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Lent Both the rascals and the prophets can be the voice of
God
By DIRK DUNFEE
The Lord the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to
them by his messengers
but they kept mocking the messengers of God,
despising his words and scoffing at his prophets. ...
In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment
of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of
King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom and
also declared in a written edict: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all
the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at
Jerusalem.
Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God
be with him! Let him go up (2 Chronicles 36:15-16 and 22-23).
One recent evening an acquaintance
and I were talking about the ongoing sanctions in Iraq. I mentioned that 53
American bishops had come out against the sanctions, and that Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton had visited Iraq.
Gumbleton, my acquaintance said. Sniffing
dismissively, he added: Detroit. Hes a liberal. By using the
dreaded L-word, my acquaintance clearly felt that he had settled the matter:
Gumbleton had been categorized, labeled and pegged, and as such could safely be
written off as someone who had nothing to say.
Climbing on my high horse, I said, Yes, Gumbleton is a
liberal. So what? Hes a man of God. I dont write off conservative
bishops because theyre conservative.
Of course I wasnt telling the whole truth. In my better
moments, through a conscious act of the will, I might not dismiss a
conservative voice out of hand, but who would I, no conservative, be inclined
to pay more attention: Fabian Bruskewitz, the famously conservative bishop of
Lincoln, Neb., or Thomas Gumbleton? After all, I know what the conservatives
have to say, and I know that I do not agree with much of what is said. Why then
should I have to pay attention to someone who doesnt agree with me?
Its almost trite to say that our church is polarized, but
its true nonetheless. Sometimes it seems as though every issue, no matter
how large or small, becomes a battleground between conservatives and liberals,
traditionalists and progressives. Not that anyone is much listening to anyone
else. Liberals, if they listen at all, listen with half an ear to
conservatives, and put the worst possible interpretation on everything that is
said. Likewise, conservatives think theyve heard everything the liberals
have to bray about. So why bother?
The problem with this approach is that if we stop listening to
those who dont share our convictions, were bound to miss something
important. We might even miss God.
Whats that? Miss God? Why would God, with a host of
compelling and attractive men and women to speak through, bother with someone
whos fractious and disagreeable? Thats a question I cannot answer.
All I know is that God can, and does, speak through all kinds of people, even
rascals, and even prophets - and whos more disagreeable, more downright
annoying, than a prophet?
Consider Cyrus, the emperor of Persia: the largest empire the
world had yet seen and the ruin of Israel. No Israelite would expect anything
but insult and heartache from Persia, and from Cyrus, whom the Israelites saw
as an idol-worshipping pagan. Not only did Cyrus not worship the God of Israel,
they were barely acquainted. And Cyrus predecessors were anything but
godly men: They had captured and deported Jerusalems leading citizens,
had laid waste to the city, had destroyed the Temple - the focal point of
Israels worship - and had absconded with the Temples treasure of
sacred vessels and liturgical artifacts. God? Speak through Cyrus? Dont
make jokes.
And yet God did speak through Cyrus. God instilled in Cyrus a
spirit of justice, and used him as the instrument of Israels liberation.
Without Cyrus, this pagan, Israels restoration would not have come.
Who knows whom the next prophet will be? Who knows the direction
from which Gods voice will next come? None of us, which is why we can ill
afford to ignore even those who disagree with us. God is to be found in all
things, but we cannot find God in all things if weve already decided that
God isnt to be found in people we dont care to listen to. Granted,
its considerably easier not to listen. Its easier to surround
ourselves with people who have the same opinions we do. Its easier to
read only those publications that affirm our existing beliefs about the world.
Its hard to have to think about things, and consider them, and sort
through them, but if we are to find God where God is, we have to do what works
- not simply whats easy. We have to listen.
Jesuit Fr. Dirk Dunfee is minister to the Jesuit community at
Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.
National Catholic Reporter, March 31,
2000
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