Healing Through Love and Hope - Sacramental Aspects of the Human Spirit - from Boston

With Boston Marathon bombing suspect being securely captured, Boston is now relieved from the intense horror that locked the city.  Nevertheless, the pain of grief over the loss of many lives is still fresh. 

We tend to feel more pain when we are coming out of the initial shock and numbness of the trauma.  Even the initial pain subsides, the pain can come back, like a flash back at any time, without warning or sign.  

This is why it is so important that we continue to remember and lend our supports to those who have been affected by the bombings during the Boston Marathon last week.  It is also important to remember and support those who have been affected by the fertilizer factory explosion in Waco, Texas, last week. 

At least, the arrest of the Boston bombing suspect helps us focus on healing and recovery now, because the capture of the suspect is a very important mile mark on our collective healing and recovery from the pain and fear that has followed the pain.  Even though, there is no 100% assurance of safety, it is now a bit easier than before to concentrate on our healing and recovery. It is also a good time to start preparing ourselves for preventing and responding to possible future attacks and other types of tragic incidents.

So, now, we can better appreciate the ever powerful human spirit, the manifestation of the goodness of humanity, continuously pouring on to and reaching deep into the depth of the pain of those who have been affected by the last week’s tragic events – and to us all.  

The outpouring human spirit has been manifesting through those ordinary people with genuine compassion – selfless sacrifices, like what the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable (Luke 10:29-37) demonstrated.  They are not typical “heroes” because they are truly heroic.  They are truly heroic because they are not trying to be heroes – because their motive to help is not to make themselves seen as heroes but because they simply want to help.  They simply want to help because they instinctively and intuitively know that it really hurts them to see fellow human beings are hurt.  So, they know that helping those who have been hurt and wounded also means helping themselves. They know that it is helping the humanity.  It shows that these Good-Samaritan-like compassionate people are embracing the oneness – the oneness with each other in unity, through manifesting the human spirit. 

About 500 years before Jesus Christ taught oneness/unity (John 17; 11, 21), Gautama (Shakamuni) Buddha had taught oneness as the foundation of Dharma, as a way of leading out of suffering.  Paul, an apostle of Christ, further elaborated on the teaching of oneness for healing and peace (1 Corinthians 12: 12, Ephesians 4:4-5).  Perhaps, the concept of Tawhid in the Sufi tradition of Islam also comes in line with Buddha’s and Christ’s teaching of oneness/unity.  But, the truth on oneness/unity is not an exclusive “trademark” teaching of any particular religions. It is, in fact, the universal truth, which transcends religions because it is what the human spirit is all about. 

During the interfaith memorial service in Boston last Thursday, Rev. Nancy Taylor, of United Church of Christ, described the manifestation of the human spirit of compassion as “sacraments of blessing” and “sacraments of mercy”, as runners and spectators…and passerby and anyone around were rushing into the bombing scene to rescue and assist victims of the bombings and anyone affected.  Residents of Boston opened their homes for those who needed a place without hesitation. Business owners of Boston welcomed those who were hurt to provide then with whatever they could without any cost. This shows sacraments of open heart, which makes Boston a proud city of love….which symbolizes the goodness in human nature. 

The bottom line of the human spirit of compassion is love that unites all people in oneness.  To those who believe in God, this also means seamless unity between God and the human, the oneness beyond the human oneness.  And, this is a sacramental aspect of love, which holds us with one another and with God.  

Boston Mayor, Tom Menino, emphasized on love to characterize the spirit of Boston with a twist of Bostonian sense of humor, during the interfaith service. He said that the Bostonians now even love New York City, which is always in Boston’s rivalry.  The mayor also reminded that “Sweet Caroline”, a staple song played at Boston’s Fenway Park Stadium, the home of the Boston Red Sox, will be played also at the New York Yankees Stadium, while Boston City flags will be flying in Lower Manhattan. The New York Yankees announced that they would play this “Boston Red Sox” staple song during their home game in New York, as a tribute to the Boston Marathon bombing victims.  Certainly, the New Yorkers are also showing their love to their rival Bostonians. Yes, love begets love, indeed!

