person in her or his darkness has been failed by the system, a community of people who have a common origin and a common destiny.  I may wince and offer my opinions and bellyache, but none of that changes the fact that we are all in this together and there is much work to do.  By thinking before speaking, by leaving space between impulse and action, by surrendering our knees to the floor in prayer, by paying attention to the deeper meaning of another person’s behavior, and by erring on the side of good will, our lives will contribute to a web of friendship that will quietly, but surely, capture the imaginations and hearts  of all.  We shall wage peace through history and time and, with all of our sisters and brothers, shine with the bright light of humanity. 

Ave Crux, Spes Unica.

If we are trying to overcome a bad habit, a vice or even an addiction, we should consider adding the word “preference” to our spiritual vocabulary.  Because of our fallen human condition, we tragically, and unknowingly, function out of a fearful orientation that pits us against just about everything we come into contact with; thus, when we want to change our relationship with food, alcohol, sex, another person, or even ourselves, we automatically go into fighting mode.  Such extreme behavior not only reinforces a faulty anthropology, but is existentially unsound and we end up in a circle of confusion which just makes matters worse.  We can try this new line of thinking instead: I like food!  Food miraculously grows from the earth and not only nourishes my body, but meets a psychological need that I have for connection.  Sometimes, when I overeat, however, my other needs, like connection with other people, physical health, and savings in my bank account get compromised.  Just for today, I prefer the greater good of eating in moderation.  Once we have accepted the truth that everything in life is in fact good, our choices will simply become preferences that gradually lead us into the source of all goodness who has been preferring us, with unwavering love, from the very beginning.  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.

The “Onion Story,” embedded within one of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s monster novels, captures the essence of Christian salvation.  An old crone dies and ends up in hell.  Her guardian angel is weeping when he remembers that she had actually done one good deed in her life.  He takes the very onion that she had given to a beggar woman and lowers it down into the pit of fire.  The crone is ecstatic when she sees it, grabs hold, and begins to make the sweet ascent upward.  The other lost souls, however, also see this onion as their ticket to heaven and reach out for her legs.  As the angel pulls the onion, a human chain forms midair, but the crone is incensed – it’s her onion!  She kicks and screams and tries to shake everyone off.  Then finally, right as they arrive at the gates of paradise, she loses her grip, and they all fall back into the fiery pit where “she is still burning to this day.”  It’s not that complicated: When we peel back the layers of our inner onion, we discover that our human lives are only ever shared and that our salvation is eternal communion with others.  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.

When we tell another person, “I’ll pray for you,” we should really follow through on that promise.  If we say those words, out of habit, or out of cultural pressure, or out of the anxiety of an intense emotional moment, but don’t really mean it, we should stop.  To be spiritually facetious like that not only leaves the other person without the support they need, but it also jeopardizes our whole sense of prayer.  Truly, if such prayer requests just end up in a vast psychological expanse where prayers swim in the same stream as our grocery list, how to long division, our Netflix password, and the date of the next leap year, we somehow have lost the “intention” part of “prayer intention” and have probably missed the point.  Let’s instead carry a rosary, a cross, or a religious medal in our pocket, and quietly reach down and pray for the other person while in the act of accepting their prayer request.  Let’s keep a literal list of names of people we have said we would pray for and review it periodically.  Let’s learn to be conscious of the awesome spiritual responsibility we have for one another.  Let’s pray this week and mean it! 

Ave Crux, Spes Unica. 🙏🏼