Years ago I was privileged to sit in a lecture at Franciscan University by an amazing Church historian. The woman, a PhD from Maryvale Institute in England, challenged us to look at history with different eyes. The term she used was "Eyes of Faith". It was a wonderful lecture and I came away from that with a valuable idea that has never left me. That idea is to not be afraid of what is happening around me, to not fall into the kind of mass hysteria I see every day on social media. Instead, take a moment, feel the emotion around any situation and then ask an important question: "God, what would You have me take from this?"
The protests and the pandemic, the politics and the screeching and institutional victimhood of some of our Catholic Lights cannot be looked at merely from a psychological or sociological point of view. It is important to take a deep breath and exhale, to purposefully and intentionally ask for The Holy Spirit to guide us in our examination of current events. Without that guidance comes the possibility of falling into disunity, anger, resentment and the sin of pride. We will become so entrenched in our political or ideological stance that we will lose track of what we are called to do as Catholics and we will fall prey to the type of conspiracy theories that are strangling people with fear right now.
I see it every time someone responds to a different take or another opinion with rancor or victim status. Not everyone who thinks differently is evil and if I cannot look at what they write on my facebook post without yelling at them to unfollow or unfriend me then guess what? I am the one with the problem. I am the one unable to open my mind, listen to someone else's experience and consider their idea. That being said, if I can offer an well thought out rebuttal to their statement it does not mean I think less of them; rather, I am trying to continue the dialogue. If they cannot do that then I understand. Not everyone is able to do so without taking a different opinion as some sort of personal attack.
This type of reasonable approach, however, has a caveat attached. That caveat extends to people who have fallen into the darkness of conspiracy theories. I reject their ideology.
I have had to make some serious decisions in terms of who I will allow into my life. My late mother was adamant that one can determine someone's character by observing who they have as friends. While it may be sad to say good-bye to some people, including some who are of my Faith Tradition, I have to be willing to follow her advice and make the decision to differentiate between people who have a simple difference of opinion and those who have fallen into serious, ugly sin by being captured by the conspiracy theories of the QAnon crowd. I can pray for them, I can hope that the Holy Spirit enlightens them, but I cannot have them in my home and will not knowingly support them financially by patronizing their businesses. Everyone has a right to hold their own opinions. I also have a right to decide who gets to come over for dinner.
Looking at what is going on in the world right now through the eyes of Faith allows me to let go of the fear. The Church has survived much worse. God's got this. I am not afraid because I know who wins in the end, who has, in my heart, already won. While I understand that for many what I have just expressed seems as though I am shrugging my shoulders and saying, "Oh Well", I am not; rather, what I am doing is asking a simple question of God every day:
Who needs me to love them today?
And then, I try my best to do the next right thing as opportunities present themselves, to be a woman of grace and dignity and to love you where you stand. Reject the sin, not the sinner - but keep the crazy at arms length.
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