Peter harney

A wise and resilient Jewish rabbi led a community of Jewish mystics during a time of great persecution and vilification. Yet their way of life excluded those who were not of their faith and who did not share their rigorous daily spiritual practice. An interested and daring disciple who wanted to join the group had a problem and asked: 'Is there not beauty and value outside the narrow walls in which your community live?'

The rabbi pondered the question and answered;

'Imagine two people who spend their lives transporting stones. One carries bags of diamonds. The other hauls sacks of rocks. Each is now asked to take a consignment of rubies. Which of the two understands what he is now to carry? The man who is used to diamonds knows that stones can be precious, even those that are not diamonds. But the man who carried only rocks thinks of stone as mere burden. They have weight but not worth. Rubies are beyond his comprehension.'

Perhaps this parable helps us to understand the different responses to embracing the vision and imperatives of our recent Chapters. If we cherish our own directions and vision, then we will understand the values of other religious traditions and ways of living religious life and/or being a member of the network. We may regard ours as diamond and another way of living as a ruby, but we know that both are precious stones. But if our way of being brother or sister in the Edmund Rice tradition is mere burden, not only will we not value ours; neither will we value the way of living of someone else. We will see both as equally useless. True 'fullness of life' comes not from the absence of commitment and conviction but from our living presence. Understanding the particularity of what matters to us is the best way of coming to appreciate what matters to others. Our Chapters invite us into a dialogue that requires of us to continually enlarge our way of seeing through coming to understand and appreciate the point of view of others. When this space is large enough we know from 'Acts', the Spirit catches fire and breaks forth in words and action within our communities.

Difference does not diminish but it enlarges the sphere of human possibilities. Only when we realize the danger of wishing that everyone should be the same –the same way of living religious life, being a member of the network – will we prevent the clash of ideas and generations, born of the sense of threat and fear. As rabbi Jonathan Sacks say 'we learn to live with diversity once we understand the God-given, world-enhancing dignity of difference.'

Perhaps as we engage with the 'Stewardship Report' we might ask: 'Are we respecting the dignity of difference in the way we live our lives and share our precious resources?'

Reference: Jonathan Sacks (2009) The Dignity of Difference, Continuum, London.

Peter Harney (17/11/10)