Based on a number of heated monologues in various plenary-related events I have attended there are many Catholics with deep wounds and substantial grievances against various other groups or Catholic individuals. Sometimes these wounds are personal, and sometimes they are ‘adopted’ on behalf of someone we love who has been hurt.
It’s natural to feel empathy for one who is wounded, to experience a ‘righteous rage’ on their behalf. There can be something spirit led in this process of identification with the wounded one, but it can also be demonically perverted.
Psychological research tells us that venting is generally unproductive in helping us to resolve our grievances. Rather than releasing intense emotions, venting often amplifies and fortifies our resentment.
Moreover, sharing our grievances with sympathisers frequently recruits others into our morass rather than facilitating resolution. We both leave the conversation angry and unsettled.
If expressed without regulation or true intrapersonal reflection, venting can traumatise the one on whom our grievance is focussed thus entrenching resistance and perpetuating division.
It’s human nature to seek a focus of blame when we feel hurt in a kind of ‘uniting against a common enemy’ phenomenon. As tempting as it is to ‘share the rage’, it is counter-productive to our unity as the People of God and destructive to our healing and personal growth to cast any of our brothers or sisters as ‘the enemy’.
And I say this with deep remorse for my own failings in this regard.
There is only one enemy we need to unite against as the People of God, and that’s the enemy of our redemption – Satan and his demons. Satan rejoices in our division. He fans the flames of discontent in the community by magnifying our self-pity and muting our ability to encounter the humanity of the one who offended us. He spreads a fog of obscurity among us, distorting our interpretation of the other’s intention and clouding our thinking.
I am aware that speaking in the language of ‘spiritual warfare’ is unpopular today – even though Pope Francis is rather partial to it. None-the-less it is very real and adopting a ‘he-who-must-not-be-named’ approach (cf Harry Potter), gives Satan more power than he deserves.
The thing is, we think spiritual warfare is primarily about opposing the forces outside the Church like advocates for the liberalising of abortion or those who oppose religious freedom or express hostility towards Christ and Christians. We think that if we are ‘under attack’ the person doing the attacking must be evil.
But Satan’s primary focus is not ‘out there’, it’s within the community. A common strategy Satan uses is to cast a fog of misunderstanding that leads us to misinterpret, alienate and objectify each other. And we ALL do it – victim and victimiser, oppressor and oppressed.
Women/men, lay/cleric, priest /bishop, nuns/priests, left/right, reformers/traditionalists, young/elderly, indigenous/non-Indigenous…We’ve all been hurt and our pain is real, but we must be willing to see with the eyes of the Spirit if we are to truly perceive the other in our spiritual reality – each one a beloved child of God.
I pray that our gatherings as a Church will help us all rise above our anger to engage in respectful and spirit-led dialogue. That rather than seeking victory for our causes, we will heal divisions between us as a people called to witness to Christ’s love by our unity.
And THAT, more than anything, will be a resounding defeat for the Father of Lies!