Mayor Menino’s Bostonian sense of humor has sure lightened the burden of grief, bringing a bit of respite, to help us better cope with the pain, while focusing on love that unites – even uniting Boston with its rival city, New York.  I certainly see the dividing distance between Boston and New York is shrinking.  This phenomenon of love radiating from Boston and New York is also transcending any dividing distance among us across racial, ethnic, national, political, gender, and religious lines – forming the human pluralistic unity, reflecting an image from 1 Corinthians 12. 

Because love is not lost – and cannot be lost even attacked by evil, realistic hope emerges. And, it is rising in Boston and elsewhere, out of the pain of grief. 

Love, which brings forth real hope,  facilitates healing of those who have been traumatized physically, psychologically and spiritually.  This healing process also brings scattered people back into unity by closing divisions, thus leading us to “salus” – health as wholeness. 

For this, during the interfaith service, Bishop John Borders III, of Morning Star Baptist Church, cited the Beatitudes (blessings) in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount  (Matthew 5:3-12):

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

With love and hope that unite and heal, we become ever stronger.  For this, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM cap., of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, during the interfaith service, called the Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount “the constitution of the people to call to live a new life”. Going further from this, Cardinal O’Malley indicated that love, a sacramental aspect of the human spirit, as well as God (i.e. 1 John 4:8) that brings hope and unites us all,  makes us stronger – ever stronger to withstand evil – by invoking a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

This prayer of St. Francis, indeed, expresses the best of the human spirit.  To those who believe in God, this is how the divinity manifests in the humanity, because of imago Dei in each human being (i.e. Genesis 1:27). 

Though we may feel broken, as long as we do not lose the human spirit, as Rev. Nancy Taylor said, we are not broken even though we are shaken. It is because the human spirit can manifest as “sacrament of mercy” and “sacrament of blessing” – because the human spirit continues to rise, manifesting as love that brings forth hope. 

Now, with this hope, fueled by love, we can move forward toward the stronger unity ever through our healing and growth journey. 

For this journey of healing, fueled by love and hope, I would like to dedicate this song, “Prayer”(Inori/祈り), composed by, Kazuhiko Kawabe,  Japanese Naval First Lieutenant , originally for those who have been victimized by the 2011 East Japan Great Disasters.  

The performance of this song in the video is conducted by First Lieutenant Kawabe, performed by the Japanese Naval Band of Tokyo. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRG3WEelkj8

Here is what song says –  (Japanese stanza followed by English translation – translation mine)

人は皆荒野のさすらい人

一筋の光が君の前を照らす

心にはともし火

いつも灯しながら

それは夢、希望、未来

祈ってる

We are wonders in wilderness.  Yet, a glimmer of light will shine upon you.

Always a lamplight in your heart, as it means a dream, hope and the future.

I pray for you.

悲しいできごとや

迷い悩んだこと

やがて満たされるよ

きっと信じてる

君の姿みえず

声も聞けないけど

いつも感じている

The emptiness because of sadness and wavering of worries

Will be filled

I believe so.

Even though I cannot see you

Even though I cannot hear you

I always sense your presence.

君とともに居ると

君は夢、希望、未来

祈ってる

When I am with you

You are a dream, a hope, and a future.

I pray for you.

青い空に浮かぶ

白い雲のように

自由な風に乗って

強く生きてゆこう

Let’s move forward with a life mightily

By riding on the winds of freedom

Like the white clouds in the blue sky

つまずきやためらい

心痛い時は

いつもここにいるよ

君とともにいるよ

Stumbling and hesitation,

Whenever your heart is heavy with pain,

I am here,

I am always with you

いつも希望、夢、未来

祈ってる

Always a hope, a dream, and a future

I pray for you.

君は希望、夢、未来

祈ってる

You are a hope, a dream, and a future.

I pray for you.

May the rising human spirit carry us, like the winds of freedom in this song, enabling us to move forward with the strengths on our healing journey toward the stronger unity.  

For those who believe in God, may the Holy Spirit, manifesting the rising human spirit, like the winds of freedom, carrying us toward the stronger unity with God on our healing journey.